Skip to main content
Trickster Tale

Ananse's Barrel Plot: How Goat Escaped Tacoomah's Deadly Trap

1 min read

About this folktale

Ananse's Barrel Plot: How Goat Escaped Tacoomah's Deadly Trap 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.

African folktale illustration – Ananse's Barrel Plot: How Goat Escaped Tacoomah's Deadly Trap

Ananse told Tacoomah,

"We need meat!"

"I've got a plan," said Tacoomah.

"Pretend I'm sick and call for help.

When the animals come in the house,

I'll chop them up and put them in this barrel."

Ananse liked Tacoomah's plan.

"Help!" Ananse shouted.

"Tacoomah's sick! Help!"

Animals came, and Tacoomah chopped,

but the barrel wasn't full yet.

Up on the hillside,

Goat saw animals going in,

but none coming out.

"Is Tacoomah sick?" Goat asked.

"Real sick!" said Ananse.

"Please come in! Come help us!"

But Goat ran higher up the hill,

and Goat stays on the hillside even now.

THE END...