Storytelling Week 6: An Ants Life

"Grandpa, why are you always carrying that big box on your head?" asked Timmy, the tiniest ant in the family.

"My dear boy... this box is the burden I bear because I was once too nice" said Bob, the grandfather ant.

Bob forever carrying the box over his head.

"What do you mean grandpa, how can someone ever be too nice?" asked Timmy.

"You see, we should all strive to be kind, but not so kind that we become naïve. That's what happened to me. I was too kind to the wrong person and he took advantage of it. Now this box has become a part of me!" said Bob.

"Hmmmmm, who were you too nice to grandpa?" said Timmy.

"It all started one day when I was outside the grocery store. I was sitting on a bench in the parking lot and this spider walked by me and he had this box on his head. He asked me if I would hold it for him while he went in to shop."

"I knew that spider pretty well, he was always getting into trouble and causing problems for himself and his family because of his greed."

"So naturally I said no I would not. But then he asked again and he promised he would return immediately after he was done to reclaim the box from me. Being the kind-natured ant that I am, I agreed to it."

"I waited there for an hour or so, and then an hour or so more, and then night came and he still hadn't returned. Finally my arms were weak so I tried to put the box down."

"But no matter how hard I tried the box stayed put on top of my head. I even took my hands off of it, look I'll do it now.... It just stays up there all on its own."

"Wow grandpa that's weird" said Timmy.

"Tell me about it. But you wanna know what's even weirder..." said Bob.

"Ya!" Exclaimed Timmy.

"What's in the box and how it came to be enchanted." said Bob.

"Oooooh tell me grandpa!" said Timmy.

"The spider that I was telling you about, his name was Anansi. The story around town is that when he was trying to grow his crops he went to the kings magical jester for help. He had seen previously that his son got the jester to water his crops for him and Anansi wanted the same thing."

"The jester had told the son to pick up two small sticks and tap him on the bum. When he did this the jester brought down rain from the sky."

"When the son told his father of how he got the water the father decided he could get even more from the jester by using two huge sticks to tap him."

"He got to the jester and the jester made him the same promise of water, but when Anansi tapped him with the sticks the blows hit the jester so hard the fell to the ground and died."

"Then he didn't want to be guilty for killing the kings jester so he tricked his son into thinking he killed him. The son didn't fall for his dads trick and said "That's fine, the king wanted him dead, theres a reward for him."

"Hearing this the greedy Anansi backtracked and claimed he killed him and deserved the reward. Then he picked the jester up and carried him to the kingdom to get his prize... or so he thought."

"When he arrived the king was livid because he loved that jester of his. Instead of a reward the king put the jester in this box and enchanted it so that it could never, ever be put down."

"So that fateful day when I thought I was being nice, I brought the curse upon myself." 

"Now I a tiny ant, will carry this large bundle on my head until the day I die, hopefully breaking the curse."

"Wow grandpa. I knew there was a reason I didn't like spiders" said Timmy.

Author's Note: This story comes from "Ants and Their Bundles." This retelling still has all of the same plot elements except I told it from the perspective of the ant who got tricked instead of from Anansi's perspective. I also added in the character of the grandson so the ant would have someone to tell the story to. I decided to do it like this because when I read the original story I felt bad for the ant, and I thought he probably wasn't too happy about the situation either. I chose the picture because it gives the reader a visual of what I was trying to describe in my writing. I added in the part at the end about the grandpa dying with the box because I thought I wonder if he will try to hand it off to someone else or if not and he dies with it I bet the curse will be broken.

Bibliography: "Why We See Ants Carrying Bundles As Big As Themselves" from West African Folktales by William H. Barker and Cecilia Sinclair, with drawings by Cecilia Sinclair (1917).