and children of the world would have something to tell and listen to. He goes up to the sky god, Nyame, and declares that he would like the stories for the people of the world.
Nyame then strikes a deal with Anansi that in order to get the stories, he requires four things: Onini, the python who can swallow a goat; Osebo, the leopard with teeth as sharp as spears; Mmboro, the hornets whose sting is like red hot needles; and the Mmoatia, the bad tempered fairy that no- one can see.
Anansi then comes up with plans with his wife, Aso, to trap the four listed requirements for the stories. When Anansi comes to trap Onini, he tells the python that his wife thinks he is shorter than a palm stick. This remark causes Onini to reply that he will lay on the ground beside the stick for measurement. He then realizes he has difficulty keeping his coils straight, in which Anansi replies that he will help tie Onini to the stick with his web. After he is finished, Anansi takes the python up to Nyame who replies “ I see what I see. There remains what remains”.
When planning to trap Osebo, Anansi finds the watering hole in which the leopard goes to drink every night. He then digs a hole too deep for even a leopard to escape from and covers the hole so that it’s completely invisible. The next day, he looks in the hole to find Osebo trying to claw his way out. Osebo, upon seeing Anansi, asks him to help him out of the hole, in which Anansi replies that if he helped Osebo out of the hole, then the leopard would surely eat him and his family. Upon hearing this remark, Osebo promises that he would not. Anansi then helps Osebo out of the hole by wounding thread to his tail, which causes Osebo to spring into the air, still tied to the tree. Anansi then ties Osebo and cuts the hanging thread from the tree, in which he presents the leopard to the sky god.
His plan is working quite well as Anansi comes across the Mmboro. Upon seeing the nest, Anansi pours water over himself and the nest so that they’re dripping. The hornets angrily buzz out wondering what the commotion is about. Anansi then explains that “the rains have come early”. Since the Mmboro nest is soaked, he suggests that they come into the calabash until the “rain” has stopped. After the last Mmboro comes in, Anansi clasps the plantain leaf he had over his head into place and ties the web. Upon finishing, he presents the hornets to the sky god.
Anansi and Aso are working on how to capture the Mmoatia. Anansi makes a doll from a gun tree and uses ano, which fairies love. Anansi then sneaks away into the afternoon and hides out. During the evening, he hears a little squeaky voice and asks the doll for some ano. Anansi had tied a web to the doll’s head so that it bobbed up and down. After the fairy was finished with the ano, she replied with a small thank you and got infuriated when the doll wouldn’t respond. Anansi jumped out of his hiding spot and tied the thread around the Mmoatia before presenting to Nyame.
The West Africans believe that these stories of Anansi the spider would help children learn the culture and the ways of the world beyond the stories that will be passed down from generation to generation.