Firefly and Anansi were gathering eggs at night.
"Little eggs for you," said Anansi. "Big eggs for me."
This made Firefly mad, so he flew away.
Stumbling in the dark, Anansi found Tiger's house.
"Help me!" said Anansi. "I'll give you these eggs."
Tiger let Anansi sleep in his house and, knowing Anansi, he put scorpions around the egg-basket to protect the eggs.
When Anansi went to steal the eggs, the scorpions bit him.
Anansi started crying.
"Why are you crying?" asked Tiger.
Anansi lied. "I miss my family!"
And since Anansi couldn't steal the eggs, he stole Tiger's sheep.
Inspired by: Jamaica Anansi Stories by Martha Warren Beckwith
Notes: This is story 7 in the book. Beckwith heard this story from William Forbes; additional information in Beckwith's notes. In the original story, Tiger's sheep is a magical sheep: when he tells it to "lay out!", the sheep is able to produce roast chickens and all kinds of good food. That was too much to get into this tiny story, but it's a fun part of the original. The story also appears in Jekyll, story 28.
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