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WHY ANANSI THE SPIDER HAS SKINNY LEGS

Once upon a time there live a spider, his name was Anansi and he didn't like to cook. To feed, Anansi would visit his friends just when their meal was ready

One morning Anansi was hungry and as usual choose the option of visiting his friends over cooking. So he went to the Rabbit's house and headed straight to the kitchen but the food was not prepared yet. The Rabbit was preparing green veggies

Anansi: Those are some lovely greens you are cooking, Rabbit

Why don’t you stay for breakfast?’ replied the friendly rabbit. ‘The greens are not yet cooked, but they will be soon.’

Anansi knew that if he stayed while the meal was still cooking, then Rabbit would surely give him chores to do, and the greedy spider did not visit his friend in order to do chores. So Anansi said to Rabbit : Please forgive me, dear friend, but I have some things I must do right away. Why don’t I spin a length of web and tie one end around my leg and the other end around your cooking pot. That way you can tug on the web when the greens are cooked and I will come running back for dinner

Rabbit agreed and so he tied Anansi web to his pot while Anansi left in a hurry



Moments later, the greedy spider found himself walking past the house of his good friend, the monkey. And it just so happened that Monkey was also in the middle of preparing his breakfast.

‘Hmm!’ exclaimed the greedy spider as he entered the kitchen. ‘That is a lovely plantain porridge you are preparing, Monkey.’

‘Why don’t you wait until they are cooked and then stay for breakfast, replied the friendly monkey.

Once again, Anansi knew that if he stayed while the meal was still cooking, then Monkey would surely give him chores to do, and the greedy spider had no desire to do chores. So Anansi said to Monkey, ‘I am very sorry, dear friend, but I have some things I must do right away. Why don’t I spin a length of web and tie one end around my leg and the other end around your cooking pot. That way you can tug on the web when the porridge is cooked and I will come running back for breakfast.’

Monkey agreed that this was an excellent idea, and so he tied Anansi’s web to his pot while the spider left in a hurry



On his way home Anansi visited six more friends, all of whom were busy preparing breakfast

He visited the goat, the hare, the squirrel, the mouse, the fox, and last of all he visited his good friend, the hog. And on each visit, Anansi spun the same old story. And for each friend he spun a length of web for their cooking pot. And so it was that all eight of Anansi’s legs were attached to different cooking pots by long lengths of web

The greedy spider simply could not resist tricking each of his friends so that he might eat from every pot while avoiding any chores along the way. He was pleased with himself, i have really outdone myself this time ..he thought

Anansi was very much looking forward to all of the food, especially the monkey's porridge which was always cooked to perfection






Just then, Anansi felt one of the lengths of web tug at his leg. ‘That must be the rabbit with his tasty dish of greens,’ thought the greedy spider 

But then another length of web tugged at another of Anansi’s legs. ‘Oh dear!’ he exclaimed out loud, ‘That must be the monkey's super delicious porridge
Then another leg was tugged! And another! And another! Until all eight of Anansi’s legs were being pulled in different directions at once!

Anansi dragged himself towards the river and jumped into the water so that all of his webs would be washed from his legs. One by one the webs released their grip on his legs until the greedy spider was finally able to climb back onto the riverbank

While Anansi was happy to be free from the web's grip, he noticed something very strange. All eight of his legs had been stretched. Once they were perfect and beautiful, now they were thin and long! How could I have been so greedy? thought Anansi









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