In the heat of the Caribbean forest, where the palms whispered and lizards blinked from sunlit rocks, lived Anansi the Spider, clever, proud, and forever hungry for glory.
One morning, King Lion gathered the animals. “The Sky God keeps all wisdom in a calabash at the top of the tallest silk-cotton tree,” he said. “Whoever brings it down will share its secrets.”
Anansi’s eight eyes gleamed. “I am small,” he said, “but cleverer than all. The task is mine!”
He spun a silk rope and climbed until the clouds turned to mist. There, hanging from the highest branch, glowed a gourd painted with gold. Inside it shimmered like stars trapped in honey. “All the world’s wisdom!” Anansi breathed.
He tied the calabash to his belly and began to descend. But the way was steep, and the gourd swung heavy against his legs. “If only I had thought to carry it on my back,” he muttered.
Below him, his son, little Kweku, called, “Father! Why not tie it behind you so you can climb easier?”
Anansi bristled. “What? My own child giving me advice? And me, the wisest creature alive?”
Furious at being outsmarted, he untied the calabash and hurled it at the ground. It shattered. The wind snatched the glowing pieces and scattered them across the world.
From that day, no one creature held all wisdom; every person got a little piece—just enough to make them foolish in their own way.
Anansi slunk down the tree, his pride heavier than the gourd had been. “All my work for nothing,” he grumbled.
Then the Snake of Wisdom, long and silver-scaled, slid from the roots. “Nothing?” the snake hissed. “You have what you truly wanted—a story. Stories are heavier than gourds and longer-lived than gold.”
Anansi blinked. “So, the trick was on me?”
The snake’s eyes glowed. “On you, or by you—it’s the same thing.”
Anansi returned to his web, thinking. When the next full moon rose, he began to tell the tale of his failure. The other animals laughed, and in that laughter, Anansi found what wisdom had escaped him: that pride breaks what humor repairs.
He told the story again and again until the wind carried it across islands. And that is why, to this day, people say, “Anansi lost wisdom but caught storytelling instead.”
Moral of the Story
Pride loses what humility learns. Wisdom grows when it is shared, not hoarded.
Knowledge Check
- Who was Anansi?
A trickster spider famous in Caribbean folklore. - What did he try to steal?
The Sky God’s calabash of wisdom. - Why did he fail?
His pride made him ignore his son’s advice. - What happened to the calabash?
It broke, scattering wisdom across the world. - Who taught him a lesson?
The Snake of Wisdom. - What did Anansi gain in the end?
The gift of storytelling—the wisdom that never runs out.
Origin: West Indian Folklore
