ANANZI and the LION
by Unknown · from Popular Tales from the Norse
Adapted Version
Ananzi the spider was very hungry. He loved fish. How could he get fish?
Ananzi bought a big pan. He called Green Eel. Green Eel was a big fish. Ananzi said, "Party!" Green Eel said, "Yes." He told fish. They came to land.
Ananzi cooked the fish. He put them in sacks. Green Eel was too quick. It was very slick. Green Eel went to water.
Ananzi walked to the mountains. Lion met him there. Lion was big and strong. Lion asked, "What is inside?" Ananzi said, "Bones." He lied.
Lion did not believe Ananzi. He walked behind Ananzi. Ananzi did not see him. Lion was quiet.
Ananzi sat down. He ate a fish. A fly came. Ananzi heard it. He thought, "Someone is near." He ran away.
Lion found Ananzi. Lion said, "You lied!" Ananzi smiled. He said, "Let's eat!" Lion ate many fish. He was very hungry. Ananzi had few fish left.
Ananzi had an idea. He said, "Play a game!" Lion said, "Yes." Lion tied him. The rope was not tight. Ananzi broke free fast.
Ananzi tied Lion. He used strong rope. He tied Lion very tight. Lion could not move. Lion was very mad. Ananzi ran away.
Miss Nancy walked in the wood. She looked for green leaves. She saw Lion tied fast. Lion asked, "Help me!" Miss Nancy was scared. But she helped Lion.
Lion was very hungry. He looked at Miss Nancy. He thought, "Eat her!" Trees said, "Shame!" Lion felt bad. Miss Nancy ran fast.
Lion went home. He told his kin. He was thankful. They planned a dinner. It was for Miss Nancy.
Ananzi heard about the dinner. He wanted to go. He turned into a baby. He tricked Miss Nancy. She said, "Yes." He told her about his food.
They went to the dinner. Lion's son looked at the baby. He was very smart. He thought, "This is Ananzi!" He told his father.
Lion knew it was Ananzi. Lion ran after them. Ananzi ran very fast. He changed again. He held some sticks.
Lion asked the old man. "Did you see Ananzi?" The old man said, "No." He pointed the wrong way. Lion went that way. Ananzi got away.
Ananzi is very clever, but he is also very tricky. He always finds a way out!
Ananzi ran away. He was still tricky. And he was still hungry for more fun! Lion learned to watch. But Ananzi? He just kept on being Ananzi.
Original Story
ANANZI AND THE LION
Once on a time Ananzi planned a scheme. He went to town and bought ever so many firkins of fat, and ever so many sacks, and ever so many balls of string, and a very big frying pan, then he went to the bay and blew a shell, and called the Head-fish in the sea, “Green Eel”, to him. Then he said to the fish, “The King sends me to tell you that you must bring all the fish on shore, for he wants to give them new life.”
So “Green Eel” said he would, and went to call them. Meanwhile Ananzi lighted a fire, and took out some of the fat, and got his frying pan ready, and as fast as the fish came out of the water he caught them and put them into the frying pan, and so he did with all of them until he got to the Head-fish, who was so slippery that he couldn’t hold him, and he got back again into the water.
When Ananzi had fried all, the fish, he put them into the sacks, and took the sacks on his back and set off to the mountains. He had not gone very far when he met Lion, and Lion said to him”:
“Well, brother Ananzi, where have you been? I have not seen you a long time.”
Ananzi said, “I have been travelling about.”
“But what have you got there?” said the Lion.
“Oh! I have got my mother’s bones—she has been dead these forty-eleven years, and they say I must not keep her here, so I am taking her up into the middle of the mountains to bury her.”
Then they parted. After he had gone a little way, the Lion said, “I know that Ananzi is a great rogue; I daresay he has got something there that he doesn’t want me to see, and I will just follow him”; but he took care not to let Ananzi see him.
Now, when Ananzi got into the wood he set his sacks down, and took one fish out and began to eat; then a fly came, and Ananzi said, “I cannot eat any more, for there is some one near”; so he tied the sack up, and went on further into the mountains, where he set his sacks down, and took out two fish, which he ate; and no fly came, he said, “There’s no one near”; so he took out more fish. But when he had eaten about half-a-dozen, the Lion came up, and said:
“Well, brother Ananzi, a pretty tale you have told me.”
“Oh! brother Lion, I am so glad you have come; never mind what tale I have told you, but come and sit down—it was only my fun.”
So Lion sat down and began to eat; but before Ananzi had eaten two fish, Lion had emptied one of the sacks. Then said Ananzi to himself:
“Greedy fellow, eating up all my fish.”
“What do you say, sir?”
“I only said you do not eat half fast enough”, for he was afraid the Lion would eat him up.
Then they went on eating, but Ananzi wanted to revenge himself, and he said to the Lion, “Which of us do you think is the strongest?”
The Lion said, “Why, I am, of course.”
Then Ananzi said, “We will tie one another to the tree and we shall see which is the stronger.”
Now they agreed that the Lion should tie Ananzi first, and he tied him with some very fine string, and did not tie him tight. Ananzi twisted himself about two or three times, and the string broke.
Then it was Ananzi’s turn to tie the Lion, and he took some very strong cord. The Lion said, “You must not tie me tight, for I did not tie you tight.” And Ananzi said, “Oh! no, to be sure I will not.” But he tied him as tight as ever he could, and then told him to try and get loose.
The Lion tried and tried in vain—he could not get loose. Then Ananzi thought, now is my chance; so he got a big stick and beat him, and then went away and left him, for he was afraid to loose him lest he should kill him.
Now there was a woman called Miss Nancy, who was going out one morning to get some “callalou” (spinach) in the wood, and as she was going, she heard some one say, “Good morning, Miss Nancy!” She could not tell who spoke to her, but she looked where the voice came from, and saw the Lion tied to the tree.
“Good morning, Mr Lion, what are you doing there?”
He said, “It is all that fellow Ananzi who has tied me to the tree, but will you loose me?”
But she said, “No, for I am afraid, if I do, you will kill me.” But he gave, her his word he would not; still she could not trust him; but he begged her again and again, and said:
“Well, if I do try to eat you, I hope all the trees will cry out shame upon me.”
So at last she consented; but she had no sooner loosed him, than he came up to her to eat her, for he had been so many days without food that he was quite ravenous, but the trees immediately cried out “shame”, and so he could not eat her. Then she went away as fast as she could, and the Lion found his way home.
When Lion got home he told his wife and children all that happened to him, and how Miss Nancy had saved his life, so they said they would have a great dinner, and ask Miss Nancy. Now when Ananzi heard of it, he wanted to go to the dinner, so he went to Miss Nancy, and said she must take him with her as her child, but she said “No”. Then he said, I can turn myself into quite a little child, and then you can take me, and at last she said “Yes”; and he told her, when she was asked what pap her baby ate, she must be sure to tell them it did not eat pap, but the same food as every one else; and so they went, and had a very good dinner, and set off home again—but somehow one of the lion’s sons fancied that all was not right, and he told his father he was sure it was Ananzi, and the Lion set out after him.
Now as they were going along, before the Lion got up to them, Ananzi begged Miss Nancy to put him down, that he might run, which she did, and he got away and ran along the wood, and the Lion ran after him. When he found the Lion was overtaking him, he turned himself into an old man with a bundle of wood on his head—and when the Lion got up to him, he said, “Good-morning, Mr Lion”, and the Lion said “Good-morning, old gentleman.”
Then the old man said, “What are you after now? “and the Lion asked if he had seen Ananzi pass that way, but the old man said “No, that fellow Ananzi is always meddling with some one; what mischief has he been up to now?”
Then the Lion told him, but the old man said it was no use to follow him any more, for he would never catch him, and so the Lion wished him good day, and turned and went home again.
Story DNA
Moral
Cunning and trickery, though effective in the short term, often lead to further complications and the need for more deception.
Plot Summary
Ananzi, a cunning spider, tricks all the fish in the sea into being caught and fried. He then encounters Lion, whom he deceives about the contents of his sacks. After Lion discovers the fish and eats most of it, Ananzi tricks Lion into a strength contest, tying him tightly to a tree and beating him. Miss Nancy later frees the ravenous Lion, who is prevented from eating her by the trees crying 'shame'. Ananzi then disguises himself as a baby to attend a celebratory dinner at Lion's house, but is discovered and escapes Lion's pursuit by transforming into an old man, ultimately outwitting Lion completely.
Themes
Emotional Arc
tension to relief
Writing Style
Narrative Elements
Cultural Context
Anansi stories originated with the Ashanti people in Ghana and spread to the Caribbean and other parts of the Americas through the transatlantic slave trade, evolving into a rich oral tradition.
Plot Beats (15)
- Ananzi buys supplies and tricks the Head-fish, Green Eel, into bringing all fish ashore under the pretense of 'new life'.
- Ananzi fries all the fish, except for the slippery Green Eel, and puts them into sacks.
- Ananzi meets Lion, who asks about his sacks, and Ananzi lies, claiming they contain his mother's bones.
- Lion, suspicious, secretly follows Ananzi into the woods.
- Ananzi begins to eat the fish, but a fly alerts him to Lion's presence, so he moves further into the woods.
- Lion confronts Ananzi, who feigns delight and shares the fish, but Lion eats most of it.
- Ananzi proposes a strength contest, where they tie each other to a tree; Lion ties Ananzi loosely, who easily breaks free.
- Ananzi then ties Lion very tightly to the tree, beats him with a stick, and leaves him trapped.
- Miss Nancy, gathering callalou, finds the Lion tied to the tree and, after much pleading and a promise from Lion, frees him.
- Lion tries to eat Miss Nancy, but the trees cry 'shame', preventing him, and she escapes.
- Lion returns home, tells his family, and they plan a dinner to thank Miss Nancy.
- Ananzi, wanting to attend, transforms into a baby and convinces Miss Nancy to bring him as her child, instructing her on what to say about his food.
- At the dinner, Lion's son suspects the 'baby' is Ananzi.
- As Miss Nancy and Ananzi leave, Lion pursues them; Ananzi transforms into an old man with wood.
- Ananzi, as the old man, misleads Lion about Ananzi's whereabouts, allowing Ananzi to escape completely.
Characters
Ananzi
A small, wiry figure, often depicted as a spider-man hybrid, with long, thin limbs and a somewhat hunched posture. His skin is dark, reflecting his West African origins, and he moves with a quick, darting energy.
Attire: Simple, practical clothing suitable for a trickster, perhaps a loose-fitting, dark brown or grey tunic and trousers made of rough-spun cotton, allowing for quick movement and disguise. No elaborate adornments.
Wants: To outsmart others, acquire food (especially fish), and avoid consequences for his trickery.
Flaw: His insatiable greed and cowardice often lead him into trouble or force him to flee.
Ananzi remains largely unchanged, continuing his pattern of trickery and self-preservation, always managing to escape consequences, reinforcing his trickster nature.
Cunning, deceitful, greedy, resourceful, cowardly.
Lion
A large, powerful African lion with a magnificent, shaggy mane of golden-brown fur. His build is muscular and imposing, indicative of his strength and predatory nature.
Attire: None, as he is an animal.
Wants: To assert his dominance, satisfy his hunger, and seek revenge against Ananzi for his trickery.
Flaw: His pride and initial trust in Ananzi make him vulnerable to being tricked. His hunger can override his promises.
He learns to be wary of Ananzi's trickery and experiences humility when he is outsmarted and saved by a human. He shows gratitude by inviting Miss Nancy to dinner.
Strong, proud, initially trusting, easily angered, vengeful, somewhat gullible, but also capable of gratitude.
Miss Nancy
A woman of average height and build, likely with dark skin and features typical of the West African or Caribbean region, given the story's origin. She is practical and cautious.
Attire: Simple, functional clothing suitable for a peasant woman gathering food, such as a loose-fitting, brightly patterned cotton dress or skirt and blouse, perhaps with a headwrap, reflecting West African or Caribbean attire.
Wants: To gather food (callalou) and to help others, even when afraid.
Flaw: Her compassion and willingness to trust can put her in danger.
She overcomes her fear to help the Lion, demonstrating her compassion. She is then tricked by Ananzi but ultimately escapes unharmed.
Cautious, compassionate, initially fearful, but ultimately trusting and kind-hearted.
Green Eel
A very large, long, and exceptionally slippery green eel, distinguished as the 'Head-fish' of the sea.
Attire: None, as it is an animal.
Wants: To obey the King's supposed command and protect itself.
Flaw: Gullibility to Ananzi's trickery.
Briefly appears as a victim of Ananzi's trickery but manages to escape.
Obedient, trusting, but ultimately self-preserving.
Locations
The Bay
A coastal area where Ananzi blows a shell to summon the Head-fish. The water's edge is where fish emerge from the sea.
Mood: Deceptive, busy with Ananzi's scheme, initially calm.
Ananzi tricks the 'Green Eel' into bringing all the fish ashore to be fried.
Mountain Path / Wooded Mountain Slope
A path leading up into the mountains, initially open but soon entering a dense wood. The ground is uneven, and there are trees suitable for tying. The path is secluded enough for Ananzi to stop and eat unseen, or so he thinks.
Mood: Suspicious, tense, later becomes a scene of trickery and violence.
Ananzi meets Lion, deceives him about the sacks' contents, and later ties Lion to a tree and beats him.
Lion's Home
The dwelling of the Lion, where he lives with his wife and children. It is a place where a 'great dinner' is held.
Mood: Initially welcoming and celebratory, but with an underlying tension due to Ananzi's presence.
Lion recounts his ordeal, and a celebratory dinner is held, attended by Miss Nancy and Ananzi (disguised as a baby).