ANANSE AND THE POT OF WISDOM

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..or NO ONE PERSON
CAN HAVE ALL THE WISDOM IN THE WORLD

This is a very old story told when the world was young . It is about how Mr Ananse
the Sly and greedy one among all the animals in the forest outsmarted
himself.

As the story goes Ananse, that is still his name , but did you know that his
first name was Kweku because he was born on a Wednesday ? One day Ananse
collected all the wisdom in the world and decided to keep it all in a large
pot for himself. Now he said ?I have all the wisdom of the world for myself.
At least that was what he thought being such a greedy person.

Kweku Ananse then tied the pot of wisdom around his neck with a strong vine
rope and let the pot hang in front of him. But then he was afraid that
someone would find the pot of wisdom and steal it.? What shall I do with my
pot of wisdom? He thought and thought and at last he said,? I shall hide the
pot on top of the the tallest tree in the forest.? So he searched the forest
until he found the tallest tree which happened to be the thorny silk cotton
tree and brought the pot of wisdom to the tree. While Ananse was trying to
climb the thorny silk cotton tree his son was watching him.? Father,? he
said,? “What are you doing” “Well” said Ananse , I have in
this clay pot all the wisdom of the world and I am going to hang it on the
top of the tallest tree away from everybody , then I will be the wisest in
the whole wide world.” “I have an idea.” said his son ”
Why not hang the pot behind you instead of in front of you. Then you will be
able to climb the tree?. Well the sly one Ananse hung the pot behind him and
to his surprise; he was able to climb to the top of the tree with his
pot.

Finally Ananse sat on a branch of the tree holding the pot of wisdom. ?I
thought I had all the wisdom in the world? He thought to himself.

?I thought I had it all in my pot but my own son has wisdom not in my pot.?
Then he made a statement that we still use today.? No one-person can have all
the wisdom in the world.?On his way down he dropped the pot and it smashed
into many pieces and scatted all the wisdom all over the world.

Narrators comments: This story is contributed by Rev
Peter E Adotey Addo from his
book, HOW THE SPIDER BECAME BALD…Folktales and
Legends from West Africa.

Rev Addo is a Ghanian born folklorist and writer. He lives in North Carolina
and devotes his time to visiting schools and colleges for readings and talks.

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