Reading Part A "West African Folk-Tales"

All of these stories about Anansi are quite entertaining and I found myself laughing out loud at many of them. It was interesting how although Anansi is a great trickster, he himself often seems to be getting tricked as well. In one of the stories, he is tricked by a rubber man, which is probably what the tar baby story of Brer Rabbit is based on.
Each of the stories has both a kind of moral as well as an explanation for some natural phenomenon in the world, normally about animals. This explains why termites are so pesky, or why spiders hide in corners, for example.
Also interesting is how Anansi is such a terrible character, he does despicable things and has killed several people already. He is also completely selfish and often takes advantage of other people, lying and cheating them often. Like many tricksters in mythology, he does seem to get outplayed quite often by fellow conspirators.

Story Source: West African Folk-Tales, compiled by W. H. Barker and Cecilia Sinclair.

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My Project website is here ! A picture I took while in Peru of a tiny pueblo in the Andes

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