Anansi, The Clever
I. Characters * Anansi * Nyame * Aso * Onini * Osebo * Mmoboro * Mmoatia
II. Settings
The setting was not mentioned in the selection.
III. Themes * Bravery – Anansi showed bravery all throughout the selection because no matter how aggressive and dangerous the animals he encountered were he still continued and finished his task. * Determination – Anansi was determined in finishing the task because he wanted to tell stories to the children, he continued capturing the animals knowing that these animals could kill him. * Cleverness - The title said it all, in the selection Anansi was clever enough to capture the harmful animals.
IV. Literary Genre
Fable usually features animals that behave and speak as human beings, told in order to highlight human follies and weaknesses.
The selection is a Fable because it has animals as characters.
V. Plot/Summary
One day Anansi saw that the children was bored, he said that he needs to tell those children stories to prevent them from getting bored. So he decided to go to Nyame, the sky God to buy the wooden box of stories from him. The price were Onini the python, Osebo the leopard, Mmoboro the hornet and Mmoatia the fairy. He immediately went to the house of Onini and said that his wife told him that the stick is longer than Onini. So Onini laid beside the stick and Anansi covered him with his silk and brought him to Nyame. Next was Osebo, Anansi made a trap and it succeeded. Anansi helped Osebo get out from the trap but it was just an act, when Osebo got out he spun around the tree until he was completely trussed then Anansi quickly wrapped his silk around the leopard and brought it to Nyame. Anansin then poured the water over the hornets’ nest and offer them to stay inside his calabash but Anansi covered the hole so that the hornets can’t get out and bought them to Nyame. Then Anansi made a doll with ano (ano is made from yams with eggs and oil which fairies love) and a gum, after the fairy ate the ano she got angry because the doll wasn’t answering her, so she kicked it making her foot stuck on the gum and soon the rest of her body. After the fairy was trapped Anasi brought her to Nyame. And at last Anansi had paid the price that even princes and rich villagers had failed to pay. So Nyame gave the wooden box to Anansi and named it “Spider Stories” and told people stories for ever.