Author & Storyteller—Telling stories that engage the ear, challenge the mind and delight the soul.
— A Traditional Akan Poem of Lament.
About a month ago, I began to look for and re-read books by African writers that I had not read since secondary school,
“You Will See” is an Asante folktale retold by A. Sakyiama. It is a deliciously scary story about a disrespectful little girl who sets out to find ‘something to see’.
You will find it in The Yam Child and Other Stories which is currently available as an ebook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, Kobo, Smashwords and other ebook stores.
The storyteller is here. Anansesem se so …
Leader:
We mould a pot as our mothers did.
The pot, where is the pot?
Chorus:
The pot it is here.
We mould the pot as our mothers did.
Ananse, the trickster, is in love?
Sort of in love?
Or, let’s just say he is looking for a wife.
You will find all the details in my just released book, The Missing Mouth and Other Stories, Book 3 in the African Fireside Classics Series.
Whatever I am taught,
Let me remember it.
When the big fish comes out of the water,
we can see the bottom of the pond.
When the big toad comes out of the water,
we can see the bottom of the well.
When the kingfisher dives into the water,
his brain becomes clear.
When the cheeks of the pregnant antelope were marked,
her child was also marked.
If there is one piece of meat left in the pot,
it will surely be taken by the spoon.
Everything the landlord does,
is known to the swallow.
Everything that is in your brain, my father,
let it be known to me.
What can you get for a grain of corn if you are as crafty as Ananse?
“Ananse and the Grain of Corn” is an Asante folktale retold by A. Sakyiama. It is free on this website for a limited time only.
This story was published in Today’s Water and Other Stories which is currently available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, Kobo and other ebook stores.
Now, let the story begin. Anansesem se so …
The ant says, “Nothing surpasses a swarming crowd.”
This Grebo saying, expresses the idea that there is safety in numbers. Nothing illustrates that better than a swarm of ants. A large swarm of hungry West African driver ants can turn a fully grown goat into a skeleton within three days. They might not be as fast as the fictional Vashta Nerada Dr. Who, or the army ants in The Naked Jungle movie, but, they are just as efficient at eating things. The safest thing to do when they’re on the move is to get out of the way.