J is for...

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the participants!

For this, my 5th year doing the Challenge, it's the

A to Z of Anansi the spider.


J is for Jamaica

The stories in my book, Anansi and Company, are Jamaican in origin. But that doesn't mean that they are exclusive to that island.

Anansi can be found throughout the Caribbean and the stories of his exploits have many common themes.

There was a story I heard in the Virgin Islands about a magic cow that was owned by Tacoomah, who is Anansi's friend. All Tacoomah had to do was crawl up inside the cow and cut out whatever he wanted and, voila! he had meat. Well, Anansi hears about this magic cow and wants meat for himself. After a good bit of hounding, Tacoomah finally to tells him the secret of the magic cow.

This handsome bull posed very nicely for me. At no time did
I feel threatened, considering the rather meager fence
that separated us.

"When you want to up inside the cow," says Tacoomah, "you must say 'Open sesame.' Then you can cut out anything you want. And when you leave you must say, 'Shut sesame.' " Then he warns Anansi, "But you see that thing that go, 'tick,' 'tick,' tick?' Don't cut it!"

Anansi does fine for a while. He goes up in the magic cow and cuts out what he wants. But eventually his greed and curiosity get the better of him. He wants to know what's so special about the thing that goes tick, tick, tick. He thinks if he can have it for himself he'll have all the meat he could ever desire. So, he cuts the thing that goes tick, tick, tick and of course the magic cow dies.

I tell that little story only to say that in my collection of Jamaican Anansi stories, there is a similar tale.