Trickster Stories

 One day, Anansi the spider was thinking up new ways of making easy money. He decided to kill his grandmother, put her body onto a wagon and drive her to the nearest town.  When he go there he found a gullible young bartender whose name was Scott. He was 27 years old, tall, muscular and fresh-faced.  Anansi said to him, "Bring some whisky to my grandmother. If she's asleep, wake her up.  I'll pay you afterwards!" Scott went outside with the whisky, but try as he might, he could not wake Anansi's grandmother. He went to Anansi, ashen-faced, and said, "I'm afraid she seems to be dead!" "You must have killed her!" said Anansi. "I'll have to tell the police!" "Please don't! I'll give you 100 gold coins to keep quiet. It's my entire life savings!" pleaded the gullible Scott.  "Oh very well!" agreed Anansi. Scott gave him the coins, and then said, "Once again, I'm so sorry. I never meant for ...

Anansi the spider was small and weak but he had one huge advantage over everyone else. He was exceedingly brainy. His IQ was off the scale and he was cunning, shrewd and manipulative. He enjoyed playing tricks on the bigger and stronger animals who were invariably stupid and gullible. Anansi's biggest adversary of all, and the one whom he played the most tricks on was Tiger. Tiger was big and muscular. But he was clearly two sandwiches short of a picnic. He had such a small brain! Anansi could not help but laugh as to how easy it was to play tricks on the hapless creature.  One day, Anansi was minding his own business and thinking about how clever he was, when he heard an anguished roar coming from a nearby pit. He scurried over to take a look and saw that his old adversary Tiger was at the bottom, having clearly fallen in.   "Having a bit of trouble down there are you, Tiger?" chuckled Anansi. "Trust you to find this amusing!" growled Tiger. "I'll get ...

INTRODUTION  I have had a long held fascination with trickster stories, and in particular those in which brain overcomes brawn. Cunning characters have always inspired me and gullible characters have always amused me. This blog will be retelling some of the Anansi stories and the Brer Rabbit stories. They will be told in modern, up-to-date language, and will focus on the pleasure the tricksters receive from their antics, and how downright gullible their victims are. Eventually the blog might branch out into some original stories, fan fiction whereby for example Anansi and Brer Rabbit might meet, and team up for some scams. Other tricksters may eventually be introduced, human characters who were inspired by Brer Rabbit or Anansi for example.  Enjoy the stories as they drop, and remember the old adage - "Brain is better than brawn"! 😀 Gavin