Anansi and Company by Bish Denham

Author:Bish Denham
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: spiders, caribbean folklore, jamaican folklore, anansi the spider, folklore from the caribbean
Publisher: Bish Denham

Riddle Number Six

Mr. Bigger has a baby. Between Mr. Bigger and his baby, which is bigger?

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Anansi and the Cooking Pot

It was a hard, hard time. It was a starving time. The earth was cracked from lack of rain. In the parched fields, the wind blew up small dust devils and covered the few straggly crops with a fine layer of dust.

Everyone was hungry. Even Tiger, who everyone knew set a fine table, was running low on food.

One day, Tiger went to visit Anansi. “How you be keeping, my friend?”

Anansi said, “Oh, Brer Tiger, tis a hard, hard time. My wife and chil’ren haven’t eaten for the last three days. They have not even had a piece of stale bread. Please Brer Tiger, go back to your house and bring us some food. We are sure to starve if you don’t! And when I can, I will repay you.”

Tiger took pity on Anansi. He went back to his home, got some food, and returned to Anansi’s house. Just as he was entering Anansi’s yard, he heard the spider’s wife call to her husband and children, “Dinner is ready!”

Tiger knocked on the door, and when Mrs. Anansi opened it, out flew her husband, shamed to have been caught lying about starving. He was so afraid for his life he ran up a coconut tree and hid among the fronds. To keep Tiger from getting angry, Mrs. Anansi invited him in.

She said, “Here is some food. Eat. Eat.”

Tiger was amazed that she served him some nice fresh meat.

The next day Tiger went back to Anansi’s house. He was determined to find out where the spider had gotten that fresh meat.

When Anansi saw Tiger coming, he again hid among the leaves of the palm tree.

“Come down, Anansi, I know you is up there. Come down and talk to me.”

“I am afraid, Brer Tiger, that you will eat me if I come down.”

Tiger promised not to eat the spider, so Anansi cautiously crept down from the palm.

He said to Anansi, “I want to know how you could tell me you starving when your wife serve me up such nice fresh meat? I promised not to eat you, but if you don’t give me some more meat I will eat you, and your wife and chil’ren too!”

Anansi had to think quick. “I could get more meat, but you must promise to do just what I do.”

Tiger agreed. He was already drooling in anticipation of having some nice fresh meat.

Anansi put a big pot of water on the fire. He dropped the last of his potatoes and onions into the water and seasoned it with salt, pepper, and bay leaves. Then he got into the pot.

“Now you must shut me up in the pot,” he told Tiger. “When you hear me knock on the lid, you must open the pot and let me out.”

Tiger did as he was told and put the lid on the pot.

In a little while, Anansi knocked on the pot and Tiger let him out.

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