Egya Anansi was a very skilful farmer. He, with his wife and son, set
to work one year to prepare a farm, much larger than any they had
previously worked. They planted in it yams, maize, and beans—and were
rewarded by a very rich crop. Their harvest was quite ten times greater
than any they had ever had before. Egya Anansi was very well pleased
when he saw his wealth of corn and beans.
He was, however, an exceedingly selfish and greedy man, who never liked
to share anything—even with his own wife and son. When he saw that the
crops were quite ripe, he thought of a plan whereby he alone would
profit by them. He called his wife and son to him and spoke thus: “We
have all three worked exceedingly hard to prepare these fields. They
have well repaid us. We will now gather in the harvest and pack it away
in our barns. When that is done, we shall be in need of a rest. I
propose that you and our son should go back to our home in the village
and remain there at your ease for two or three weeks. I have to go to
the coast on very urgent business. When I return we will all come to
the farm and enjoy our well-earned feast.”
Anansi’s wife and son thought this a very good, sensible plan, and at
once agreed to it. They went straight back to their village, leaving
the cunning husband to start on his journey. Needless to say he had not
the slightest intention of so doing.
Instead, he built himself a very comfortable hut near the farm—supplied
it with all manner of cooking utensils, gathered in a large store of
the corn and vegetables from the barn, and prepared for a solitary
feast. This went on for a fortnight. By that time Anansi’s son began to
think it was time for him to go and weed the farm, lest the weeds
should grow too high. He accordingly went there and worked several
hours on it. While passing the barn, he happened to look in. Great was
his surprise to see that more than half of their magnificent harvest
had gone. He was greatly disturbed, thinking robbers had been at work,
and wondered how he could prevent further mischief.
Returning to the village, he told the people there what had happened,
and they helped to make a rubber-man. When evening came they carried
the sticky figure to the farm, and placed it in the midst of the
fields, to frighten away the thieves. Some of the young men remained
with Anansi’s son to watch in one of the barns.
When all was dark, Egya Anansi (quite unaware of what had happened)
came, as usual, out of his hiding-place to fetch more food. On his way
to the barn he saw in front of him the figure of a man, and at first
felt very frightened. Finding that the man did not move, however, he
gained confidence and went up to him. “What do you want here?” said he.
There was no answer. He repeated his question with the same result.
Anansi then became very angry and dealt the figure a blow on the cheek
with his right hand. Of course, his hand stuck fast to the rubber. “How
dare you hold my hand?” he exclaimed. “Let me go at once or I shall hit
you again.” He then hit the figure with his left hand, which also
stuck. He tried to disengage himself by pushing against it with his
knees and body, until, finally, knees, body, hands, and head were all
firmly attached to the rubber-man. There Egya Anansi had to stay till
daybreak, when his son came out with the other villagers to catch the
robber. They were astonished to find that the evil-doer was Anansi
himself. He, on the other hand, was so ashamed to be caught in the act
of greediness that he changed into a spider and took refuge in a dark
corner of the ceiling lest any one should see him. Since then spiders
have always been found in dark, dusty corners, where people are not
likely to notice them.