Ananse and the Village People

Ananse and the Village People.

Once upon a time, Kweku Ananse lived in a village called pong. The people of Pong were very united. One day, the chief of the village called his people and suggested to them the idea of having a farm that will feed every one in the village in times of famine.

Every one in the village embraced the idea except Kweku Ananse who said that he was sick. Any time he was called upon to join them in the farm, he lied that he was sick.

Fridays were set aside for work on the farm. Work on the farm went on very well without Kweku Ananse who lied that he was too sick to work on the farm. Work on the farm went well and the farm started to yield after some months. When it was almost time for harvesting, the Chief and his people realised that someone had started to steal the farm produce.

Each day they went to the farm, they realised that an unknown individual was harvesting a portions of the farm. News of the theft of the farm produce spread very fast tin the whole of the village. The chief summoned the entire village folks and them to fashion out a plan that will help them to be able to catch the thief.

People suggested various ways of catching the thief but one of them was outstanding. Kweku Ananse’s son, Ntikuma gave that outstanding idea. Ananse himself was not at the meeting because he claimed he was sick.

It was decided during the meeting that a big statue be placed in the middle of the farm. The statue was made of quick drying glue such that any one who touched it got stuck to it.

Three days later, Ananse went to the farm in the night to continue his dubious nocturnal activity (not knowing what plans the people had taken to arrest the thief. When he arrived in the farm, he saw something like a human being in the farm.

Ananse quickly shouted,

“Who is that? Who is that?

What are you doing in the farm at this time of the night?

There was no answer. Ananse continued to question the statue thinking that it was a human being. He got very close to the statue and still thinking that that was a human being said,

“Hey man, if you do not answer me I will slap you with my left hand.” And before he could end his statement, he had slapped the supposed human with his left hand. His left hand got stuck to the glue-made statue.

Ananse thought that the individual had held him and so he shouted further in anger saying;” look my friend; I asked you a simple question. First, you did not mind me now you have held my left hand without any provocation.

Please leave my left hand else I will slap you with my right hand” but before Ananse could end his statement, he had already again slapped the statue with his right hand and it got stuck. Ananse, now becoming very furious and alarmed because day was already breaking started to kink the statue with his legs in an attempt to free himself. Both of his legs also got stuck. Kweku Ananse was now hanging on the statue with no one to rescue him.

The next morning, the elders of the town decided to go to the farm to see if luck was on their side in arresting the mysterious thief. They saw Ananse hanging on the statue. Quickly, word got to the villagers and everybody in the village rushed to the farm to see kweku Ananse hanging on the statue.

It was a big shame for Kweku Ananse and his family. The villagers set Ananse free from the statue and hooted at him. Unable to bear the shame, Ananse took to his heels and went and hid in the top corner of his room.

This is the reason why we always find Ananse in the top corners of our rooms. Also, because of the shame, this is also the reason why Ananse always shies away when he sees people approaching.