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Folktale

Ananse's Pea Patch Plot: How the Spider Got Stuck in the Rafters

1 min read

About this folktale

Ananse's Pea Patch Plot: How the Spider Got Stuck in the Rafters is published on Mythopia by Konlan Mikpekoah. The narrative connects to themes and tags including African folklore and oral tradition. 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.

African folktale illustration – Ananse's Pea Patch Plot: How the Spider Got Stuck in the Rafters

Mrs. Ananse planted peas, but Ananse didn't help.

He pretended he was dying.

"Bury me in the pea-field," he said.

"Make a coffin-hole so I can watch the peas growing while I'm dead."

Ananse pretended to die,

and they buried him.

Every night Ananse got out of the grave and ate peas.

Ananse's son made a tar-stump to catch him.

"These peas are mine!" Ananse shouted at the tar-stump.

Ananse fought with the tar-stump and got stuck.

Ananse's family found him stuck to the tar-stump.

Ananse was so ashamed he ran up in the rafters,

and that's where he stays.

THE END...