Motto: There are consequences for every action.

When you observe any spider, you will notice that its head is much, much smaller than the rest of its body.

Guess what? We have Anansi to thank for that.

It all started one day during a time of great famine. Anansi announced to his family that he was heading out in search of food so they could eat.

Anansi soon found himself by a stream that had some people already there. It wasn’t too long before Anansi realized that the people were spirits.

The spirits were busying themselves draining the water in the river in hopes that they would be able to catch some fish to eat.

As Anansi observed, he grew intrigued. Finally, he asked the spirits if he could join them. The spirits gave Anansi permission to join them.

Now, the spirits were using their skulls to drain the river. After approaching the spirits and receiving permission, the spirits asked if they could assist him in removing his skull as well.

Anansi agreed, and the spirits did indeed remove his skull and handed it to him so that he could join them in draining the river.

While everyone was busy themselves draining the water, the spirits began to sing a beautiful song, “We, the Spirits, when we splash the river-bed dry to catch fish, we use our heads to splash the water. Oh the Spirits, we are splashing the water.”

The song really captivated Anansi and intrigued him. So intrigued was he that Anansi asked the spirits of he could sing the beautiful song also.

They allowed him to sing along with them; and everyone continued to sing as they drained some of the river.

Having successfully collected the fish that laid bare, the spirits gave Anansi his share of the fish in a basket and restored his skull as before.

But then, the spirits warned Anansi and told him never to sing the song again on that day, or his skull would open and fall off again.

Anansi, of course, assured the spirits that he had no reason to sing the song again, because they had given him more than enough to eat. Because of all this, Anansi emphasized that he wanted nothing more.

Shortly after, the spirits bade Anansi farewell, and Anansi set out on his way. The spirits headed off in a separate direction to catch some more fish.

Soon the spirits began to sing their song once more. Eventually, the sound of their voices met Anansi’s ears; and he began to sing the song again!

As soon as Anansi finished singing the song, his skull fell off exactly like the spirits had warned. Anansi picked up his skull in complete embarrassment and cried out to the spirits in alarm and panic telling them that his head had fallen off.

Hearing Anansi’s commotion, the spirits decided to head back to his location. Their intention was to hear him explain himself.

When they came upon Anansi, he begged them to help him and apologized for not listening to their warning. Then, he begged them to help him and restore his skull.

The spirits studied Anansi for a moment then agreed to help him. However, they did warn him that if he disobeyed them again, they would not return to help him. Once again, the spirits bade Anansi farewell, after restoring his head, and continued the journey.

Just like before, when Anansi heard the voice of the spirits singing their song, he joined in once again and began repeating the song to himself.

As was to be expected, Anansi’s skull became detached once more and began to fall.

This time, before his head could hit the ground, Anansi quickly caught it with is rear-end and fled from the riverside.

Anansi hid himself in shame for a while. Unfortunately, while he was able to get his head reattached, it could not be done as it was before. As a result, Anansi’s head is very small and his bottom is very big; all because of his hard-headedness.