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 he 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.