ANANSESEM - Kwaku Ananse and the Red Stones

 … is an anonymous, timeless and placeless tale retold. Like most of the folktales of southern Ghana, human beings, animals, birds, insects, indeed all living things live together and relate to each other as such. In the story, the legendary character, Kweku Ananse the spider, ever crafty and mischievous, was caught up, this time, in his own web.

Ignoring the seriousness of his mission of attending the funeral of his father-in-law, after many, many years away from his home village, Ananse chose to play a trick on his companion, Oguan the sheep, enabling him to eat all the food served them at the funeral.

On the second journey to another funeral, however, his companion, Avalife the bird, proved wiser than him and succeeded in eating all the food. Back to Tokoe where they all lived, he was devoured by bitter revenge. In his desperation to inflict the most painful blow to his friend, he accidentally killed his wife and only son. Mad with anger, the quest for revenge caused him to pay the ultimate price with his blood. His head crashed on a gravel stone, thus explaining why that stone is red in colour.