Anansi

Here’s my take on Anansi (or Anase, or Kwaku Ananse, or Nanzi, or Anacy), one of the most popular folk figures of West Africa, specifically Ghana and Ivory Coast, although stories about him have spread to the Caribbean through the triangular trade. Like Loki in Norse mythology, he is the archetypal trickster, who delights in playing tricks, triumphs over stronger opponents through his cunning, but is often punished for his misdeeds. However, he also occasionally fulfills more noble roles, notably on behalf of Nyame, the sky god, or Asase Yaa, the earth mother goddess, who are sometimes considered his parents. Despite his popularity, he is not particularly considered religiously, although he is sometimes perceived as an abosom, a minor deity in the Akan religion, or as a lwa by voodoo practitioners.
Anansi's main names are derived from the Akan word for "spider," and he takes on the appearance of the said animal in the vast majority of tales, but he also occasionally takes on a more human-like appearance, or even a hybrid of the two. He also has a wife — sometimes called Aso, sometimes called Okonore Yaa — and four children, three of whom have unusual physical features : Tikelenkelen, with a large head ; Nankonhwea, with spindly neck and legs ; and Afudohwedohwe, with a large belly ; as for his firstborn, Ntikuma, he has no deformities.
Although the stories featuring this character were primarily transmitted orally, several of them were transcribed in writing, notably by the Africanist R. S. Rattray, and I will share a few of them with you.

One of the most famous of these tales tells of Anansi who managed to gather all the wisdom of the world in a clay pot (or a calabash, depending on the variant), so that he could be its sole beneficiary. He then attempted to hide the container high in a tree, climbing it while holding the object, but consistently fell. After numerous unsuccessful attempts, Anansi was caught by his son Ntikuma, who mocked him, pointing out that he hadn't even thought to tie the container behind his back to make it easier to climb. In anger, the father spider accidentally broke the pot, allowing the wisdom to spread once again. Anansi, initially upset, eventually realized that if he hadn't thought of the simple solution his son mentioned, he must not have been worthy of possessing all the world's wisdom.

Another story explains why Anansi catches flies in his web : one day, when he was very hungry, he saw Wansena the fly eating kenkey — a fermented corn dish — in front of his house, and begged the fly for some. The insect refused, but invited the spider to follow him to his village, where more kenkey was being prepared. Anansi ate plenty, but still didn't get enough, and asked for more, a request the flies refused. Annoyed, the spider devised a plan to get what he wanted : once night fell and the insects were asleep, he spun a web all over the village, covering it with a sweet, fragrant substance. In the morning, Wansena and his kin were all lured into the trap, and Anansi took the opportunity to satisfy his hunger, gorging himself on kenkey, and going so far as to take the rest in a web bag when it was time to take his leave.

But there are many other stories of this kind, sometimes bawdy, such as the one where Anansi first met his future wife, Aso, and had intercourse with her nine times in a single night, each time her then-husband, jealous and sterile, went to relieve the ailments caused by the poison the spider had slipped into his food earlier that day. Or the one where Anansi, charged by Nyame with bringing him a beautiful maiden, ended up marrying all the women in an all-female village, before all but one of them were taken from him by Nyame's messengers. Very ill, she was treated by Anansi, bathing her until her diseases were absorbed by the water ; cured, she shone with a beauty far superior to that of the other women in the village. Later, as if in revenge, Anansi spilled the contaminated water during a feast held at Nyame's dwelling, causing all the diseases of the world to spread.
It is interesting to note that several of Anansi's adventures are very similar to those of Br’er Rabbit, another cunning trickster from West African legends, whose oral tradition remained very much alive among the first African Americans, to the point of being written down in The Tales of Uncle Remus, published by Joel Chandler Harris in 1881, and later adapted for the screen by Disney Studios in the 1946 film Song of the South.