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Greedy Anansi
Then Anansi went to the forest. He saw a little house there. An old man
came out of the house.
"What do you want here, my boy?" asked the old man. "Do not be afraid
of me. Tell me everything."
So Anansi told him about the famine and about his hungry people. Then
he told the old man about the nuts and cried again. The old man took
Anansi's hand and said: "Do not cry, my boy! I have something to tell you.
It is better than nuts." He went into his house and brought a little pot.
"Take this home and give it to your mother. Now you and your people will
never be hungry. When your mother wants to make dinner for her family,
she must only say: 'Pot, pot, what you did for the old man, please do for
me!'
Anansi thanked him and went quickly away. He came to the little boat, got
in, and said at once: "Pot, pot, what you did for the old man, please do for
me!"
And the pot gave him a good dinner. Anansi ate it all and was strong
again. He soon came home. But he did not want to give the pot to his
mother. "It is my pot. I shall have it and eat when I want to."
So Anansi put the pot in some dark place of the house and spoke to it
when nobody was at home.
Every day his mother and his brothers and sisters went out to look for
food. Anansi did not go with them. He said: "Oh, I am ill, I cannot go."
When he was at home alone, he ran to his pot, and the pot gave him a
good dinner.
Anansi's brothers and sisters grew thinner and thinner every day, but
Anansi grew fatter and fatter.
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