Origin: African

Author: Unknown

There was a year when it didn’t rain.  Because it didn’t rain, the gardens didn’t grow, and nobody had any food to eat.  Everybody was hungry.  Anansi had a lot of spider children.  He had big spider children, middle-sized spider children, little spider children, even baby spider children, but they were all hungry.  And they said, “Daddy, get us something to eat.”

So Anansi left their house.  He went down the road looking for food for all his spider children.  As he walked along, it seems to him like he could hear singing.  It sounded like a lot of people singing a song together.  It sounded like, “Oh — , we need to catch the fishes, so — we use our heads – to scoop the river dry.  We catch the fishes.”  (Song is a chant with voice rising where underlined.)

Anansi couldn’t imagine who could be singing that song.  What did it mean?  He went on down the road.  The song just kept getting louder.  He came to the place where the river crossed the road.  It sounded like the music was coming from downstream, so he turned down the path that ran along the river bank.  And the song just kept getting louder and louder: “Oh, we need to catch the fishes, so we use our heads to scoop the river dry.  We catch the fishes.”

He pushed apart the bushes and looked through and there in the middle of the river were all kinds of ghosts.  They had taken off their heads and they were using their heads, like a bucket, to scoop all the water up out of the river.  And as they did, they sang, “Oh, we need to catch the fishes, so we use our heads to scoop the river dry.  We catch the fishes.”

By now there was no more water left in the bottom of the river. And Anansi watched as they went about with their baskets and caught all the fish that were down in the mud.  Then they carried the baskets to the side of the riverbank.  They climbed up out of the water.  They put their head back on, and they went walking back down the trail carrying the fish

Anansi, he forgot all about being afraid of ghosts.  He stepped out of those bushes and he said, “Don’t leave.  Teach me to fish like that.”

One of the ghosts turned back to Anansi.  He said, “Well, I could, but I’d have to take off your head.”  And so the ghost reached up, and, “knoct” (cluck of tongue), he took Anansi’s head right off his shoulders.

He handed it to Anansi and said, “Now follow me and do what I do.   They waded down into the water because now the water was running in the bottom of the river again.  The ghost took off his own head, and the two of them stood there and began to scoop the water up out of the river.  And as they did, they sang, “Oh, we need to catch the fishes, so we use our heads to scoop the river dry.  We catch the fishes.”

By now all the water was gone in the bottom of the river again, but down in the mud were big, fat, silver fish that flopped back and forth.  Before they could get away, Anansi ran around with his basket and caught them all.  He carried the basket over to the riverbank.  He climbed up out of the water.  The ghost climbed up out of the water and put his head on.

Then he turned to Anansi and he put Anansi’s head right back, “Knoct”, onto his shoulders. Then he said, “Anansi, if I were you, I wouldn’t sing that song again.  If you do, your head will fall off, and I won’t be there to put it back on for you.”
“Oh, I’ll never sing that song again,” said Anansi.  “Why would I want to sing that song again?  Look at all the fish I’ve already caught.”  So Anansi picked up the basket and started walking down the road.

The sun was shining bright and pretty.  Anansi began to thinking about his children again, the big spider children, the middle-sized spider children, the little spider children, even the baby spider children.  How happy they would be when they saw all the food he had brought home for them to eat.   But that song, it just sort of started bubbling up and bubbling up and bubbling up, “Oh, we need to catch the fi!”  He had almost forgotten and sung that song.  He would have to be much more careful after that.

He began to think about smiles.  He was thinking about the smiles on all the faces of his children when they saw all this delicious food he was bringing for them to eat.  But, that song, it just sort of started bubbling up, and bubbling up, bubbling up, and bubbling up, “Oh, we need to – whoop!”    He’d have to be a lot more careful.

Anansi had an idea.  He’d think of sad things.  If he thought of sad things, he wouldn’t forget and sing that song.  So Anansi began to think about the saddest thing he could imagine.  The saddest thing he could imagine was that it hadn’t rained all year and nobody had any food to eat and everybody was hungry.  Old people, babies, everybody was so hungry.

But his spider children weren’t going to be hungry, because he was bringing home all this food for them to eat.  “Oh we need to catch the fishes, so we use our heads to scoop the river dry. We catch the fishes.”  PLOP! Anansi’s head fell in the middle of the road.

He picked it up and he put it back on his shoulders. ‘Knoct” PLOP! It fell in the road again.  He picked it up and he turned it around and around and around.

PLOP!  It fell on the road again. After several tries, Anansi scooped his head up under his arm.  He turned the eyes in the direction where he was going so he could see where he was headed.  He picked the basket of fish up under his other arm and he started on down the road to his house.

Now Anansi’s children, they were all looking out the window, waiting for their Daddy to come home, the big spider children, the middle-sized spider children, the little spider children, even the baby spider children.  They were all looking out the window.  When they saw him coming up the road in front of their house, they said, “Mama, Mama, here comes Daddy.  He doesn’t have his head on” And they all went running out the door toward Anansi.  Anansi’s wife, she scooped up all those baby spider children and she went running right after them.

They went right up to Anansi and said, “What happened?” And Anansi tried to explain to them about the ghosts, and the fish, and that song.  Anansi’s wife said, “Don’t be silly.”  And she pick up Anansi’s head and “Knoct,” put it right back on his shoulders. PLOP! It fell on the road again.

One of the big spider children ran in the house and came back with a needle and a thread.  They began to stitch Anansi’s head on, but when they finished, PLOP!  It fell on the road again.

One of the middle-sized children ran in the house and came back with a hammer and a handful of nails.  They began to tact Anansi’s head on, but when they finished – PLOP! It fell on the road again.

One of the little spider children ran in the house and came back with the glue.  They spread glue all over Anansi’s head and neck and shoulders and when they finished –PLOP!  It fell on the road again.

Now the spider baby children, they wanted to help their daddy, too.  One of those spider baby children came over and picked up Anansi’s head.  He was gonna try to put his Daddy’s head right back on Daddy’s shoulders just like everybody else had, but he was just a baby.  He couldn’t reach up very high because he wasn’t very tall.  Even though he stretched up just as high as he could, the very highest part of Anansi that he could put the head on was Anansi’s bottom.  And the head didn’t come off.

Anansi jumped up and down, he kicked, he danced.  He turned himself around and around in circles and still that head stayed stuck to his bottom.  He ran into the house.  He climbed up next to the ceiling and there in the corner he began to spin a spider web.  He wouldn’t come down.

After several weeks went by, a little tiny head began to grow back on Anansi’s neck where his old head used to be, but it never got very large. And that big head, it stayed stuck to his bottom.

The next time you see a spider, look at it very carefully and you’ll see that on the front it has a very tiny head.  But, it seems to have a much larger head where it should have its bottom.  Also, notice that spiders always spin their webs up next to the ceiling.  If they can help it, they don’t ever come down because they’re so embarrassed about how they look. They don’t want anyone to see them!