Short story: Anansi The Spider and The Turtle

History

• Anansi the trickster is a West African God. He often takes the shape of a spider and is considered to be the god of all knowledge of stories. He is also one of the most important characters of West African and Caribbean folklore.

• He is also known as Ananse, Kwaku Ananse, and Anancy.

• The Anansi tales are believed to have originated in the Ashanti people in Ghana. (The word Anansi is derived from the word ‘Akan’ which simply means, spider.)

• This spider can be wise, foolish, amusing, or even lazy--but there is always a lesson to be learned from Anansi.

Moral of the story

When you try to outsmart someone, you may find that you're the one outsmarted. 

ThemeGreediness:

Anansi must learn not to be greedy, because Anansi tricked Turtle to avoid having to share his dinner. However, in return, he was tricked by Turtle and did not get to share Turtle’s dinner.

PLOTExpositionAnansi the spider was preparing dinner for when he saw his friend, The Turtle crawling and wending slowly up the road. The turtle purposedly passed by Anansi’s house just to have dinner with him.

Rising actionThe greedy spider did not wish to share his delicious yams. The turtle started to knock the door and asked Anansi whether he can allows him to eat yams together. With the disappointed heart, Anansi had to let the turtle in since he wanted to eat yams; because it was a custom to share food with anyone who showed up at dinner time.

ClimaxAnansi the spider did not allow the turtle to share his dinner by tricking him into washing his hands several times. After a while, when the turtle returned to the house, he saw the spider swallowing the last yam. The turtle looked down and felt very disappointed with Anansi.

Falling actionThe turtle intended to teach Anansi a lesson by using the same trick. The turtle invited him to have a dinner in his house. Anansi needed to dive into the water since turtle's house is under the water.

ResolutionTurtle did not allow Anansi to share his dinner by tricking him into emptying the pockets of his coat so he would float to the surface. From there, he watched Turtle finished his meal.

Characteristics• Anansi the spider

- Selfish

- Greedy

- Cunning

• The turtle

- Cunning (played the same

- trick Anansi did to teach

- him a lesson)

Settings• Place:

- Anansi’s house

- The turtle’s house