The Akan trickster god Ananse, called Kwaku (uncle), Anansi in, the following translation, is usually depicted as a clever and articulate spider able to outwit not only animals and humans but-also other deities. In the following folktale Ananse prevails not through magic or trickery but through his ability to tell a good story.

It happened one time that the animals of the fields and the. forest had a great argument about which of them was the oldest and entitled to the most respect. Each of them said, "I am theYoldest." They argued at great length, and at lastthey decided to take the case before a judge. They went to the house of Anansi, the spider, and they said to him: "Kwaku Anansi, we are in dispute as to which of us is the most venerable. Listen to our testimony."

So Anansi called...