Unlike the story on paper designed to be read and re-read as the same story, the oral tale is always on the move. An oral rendering of a story is a living experience that is transformed by the heart-and-soul and the world view/experience of each teller.
Each time a tale is told, each time it moves and changes - sometimes in accord with the mood or memory or personal perspective of the teller and sometimes to fit the needs and age of a particular audience.
As the story travels from place to place it may even pick up a different emphasis from the culture in which it is given expression or emerge with a whole new focus and disregard parts of the old.
In the telling, the storyteller can decide on what exactly she or he wants to convey; the very same story can be pitched to give a different mood, feel or lesson, or experience.
Reading these two versions of a popular story will show you how the very same story is used in two rather different ways.
In these two tellings, it is interesting how really small twists and turns of emphasis can tweak a story to emphasize character -- either that wisdom was greedily held on to by one selfish character, or that scattered wisdom was collected together by one concerned character. The ‘two’ characters are actually one - the same trickster Anansi, but shaped by different tellers!
And both stories are differently angled to convey two somewhat dirfferent messages -- “Why it is to this very day some people have a great deal of wisdom, some have little, and others have none at all,” or “Why no one person has all the wisdom in the world, and therefore we need each other.”
...One version goes ...
A long time ago, Anansi the spider, had all the wisdom in the world stored in a huge pot. Nyame, the sky god, had given it to him. Anansi had been instructed to share it with everyone.
Every day, Anansi looked in the pot, and learned different things. The pot was full of wonderful ideas and skills.
Anansi greedily thought, "I will not share the treasure of knowledge with everyone. I will keep all the wisdom for myself."
So, Anansi decided to hide the wisdom on top of a tall tree. He took some vines and made some strong string and tied it firmly around the pot, leaving one end free. He then tied the loose end around his waist so that the pot hung in front or him.
He then started to climb the tree. He struggled as he climbed because the pot of wisdom kepts getting in his way, bumping against his tummy.
Anansi's son watched in fascination as his father struggled up the tree. Finally, Anansi's son told him "If you tie the pot to your back, it will be easier to cling to the tree and climb."
Anansi tied the pot to his back instead, and continued to climb the tree, with much more ease than before.
When Anansi got to the top of the tree, he became angry. "A young one with some common sense knows more than I, and I have the pot of wisdom!"
In anger, Anansi threw down the pot of wisdom. The pot broke, and pieces of wisdom flew in every direction. People found the bits scattered everywhere, and if they wanted to, they could take some home to their families and friends.
That is why to this day, no one person has ALL the world's wisdom. People everywhere share small pieces of it whenever they exchange ideas.
... And another tells it this way ...
Once upon a time, many, many years ago, Ananse Kokrufu, the great spider, became concerned because people had become careless about the wisdom of the world and large pieces of it were getting lost. So he decided that he, Ananse, would collect the wisdom of the world, all of it, and store it in one place for safe-keeping.
The place he chose was the very top of the highest palm wine tree in the forest. Good as his word, Ananse with great effort collected all the wisdom of the world, placed it in a large gourd, tied the gourd to his chest, and began to climb. Now it was a hot day, the tree was very tall, and about halfway up Ananse began to have trouble.
Far below, at the foot of the tree stood Nkitea, Ananse's small son. Looking up, he shouted to Ananse, "Father, if you truly had all of the wisdom of the world up there with you, you would have tied that gourd on your back."
This was too much even for the great spider. In a fit of rage he unfastened the gourd and hurled it toward the ground. When it hit, the gourd shattered into hundreds of pieces, and the wisdom of the world scattered all over the earth.
By this time people had learned their lesson and they came - each with his or her own gourd -- to collect whatever bit of wisdom they could hold. And that is why it is to this very day some people have a great deal of wisdom, some have little, and others have none at all.
What do you want your story to really, really say? Marguerite Theophil
People have forgotten how to tell a story.
Stories don’t have a middle or an end anymore.
They usually have a beginning that never stops beginning.
~Steven Spielberg
Stories don’t have a middle or an end anymore.
They usually have a beginning that never stops beginning.
~Steven Spielberg
