Anansi's wife raised a pig.
"Let's eat your pig!" Anansi said.
"No!" she said. "I'm going to sAnansi's wife raised a pig.
"Let's eat your pig!" Anansi said.
"No!" she said. "I'm going to sell it."
Then Anansi pretended to be sick. "Fetch the doctor," he groaned.
Right after she left, Anansi dressed up as the doctor and ran to meet her on the road.
"I'm too busy for house-calls," he said, "but pork stew is good medicine."
Anansi's wife headed home, and Anansi ran to get there first.
"Doctor says you must eat pork stew," Anansi's wife said.
"I'm too sick to eat..." Anansi moaned.
"You must eat pork stew," she replied. "Doctor's orders!"
Anansi smiled.
Inspired by: Jamaica Anansi Stories by Martha Warren Beckwith
Notes: This is story 30 in the book. Beckwith heard this story from George Parkes; additional information in Beckwith's notes. The story continues and "Go-long-go" or "Dry-Head" takes the meat from Anansi, and then Anansi gets his revenge; I have not included that part of the story (and variants) here. There is a similar trick in Johnson's collection of stories: "Nancy Fools His Wife." Dance has a version where Anansi is going to eat the goat, but at the end Tacoomah tricks him out of the goat meat and Anansi gets only a bone: "The Bone Sweet." In Berry's version, Anansi gives himself away by singing, so his wife feeds the food (chicken soup) to all the children of the village: "Mrs. Anansy, Chicken Soup, and Anancy."
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