| Category: | West African Legends |
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Anansi was always looking for easy food, and one day he came upon a garden full of ripe yams and melons. The farmer who owned the garden, however, was tired of Anansi's tricks and decided to teach him a lesson. He created a sticky tar baby—a figure made of tar and placed it at the entrance of the garden.
When Anansi arrived, he saw the tar baby and called out, "Good morning! How are you today?" The tar baby, of course, didn't answer. Offended, Anansi shouted, "Are you ignoring me? Don't you know who I am?"
When the tar baby remained silent, Anansi angrily slapped it with his right hand, but his hand got stuck. Furious, he hit it with his left hand, but that too got stuck. Before long, Anansi was kicking and head-butting the tar baby, getting himself completely trapped.
The farmer, seeing Anansi trapped, laughed and let him go, knowing he had finally taught the trickster spider a lesson. Anansi, covered in tar and thoroughly embarrassed, never tried to steal from that garden again.