Jamaican Stories

Week 8: African Traditions - Assignments - Reading - Resources - Images

Fire and Anansi (Henry Spence, Bog, Westmoreland)

Reading time: 1 minute. Word Count: 100 words
In this story, Anansi is married to the Dove, and she is a pretty smart lady it seems. But of course Anansi doesn't listen to her...

Anansi an' Fire were good frien'. So Anansi come an' see Fire an' dey had dinner. So he invite Fire fe come see him now. So Fire tell him he kyan't walk, So Fire tell him from him house him mus' lay path dry bush, an' him walk on top of dry bush. Anansi married to Ground Dove. Ground Dove tell him no, he mustn't invite Fire; him wi' bu'n him house an' bu'n out himself. Anansi wouldn't hear what him wife say, an' he laid de trash on. An' Fire bu'n from him house, an' when he come near Anansi house he mak a big jump, bu'n Anansi, bu'n him house, bu'n eb'ryt'ing but him wife. Fire fool Anansi!

Questions. Make sure you can answer these questions about what you just read:

  • why did Anansi want to invite Fire to his house for dinner?
  • what did Anansi's wife say about this?
  • what happened to Anansi? what happened to his house? his wife?

Source: Jamaica Anansi Stories by Martha Warren Beckwith (1924). Weblink.

Modern Languages / Anthropology 3043: Folklore & Mythology. Laura Gibbs, Ph.D. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. You must give the original author credit. You may not use this work for commercial purposes. If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under a license identical to this one.
Page last updated: October 9, 2004 12:52 PM