Who was Anansi?

He was a man and he was a spider.

When things went well he was a man, but when he was in great danger  he became a spider, safe in his web high up on the ceiling. That was why his friend Mouse called him 'Ceiling Thomas'. 

Anansi's home was in the villages an dforests of West Africa. From there long years ago thousands of men and women came to the Carribean. They brought with them the stories that they loved, the stories about clever Br'er Anansi and his friendsTiger and Crow and Moos-Moos and Kisander the cat.

Sunset time is story time in the islands of the Caribbean, and the children gather around an old woman and listen to the stories of Anansi.

In the dim light they see the animals- Turtle, Rat, Crow and the others - behaving like men and owmen. They see how excited everyone becomes as soon as Anansi appears. They laugh at the way in which he tricks all the strong animals and gets the better of those who are much bigger than himself. All the tales poke fun at humn failings - at greeds, selfishness and vanity - things that deserve to be laughed at.

The stories are retold here by Sir Philip Sherlock, an eminent West Indian scholar, historian and writer. Sir Philip is Jamaican and lives in Kingston, Jamaica. The artist, Petrina Wright, is British by birth; she lives in Cayman Brac and teaches art at the Cayman Brac High School.

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Condition: 10/10