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Then he said, "I can turn myself into quite a little child and then you can take me," and at last she said, "Yes;" and he told her, when she was asked what pap her baby ate, she must be sure to tell them it did not eat pap, but the same food as every one else; and so they went, and had a very good dinner, and set off home again but somehow one of the Lion's sons fancied that all was not right, and he told his father he was sure it was Ananzi, and the Lion set out after him.
But when he had eaten about half-a-dozen, the Lion came up, and said: 'Well, brother Ananzi, a pretty tale you have told me. 'Oh! brother Lion, I am so glad you have come; never mind what tale I have told you, but come and sit down it was only my fun. So Lion sat down and began to eat; but before Ananzi had eaten two fish, Lion had emptied one of the sacks.
Then Ananzi hung up Baboon, and very soon the fat began to drop, which smelt so good that Ananzi cut a slice out of Baboon, and said, 'Oh! brother Baboon, you're fat for true. But Baboon didn't speak. So Ananzi said, 'Well, speak or not speak, I'll eat you every bit to- day', which he really did.
When Ananzi had fried all the fish, he put them into the sacks, and took the sacks on his back, and set off to the mountains. He had not gone very far when he met Lion, and Lion said to him: "Well, brother Ananzi, where have you been? I have not seen you a long time." Ananzi said, "I have been travelling about." "Oh! But what have you got there?" said the Lion. "Oh!
The animals and monsters of Greek myth- -like the Ananzi spider of Negro fable glide insensibly into speech and reason. Birds the most wonderful of all animals in the eyes of a man of science or a poet are sometimes looked on as wiser, and nearer to the gods, than man.
Then Atoukama called to Quanqua to drive the ox across, but all she could get out of him was, 'QUAN? QUA? Quan? qua? At last she said, 'Oh! you stupid fellow, you're no good; stop here and mind the ox while I go and get help to drive him across. So off she went to fetch Ananzi.
In another we find a 'speaking beast', which reminds us at once of the Egyptian story of Anessou and Satou, as well as of the 'Machandelboom', and 'the Milk-white Doo'. We find here the woman who washes the dirty head rewarded, and the man who refuses to wash it punished, in the very words used in 'The Bushy Bride'. We find, too, in 'Nancy Fairy', the same story, both in groundwork and incident, as we have in 'the Lassie and her Godmother'; and most surprising of all, in the story of 'Ananzi and Quanqua', we find the very trait about a trick played with the tail of an ox, which is met with in a variation to 'Boots who ate a match with the Troll'. Here is the variation: 'Whilst he was with the Troll, the lad was to go out to watch the swine, so he drove them home to his father's house, but first he cut their tails off, and stuck them into the ground.
Then Ananzi said, "We will tie one another to the tree, and we shall see which is the stronger." Now they agreed that the Lion should tie Ananzi first, and he tied him with some very fine string, and did not tie him tight. Ananzi twisted himself about two or three times, and the string broke. Then it was Ananzi's turn to tie the Lion, and he took some very strong cord.
When they came to put the yams in, Quanqua put in a great many white yams, but Ananzi only put in one little red cush-cush yam. Quanqua asked him if that little yam would be enough, he said, 'Oh! plenty', for I don't eat much. When the pot boiled, they uncovered it, and sat down to eat their shares, but they couldn't find any white yams at all; the little red one had turned them all red.
Now, when Ananzi got into the wood, he set his sacks down, and took one fish out and began to eat; then a fly came, and Ananzi said, "I cannot eat any more, for there is some one near;" so he tied the sack up, and went on farther into the mountains, where he set his sacks down, and took out two fish which he ate; and no fly came. He said, "There is no one near;" so he took out more fish.
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