About this folktale
The Clever Gourd Trap: How Ananse Caught the Hornets - A West African Folk Story is published on Mythopia by Konlan Mikpekoah. The narrative connects to themes and tags including African Tales, Ghanaian Tales, Ananse, African Stories. Even shorter folktales carry moral and cultural weight: readers often compare how the lesson applies today, and how the same motif appears across regions. If you know another version from your family or community, Mythopia welcomes a respectful retelling so audiences can compare tone, detail, and local wisdom alongside this text.
"All the stories will be yours if you bring me hornets in a gourd,"
Hyena told Ananse.
Ananse knew just what to do.
He cut a hole in a gourd.
He filled a bowl with water.
Then he found a swarm of hornets and threw water on them.
Holding the bowl over his head like an umbrella,
Ananse shouted,
"It's raining! Only fools stay out in the rain.
Come hide inside this nice dry gourd."
Once the hornets were in the gourd,
Ananse plugged the hole and took the gourd to Hyena.
"Now all the stories are mine!"
Ananse shouted.
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