House in the Air
It was at this point that Greg let out a loud yawn. The old
woman, realizing the time, attempted to get her grandchildren to go to
bed, but none of them wanted to sleep--not even Greg. Sighing,
the old woman continued her story, but decided to cut it to a much
shorter version of the story she intended to tell.
"My brada was very tired from his car'fa note takin', so he
built hims'lf a hammock and placed it in da tallest tree in
da jungle."
"Why did he place it so high?" asked Greg.
"Why da ya t'ink, child?" asked the old woman in response.
Greg had a puzzled look on his face,
until Sarah interjected. "Um, Nana? Was it so that he
wouldn't be attacked by the jungle creatures?"
"Das right, child," said the old woman
with a smile on her face.
The light of dawn broke on Greg's
face and he just smiled and nodded his head in understanding.
"So, my brada, with his
newly built hammock, went to sleep. And as he slept da
night through and woke da next mornin' rested and ready for more
'xplorin. Patrick went in search of food and news of
An'nsi, and he happ'ned upon a tribe of tru Afrikans.
Dey told him 'bout a nearby 'nana tree dat would feed him and neva run
out. My brada, curious, went to dis tree an' picked himself a
bunch of 'nanas to eat. It was while my brada was eat'n
dat An'nsi happ'ned upon him. My brada didn't realize it
den, but An'nsi was curious and followed my brada back to his hammock."
Looking up, the old
woman noticed that Greg was wide awake, with all signs of sleep
erased from his features. She smiled at this turn-of-events and
continued on with her tale.
"As my brada settl'd into his hammock,
An'nsi crept out from a bush on da ground and look up. Seein
my brada in the sky, sleepin' peacefully in his hammock made An'nsi
jealous. So jealous, in fact, dat An'nsi made plans to
ki'k my brada outta his hammock, but thought better of
it--after all, my brada was bigger dan An'nsi and would crunch him up
if dey fought."
"But Anansi had a plan, didn't he?"
asked the mischievous Tom, with a sly grin on his face.
"Dat he did, child. My brada came
down from his sleep an' again, went out 'xplorin for food and news of
An'nsi. Dis time, upon returning, my brada found An'nsi, 'sleep
in his hammock! My brada rushed up to catch da spida man, but
An'nsi 'woke and scampered out to a far limb--far outta reach of my
brada. My brada tried and tried, but couldna catch An'nsi.
Just when all hope seem'd lost, Wind blew and reminded my brada how
easily Fire had tricked An'nsi. So, my cleva brada told An'nsi to
clap for joy and t'ank da Lord for his luck. An'nsi, ever da ego,
did just dat. He clap and clap wit so much joy dat soon all eight
of his hands clappin. Wit no hands to hold on, An'nsi fell down
from his perch, landin on da ground with
a loud crunch. Him fall down so hard, dat he flatten'd like a hot
cake. To dis day, no one has seen An'nsi again."
"Wow! Nana, that was a great
story!" cried Sarah and Greg in unison.
Tom's face was slightly crestfallen, as
he had secretly wanted his new idol, Anansi, to "win."
The old woman, looking at the clock,
realized how late it was and hurriedly rushed her grandchildren to
bed. The three of them slept with dreams of tricking and
being tricked by others, but the old woman couldn't sleep. She
could only remember her brother Patrick and how he had gone back to
Nigeria a year later looking for Anansi's children. But that, is
another story...
Author's Note: This story was based partially on
"Duppy's House in
the Air" by Martha Warren Beckwith, from her collection of
stories entitled
Jamaican Anansi Stories (1924). In the
original story, the author maintained the Jamaican dialect that the
story had been told in and I wanted to maintain that character, while
not overdoing it--such that it wouldn't be understood.
Originally, this storybook was meant to consist of four stories, but
personal limitations have forced it to become a mere two stories.
I have attempted to keep the frametale intact, though I have had
to shorten it considerably--hopefully, without destroying the
story that I intended to convey. The original story involves a
character named 'Brer Duppy' (a spirit, demon, or the Devil in Jamaican
folklore), which I have replaced with our main character, Uncle
Patrick. Moreover, there was no true "trickery" in the original
story, so I decided to merge this story with an aspect of Beckwith's "
Monkey and Anansi"
and "
Goat
and Anansi." In these stories, Anansi tricks his victims to
clapping for their successful catch and, in the process,
each loses their prize. I hope that the merger of these two
stories somewhat makes up for my failure to produce all four, but only
time and review will tell.
Back
to Story One: Fire and Anansi
Back
to Coverpage
The image is of an old drawing of a banana tree. Websource:
Anonymous Posters.
