Tales from the Caribbean

by Trish Cooke

  As night began to fall Emmanuel could hear the sound of drumming in the distance. The drumming got louder and louder, and now Emmanuel could see a herd of elephants approaching, led by a queen.

  He was so excited to see them but he was also very scared. Supposing they saw him, what would he do? He held on tight to the branches of the tree and kept very still as the elephants danced through the grassland and circled the giant mapou tree.

  As the Elephant Queen played the drum, the rest of the elephants danced, linking their trunks, dipping and rising gracefully in a surprisingly delicate way. Their bodies moved to the beat as if their lives depended on its steady rhythm. The dance went on all night, but eventually the elephants became tired, stopped dancing and slept. When the last of the elephants was asleep the Queen stopped her drumming and went to sleep too.

  Once he was sure they were all asleep, Emmanuel climbed down the tree. He found himself in the centre of a circle of sleeping elephants. He crept over to the sleeping Elephant Queen and carefully eased the drum away from her. He put it on his head and climbed back over the sleeping elephants and out of the circle.

  He started to run as fast as he could through the grassland to get away before they woke up.

  But just when he thought he was safe, Emmanuel heard a rumbling sound. When he looked behind him he saw the Elephant Queen and all the angry elephants coming after him! Emmanuel ran and ran, but the elephants were catching up to him quickly.

  Remembering the special blue stones that the wizard had given him, Emmanuel waited until the elephants were close and then he threw one of the stones behind him. Immediately a pine forest grew where the blue stone had fallen, obstructing the elephants’ path. Emmanuel ran on a little further.

  ‘Knock down the trees! Knock down the trees!’ the Elephant Queen commanded, and all the elephants began to knock down the trees one by one. Before long, Emmanuel could hear the elephants coming after him once again.

  He took another of the special blue stones and he threw it behind him. This time where the blue stone fell a large freshwater lake appeared, obstructing the elephants’ path.

  ‘Drink the water! Drink the water!’ the Elephant Queen commanded, and all the elephants began to drink the water from the lake until it was low enough for the elephants to pass through.

  Emmanuel had almost crossed the grassland when he noticed the elephants were still coming after him. He took the third blue stone and threw it behind him. This time a large saltwater lake appeared where the stone fell, obstructing the elephants’ path.

  ‘Drink the water! Drink the water!’ the Elephant Queen commanded, and all the elephants began to drink the water from the saltwater lake.

  But the salty water was making the elephants sick and they stopped drinking. The Elephant Queen didn’t care and kept on shouting, ‘Drink the water! Drink the water!’

  The elephants carried on drinking the salty water until, one by one, each of the sick elephants collapsed on the ground and died. But the Elephant Queen, who didn’t drink any of the water, was still coming after Emmanuel.

  Emmanuel ran out of the grassland and made his way home. He went straight to his father’s sickbed but his father wasn’t there.

  In the time that Emmanuel had been away, his father had become well again and he was busy working in the fields with Emmanuel’s brothers. When he saw his favourite son had returned, Emmanuel’s father was overjoyed. He hugged and kissed Emmanuel.

  ‘I was foolish to send you off on that dangerous journey to find the elephant drum!’ said Emmanuel’s father. ‘I could have lost you. Thank goodness you are home safely!’

  That evening, Emmanuel, his father and his brothers had a big celebration to mark Emmanuel’s return. Emmanuel played the elephant drum and his father and brothers danced happily, glad to be all together again.

  But as Emmanuel played the drum, they heard a heavy thumping on the ground. The angry Elephant Queen had heard the drumming and she had found her way to the village. She was heading straight to Emmanuel’s father’s home.

  ‘Give me my drum! Give me my drum!’ she cried. When she arrived at the house she grabbed the elephant drum from Emmanuel.

  Afraid of what she might do to him, Emmanuel quickly took the last of the special blue stones that the wizard had given him and he threw it on the ground.

  The large elephant drum broke into many pieces and each became a small drum. The Elephant Queen too broke into many pieces, and each piece of her became a drummer. The pieces scattered all over the land.

  And that is why, to this day, there are many drums and drummers all over Haiti.

  Anansi Tricks Three Kings

  This story is based on a folk tale from St Vincent

  Once upon a time there was a king and in his kingdom there was a drought. In the king’s garden there was a well, and this well provided all the fresh water for the village.

  The people of the village needed permission from the king to get water from the well, and they all relied on the fresh water to live. Without it they would all die. This made the king very powerful indeed.

  Brer Anansi was very jealous of the king. You see, Brer Anansi didn’t like the fact that the king had all the power. Brer Anansi wanted to be the all-powerful one instead. Now everyone knows how Brer Anansi is a trickster and, since days gone by, Brer Anansi has been known to outsmart the mightiest of people. So Brer Anansi thought for a long time about how he could outsmart the king.

  Then Brer Anansi had an idea. Every night when the king was sleeping, Brer Anansi decided he would sneak into the king’s garden and drain some of the water away from the well. Since the water in the well was what made the king powerful, he would get rid of it so that the king would lose his power over the people.

  And that’s exactly what he did. Night after night, little by little, Brer Anansi emptied the water in the well until there was hardly any left. When the king went to the well and saw that nearly all the water had gone he was very suspicious.

  ‘Somebody is emptying my well,’ he said. ‘I will find the culprit and make him pay!’

  The king decided to set a trap for the thief. He made a man out of tar and put the man next to the well. He put a piece of bread in one hand and a fish in the other to make the tar man look like he was a real man, taking a meal. The king was sure that the thief would stop and try and talk to the tar man, and eventually he would think he was being ignored and would start a fight with the tar man. That was the plan.

  Well, just as the king had thought, Brer Anansi came that night to get the last bit of water in the well. When he arrived and saw the man standing next to the well, Brer Anansi said, ‘Howdi.’ Of course, the tar man didn’t answer. So Brer Anansi said a little louder, ‘I said, Howdi!’ but there still was no reply. ‘Fella, I’m talking to you!’ said Brer Anansi, vexed now. Still there was no answer.

  Now Brer Anansi has a bit of a temper and gets upset when he thinks anyone is being rude to him, so he put his head right next to the tar face and said, ‘Who are you, anyway? The king’s watchman? You’re going on like you think you are so great, but you are no better than I am!’

  Still the man did not answer, so Brer Anansi threw a punch right at his face. But because tar is sticky, Brer Anansi’s hand stuck there, right in the tar man’s jaw.

  ‘Get off my hand!’ said Brer Anansi, and he grabbed the tar man with his other hand. As he did so, of course, his other hand got stuck too.

  By now Brer Anansi was even more angry, so he raised up his knee to push the man over, but as his knee hit the belly of the tar man it too stuck fast. This was all too much for Brer Anansi and he pushed himself on the man, trying to toss him into the well. The more he wrestled with the tar man, the more Brer Anansi stuck, until he was fastened completely and could not move at all.

  The next morning the king went to see if his plan had worked and he saw Brer Anansi stuck fast to the tar man.

  ‘Brer Anansi!’ said the king. ‘I should have known it was you!�
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  The king was very pleased that he had caught Brer Anansi. He told his servants to chain Anansi up until he could think of a suitable punishment for him.

  Later that day, still unsure of the best punishment, the king had his men bring Brer Anansi to him.

  ‘I will make sure you suffer for stealing water from my well!’ said the king. ‘Maybe I should burn you on a coal fire.’

  Brer Anansi said nothing. The king watched carefully for a reaction, but Brer Anansi remained silent.

  ‘Or maybe I should whip you!’ said the king. Still Brer Anansi said nothing.

  ‘Or perhaps I should drown you in the sea!’ said the king.

  ‘Oh no, please don’t drown me in the sea!’ cried Brer Anansi. ‘You can do anything else to me, but please don’t drown me in the sea!’

  When the king heard Brer Anansi’s pleas not to drown him, he thought that this would be the best punishment.

  The king and two of his guards took Brer Anansi out on a boat, tied a rope around his waist with some heavy iron on the other end and, when the boat got to the middle of the ocean, they threw Brer Anansi overboard into the water.

  Brer Anansi immediately sank right down to the bottom of the ocean. But once at the bottom, Brer Anansi untied the rope from his waist, and he floated right back up to the top of the water.

  ‘We spiders always float back up!’ laughed Brer Anansi. ‘You did me a favour!’ he called out to the king. ‘You may be a king but I am much smarter than you are!’

  Then Brer Anansi dived back down into the water, where he saw a shark. It seemed that all the little creatures in the sea, the fishes, the lobsters and the crabs, were afraid of the shark.

  ‘Who is that?’ said Brer Anansi. ‘And why are you all so afraid of him?’

  ‘That’s our king,’ said the sea creatures. ‘He’s powerful! If we get in his way he eats us up!’

  ‘Well, I don’t care for kings much’ said Brer Anansi. ‘I’m smarter than all of them! I’ve already made a fool out of one.’

  The small fish trembled. ‘Well, King Shark is the most powerful in all of the sea. You would be better off if you kept out of his way.’

  Saying that to Brer Anansi only got him angry.

  ‘We’ll see about that!’ said Brer Anansi. And he swam right over to King Shark and he said, ‘King Shark, I have been looking for you for such a long time.’

  King Shark was not impressed with Brer Anansi’s casual approach. ‘How dare you speak to me, you incey wincey thing! Do you know who I am? I am the all-powerful king! Out of my way, before I eat you!’

  Brer Anansi ducked out of the ferocious King Shark’s way, just as he was about to snap him up in his jaws, and he shouted from a safe distance, ‘Sorry to disturb you. It’s just that I wanted to invite you to a feast, but if you’re busy …’

  ‘You’re inviting me to a feast?’ interrupted King Shark, suddenly interested. ‘What kind of a feast?’

  ‘A tasty fish feast!’ said Brer Anansi, getting a little closer to King Shark now that he had his attention. ‘If you help me catch the fish, we can cook them up and have a tasty feast this afternoon.’

  ‘Cooked fish!’ sniggered King Shark, intrigued. ‘That will make a change from eating them raw. I’ll come to your feast!’

  ‘Fine. First we have to catch the fish!’ said Brer Anansi, glad that he had managed to convince King Shark to join him.

  ‘Oh, that’s easy enough!’ snapped King Shark, and he cut through the water at great speed. The little fish tried to get away but King Shark was too fast for them and he caught plenty.

  When it was time to bring the fish ashore, Brer Anansi called to King Shark, ‘Come ashore, King Shark! Come ashore!’

  ‘I’ll stay in the water while you cook up the fish,’ said King Shark. ‘I can only stay out of the water for a couple of minutes so you cook them up and bring me my share when you’re done.’

  Brer Anansi agreed to cook up the fish and then bring King Shark his share, while King Shark waited in the water.

  Brer Anansi fetched some wood and lit a fire, ready to cook the fish. He put a big copper pot full of water on the fire and he filled the pot of water with the fish they had caught. When the fish were all cooked up in the water and steaming hot, Brer Anansi called to King Shark, ‘King Shark! Come ashore and join me for the feast! I’ve heard you can stand on the tip of your tail! Show me.’

  Well, King Shark liked to show off, so he was ready to come out of the water without much persuasion.

  ‘I will,’ said King Shark, ‘but only for half a minute, otherwise I will die in the sun.’

  And as King Shark came out of the water and stood up on the tip of his tail, Brer Anansi pretended he was impressed.

  ‘That’s amazing! I have never seen a shark stand up on the tip of its tail!’

  ‘Well, I’m the all-powerful king,’ King Shark boasted. ‘I can do anything!’

  As King Shark showed off with his balancing antics, Brer Anansi thought he would take this moment to destroy him, so he used a bucket to take out some of the steaming water. He threw it at King Shark and killed him right where he stood, balancing on his tail! Once King Shark was lying on the ground, Brer Anansi laughed and cut him up into pieces. He put him in the copper pot to boil with the rest of the fish.

  ‘You may be a king,’ said Brer Anansi, ‘but I am much smarter than you are!’

  Feeling pleased with himself, Brer Anansi added some peppers and allowed all the fish to cook up well. There was much too much fish to eat by himself, but he didn’t care. He was a greedy and selfish spider and he was happy to throw away what he couldn’t manage to eat.

  But Brer Anansi wasn’t alone. As he cooked his fish supper he saw King Lion creep up on him. King Lion had smelt the sweet aroma of Brer Anansi’s cooking and he wanted to have some.

  Brer Anansi was afraid, but he didn’t let King Lion know this. ‘Ah, King Lion, you are just the man I wanted to see,’ said Brer Anansi. ‘I have a fish feast here, more than enough for me. Will you help me eat it?’

  ‘Mmm, gladly,’ growled King Lion. King Lion licked his lips and made himself comfortable, as Brer Anansi finished preparing the food. When the fish feast was ready King Lion could hardly wait to get started. For every fish Brer Anansi ate, King Lion ate six fishes. Brer Anansi was furious that he had done all the hard work and King Lion was eating the most.

  He grumbled, ‘It’s not fair! I caught the fish, I made the fire, I carried the big copper pot to the stove and cooked all the fish, and yet you’ve eaten more fish than I have!’

  ‘You’d better stop your grumbling,’ roared King Lion, ‘or I might just eat you up too!’

  Brer Anansi shut up at once. He was very afraid of what King Lion might do, so he thought it best to keep quiet. He didn’t say anything while they ate but he thought a lot about how to get his own back.

  When they had finished eating, Brer Anansi said, ‘Remember the game we used to play at school?’

  Now Brer Anansi and King Lion had gone to the same school when they were young, when Brer Anansi was tiny and King Lion was just a little lion cub.

  ‘I don’t remember any game!’ said King Lion.

  Brer Anansi said, ‘I’ll remind you. We take a little piece of string and you put your two hands behind your back and I tie you up to a tree. Then I take a small twig and I just lightly touch your back with it. Then you break out of the string and get away and then you do the same to me.’

  ‘Oh,’ said King Lion, ‘well, I don’t remember this game at all, but I don’t mind playing it with you – as long as I get to tie you up first!’

  ‘That’s fine with me,’ said Brer Anansi.

  So King Lion took the little piece of string and he tied Brer Anansi to the tree, then he took a small twig and lightly touched Brer Anansi’s back with it.

  ‘He-he-he, that tickles,’ laughed Brer Anansi and he broke out of the string and got away.

  ‘Your turn now, King Lion!’ said B
rer Anansi, and King Lion got ready to be tied to the tree.

  But this time, instead of using a little piece of string, Brer Anansi took a thick cord rope out of his pocket and he tied King Lion to the tree tightly. Then, instead of a small twig, Brer Anansi took a large branch from the tree and whipped it across King Lion’s back, hard. King Lion immediately tried to pull away, but the rope held him firmly to the tree. Brer Anansi hit him again with the tree branch, then again and again. He beat King Lion over and over until King Lion was half dead and then Brer Anansi left King Lion on the ground.

  ‘Serves you right!’ laughed Brer Anansi. ‘You ate all my fish! You didn’t think I was going to let you get away with it, did you? You may be a king,’ shouted Brer Anansi, ‘but I am much smarter than you are!’ and Brer Anansi ran off home.

  ‘I’m smarter than three kings!’ laughed Brer Anansi.

  King Lion was all battered and bruised. He was trying to work out how to untie himself when he saw a lady walking by.

  ‘Please, Ma’am,’ he pleaded, ‘please can you untie me? Else I will surely die.’

  The lady was afraid at first. ‘Who tied you and left you there?’ she asked.

  ‘Brer Anansi did this to me!’ said King Lion. ‘He asked me to play a game we used to play at school with him. I tied him up first and he broke the string, like we used to do at school, and he got away. But then he had to tie me and instead of using the same little string, he used a much stronger cord rope. He tied me to this tree and then he beat me with a big tree branch until I was half dead!’

  ‘That’s terrible,’ said the lady. ‘But you’re King Lion, the most ferocious animal around. If I untie you, how do I know you will not eat me?’

  ‘If I try to eat you, all the trees and stones around here will cry “shame”!’

  So the lady agreed to untie King Lion. As she did so, King Lion tried to eat her all up! But just as he had said, all the trees and the stones round about cried out, ‘Shame, Lion! Shame!’

  King Lion immediately stopped and let the lady go.

  Ashamed of himself for letting Brer Anansi catch him and then breaking his word with the lady, King Lion went home and told his wife what had happened.