| Anansi's wife | |
|---|---|
| |
| Physical information | |
| Gender |
Female |
| Species |
Spider |
| Skin color |
Black, red, and white |
| Eye color |
Black |
| Distinguishing features |
• Beaded hair |
| Biographical information | |
| Status |
Living |
| Relationship information | |
| Family |
Unnamed mother † |
| Allies | |
| “ | ” |
Anansi's wife is a female spider. She is the wife of Anansi, with whom she has a son.
When Anansi's wife's mother died, she was sent ahead by Anansi to prepare for the funeral. The next day, Anansi arrived and proceeded to use the event as an excuse to make himself look sympathetic to the other guests. In the middle of a staged fast, Anansi hid food under his hat and attempted to take his leave, but his wife insisted that he eat for the road. The other guests joined in, and the hot food under Anansi's hat became so painful that he tossed it off and revealed his trickery to the guests.
Later, Anansi's wife uncovered Anansi's staged death.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Anansi's wife married Anansi, with whom she had a son.[1]
Anansi's shame[]
When the mother of Anansi's wife died, Anansi sent his wife ahead to arrange the funeral, while he stayed behind. A day after she departed, Anansi asked several animals to accompany him to the funeral to show what an important creature he was. The animals agreed, and the party arrived at the home of Anansi's wife, where they were greeted by the family.
Over dinner, the group discussed their roles in the funeral service, and Anansi volunteered to provide the coffin in which his mother-in-law would be buried and to pay for the funeral feast. The guests clapped for him, and he reveled in the attention, feeling important. After the meal, Anansi refused more food, declaring that he would not eat for a week due to his grief over his mother-in-law. Once again, the animals clapped, praising Anansi for his extraordinary character.
Anansi's wife at her mother's funeral feast.
A few days later, Anansi began to feel hungry due to his fasting for his mother-in-law. Not wanting to be seen by the others, Anansi searched for food that he could eat in secret and found a bowl of hot porridge cooling outside. He filled his hat with the porridge, but as he was about to eat, he overheard voices. Quickly, he put the hat onto his head and approached his wife.
Anansi lied that he had to return home for a meeting, and his wife suggested that he eat something for the road. Though Anansi tried to escape, the other animals crowded around him, insisting he have something to eat. At last, the pain became too much for Anansi, and he threw off his hat, revealing the hot porridge on his head. The animals gaped at him and mocked him for pretending to mourn his mother-in-law while hoarding food for himself. Anansi was so ashamed that he hid himself in the grass, where spiders can be found to this day.[2]
Exposing Anansi's fake death[]
Anansi and his wife decided to buy a farm and grow vegetables. Though the spiders planted many different kinds of vegetables, Anansi loved the beans the most and plotted a way to keep them all to himself. One day, he told his wife that if he were to die, she should bury him on their farm with cooking things for his spirit.
Anansi's wife uncovers her husband's staged death.
Just days later, Anansi grew sick and died, and his wife buried him according to his wishes. As was customary, the family left the farm for forty days to grieve, and Anansi, who had only been pretending to be dead, picked all the beans for himself and made a bean feast every night.
At the end of the forty days, Anansi's family returned, and his wife saw that all her beans had disappeared. She cursed the thief aloud, and a voice consoled her to mourn the death of her husband, not the disappearance of her beans. Recognizing the voice, Anansi's wife brought her son to the farm the next day and told him to cut down a tree near Anansi's grave. The son expressed concern that it would fall onto the grave, but his mother insisted that he cut it down anyway.
As Anansi's son started to cut down the tree, Anansi sprang from the grave and declared that he was a ghost. His wife, however, accused him of having stolen their beans and began to chase him across the farm, which prompted Anansi to hide in the leaves of a bush.[1]
Coucal's trickery[]
Anansi's wife drives him out of the house.
In order to prove to his wife that he was the best at finding food, Anansi employed Coucal the bird to help him set traps. For days, Anansi let Coucal take home catches in the hopes of finding something bigger. When Anansi returned home, his wife asked why Coucal had been feeding his family so well, while Anansi had been bringing home nothing. Anansi simply encouraged her to be patient, for he would soon bring home the most powerful animal of them all.
Eventually, Anansi and Coucal found a foul-smelling mouse in their trap. Coucal explained that the mouse's stench could overpower an elephant, and Anansi agreed to take it home. However, when he showed the mouse to his wife, she ordered him to take the mouse out of her house and to never come back. Anansi fled, dropping the mouse, and crept back into the house later that night to hide in the eaves.[3]
Anansi's death[]
Whenever Anansi's family got hungry, he would trick animals into their doom and use their dead corpses to feed his family. However, Anansi died during one such attempt.[4]
Physical appearance[]
Compared to her husband, Anansi, Anansi's wife is small and petite. Her abdomen is brownish-red in color, while her legs and upper body are black. She wears her hair in long upright braids and adorns her ears with looping blue earrings. Her cheeks are bright red, and she has a series of dark stripes on the left side of her face.[2]
Personality and traits[]
Unlike Anansi, Anansi's wife is caring and does not crave for the attention of other animals. She was oblivious to the devious ways of her husband until he was revealed to be a fake in front of many other animals.[2] However, she eventually did catch on to her husband's devious ways and exposed him for his fake death.[1]
Appearances[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Revealed in The Bean Feast from Rafiki Remembers. Issue 54 (1995–1997).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Revealed in How Anansi Shamed Himself from Rafiki Remembers. Issue 34 (1995–1997).
- ↑ Revealed in The Foolish Spider from Rafiki Remembers. Issue 63 (1995–1997).
- ↑ Revealed in The Bearded Stone from Rafiki Remembers. Issue 27 (1995–1997).