Western African

Ghanania

Ananse and the pot of wisdom

..or NO ONE PERSON CAN HAVE ALL THE WISDOM IN THE WORLD

This is a very old story told when the world was young . It is about how Mr.. Ananse the Sly and greedy one among all the animals in the forest outsmarted himself.

As the story goes Ananse, that is still his name , but did you know that his first name was Kweku because he was born on a Wednesday ? One day Ananse collected all the wisdom in the world and decided to keep it all in a large pot for himself. Now he said ?I have all the wisdom of the world for myself. At least that was what he thought being such a greedy person.

Kweku Ananse then tied the pot of wisdom around his neck with a strong vine rope and let the pot hang in front of him. But then he was afraid that someone would find the pot of wisdom and steal it.? What shall I do with my pot of wisdom? He thought and thought and at last he said,? I shall hide the pot on top of the the tallest tree in the forest.? So he searched the forest until he found the tallest tree which happened to be the thorny silk cotton tree and brought the pot of wisdom to the tree. While Ananse was trying to climb the thorny silk cotton tree his son was watching him.? Father,? he said,? “What are you doing” “Well” said Ananse , I have in this clay pot all the wisdom of the world and I am going to hang it on the top of the tallest tree away from everybody , then I will be the wisest in the whole wide world.” “I have an idea.” said his son ” Why not hang the pot behind you instead of in front of you. Then you will be able to climb the tree?. Well the sly one Ananse hung the pot behind him and to his surprise; he was able to climb to the top of the tree with his pot.

Finally Ananse sat on a branch of the tree holding the pot of wisdom. ?I thought I had all the wisdom in the world? He thought to himself.

?I thought I had it all in my pot but my own son has wisdom not in my pot.? Then he made a statement that we still use today.? No one-person can have all the wisdom in the world.?On his way down he dropped the pot and it smashed into many pieces and scatted all the wisdom all over the world.

Kweku Ananse outsmarts himself

One of the few animals that was able to outsmart Kweku Ananse, Kweku being his first name because he was born on a Wednesday was Adun, the plain’s Baboon.

And although this happened a very long long time ago, Baboon and Ananse are still enemies and it is said that one of the reasons Baboon scratches a lot is that he often feels Kweku Ananse crawling all over his skin and in the hairs on his back. He just cannot stand Kweku Ananse.

Well, as I said, it happened so long ago that most of the details have been forgotten and except the old people, few really remember what exactly happened between Kweku Ananse and Adun the Baboon.

A very, very long time ago as the story goes, Kweku Ananse and Adun, the Baboon were the best of friends and went everywhere together. Most of the time Ananse wanted to just hang on the hairs of Baboon and Baboon treated Ananse with a great deal of respect and love. It is said that they were closer than brothers. All the animals admired them because they were happy and protected each other. They ate together and played together each day among the trees and at night. Baboon would find a large tree to make a bed with some leaves while Ananse just hung from the largest branch on the tree away from all predators.

Some folks said it was a symbiotic existence, a sort of mutual admiration society that benefits each other.

One very fine day as they were foraging for food they came upon a marsh and across the marsh was a banana tree.

Now, everyone knows how much Baboon likes to feed on ripe bananas. And so they crossed the marsh by stepping over the rocks where the Frog and the Turtle rest to soak the sunlight each day.

“Who goes there?” croaked Frog.

“No one but me,” answered Baboon.

“And, who is this with you?” replied Frog

“Well,” said Baboon. “This is Kweku Ananse. He is my best friend.”

“And what are you two doing here?” asked Frog.

“Yes,” added Turtle. “Why are you disturbing us here? We need our rest in the sun, you know.”

“Sorry, Frog and sorry, Turtle. We don’t mean to disturb the two of you.” They replied.

“Then,” shouted Frog, “then why are you crossing the marsh?”

“We have seen a banana tree with its ripe bananas on the other side. We all know that Baboon just loves bananas. And we hope to get some for ourselves,” they said.

Frog and Turtle said, “OK you may cross over. For all we care you can take the whole tree away.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” said Baboon. “And, thank you, again, on behalf of my friend Kweku Ananse. We are going to share the bananas. This is because bananas are not part of Frog’s and Turtle’s diet. And so the two old friends took the bananas back presumably to share. Well, that is there the trouble started. Seeing that the bananas were all yellow and ripe Kweku Ananse wanted them all for himself. Kweku Ananse did not want the share the bananas and after heated arguments about how to share Ananse came up with the idea of keeping the ripened bananas while Baboon kept the stump of the plant. Kweku Ananse picked his and kept the ripe bananas because he wanted to eat those delicious bananas right away without sharing it with his friend Adun. Ananse made a big mistake, which he did not know because he was thinking how smart he was. He did not know that Baboon knew all about how banana plants grew. So Baboon took his stump home, planted it, and waited patiently.

Time went by and one day when Ananse visited Adun he saw a very healthy banana tree growing in Baboon’s yard. It was laden with ripe and juicy bananas. When he asked where it came from Baboon explained that unknown to Ananse, banana trees are peculiar and special in that without seed they just grow new shoots from the roots called rhizomes, Adzanka as the Ga people call it. And that was the secret to the banana tree that Kweku Ananse did not know and had to learn the hard way.

Now Baboon had all the bananas he could eat each time the fruit matured. So Baboon refused to share the fruits of the banana tree with Ananse. And up to now all we can say is that it cured Kweku Ananse from eating bananas. He learned a lesson.

The tortoise and the lizard

Once upon a time there was a famine in the land of the animals. One day, the lizard was passing by a farm when he saw the farmer approach a rock. The lizard hid and watched as the farmer rolled the rock away to reveal the entrance into a cave. The farmer went inside and came out a few minutes later with a handful of yams and rolled the rock back into its place. The lizard waited for the farmer to leave then he too rolled away the rock and went into the cave. Inside the cave were several stacks of yams. The lizard took out a yam, and rolled the rock back into its place. Everyday, the lizard would return to the cave to take a yam and would go home to eat the yam.

One day the lizard was carrying his yam home, he came across the tortoise who asked him where he had gotten his yam. He offered to tell him on the condition that the tortoise told no one. The tortoise promised to keep the secret, so the lizard told the tortoise to meet him the following morning and he would take him to the secret cave. Early the next morning, before the very first cock crow, the lizard and the tortoise went to the secret cave. When they got there, the lizard rolled the rock away to reveal the entrance to the cave. The tortoise could not believe his eyes for there were more yams in there than even he could eat, because the tortoise was a very greedy fellow.

The lizard picked a yam and started on his way home but the tortoise was not done yet. He was going to carry as many yams as he could and maybe even more. Very soon, the farmer came and found the tortoise who was still busy collecting yams. By this time, the lizard was home, had eaten his yam and was taking a nap. The farmer grabbed the tortoise and asked him how he came to be in the cave. The tortoise confessed that the lizard had brought him there, so the farmer took tortoise to the lizard?s house. There they found lizard lying on his back. The farmer asked lizard if it was he who brought tortoise to his cave. The lizard was shocked and said it was not possible as he had been feeling unwell and lying on his back all day. The farmer grabbed the tortoise and threw him against the wall and the tortoise lay on the floor with a broken shell. The tortoise cried out to the insects of the forest who helped him pick up and glue the pieces of his shell together. And that was how the tortoise ended up with a broken shell.

The tortoise goes to a feast in the sky

There was a famine in the animal kingdom and Ijapa the tortoise was finding that food was hard to come by. However, he found out that all the birds in the forest were preparing for the great annual bird feast in the sky and those who had been lucky enough to attend this annual event could testify to the abundance of food at the feast. Since the feast took place in the sky, only the birds could attend. But Ijapa the tortoise was not one to give up so easily. He went to every bird and borrowed a feather making up one excuse or the other. He glued all these feathers to his back and all over his body and soon, he was the most colorful bird you had ever seen.

On the day of the feast, Ijapa the tortoise joined the other birds to make the trip to the great feast in the sky. The other birds could not recognize this strange colorful bird and asked him who he was. He said his name was ?all of us?.

When it was time for the feast, all the food was laid out on a table. Ijapa the tortoise asked, ?who does this food belong to?? and all the birds answered ?all of us?. Ijapa the tortoise said, ?that is me, my name is ?all of us?? and he ate all the food while the birds had none. The birds were so angry that they grabbed ?all of us?, but as they grabbed him, his feathers would come off until the tortoise was revealed. To punish him, the birds decided to leave him in the sky, they would not fly him back to land. Tortoise begged the birds to give a message to his wife. He asked his wife to lay out as many mattresses as she could find so he could have a soft landing. The birds who were still angry asked his wife to bring out all the furniture in the house and that was what she did.

The tortoise jumped from the sky, but instead of landing on a soft mattress, he landed on wood furniture and his shell broke into many pieces. His wife collected these pieces and glued them together and that is why the tortoise does not have a smooth shell.

The Tortoise, the Dog and the Farmer

Once upon a time, there was a famine in the land of Kurumi in southwestern Nigeria, everyone was looking rather thin and unhealthy because very limited food was available. However the tortoise observed that his friend, the dog has looking very rosy and fat. He wondered what the secret of the dog?s well being was and decided to pay him a visit and find out:

Tortoise: My good friend, you know we have been friends for a very long time, please tell me the secret of your rosy cheeks and your fat stomach so that I do not die of hunger.
Dog: There is no secret to it my good friend, its just hard work and living a peaceful and serene life.
Tortoise: My friend, do you like as I?m looking haggard, I know that you have found a way to beat this general hunger, please tell me, I can keep a secret.
Dog: Tortoise my friend, I have told you there is no secret or do you think I?d lie to you?

The tortoise wasn?t satisfied, he knew that somehow, the dog had managed to find a source of living not known to anyone. So he decided to shadow the dog?s movements the next day. He observed the dog leave home very early in the morning with a basket and tailed him all the way to the neighboring village making sure he was at some safe distance behind the dog all the time.

The dog made way to a farm and after looking around to make sure that no one was watching started harvesting yam off the farm into his basket. The tortoise then made his presence known to the Dog:

Tortoise: (shouting) So my friend, this is the secret of your rosy living and you refused to tell me!!
Dog: (Jumping up in fright) Tortoise, why did you follow me here? Well now you know my secret. But if you want to come with me you must come only with me and leave before 6pm when the farmer comes.
Tortoise: I promise! I promise.

So did the tortoise follow the dog each day to the farm and came back with a basket full of yam. However each day the quantity of yam harvested by the tortoise increased and with the increase both the dog and the tortoise had left the farm for home a little later each day than the day before. The dog then decided to caution the tortoise:

Dog: My good friend tortoise, The quantity of yam you take home each day is becoming too much, yesterday, we left for home at 5.45pm, the farmer may catch us and then we are done for.
Tortoise: Don?t worry my friend, I?m storing enough yam at home for the rainy day. The farmer will never catch us.
Dog: I don?t think you should be greedy; you could get us killed if we harvest too much yam than we can carry easily enough to escape being caught by the farmer.

Tortoise: You dare call me greedy! I don?t? think its any of your business how much yam I carry.

So the next day, at 5.30 prompt the dog announced that he was leaving for home. But the tortoise pleaded for some more time to harvest yam. At ten minutes to six the dog put his basket on his head and started heading home. The tortoise noticed this shouted after the dog.

Tortoise: Wait for me, wait for me, I can?t carry my basket alone, it?s to heavy. I need you to assist me put it on my head.

However the dog refused to listen and made haste to avoid the farmer, then the tortoise started crying and singing asking the dog to come back to help him lift his basket or else he (the tortoise) would start a raucous that will attract he farmer?s attention which will mean the death of both of them.

But the dog by then had long gone. The farmer arrived his farm and met the tortoise with a basketful of his yam crying and singing. He promptly descended on the tortoise crying THIEF!! THIEF!!

Immediately a crowd gathered around and the tortoise was brought before the king who decreed that the tortoise be hanged in the market square.

The tortoise captures the elephant

Once there was a king who had been trying very hard to capture the elephant for his personal collection, but that prize had proved elusive. All the hunters in the kingdom had tried but failed to capture the elephant. So the king promised anyone who could capture the elephant half of his kingdom.

The tortoise heard about this and went to the king to accept the challenge. The king was very amused. ?All my hunters have failed to capture the elephant and you think you can succeed where they failed??, the king asked. The tortoise insisted that he was up to the task and promised to deliver the elephant to the king within 48 hours.

The tortoise then dug a big hole, big enough to hold the elephant along a path leading into the village. Then he covered the hole with sticks and leaves so that it was not visible unless you inspected closely. When this was done, the tortoise went to seek out the elephant.

He told the elephant ?You know you are the largest animal in the forest and you should be king?. The elephant had never considered this before but he thought it was not a bad idea. The tortoise told the elephant that the villagers had decided to make the largest animal their king and were all expecting the elephant to come to the village and be crowned as their king. The more the elephant heard, the more excited he became.

The tortoise adorned the elephant with colorful beads and beating a gong, he sang songs praising the elephant while he led the way into the village. Soon they approached the trap and the tortoise being smaller and lighter walked over the trap. The elephant who was following him fell through the sticks and leaves into the deep hole the tortoise had dug. And that was how the tiny tortoise captured the huge elephant and earned half of the king?s kingdom.

The tortoise and the drum

One day, the tortoise was walking along a forest path when he came across a palm tree that had plenty of palm kernel fruits. The tortoise was hungry and the fruits looked juicy and ripe to eat, if only he could reach one of them. He got hold of a long stick and successfully shook some of the fruits off the tree. Unfortunately, before he was able to pick up these fruits from the ground, they rolled into a hole. He shook more fruits off the tree but the same thing happened.

The tortoise then decided to follow the fallen fruits and find them wherever they fell. So he went into the hole, but no could not find any of the fruits. The fruits must have rolled further down the hole, he thought, so he continued down the hole, walking for hours until he dropped right out of the hole into what appeared to be a village square. The tortoise had walked all the way down to the spirit world.

As he looked around, he found a spirit happily chewing on one of his palm kernels, the very last palm kernel. The tortoise exclaimed ?those are my palm kernels, you have to give them back?. The spirit apologized, he did not know that the fruits belonged to the tortoise, but promised to give the tortoise a special drum in exchange.

The spirit led the tortoise into a building where there were several rows of drums along the wall and asked the tortoise to pick any one. There were drums of all sizes but the tortoise picked a small drum which would be easy to carry since he had a long walk ahead of him.

When the tortoise returned to the forest, he stopped to rest under a tree. While resting, he picked up his new drumstick and beat the drum with it. To his astonishment, a feast appeared before him ? there was a sample of every food that he liked. He ate until he was completely stuffed, then he slept under the tree for he was too full to continue his trip.

The following morning, he woke up, picked up his drum and went to his house. Once there, he sent a message out to all the other animals to come to his house. When all the animals were gathered, the tortoise beat his drum and a huge feast appeared. Everyone was delighted and they all ate and partied until they were all exhausted.

The following day, every animal was at the tortoise?s house again. The tortoise beat his drum, a feast appeared and they all ate. They did this everyday. Very soon, the tortoise got tired of beating the drum and appointed the elephant as his official drum beater. However, when the elephant beat the small drum, the drum broke. And there was no feast.

The tortoise would have to return to the spirit world to get a new drum and he immediately set off on this journey. Fortunately, he could remember the exact spot where the palm tree stood. When he got there, he picked up a stick and shook some palm kernels off the tree. The palm kernels fell to the ground and just lay there. The tortoise picked up every one of them and threw them down the hole that led to the spirit world. Then he went after them.

When he arrived in the spirit world, he found the same spirit at the same spot. ?You again?, he exclaimed. ?You have eaten my palm kernels, you have to give them back?. ?Here are your palm kernels?, the spirit said. He had not eaten them as he had just arrived and was only picking them up. The tortoise counted the palm kernels and insisted that some were missing and accused the spirit of lying. He demanded compensation for the missing palm kernels. The spirit again offered to give him a special drum.

This time, the tortoise picked the biggest drum he could find. He needed a drum big enough for the elephant, and the bigger the drum would also produce more food. It took the tortoise several days to drag the big drum back to the surface, so that he was very tired and hungry.

He picked up his new drum stick and beat the drum. Instead of food, a thousand whips appeared. The tortoise alarmed, started to run to his house but the whips followed him and whipped him all the way home.

How the Chipmunk got its stripes

A long time ago, the Chipmunk looked no different from the Squirrel – he had no stripes. This story tells how he got the distinguishing stripes that we know today.

In the deep jungle where all the animals lived, a season of very heavy rains had caused the forest to grow so thick that it was difficult for the animals to move around the jungle paths. They held a meeting to discuss solutions and decided that every animal that moves on the ground would contribute money to pay for the clearing of the jungle paths. Birds who flew in the sky were exempt from this tax.

The Chipmunk who was tiny in size but disproportionately huge in stubbornness said to the other animals, ?I will pay no tax even if it means I never walk on the ground again?. So he took to the trees and hopped and jumped from branch to branch without touching the ground. ?He?s sure to come down sooner or later? said one of the other animals, ?then he will have to pay the tax.? At this, the animals dispersed and went about their business.

Days passed and the Chipmunk had still not touched the ground. All the other animals, even the famously cunning Tortoise had paid their taxes, but the Chipmunk still would not come down. Some began to feel sorry for him. ?Perhaps he has no money, for why else would he suffer and confine himself to a lifetime of hopping on trees??. They said ?It is painful to see one of us land animals reduced to such a lifestyle? and they set up a collection fund to help the Chipmunk. They placed a gourd under an Iroko tree where any animal who wished to help the Chipmunk could put some cowries (for that was the currency at the time) until there was enough to pay his tax.

A bird told the Chipmunk about this and the Chipmunk was thoroughly amused. ?You mean they have nothing better to do with their money than to pay my tax?? he asked. When night fell, he secretly made his way to the Iroko tree under which the collection gourd lay, climbed down the tree and made away with the gourd.

The following morning when this nasty deed was discovered, the animals were rightly upset. They tried to catch the Chipmunk but none could as the Chipmunk was hopping from tree to tree faster than anyone could catch him. The animals decided to banish the Chipmunk from the jungle for he had misused their trust and kindness.

Now banished from his former home, the Chipmunk went to live amongst people.

Later on, during one of the several meetings that the animals hold in the jungle, somebody asked if anyone knew what the Chipmunk did with the stolen money and it was said ?He never put it to any good use but bought new stripes instead?. All shook their heads in pity.