Ananse And The Firefly
A very long time ago, Ananse the spider and Firefly were very good friends. Ananse was well known for his craftiness.
One afternoon, Firefly went to Ananse’s house. Ananse was enjoying a bowl of fufu and palm nut soup.
“What brings you here to my home, my friend?” Ananse asked Firefly.
“I would like to go egg hunting with you,” Firefly replied. “Are you available tonight?”
“Yes, I am!” Ananse replied in an excited tone. “I will meet you later tonight.”
When night fell, Ananse and Firefly went into the fields and began egg hunting. Each of them had a sack to keep their eggs. Every time Firefly opened his wings a little to illuminate the eggs lying hidden in the grass, Ananse would jump forward and yell, “It’s mine! I saw it first.” Then he would toss it in his sack.
Ananse continued to cheat Firefly. He grabbed every egg. Firefly didn’t get a single egg. Soon, Ananse’s sack was so full he could hardly carry it.
At long last, Firefly said in a sad tone, “Goodbye, Ananse. I have to go!” Then he flew quickly back home.
Ananse was left alone in the dark. He had no idea how to get home. Slowly, he groped his way toward his house. He couldn’t see a thing. Soon, he bumped into a house. Not knowing whose house it was, Ananse thought up a scheme.
“Uncle! Uncle!” he called out.
“Who is that outside my house at this time of the night?” a deep, hoarse voice answered back.
“It is I, your nephew Ananse!” Ananse replied frantically.
Tiger knew he had no nephews. He stuck his head out the window and saw that it was Ananse. Suddenly, he recalled how Ananse had outwitted him many times in the past.
“It’s payback time,” Tiger said to himself.
“Come in, my favorite nephew,” he said to Ananse, with a mischievous smile.
As soon as Ananse entered, Tiger shut the door behind him. Tiger asked Ananse why he had come to him in the middle of the night.
Ananse replied, “I have brought a bag of eggs for you.”
Tiger asked his wife to cook all the eggs that Ananse had in his sack. When the eggs were ready, Tiger and his family started to eat them hungrily.
“Ananse, my favorite nephew, would you like to eat some eggs?” Tiger asked.
“No, thank you, Uncle,” Ananse replied, nervously shaking his head.
After they were done eating all the eggs, Tiger put two big crabs in a pot and covered them with some leftover eggshells so they looked like there were more eggs inside. He placed the pot on the floor in a room.
“It is dark outside. Stay in the room for the night, my favorite nephew,” Tiger said, grinning and showing all his sharp teeth.
When everyone was asleep, Ananse crept over to the pot. As soon as he put his hand inside to grab an egg, the crabs pinched him so hard that he yelled out in surprise.
“Are you alright, my favorite nephew?” Tiger called out.
“I was bitten by a bedbug,” Ananse replied. “Please excuse me, Uncle!”
Minutes later, Ananse tried again to grab an egg. Again, the crabs pinched him so hard that he yelled out.
“Are you sure you are alright, my favorite nephew?” Tiger asked.
“Oh, Uncle, these bedbugs are disturbing me,” Ananse answered.
That got Tiger very angry. He stormed into the room where Ananse was sleeping.
“Bedbugs? How dare you accuse me of having bedbugs in this fine house after I fed you and gave you a place to sleep?” Tiger shouted at the top of his voice.
He tried to pounce on Ananse, but Ananse dodged and raced out of the door. He ran as fast as he could, terrified for his life.
Tiger did not chase him. He only came to the door and smiled to himself as he watched Ananse run for his life.
The next day, Ananse went to visit Firefly.
“My husband has traveled out of town,” Firefly’s wife said. “Please come back next month.”
Each time Ananse went to visit Firefly, Firefly’s wife would say the same thing, “My husband has traveled out of town. Please come back next month.”
Ananse never figured out where the field was where all the eggs were hidden. Soon, he realized how his greed had left him with nothing.
The moral of the story is: "Cheating and dishonesty will always have consequences."
Ananse thought he was being clever by cheating Firefly out of the eggs, but his dishonesty led to his own downfall. He ended up lost, tricked, and left with nothing. The story teaches that deception and unfairness may seem rewarding at first, but they eventually lead to problems and regret.