Ananse and the pot of wisdom

They say that Kwaku, the Spider, was there, and that he swept up all knowledge, gathered it together in one spot, and placed it in a gourd pot. He then declared that he would climb a tree and go and hang it on it, so that all wisdom on earth would be finished. So he took it up to go with it, and when he reached beneath the tree where he was going to hang it, he took a string, and tied it to the gourd, and hung it in front of him, and he set himself to climb the tree.

He climbed, and climbed, and climbed; in vain. He strove again, again he made to climb, and climb, and climb; in vain. Now, his son, Ntikuma, who was standing by, said, “Oh, your eyes have surely died (for shame), would it not have been better if you had turned round the gourd and put it on your back, then doubtless you would have been able to climb?”

He (the Spider) said, “Clear out, you and your old-fashioned sayings.” Then he turned to climb once more as before, but once again, fruitlessly. Then he considered long, and (finally) took the gourd and put it behind him. Then he set himself to climb, and mounted swiftly, Kra! kra! kra! (was the sound of his climbing); there he goes.

He reached where the branches began to spread out from the stem, and he said (to himself), “I, Kwaku Ananse, by the lesser god, Afio! I might as well be dead, my child who is so small, so small, so small there was I, I collected all wisdom (so I thought) in one place, yet some remained which even I did not perceive, and lo! my child, this still-sucking infant, has shown it me.”

Then he seized that gourd, and there was a sound of rending, tintini! and he cast it away, and there was a sound of scattering, tesee!

That is how every one got wisdom; and any one who did not go there in time (to pick some up) is — excuse my saying so — a fool. This, my story, which I have related, if it be sweet, (or) if it be not sweet, take some elsewhere, and let some come back to me.