It is only relatively recently that humans have been able to ride out the depths of winter in comfort; we may lament the waning daylight and employ modern solutions to combat the darkness – sun lamps, vitamin D supplements, vacations to the southern hemisphere (if you’re lucky). But for most of our evolutionary history, humans spent this time just trying to endure, often keeping close quarters around a fire to stay warm; and from this close-knit huddle for survival, many storytelling traditions were born.
As we navigate the darkest month of the year, Notes from the Lab is honoring the spirit of the season, and each week will bring a new folktale from every corner of the globe. But of course, we won’t be telling just any folktale: insects have existed long before humans and will likely persist long after we’re gone (after all, they don’t really need us). Ancient humans recognized their importance and often placed them in high regard, honoring them with figures of great significance and roles that changed the course of human history.
This week, we’ll tell one of the many tales featuring Anansi, a West African figure often depicted as a trickster spider. Anansi originates from the Akan people, who inhabit modern-day Ghana; the name “Anansi” comes from the Akan word for “spider.” Anansi is still a prominent figure in West African, African American, and Caribbean folklore. The following story is an excerpt from Akan-Ashanti Folktales, a collection of tales from West Africa compiled and translated by the Scottish anthropologist R.S. Rattray. The tale tells the consequences of Anansi’s hard-headedness and how spiders came to have such a small “head” and a large “rear end.”
HOW IT CAME ABOUT THAT THE HINDER PART OF KWAKU ANANSE, THE SPIDER, BECAME BIG, AT THE EXPENSE OF HIS HEAD, WHICH BECAME SMALL
From Akan-Ashanti Folktales; collected & translated by R.S. Rattray, illustrated by Africans of the Gold Coast Colony
THEY say that once a great hunger came, and that Kwaku Ananse said he would go and search for meat and vegetable food and bring it that he and his wife Aso might eat. He went into a certain stream and met people; now these people whom he met, excuse my saying so, were spirits. When Ananse met the Spirits, they were standing in the water and splashing the stream-bed dry to catch the fish. Kwaku Ananse said, “Brothers, may I come and splash a little too?” The Spirits said, “Come.”
Ananse went, and he saw that they were using their skulls to splash the stream dry. The Spirits said to Ananse,” You have seen that which we take to splash the stream dry, will you allow us to remove your skull in order that you may splash too?” Ananse said, “I will permit you, take it off for me.” Of a truth, the Spirits removed it and gave it to him. Kwaku Ananse and the Spirits joined together in splashing the bed of the stream dry.
As they splashed, the Spirits raised a song: “We, the Spirits, when we splash the river-bed dry to catch fish, we use our heads to splash the water, Oh, the Spirits, we are splashing the water.” The Spider said, “This song is sweet, may I sing some of it?” The Spirits said, “Sing some.” And he lifted up his voice: “The Spirits, we are splashing the water, we take our heads to splash the water. Oh, the Spirits, we are splashing the water. Since the Creator made things, do we take our heads to splash the water? Oh, the Spirits, we are splashing the water. I take my head to splash the water dry to-day o, Oh, the Spirits, we are splashing the water.”
Ananse finished singing, and the Spirits told him, saying, “We have splashed, we have got fish, your share is a basket full, take it and go and eat, take your skull, join it (on your body), and go off; but what we have to say most particularly is this, the very day you sing any of that song, your skull will open and fall off.” The Spider said, “Fish in abundance which you have given to me, is all I desire, and as for a song, for what reason should I sing it? “The Spirits said, “That is well, go off.” The Spider set off. The Spirits, too, got everything together, and they, too, went away.
When the Spirits had reached yonder, as it were, then they raised their song: “We, the Spirits, when we splash the river-bed dry to catch fish, we use our heads to splash the water. Oh, the Spirits, we are splashing the water.” And the Spider heard the song, and he, too, took it up: “Since the Creator made things, have we taken our heads to splash the water? Oh, the Spirits, we are splashing the water.”
No sooner had he finished than his skull opened and dropped off. Ananse lifted it up and held it against his chest. He said, “Spirits, Spirits, my head has fallen off.” The Spirits heard, and they said, “That’s the Spider, he hasn’t listened to what we told him, and he is calling us, let us all go back and hear what he will say.” Almost immediately, the Spider came hastening along. He said, “Puo! Children of my father, my head has opened and fallen off, so I beg of you, if I have done you any harm, forgive it; you are in the right, but take my head and put it back in its place for me.”
The Spirits took it, and replaced it. They said to him, “Now if you sing this song again, and it falls off again, when you call us, we shall not answer, so get along with you.” The Spirits set off again. As they were going they sang their song. And now Ananse began to sing again, and his head became detached and fell off, kutukum! And he lifted it and, excuse my vulgarity, clapped it against his [rear end], and leaped to the side of the path, sora!