Traditional | West Africa
Why Anansi Has Eight Thin Legs
Spider Anansi tied ropes to his legs to attend multiple parties simultaneously, but his plan backfired, resulting in his eight legs becoming thin.
In a faraway jungle, there was a spider named Anansi. Anansi wasn’t like other spiders. He had a big head, a round body, and eight thick legs. He loved food and parties more than anything else.
One day, Anansi heard about four big parties. “I want to go to all of them!” he said happily. But there was a problem: all the parties were happening at the same time. So, Anansi came up with a clever plan.
He tied a rope around each of his four pairs of legs. Then, he went to his friends—Rabbit, Monkey, Turtle, and Bird—and gave them the other end of each rope. He told them all, “When the food is ready, pull the rope. I’ll feel it and come quickly to join you!”
Anansi sat in the middle of the jungle, waiting for the parties to start. Suddenly, he felt a pull on his legs. “The parties have started!” he shouted excitedly.
But then, all the ropes started pulling at the same time. All his friends' parties had started! Anansi was being pulled in four directions at once. “This isn’t what I planned!” Anansi cried out.
His thick legs started stretching because of the pulling. By the time the parties were over, Anansi’s legs were no longer thick. They were long and thin, and he hadn’t eaten any food.
Since that day, Anansi and all spiders have had eight thin legs. And it’s all because Anansi wanted to go to four parties at once!
