Anansi

This is Anansi. He is a little spider with eight wiggly legs. Long, long ago, the world was very quiet. There were no stories to tell. There were no stories to hear. The great Sky God, Nyame, kept all the stories in a big golden box. The box was shiny and bright. Anansi saw that everyone was a little sad with no stories. So, he had a big idea. A very clever idea. This is the story of how Anansi the Spider won the stories.

Anansi climbed up, up, up to the sky. He climbed on a long, silky web. The Sky God saw the tiny spider and laughed a big laugh. "You are too small to get my stories," he said. But he gave Anansi a challenge. He gave Anansi three tricky tasks. Anansi had to bring him a big python, a spotty leopard, and buzzing hornets. Anansi was small, but he was very clever. He tricked the long python with a stick. He tricked the spotty leopard into a deep hole. Plop. He tricked the buzzing hornets into a pot. Buzz, buzz, buzz. Anansi was so very clever.

Anansi took the python, the leopard, and the hornets up to the Sky God. Nyame was so surprised. Wow. A tiny spider did all those big things. The Sky God gave Anansi the golden box of stories. Anansi carried the shiny box down, down, down his web. He opened the box. And stories flew out. They flew out like colorful butterflies. There were funny stories and happy stories. There were sleepy bedtime stories for everyone. Now, everyone has stories to share. All because of a little, clever spider named Anansi.