~ 185. The Devil's Honey-Dram ~


Anansi's son was stealing from the Devil's honey-dram and getting drunk.
"Don't steal from the Devil!" Anansi warned him, but the boy kept on drinking.
Finally the Devil's mother caught the boy and took him to the Devil's house.
"The Devil will kill you when he comes back," she said, and she set the boy to work.
Anansi came looking for his son, and he sang a song that made the Devil's mother dance and dance till she fell asleep.
Then Anansi grabbed his son and set the Devil's house on fire.
Anansi also took the Devil's honey-dram for himself!


Inspired byJamaican Song and Story by Walter Jekyll
Notes: This is story 22 in the book. It appears that Anansi's ability to force the Devil's mother to dance is because he knows her secret name: Matilda, and he uses that name in the song. Jekyll gives a recipe for the honey-dram: "The ingredients are honey, water, chewstick, ginger, and rum. When mixed, the dram is put in the sun to ripen. Chewstick (gouania domingensis) is bitter and takes the place of hops."

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