| Category: | West African Legends |
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Long ago, Anansi the Spider wanted to be the wisest creature in the world. He traveled far and wide, collecting wisdom from every corner of the earth. Eventually, he had gathered so much wisdom that he needed a large pot to hold it all. With the pot full of wisdom, Anansi felt very powerful indeed.
"Now I am the wisest of all creatures," he thought to himself. "No one else should have this wisdom, so I will hide it where no one can find it." Anansi decided to hide the pot high up in a tall tree, so he tied the pot around his belly and began to climb.
But with each step, the pot bumped against his knees and got in the way. Anansi struggled and slipped, making very little progress. His young son, Ntikuma, watched from below and couldn't help but laugh. "Father," Ntikuma called out, "why don't you tie the pot to your back instead? Then it won't get in the way."
Anansi stopped and thought about what his son had said. "Of course!" he muttered. "That's the solution!" He tied the pot to his back and quickly climbed to the top of the tree.
But when he reached the top, he paused. "Wait a minute," Anansi said, "If my young son down there already knew this, then I don't have all the wisdom after all!" Furious, Anansi threw the pot of wisdom down from the tree, and it shattered into pieces.
The wind carried the pieces of wisdom all over the world, and they scattered far and wide. From that day on, no one creature held all the wisdom, and everyone had a little piece of it—just enough to know something valuable but never everything.