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).

Week 6 Reading Diary Continued: West African Folktales

The second half of the reading diary is also from West African Folktales by William H. Barker and Cecilia Sinclair, with drawings by Cecilia Sinclair (1917).

The Moon and Stars
Anansi and his son were captured by a dragon and taken to his lair to wait with the other captives. A cock was supposed to be guarding them but he was distracted by picking up ride. The son threw a rope ladder to the gods and they hoisted everyone up to escape, the son fought off the dragon when he also tried to climb up. The gods were impressed and made him the sun, his dad the moon, and the others the stars. The son gave life/power to them all.

How the Tortoise Got Its Shell
The kings servant went out to fetch him some palm wine. He had to fight for it and winning he earned a pot of wine and the palm trees. He carried this back but when he returned the gate was locked and everyone was inside. He waited outside in the rain, it rained for two months straight so everyone stayed inside. He died from the pots weight on his back and it molded to him because of the mud... thus creating the turtle shell. I never see these stories turning out the way they do.

The Hunter and the Tortoise
A tortoise sang in the forest and the hunter was not content to visit her everyday so he took her to his home, but she would sing only for him. He spread her secret and was brought before the king. He said he would show them all her gift or he could be killed. So he bought her before the town but she didn't make a sound all day. At night they killed him and then she spoke. He had brought this on himself.

King Chameleon and the Animals
In a race to decide who would be made the king of the animals, the chameleon cheated and held onto the tail of the quick hare. The hare reached the winners seat first but the chameleon dropped off on the seat a second before he did. He became king but the animals didn't like this so they left the area. The chameleon now hides alone at the top of a tree calling for friends.

A king with no subjects is no king at all

Elephant and Wren
This spider, Anansi is the greediest, most evil, terrible excuse for a father/husband I have ever seen. Again in another story he gets food, a whole elephant enough to fee his family. But instead he ties it up to hide for himself and tries to catch a tiny bird for the others to eat. He fails and when he goes back to get the elephant its gone too. Now because of his selfish stupidity everyone starves. This would be a good story to switch up and teach Anansi a lesson.

The Ungrateful Man
A hunter rescued a man, a tiger, a snake, and a rat from a hole that they had fallen into. They each repaid him except for the man who mooched off of him and wanted to ruin his god fortune. The king had his jewels stolen and the man blamed the hunter. When the hunter was about to be killed the kings son was bitten by a snake and the hunter used the anti venom given to him by the snake and mixed it with his traitors blood, who the king had killed, and was able to save the kings son.

Why Tigers Never Attack Men Unless They Are Provoked
A man and tiger became great friends and they visited and stayed at each others homes. Then later the man died and the tiger and his son went to pay their condolences to the mans son. On their way back home two other men shot the tiger but didn't kill him. To see if the tigers friend had anything to do with this the tiger played dead to test the man's son's reaction. He cried and the tiger promised never to hurt a man unless provoked.

Farmer Mybrow and the Fairies
A farmer started to plant crops in a field but fairies lived there and they were eager to help. He got a great crop going but then his wife begged him to know where to field was so she could go pick one item to eat. He told her not to answer the fairies questions when she was there but she didn't listen and she told them she wanted to pick a crop. Naturally the fairies jumped right in and helped her but they picked every single item making them useless because they were still green and ripe.

Week 6 Reading Diary: West African Folktales

This week I read West African Folktales by William H. Barker and Cecilia Sinclair, with drawings by Cecilia Sinclair (1917).

How We Got The Name "Spider Tales"
A very jealous spider made a deal with Nyankupon to have all of the future stories men tell be about him instead of about Nyankupon. To complete the transaction the spider had to fetch him a jar of bees, a boa constrictor, and a tiger. He got these three animals by tricking them and then Nyankupon declared all future stories to be Anansi stories, the spiders name is Anansi.

How Wisdom Became the Property of the Human Race
In this story Ansansi is the giver of wisdom to men, but the men make him mad so he decides to take it all away and hide it where they cant reach it. He tries to hide it in a tree but has trouble because the pot of wisdom keep getting in his way. His son sees his struggle and says father wear it on your back instead, this made Anansi mad and he threw the pot down. It busted and spread all the wisdom across the world.

Anansi and Nothing
I definitely thought this story would be way more boring than it was- the title Anansi and Nothing turned me away. The end caught me off caught when it said when you ask children why they are crying they often say they are "crying for nothing" because Nothing is a king who was killed by Anansi in this story.

Thunder and Anansi
Anansi selfish characteristics really showed in this story. His family was starving so he went to a palm tree to get nuts but that failed and he ended up in the water at Thunders cottage. Thunder gave him a magic pot that made food. He ate and then hid it from his family while they starved. When they found out about it they made everyone in town food but the pot melted from overheating. Anansi went back to the cottage for another pot but instead got a stick that beat him. I think that is exactly what he deserved.
 
Why The Lizard Moves His Head Up and Down
Another story involving Anansi's evil ways. This time he wanted to win the kings three daughters by finding out their names. So he dropped fruit and got them to say their names, he then hired a lizard as his servant to say the names for him to the king. At this the king gave the lizard his daughters. Anansi wanted revenge and so he framed the lizard for killing the kings cock. THe king in turn gave him his three daughters. I could see this tory going differently; maybe the fruit Anansi drops is actually poison and the king hunts him down.
 
Tit for Tat
A battle between father and son for the last meat in the forest. Anansi tried to take away his sons hunting spot but the son got him back by being a god very angry at Anansi and demanding the meat. Later when the son was rich from all the meat he threw a banquet and at it he told the story of his fathers antics. He was ashamed and promised not to do anything like that again.

The Squirrel and The Spider
The squirrel sowed a grand farm, but he got there by the trees. Anansi found and and his family built a road to it and began to harvest it. The squirrel was mad but the law said the road creator was the owner meaning Anansi even though the squirrel planted it. Then a storm came and the spiders abandonded the crops. When they returned a crow was blocking them from the rain and he took off with the bundles that were now claimed as his. This is an example of karma.

Why We See Ants Carrying Bundles As Big As Themselves
The spider families crops weren't growing so the son got a jester to bring his rain by tapping him with small sticks. Anansi learned of this and brought two huge sticks, when he found the jester and tapped him he accidentally killed him. He put his body in a tree and the son knocked it down so Anansi blamed him. The son lied and said that killing him meant a reward so Anansi backtracked and claimed the murder. When he went to get a reward from the king he was doomed to carry the dead jester in a box on his head forever. Until one day he tricked an ant into carrying it on his head.

The Grinding-Stone that Ground Flour By Itself
Anansi's cousing found this stone and food by it and took only enough for himself and his family each day. Anansi say them getting plump and demanded to be taken to the place where the food came from. Again he put ashes in someones bag to make a trail, this time his cousins. He followed him and found the magic stone, instead of taking some he picked up the whole stone. Later he was tired and wanted to put it down but the stone wouldn't allow it. And that is why now we see lots of spiders always under rocks.

The magic grinding stones