As in most cultures African mythology is filled with stories of animals. Many are what is termed trickster tales where an animal or insect is gifted with cunning and continuously confounds the limits set by the gods. In Bantu Africa (East, Central and southern Africa) and the western Sudan, the trickster is the hare; in West Africa (Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone) it is the spider; and in Benin, Nigeria the trickster is a tortoise.13
For this section of stories I have chosen to begin with an uncharacteristic story ”How the Tortoise Grew a Tail”14 in which the tortoise is not in the wrong. The tortoise is a guest at the home of his friend the boa. The boa wraps his tail around the bowl of food when he eats and unknowingly keeps the tortoise from being able to eat. The tortoise leaves angry and hungry. When he gets home he decides to teach his friend a lesson. He weaves himself a tail from grass and sticks it on with tree gum. Then he invites the boa for dinner and proceeds to do the same as the boa wrapping his tail around the bowl. The boa who is unable to reach the food suddenly realizes what he did to his friend and is ashamed. The lesson from this story is “We learn from our friends to be short, and we also learn to be tall.”
This story also fits in with the sun and moon stories about friendship and how we often offend others without realizing what we are doing. What does the Boa do that was rude to his friend? Did the boa intentionally keep his friend from eating? Should the tortoise have just forgotten what happened? What would have happened? Do you think that the boa and tortoise are still good friends? What does the moral mean in this story? Is the story really about the animals or is this really about humans?
Perhaps the most well-known character in Western Africa is Anansi the Spider. Perhaps the most famous story is Anansi Owns All Tales That Are Told.15 In it Anansi the spider goes to the Sky God and wants to buy from him all the stories that are told. The Sky God tells him that many people have wanted to own the stories but the price is high. He wants three things: the hornets, the great python and the leopard. Anansi agrees and goes home. There he takes a gourd and puts a small hole in it. He then throws some water on himself and the hornets. Then he sits inside and tells the hornets they should get into the gourd so they will not get wet. When the hornets do this Anansi plugs up the hole with some grass. He takes the gourds to the Sky God and goes on to his second quest.
This time he cuts down a long bamboo pole and some strong vines. When he comes upon the python he tells him that he has been arguing with his wife about whether the python is longer or shorter than the pole. Anansi thinks the python is longer and stronger and gets the python to let himself be measured. In order to stretch himself out as far as possible the python allows Anansi to tie him to the pole and wrap him with the vines. The python is now caught and Anansi brings him to the Sky God.
Finally the leopard is left. Anansi digs a pit and covers it with brush. The leopard falls into the pit and Anansi offers him help. He first bends a tree toward the ground and ties it so it won’t move. Then he ties another rope to the bent tree top and tells the leopard to tie the other end to his tail. After the leopard does this Anansi cuts the rope holding the bent tree and the leopard is lifted up by his tail into the air. Anansi then kills the leopard and takes his body to the Sky God. The Sky God is impressed with his feat and gives all stories over to Anansi so that whenever anyone tells a story he must pay homage to Anansi the spider, who is the owner.
What does it mean to “own” a story. Why would Anansi want to own them? Does the Sky God really want the hornets, python and leopard? Does he really believe that Anansi can do what he asks? If you owned all the stories would you sell them for three animals? Do you sympathize with the victims or not? If not, why not? If Anansi is a trickster should he be thought of as a hero?
All of these trickster tales are interesting because most have a moral and they are easily comparable to fables from other cultures. Discussion about the character of the trickster and the moral lesson can be used to stimulate children’s writing either in reaction pieces to the moral or attempts at some simple fable writing of their own.