Anansi and Company: Retold Jamaican Tales

By Bish Denham

How do you escape a hungry tiger? Why do ram-goats smell? What happens if you get too greedy? In this collection of ten retold Jamaican stories, Anansi the spider tricks, sings, and dances his way into and out of trouble.

But who is Anansi? It was the Ashanti of West Africa who brought the spider into the Caribbean. He clung tight to the web he wove in the minds of those who had been captured, surviving not only the harrowing passage across the Atlantic Ocean, but hundreds of years of slavery.

As a trickster, Anansi has both good and bad traits, which makes him very human. Sometimes he wins, sometimes he loses. When he wins he dances and sings for joy. When he loses, he shakes it off and keeps on living, a lesson for us all.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bish Denham
• Release date: Jul 3, 2015
• ISBN: 9780986049446

Bish Denham

Bish Denham's family has been in the Caribbean for over a hundred years. She was raised in the U. S. Virgin Islands and still has lots of family living there. She says, "Growing up in the islands was like living inside a history book. Columbus named them, Sir Francis Drake sailed through the area, and Alexander Hamilton was raised on St. Croix. Pirates plied the waters and hundred of years of slavery left its indelible mark. It was within this atmosphere of magic and wonder that I grew up. My hope is pass some of that magic and wonder on to my readers."

Book preview

ANANSI AND COMPANY:

Retold Jamaican Tales

By Bish Denham

Illustrations by Adrienne Saldivar

Copyright 2013 by Bound Post Publishing

Published by Bound Post Publishing

P. O. Box 293793, Kerrville, Texas, 78029

ISBN 978-0-9860494-0-8

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system in any form – either mechanically, electronically, photocopy, recording, or other – except for short quotations in printed reviews, without the permission of the publisher.

Cover by Adrienne Saldivar copyright 2012

Dedicated with love to my mother,

Erva Claire Denham.

You always encouraged me.

You taught me how to read and write.

You showed me the way.

Table of Contents

Introduction

1. Anansi Takes Wee-Pig Home

2. Riddle Number One

3. Eggs and Scorpions

4. Riddle Number Two

5. Anansi and Beetle

6. Riddle Number Three

7. Escaping Tiger

8. Riddle Number Four

9. Why Ram-Goat Smells

10. Riddle Number Five

11. Anansi, Guinea-Hen and Fish

12. Riddle Number Six

13. Anansi and the Cooking Pot

14. Riddle Number Seven

15. Miss Ophelia’s Daughter

16. Riddle Number Eight

17. The Pea that Made a Fortune

18. Riddle Number Nine

19. Stuck on a Stump

20. Riddle Number Ten

21. Answers to the Riddles

22. Glossary

23. Author’s Note

24. Coming Soon!

25. Acknowledgements

26. About the Author

Introduction

You are probably familiar with Uncle Remus and the stories of Brer Rabbit. What you might not know is that many of them are adaptations of the Anansi stories. It was the Ashanti of West Africa who brought the spider into the Caribbean. He clung tight to the web he wove in the minds of those who had been captured, surviving not only the harrowing passage across the Atlantic Ocean, but hundreds of years of slavery.

As a trickster, Anansi is crafty and sly, but many times his tricks backfire on him and he finds himself the victim of his own greed. He is a flawed character with both good and bad traits. It is perhaps because he is flawed that we find him so human and so appealing. Whatever the outcome, Anansi teaches life lessons and tells us why things are the way they are. When he wins he dances and sings for joy. When he loses, he shakes it off and keeps on living, a lesson all of us should take to heart.

Anansi stories are fluid and adaptable. They are as varied as the colors of the ocean. Each island in the Caribbean