Sankofa with Kweku Ananse

in #sankofa6 years ago

It's dumsor(power outage) at Abeka-Lapaz here in Accra. We live in a United Nation house aka Compound House( houses with different tenants, which aren't really apartments.) There is no light, no tv and no fan, my room was just dark, silent and hot. I heard the other kids playing outside and I decided to join them. It was story time (Anansesem). We all gathered around in a circular form. If you had a story to share, you came to the center to to tell your story. I decided to tell one my grandma told me about.

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Once upon a time...

Kweku Ananse the spider always wondered how his eldest son, Nti Kumah could speak so much wisdom. He believed he had to be wiser than his son, just because he was older. This became an obsession, he became so worried about it that, he got sick. His son Nti Kumah asked, "Daddy, what's wrong? What's making you sick?" Kweku Ananse replied, "hmmm, my son, I wish to be more wise, how can I get wiser?" "Oh, that's very simple daddy. So is that why you've been sick all this while? The best way will be to steal all the brains in the world and hide it. If nobody has any brains, you automatically become the wisest person.

Ananse shot up from bed, already feeling better. That's it! I have all I need. I will set out tomorrow to collect all the brains in the world. I will make sure to collect my son's own too. Then I will be wiser than everyone else. Nti Kumah, can you go with me as I travel the world to collect the brains?? We will do more together than if I go alone. Nti Kumah agreed to go with his father the next day on this journey. Kweku Ananse told his wife, Okonore Yaa about his travel plans. "Where would you put the brains you collect on this journey of yours," his wife asked. Wow, he hadn't even thought of that. Even his wife was wiser than him. This just made Kweku Ananse more determined to embark on this journey.

There was a big barrel at home that was used to collect rain water. Kweku Ananse chose that container as his brain collector. He decided to start the brain collection with his wife. Deep into the night, whiles everyone was asleep, he took a knife, cut the skull of his wife and took a lot of her brains. He then glued it back perfectly, placed the brain into the container and went back to bed. He smiled at himself and couldn't wait for the crack of Dawn so he will set out with Nti Kumah. Day break, Kweku Ananse was up and ready. His wife, a bit dull now was still sleeping. He got Nti Kumah ready and they bid farewell to the rest of the family Nti Kumah wondered why his mum wasn't up yet. A few meters away, Nti Kumah told his father he left something so he had to go back home for it. He got home, and upon interaction with his mum, realized what his father had done. He quickly joined his dad and acted like nothing had happened.

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One Year Later...

Nti Kumah and his father had gone round the world and now had brains from all shapes and sizes. They got back home at dusk and were very exhausted from all their travels. Okonore Yaa prepared Fufu and abe nkwan for his dear husband and boy as they got back from the journey. "Daddy, can we go and hide the brains now?" Kweku Ananse with a grin said,"no my son, let us do it early at dawn so nobody sees us."* Kweku Ananse thought to himself, I will steal your brain in this night so there will be nobody wiser than me. Kweku Ananse woke up at night to go to Nti Kumah's room with a knife, but he was no where to be found. Kweku Ananse was disappointed and wondered where his son could have gone. Nti Krumah knew from the grin that his father had an evil plan, so decided not to sleep but stay out and watch what he was up to. Lo and behold, he saw his father with a knife looking for him. After Kweku Ananse's futile search, he decided to give up and hide the brains he had gotten from his travels.

He choose the tallest coconut tree and decided to hide the big barrel at the very top so nobody had access to it. Nti Kumah all this while was watching his father from a distance. Kweku Ananse balanced the barrel on his belly and started the climb. After a long time, he hadn't covered even half the distance. He was already soaked with seat, even though the weather was cool late at night. He takes 2 steps up, and get drawn back by a step. Nti Kumah could no longer hold himself and burst out from a nearby bush. "Hahahahahaha, daddy, why not tie the barrel behind you so you can climb easily?" This response shocked his father so much that the barrel slipped from his hands and came crashing down, breaking into a thousand pieces. The impact with which the brains hit the ground beneath caused it to spread all over the world. Nti Kumah being the closest benefited the most, with a large portion of the brains entering his skull. Kweku Ananse was so shocked and ashamed that, he couldn't come down from the tree. Even his wife couldn't convince him to come down, and he has been up there since. That is the reason spiders are always high up, hiding from the rest of the world.

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