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MAGIC ANANSI

Author: unknown

A long time ago, Anansi Spider had a friend Tiger. He had another friend Goat who had all her little kids.

All of them lived in the same house. Anansi lived on the roof, Tiger lived inside the house, and Goat lived under the house.

For a long time, they got along well together. But one day, Tiger had to start a fight. He told Anansi that "Brother, you make too much dust.", and he told Sana, "Your little kids make too much dirt."

Then he threw his head back and shouted "I want this house to myself!".

And he let off a loud roar that scared the little kids so that they scrambled back down under the house. So Goat said, "All right, I'll take my kids and leave this place."

And Anansi said, "I'll get out of here."

They started to run and Tiger started to growl and chase them, so they ran faster.

Anansi, Goat and the kids, ran fast until they came to a river. There were a lot of white stones on the bank of the water. Anansi said, "Goat, you stand still, and your kids should stand still too."

"All right,", Goat said, and she told her kids not to move.

Then Magic Anansi changed Sana and her kids into smooth white stones. Then he tossed them across the stream to the other side. As the stones touched the ground, they changed back into the goat and her kids again. The kids just laughed because they had enjoyed being stones that flew through the air.

Tiger was fast approaching, and he was getting louder and louder.

Goat hurried her kids and ran off into the bushes.

Tiger saw that Anansi was still on the same side of the river, and he growled. "I'm going to eat you, Anansi."

He came closer to Anansi, about to eat him. Then Anansi threw a long, silver line across the river. He skittled and slid across his own silver spider thread, and he got away.

Tiger paws the thread down and stared across the water. He was still growling, but now he realized that he couldn't catch anyone. So he went back home, and lived on his own.