The most frequently used character
in the West African Folktales unit was Anansi the spider. However, Anansi was
not just any spider, he was a very cunning trickster spider. Most of the time
his devious plans worked to his advantage, but nevertheless, there were a few
times when Anansi’s sly ways did not pan out.
One of the
ways that tricksters accomplish their malicious goals is by taking advantage of
fools. For example, in the story Elephant and Wren, Spider (the trickster of
the story) was able to deceive the king’s servant (the fool of the story). As a
result, Spider was able to win a contest and receive the grand prize of an
elephant. However, by the end of the story, Spider had turned into a fool
himself. Spider was going to hide the elephant in the woods so that he would
not have to share it with his family. He was instead going to take a wren he
had spotted home for dinner. Spider tied up his elephant, but was unable to
catch the wren. Much to his dismay, Spider’s elephant had also managed to escape.
So in the end, Spider’s trickster ways only paid off momentarily.
In another
example, however, Anansi got his way by using his crafty trickery. In Anansi and Nothing, Anansi persuaded Nothing, who was a very rich man, to trade
clothes with him as they were making their way to a neighboring town to get
some wives. Nothing obliged, and as a result, Anansi was able to obtain many
wives, while Nothing acquired only one. This worked out nicely for Anansi for a
short while. However, his wives soon became fed up with his unpromising
lifestyle and decided to move into the palace where Nothing and his wife lived.
This of course mad Anansi very angry, so he began to plot Nothing’s murder.
Anansi had a trench dug outside the palace and filled it with broken bottles.
He also coated the steps with a slippery substance. He then attempted to coax
Nothing out of the palace. Despite his wife’s pleading, for she knew it was a
trick, Nothing heeded to Anansi’s begging and came outside. This foolish move
of course led to his death, and Anansi’s revenge.
So after
reading this unit, I discovered that tricksters do not always get their ways.
In some cases, the trickster ends up being the fool, but other times the trickster
takes full advantage of the fool. Either way, tricksters and fools provide for
very interesting and entertaining stories!
 |
| Hogna Wolf Spider Source: wikimedia commons |
I recently read someone’s storytelling over Anansi the spider so I am vaguely familiar with the story! I think people in general take advantage of fools unfortunately and so the trickster is a very common type in our day as well! Sometimes by thinking we are so clever, we end up the fool ourselves like Anansi did and like you mentioned, so I really agree with that notion. Yes, these are very interesting ways to create fun stories, but we should remember that honesty is usually the best policy, right? :)
ReplyDelete