The Anansi Girl

The Anansi Girls

A LONG TIME AGO, when the world was still very young, the Old Gods walked amongst the people of the village discussed as villagers. 

How come no one noticed them? Do the Gods look like us? 

No. They do not look like us. They come in all shapes and sizes magnificent. The Old Gods are cunning, and very powerful. They would spin dirt and water into fine treads, and make from these treads mortal flesh and bone, which they wore the way you and I wear clothes.

They ate from our tables, drank from our wells, and took the women of the village as their own. When the men learned of this treachery from their Gods, they gathered the best warriors from the village to protect the women. They kept the women in halls filled with mirrors, because you know mirror will reveal the true form of even the Gods.

The Gods were furious having been bested by mere mortals. They were angered enough ti set forth the most mischievous of their kind against the village. They sent Odenkyem, The Crocodile to devour all of the livestock in the village. The Serpent, Owoh to poison their waters, the Old hare, Adanko and the Leopard, Osebo to pluck their crops. The village and the villagers stood to ruin, until eventually the villagers were forced to either sacrifice their women, or sacrifice their lives. 

Watching her people suffering, your great, great, great grandmother, Aso Soobili, cut her hair, bound her breasts, dressed in the garbs of the warriors, and with spear and shield at hand,  snuck out of the hall heading for the Forest of the Gods. 

There she encountered first the Crocodile God who in his maddened state was like a beast of the land. She set a trap for the God and when he was muzzled, she ran her spear through him. She did this again and again for each of the Gods. But these were gods, and as soon as Aso moved on to the next God, their would reappear again and continue in their mischievous deeds.

Thinking that her village was once again safe, Aso turned back toward the village. On her way to the village, she found her path to the village blocked by a magnificent spider's web forcing her to turn fro the village and seek another path home. However, Nayani soon discovered that the  web encircled the entire forest, trapping her in the very heart of the forest.

With no way home, she tried to cut her way through the spider's web.

"I would not do that little warrior." A voice in the distance startled her enough that she dropped her spear.

"Who said that." Aso asked the forest.

"I did. Down here." She looked down and saw a Spider crawling it's way up the web. When the Spider was but a breath from her face, it began to grow. It grew large enough to be the size of a person.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"I am Spider. But that is not important. What is important is you my dear" He said.

"Me?" She asked.

"Yes, you. A little girl as cunning as Spider and as brave as I am foolish." Spider stepped off his web and circled her.

"I am not a girl. I am son of the..."He drew one of his long hairy legs to her lips.

"You are a girl and if those fools were not stupid, they would have seen that too. But no matter, I do not care for my brothers and sisters and their petty grievances." 

Bewildered by her cunning Spider fell in love with Aso and struck a deal with her. In exchange for protecting her village from the other Gods, Aso would become Spider's woman. 

So it was, that Aso Soobili became the lover of Spider and bore him many children. 

Slighted by the Spider's betrayal, the Gods placed a curse on all the daughters of Spider. The daughters of Spider and Aso would bare on their flesh the mark of Spider and during times of trouble they would be sacrificed to the Gods to for protection.

And that my sweet girl, is the story of the Anansi girls. The story of all Soobili girls. Your story, if you will treasure it.