~ 182. Anansi and Dry-Head ~


Anansi stole a cow, but he didn't want to share with his family; he made a fire right there to roast the cow.
Anansi wanted yams too, so he went digging.
Then he saw two eyes in the dirt. He kept digging: he dug up old devil Dry-Head!
Anansi tried to put Dry-Head back in the ground, but he wouldn't go.
"Take me to the fire," said Dry-Head, "or I'll burn you!"
Anansi tried to run, but his body started burning, so he came back and carried Dry-Head to the fire.
Dry-Head ate the whole cow; Anansi didn't get anything.


Inspired byJamaica Anansi Stories by Martha Warren Beckwith
Notes: This is story 22 in the book. Beckwith heard this story from George Parkes; additional information in Beckwith's notes. This is the final part of the long story: the cow Anansi is roasting is the one he got by tricking the master in this story, Anansi's Bath. Here is Beckwith's note about Dry-Head: "Dry-head is a man always hide himself in the bush to eat up what Anansi or Tacoomah have," Parkes says.--He figures as a kind of old man of the sea in the Anansi stories."


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