This thread is NOT for RP: just stories. NO CUT AND PASTE Chat Dialoges please. Leave that in your journals.))
How Anansi came to the Lions
Ananasi, listen well my children, though you may already know…was a Spider…
Bit Oh no, he was not just any spider… he was the GOD of spiders my children.
And oh he loved to laugh, and he would laugh allll day when he could…and you could hear him “Kui Kui Kui kui” from the one side of the savanna to the other.
But more than he loved to laugh my children. Ananasi loved to –eat-!
Eat all day if he could…for Ananasi is ever skin and bones but when he DOES eat…his belly –swells- right up like the fat round spider he is. All round drum belly on stick thing legs and laughing dawn to dusk Kui Kui kui!
Well –one- day…and this happened oh so long ago before the stars had all climbed to the heavens and before rains fell and after the sky had settled on being blue…though that is another story…for another time…so be silent and listen while I weave –this- web.
Long time ago when the kookaburra was calling up the clouds all heavy and grey…
Ananasi…saw a farmer… fine farmer he was! He had a great jar of yams! Oh so tasty to Ananasi, for Yams are oh so sweet and toothsome to men and their kind.
WELL…. Ananasi saw the yams and he said to himself… OH! I am ever so hungry! I do think I’ll very well DIE if I do not have those Yams! (Although you and I children know that Ananasi, being extremely foolish has died more times than there are lion tails and toes in the savannah enough to count them…)
So Ananansi goes up to the farmer and he puts on his most piteous starving hungry face and he says. “PLEASE give me your Yams! I’m ever so hungry! Why…if I don’t eat those yams I’ll go legs up and die!”
And the farmer turned to Ananasi and laughed – “TA! I know you for what you are! You’re Ananasi! If I give you one Yam…you’ll eat ALL my Yams! And you’ve never set rake to soil! Go Hungry you foolish spider! These Yams are going to be cooked for my supper! And until then I’m burying them safe away from the likes of you!
The he took a handful of dust and –threw- in Ananasi’s eyes…and this hurt especially for spiders have –many- eyes… and chased him off.
But Ananasi was hungry…and a hungry spider is a persistent spider…though not always a wise one. So he shrunk down…all small and hairy with oh so many wiggling limbs and said… “Pah! ...I –shall- have yams for supper…I’ll not be legs up tonight! I’ll be all round and drum bellied!” and he skitters right back…and climbed RIGHT…into the jar of yams just as the farmer buried it.
There he waited…all small and hairy and oh so many limbs rubbing the dust carefully out of each of his eyes… (And they smarted quiet a bit). And there he waited sitting –right- on one of the yams (a very rude thing to do my children…you should never sit on your supper) till he heard the farmer finish burring him and the yams…and walk away. –Tah-tah-tah-tha-tah-. And then he –gobbled- up the yams one by one till there were –none- left not even the small ones…and his belly was a tight round drum.
THEN…. He tried to move…. Oh it was tight in that Jar now! He couldn’t wiggle his fingers…he couldn’t move his toes…and terribly tight it was around his ever so full belly. “AH!” He cried and struggled ever so much that he quite forgot he could become a tiny spider and free him self from the jar like –that-.
“I’m caught and captured! What ever shall I do! If he finds me here I’ll be squashed for sure!” And then he lit on an idea. To be sure it was not a good one, though at such times any idea seems like the wisdom of kings. He said to himself… “If the farmer thinks I’m the Yams…he won’t squish me and I’ll be safe!
And so…he transformed himself –PAHN-…into the mostly lovely yams ever…so round and brown and delicious looking.
Well the farmer came back the next evening… and Ananasi had eaten SO much that he was –still- full…and STILL stuck ever so tight. And he dug up the yams and thought to himself... “Why…these aren’t my yams! Mine were not half so fine as this! ... Drat that Ananasi! He’s eaten my yams! And If these aren’t my Yams they must he him…I’ll cook HIM instead!
So he pulled out the jar (ever so heavy with the yams all in his belly –plus- Ananasi inside) and set them to the fire to cook.
Well it didn’t take long before it started to burn…and out cried Ananasi in the heat and the hot of it. “YAAAAA!! YAAHHHH! Help! Help! I’ve eaten the Yam’s and it’s me you’re cooking! Help! Help! Let me out!”
And the farmer just shook his head. “Don’t be silly! I know you’re just those talking Yams I’ve been growing! I know you’ll be especially sweet and good!”
“I’m not! I’m Not!” Cried Ananasi. “It’s me! Spider-Nancy! Ananasi! Please save me!”
But now the farmer could not hear him… for attracted by all the screaming was a very old lion indeed. So old it had become all milk-eyed and blind. But the farmer did not know this… all he saw was the great form of a lion rolling towards him on great strong feet. –Tham-tham-tham-tham-… and he ran ever so fast for his life. –Pah-pahpahpahpah-
And it was very wise of him to do so…
We’ll it’s a very good thing for Ananasi that spiders do not smell at all tasty when they cook… especially when they are cooked in old yam jars. And it’s a good thing that he kept yelling… “Oh Help! Help! Let me out! I’ve eaten too much and I’m being cooked! I’m a Spider and Not a yam! Not even a talking one I swear it on the grave of my grandmother!” (A very silly thing to swear, for Ananasi –has- no grandmother…and so she has no grave… but Ananasi had never let such things stop him)
The lion, blind old and milk eyed was –quite- confused. “You smell quite bad cooking… and you yell quite loud…why should I help you when if I leave you…you’ll be silent…and the smell will carry away on the wind. I am old, blind and hungry…you might yet make a mouthful”
“OH!” Cried Ananasi… “Venerable old beast! Do not eat me! I’m not even enough to stick in your teeth! But Get me loose and I’ll do you a favor!”
“I need no favors…I need food…I need a place to sleep…I need a wise patron in this troubled land…” said the lion and lashed his tail… for he was old, and had been cast out of his home for being blind and unable to hunt. (This children is the way things must be)
“Let me out!” Cried Ananasi… “And I’ll give you new eyes!” (Small promises…for spiders have many eyes)
“Let me out!” Cried Ananasi “And I’ll give you a home!” (Wise promise…for spiders know all places)
“Let me out! He cried last… “And I shall be your patron!”
“DONE!” Cried the lion and scattered the coals to the sand and tipped the jar with a great paw… shattering it and freeing the fat old spider.
Good to his word (for one must always keep ones promises…even if you are a very god of tricksters and stories) Ananasi did each thing that he promised. First… he plucked out two of his eyes... –Pah –pah- and then he plucked out the lion’s... “Tu- tu” and then he switched them!
“AH!” Cried the lion…for it had been so long since it had seen the sun…that it hurt its new eyes. “The sun! It hurts these eyes Ananasi! What good are they to me!”
“ Kui-kuikuikui” Laughed Ananasi... “Be patient! I am not done yet! For I tell you… my children find the best food at –night- and that is when these eyes are best for!”
Then he led the lion to a great cave in the stones… down, down into the –belly- of the world they walked. “What is this?” Cried the lion “I see no Gazelle or Zebra! Just water and strange white fish! “Kui-kuikuikui” laughed Ananasi “This is the belly of the land…buried down like a pot of yams but much safer! These tunnels are the reflections of my webs…their fingers reach from sunrise to sunset! And through them my laughter always rings and here you can hear –all- the stories that I keep! This is your land!”
“But…” said the lion “I am trapped with a patron who was nearly cooked by his own belly!”
“Kui-Kuikuikui” Laughed Ananasi... “That! He cried…is your story! And my gift to you! I –meant- to be trapped! To see what you would do!” (Terrible lie for him to tell, but he was safe and full of yams with a belly tight like a drum.) “When you need me… just turn to the night sky! For there I have cast my web! And Each light you see there is but one of the stories that have been told…or will be told. And this shall set you apart from all others!”
And that child…is how the tribe in the belly of the world began… with a pot of yams and a foolish spider. There are more stories... there always are…but they are for another time… this tale is done… “Keu-keu-keu!”
