Anansi

Also known as: Egya Anansi / Father Anansi / Filing Spider / Kweku Anansi / Mr Anansi / Mr Spider / Spider · Family: Anansi and his family · Role: the spider; father of Kweku Tsin · First appears: Tale 1 · How We Got the Name ‘Spider Tales’

In Tale 1 · How We Got the Name ‘Spider Tales’, Anansi asked Nyankupon to let people call the old tales Anansi stories. He accepted Nyankupon’s condition to bring three things, tricked boa-constrictor and Tiger, and won permission to name the tales. In Tale 2 · How Wisdom Became the Property of the Human Race, Anansi gathered wisdom into a pot to hide it, but his son Kweku Tsin pointed out how to carry it up a tree. Anansi threw the pot down, and its contents spread throughout the world. In Tale 3 · Anansi and Nothing, he exchanged clothes with Nothing, then set a knife-lined pit to kill him; Nothing fell in and died.

In Tale 4 · Thunder and Anansi, Thunder gave Anansi a pot that supplied food, but Anansi hid it from Mrs. Anansi and the family. After Kweku Tsin discovered the secret and the pot was gone, Thunder gave Anansi a stick that beat him until he jumped into the water. In Tale 5 · Why the Lizard Continually Moves His Head Up and Down, Anansi learned the princesses’ names and told Lizard to announce them. When the King gave the wives to Lizard, Anansi retaliated by framing him for theft and making him dumb with boiling water; the King took the wives from Lizard and gave them to Anansi. In Tale 6 · Tit for Tat, Anansi secretly put ashes in Kweku’s bag and followed him to the animals’ home, then drove his son away. Kweku became rich while Anansi stayed poor and had to go to Kweku’s house for food. At Kweku’s feast, Anansi promised to give up his tricks, “This promise, however, he did not long keep.”

In Tale 7 · Why White Ants Always Harm Man’s Property, Anansi pretended a dead antelope was his grandfather’s body, tricked Wolf and Leopard into being hung up, and took back the antelope. His disguised children later enjoyed a feast the two animals had prepared for the ants. In Tale 8 · The Squirrel and the Spider, Anansi and his family took corn from Squirrel’s farm; the court ruled the fields belonged to Anansi because they had no road. Father Crow took the bundles Anansi had left by the roadside. In Tale 9 · Why We See Ants Carrying Bundles as Big as Themselves, Anansi killed the dwarf and was condemned by the King to carry an enchanted box forever. Ant took the box, and Anansi left. In Tale 10 · Why Spiders Are Always Found in the Corners of Ceilings, Mrs. Anansi and Anansi’s son left Anansi at the farm; after he secretly took food for a feast, he was caught stuck to a rubber figure. He changed into a spider and hid in a corner of the ceiling.