Storytelling Week 7: Why the Spider has Eight Eyes

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Anansi was a great spider who excelled in trickery. This was long ago when spiders only had two eyes. He obtained his food by putting up a bright, shiny net that attracted his prey, whether or not he was already full. Anansi was hindered in his deceitful, greedy ways, however, by his own son, Kweku Tsin. Good of heart, Kweku Tsin frequently foiled his father’s plans. If he caught his father lying, he would tell the truth. If his father put up a net to catch prey when he was not hungry, the young spider would take it down. Thus the father and son lived in animosity for some years.

One day, after his son had removed one of his nets from a smartly located position, Anansi grew fed up with his son’s actions. For this, Anansi sought out the chief of gods, Nyankopon. He spoke flatteries to the god and asked him, “Good chief, I am but trying to procure food for myself, yet my ornery son keeps taking my nets down. Perhaps this is because I only have two eyes and cannot watch him properly. What must I do for you to give me better eyesight?”

The chief of gods was not moved by the spider’s honeyed words. “Very well”, spoke the chief, “I will give you a task to complete. After that, you shall have better eyesight.” Nyankopon told Anansi to bring him three items: a snake, a tiger, and a rabbit. The chief thought to himself, The snake will be too venomous for the spider to bring to me. The tiger will be far too large, and the rabbit will be far too fast. This brash spider will be made a fool out of when he returns to me empty-handed.

Anansi immediately set off on his quest to obtain the creatures desired by the chief. He first went to the snake and told him, “Nyankopon does not believe that you could wrap yourself all the way around this stick. He says you are much too short. What do you say?” Instead of replying, the snake wound himself around the stick. The spider immediately tied the snake’s ends to the stick and put him in a bag, delivering it to Nyankopon.

The spider then headed off to find a tiger. Putting a band over his eyes, the spider began proclaiming, “Wow! What amazing things I see! It is much better to stay in the dark than it is to keep one’s eyes open.” At the spider’s excitement, the tiger standing nearby also wanted to see these amazing things. He requested that the spider let him try on the band. Once the band was completely over the tiger’s eyes, Anansi began leading him in the direction of the chief.

Finally, Anansi found a rabbit. He began exclaiming, “A rabbit cannot hop all the way to the chief of gods’ residence?! But of course a rabbit must be able to complete a task as simple as that!” Hearing these words, the rabbit offered to prove to the chief that he could indeed hop all the way to his residence.

Once all of the animals were delivered to Nyankopon, the chief was stunned. Incredulous as to the tricky powers of the spider, he readily granted Anansi three new pairs of eyes. From that day on, all spiders have been born with eight eyes.

Author’s Note: For this week’s reading, I read West African folktales. Many of these were about the spider, Anansi, who once completed tasks for Nyankopon, the chief of gods. Some of the tales were also origin stories. In the first story of the unit, How We Got the Name “Spider Tales”, Anansi completes tasks for the chief, but instead of asking for more eyes, he asks for all stories to be told about him from thereon after. I also enjoyed the tales How the Tortoise Got its Shell and Why the Lizard Moves His Head Up and Down. Both of these are origin stories, and I thought that it would be interesting to try and write my own. So, I combined aspects from all of these tales, and thought that as spiders weirdly have eight eyes, it would be good to explain that. I made the reason for which the spider asks for better eyesight his own son, as Kweku Tsin was a very wise character who always outdid his father. After Anansi acquired his eight eyes, I am sure that Kweku Tsin managed to continue foiling his tricky father’s plans.

You can access these tales here: link.

Barker, W. H., and Cecilia Sinclair. West African Folktales. C.M.S. Bookshop, 1930.