Cultural Depiction of a Spider
By a Caddoan Artist found on Wiki
In the old days in Africa, men told stories of Nyankupon who
was the chief of the gods. Spider wanted the stories to be about him. Spider
asked Nyankupon if the stories could be about him. Nyankupon agreed if Spider
brought him a jar of live bees, a boa constrictor, and a tiger. Spider tricked
the bees into getting in the jar by saying he and Nyankupon were disputing if
they could fit. Spider then tricked a snake into laying straight by a stick to
measure the snake. He tied the snake to the stick. Lastly, he tricked the tiger
into sewing his eyes shut and then led the tiger to Nyankupon. Nyankupon was
amazed by Spider’s trickiness so he granted him permission to have stories told
about him.
There was a man named Father Anansi who possessed all of the
wisdom of the world. He was upset with men so he put all the wisdom in a pot,
sealed it, and hid it. Anansi had a son who was suspicious of his father.
Anansi couldn’t climb a tree because he was carrying the pot. The son asked him
why he didn’t put the pot on his back. Anansi realized his son had wisdom that
he did not which angered him. He dropped the pot which broke and released all
of the wisdom.
There was a man named Nothing who was super rich and lived
near Anansi. The two of them decided to go to town to get wives. Anansi
convinced Nothing to switch clothes because Anansi had ragged clothes. Nothing
agreed but wanted them back before town. Anansi kept delaying the switch back
until they reached town. Anansi got many wives, Nothing got a poor daughter.
Soon the wives realized who was actually rich. After a while of little food,
Nothing’s wife invited Anansi’s wives over who refused to go back to Anansi.
Anansi killed Nothing. Nothing’s wife took yams to all the children in exchange
for them to cry with her over Nothing. Hence the reason if you ask a child why
they are crying, you will be told, “he is crying for nothing.”
Bibliography:
West African Folktales by William H. Barker and Cecilia Sinclair, with drawings by Cecilia Sinclair (1917). Link
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