"Guess my name, get my gold!" said the Old-Witch.
Only Crab knew the witch's secret name.
Anansi dressed in girl's clothes and became the witch's maid.
When Anansi was washing clothes by the river, he flirted with Crab. "You're so handsome!"
Crab had never heard that before!
Then Anansi started crying.
"What's wrong, girl?" Crab asked.
"I need to know the witch's name."
Crab said the name.
Anansi ran back to the witch's house. "Your name's Cantinny, Cantinny's your name!"
The witch gave her gold to Anansi, and she threw a calabash at Crab: that's how Crab got his shell.
Inspired by: West Indian Folk-Tales by Philip Sherlock.
Notes: This story appears on p. 86 of the book: How Crab Got a Hard Back. In the full version of the story, there are lots of maids before Anansi who cry when they cannot guess the name. The witch collects their tears in a calabash and when she learns Crab said the name, she throws the calabash at Crab, and the tears make it stick to his back.
No comments:
Post a Comment