Reading Notes: Anansi Stories

I've now finished the first part of the Jamaica unit; I don't know if I will do the second half or not, but this was really fun! Before we get to Week 7 next semester, I'll make sure to put these into the UnTextbook so people will have access to them!

New Names
There was four friends; one was Anansi, the name of the other was Tiger, the name of the other was Tacoomah, and the name of the other was Parrot.

(Jamaican parrot, photo by jamdowner)

So they went for a journey, and Anansi made a bet with them that the four had to change their names; then when they came home, each one had to go to their mother's house, and if their mother called them by their old name, they had to eat their mother! Anansi's new name was Che-che-bun-da, Parrot's new name was Green-corn-ero, Tiger's new name was Yellow-prissenda, and Tacoomah's name was Tacoomah-vengeance. These are the four new names, and if any mother called her son by the old name, they had to eat the mother.

So they come to Tacoomah's house first. Anansi said, "Tacoomah's new name is Tacoomah-vengeance." The mother didn't understand the new name, so she said, "Look! Here's my child Tacoomah!" And so Tacoomah killed his mother and ate her.

Second, they went to Tiger's mother. Anansi said Tiger's name name was Yellow-prissenda. So they attacked Tiger's mother, and they ate her.

So that night Anansi made up an excuse for the night and went to his mother's house and said, "Mother, if you call me Anansi, they will kill you. My new name is Che-che-bun-da."

The next night, they went to Parrot's house. Anansi said Parrot's new name was Green-corn-ero. And they did the same thing to Parrot's mother.

That night, Anansi made another excuse to go and see his mother, and he told her, "Mother, last night what I did tell you about saying my name?"

The mother said, "My child, isn't your name Anansi?"

Anansi said, "Mom, we'll be coming here tomorrow night and if you call me Anansi, they will kill you. You must call me Che-che-bun-da!" Then he asked hi mother again, "Go ahead and tell me your child's name?"

She said, "Anansi?"

Anansi said, "No, mother! They're going to kill you! My name is Che-che-bun-da, Che-che-bun-da, Che-che-bun-da, Che-che-bun-da!" He kept telling his mother the name over and over so that she would not forget.

So now the night had come for Anansi's turn and they went along singing:

Anansi's name is Che-che-bun-da,
Cherry-senda, Yellow-prissenda,
Parrot's name is Green-corn-ero,
Cherry-senda, Yellow-prissenda,
Tiger's name is Yellow-prissenda,
Cherry-senda, Yellow-prissenda,
Tacoomah's name is Tacoomah-vengeance,
Cherry-senda, Yellow-prissenda.


And when Anansi's mother saw Anansi coming along with the rest, she said, "Look! It's my child Che-che-bun-da!" She called him by the new name, so she saved her life, and they didn't eat Anansi's mother.

Anansi won the bet to feast on the others and to save his mother!

Long-Shirt

Anansi, Tacoomah and Tiger made a dance; Anansi was the fiddler, Tacoomah the drummer and Tiger the tambourine man. They traveled on till they got to a country where all the people were naked--no clothing except the head-man, who wore a long shirt; he had a wooden leg.

So they invited up all these people to come to the dance. Mr. Ram-Goat was one of them.

So they started playing and the people started dancing, and they danced until they got so tired that everybody fell asleep; and Anansi stole the head-man's shirt--it was a good shirt!--and put his own old one upon him while he was sleeping.

The man woke up and missed his shirt. Now this shirt could talk. The man called out, "Long-shirt, where are you?"

Longshirt answered, "Brer Anansi has me on, oh!" Then they got up, and now Anansi was really frightened!

He met Brer Ram-Goat. He said, "Brer Ram-Goat, I'll trade you my shirt: I'll give you the new one for your old one!"

Ram-Goat readily made the exchange.

The head-man called out, "Long-shirt, where are you?"

Long-shirt called out, "Brer Ram-Goat has me on now, oh!"

Ram-Goat ran until he was exhausted and couldn't go any further. He dug a hole and buried himself in the hole, leaving one horn outside, and he didn't know that horn was projecting outside.

The man with the wooden leg couldn't go as fast as the rest. All the rest ran past Ram-Goat; the head-man came along, banged the wooden leg upon the horn, and he fell down.

When he got up, he thought it was a stump, so he got out his knife to cut off that stump to prevent it throwing him down again. He cut and cut and cut till he saw blood. He called out to the rest, "Look! Come now, oh! The tree is bleeding!"

All the rest came around and said, "Dig him out! Dig him out! Dig him out!" After they dug the Ram-Goat out, they took off the head-man's long shirt, put on his own old one, and they wet him with all the dirty slops--they drenched poor Ram-Goat.

They thought he was dead and they left him and went away. After they were gone, Ram-Goat got up. He wrung out the dirty clothes, he wrung it out with all the slop they throw on him, but he didn't remember to wring his beard.

Jack man dora! That's the reason the goat has such an offensive smell until this day; he didn't remember to wring his beard!



Shut Up in the Pot
There was a very hard time, and they could get no food whatsoever, so Anansi and his family were really afraid. So when Bredder Tiger and Bredder Tacoomah went to see him, he told them that for the last three or four days his wife and children didn't eat any bread. They said they would go back home and send him some of their food, and the two went back out from Anansi's yard.

They had just left him when they heard his wife call, "Hey! Dinner's ready!"

And Bredder Tiger and Bredder Tacoomah went back to the house and knocked on the door. The wife opened the door and Anansi went running out of the house--he was ashamed! The wife gave them some of the food to eat, and it was nothing but fresh beef.

They went back to Bredder Anansi now and Anansi told them, "I will get the beef, but whatever I tell you to do, you must be sure to do it."

And he put on a big pot of water on fire, and he, Anansi, got into the pot and water and told them to shut him up in the pot, and he told them that as soon as he knocked, they had to open the pot.

And when he came out of the pot, he told Bredder Tiger he had to get in the pot, and Tacoomah had to get alongside him in the pot too.

And he shut them up, and he get a heavy weight and put it on the pot top. And he went right outside and told his wife to add fueld to the fire, making the fire bigger and bigger.

And when him come back, they were properly cooked. Anansi and his family were going to eat them now, and he was tuning up his fiddle--

I got them now! I got them now!
They thought they got me, but I got them now!


House in the Air
Anansi lived in a tree with wife and children, and he went around robbing others, and they couldn't find where he lived.

So Tiger and Bredder Tacoomah dogged him and saw when he sent down the rope and used that to swing up whatever he provided for his family.

So Bredder Tiger went to a tin-smith to give him a fine voice and then he went to the tree and he sang,

Mama, mama, send down rope,
Send down rope; Brer Anansi's on the ground.

Then the mother find out it was not Bredder Anansi from the coarseness of the voice.

So he went to a goldsmith next, and he came back again and sang again. Now had a voice the same as Bredder Anansi's.

Mama, mama, send down rope,
Send down rope; Brer Anansi's on the ground.

Then the mother let the rope down to receive him. Brer Anansi coming from a distance saw the mother swinging him up in the tree now and said, "Mama, cut the rope! Mama, cut the rope!"

And she cut the rope and Bredder Tiger fell and broke his neck. Bredder Anansi took him and had Tiger now for his dinner. They couldn't eat Bredder Anansi at all; he was the smartest one of all.