Aranese and the Lizard

- A West African Tale -

As the Ananse the spider is traveling a long he sees a note posted by The Chief. The note declared that if anyone was able to guess his daughter's name, they would win half of The Chief's land, marry his daughter, and rule as Chief. Before he could even finish reading the note, Ananse hurried off to the Chief's village. The Chief's daughter's name had never been spoken outside of the palace so whoever was able to guess her name was considered worthy of her hand in marriage. However, the Chief told the men that whoever guessed her name incorrectly would have their head cut off and fed to the buzzards. While out late look for a snack, Ananse over hears the Chief's daughter talking to her servants and learns her name is Ahoafe. The lizard tricks Ananse into telling him the name of the Chief's daughter by volunteering to introduce Ananse to the Chief. Instead, the lizard went to the Chief with the intentions to marry his daughter. Ananse made an oath to one day find the lizard and tear him limb from limb. Today this is why you can always find a lizard in a dark corner shifting his eyes side to side checking for Ananse's presents.

This book would provide a lot of entertainment for students. Tales such as this are always fun for anyone. Students could come up with their own tale for various animals. This could be a writing assignment. Students could also draw pictures.

Traditional or Folk Literature