Anansi's son

Species
 Allies

―Anansi's son to Anansi[src] | ”

**Anansi's son** is a male spider. He is the son of Anansi and his wife.

One day, Anansi's son spotted his father struggling to carry a gourd of knowledge up a ladder, where it could not be accessed by the other animals. Seeing his father struggle, Anansi's son suggested that Anansi swing the gourd over his shoulder in order to make the climb easier. Anansi took his son's advice and realized that he had learned something from another animal. This led Anansi to pour his knowledge out of the gourd and share it with the other animals.

Later, Anansi's son helped his mother expose Anansi's staged death.

## Biography

### Early life

Anansi's son was born to Anansi and his wife.

### Spread of knowledge

Anansi the spider believed himself to possess the greatest knowledge in the world, making him the smartest of all the creatures. In order to keep this knowledge to himself, Anansi locked it away in a gourd and proceeded to hide it in a corner of the ceiling, where none of the other animals could reach it.

As he was climbing to the top of the ceiling, Anansi was approached by his son, who noticed his father struggling to carry the gourd. The young spider suggested his father swing the gourd over his shoulder in order to put the weight behind him, and Anansi gratefully took the youngster's advice. As the older spider climbed, however, he realized that his son had just taught him something that he had not known; thus, Anansi was no longer the chief champion of knowledge.

In a split-second decision, the spider reached the top of the ceiling and turned the gourd upside-down, pouring knowledge onto the floor, where it spread among the animals. This is how knowledge was spread throughout the world.

### Exposing Anansi's fake death

When Anansi faked his own death, his wife buried him according to his wishes. As was customary, the family left the farm for forty days to grieve, and Anansi, who had only been pretending to be dead, picked all the family's beans for himself and made a bean feast every night.

At the end of the forty days, Anansi's family returned, and his wife saw that all her beans had disappeared. She cursed the thief aloud, and a voice consoled her to mourn the death of her husband, not the disappearance of her beans. Recognizing the voice, Anansi's wife brought her son to the farm the next day and told him to cut down a tree near Anansi's grave. The son expressed concern that it would fall onto the grave, but his mother insisted that he cut it down anyway.

As Anansi's son started to cut down the tree, Anansi sprang from the grave and declared that he was a ghost. His wife, however, accused him of having stolen their beans and began to chase him across the farm, which prompted Anansi to hide in the leaves of a bush.

### Anansi's death

Whenever Anansi's family got hungry, he would trick animals into their doom and use their dead corpses to feed his family. However, Anansi died during one such attempt.

## Personality and traits

Anansi's son is respectful of his parents, doing as they wish even when he disagrees. He possesses an innocent understanding that teaches even his father, Anansi, how to live more wisely.

## Appearances

* *Rafiki Remembers: Legends of Anansi*
	+ "The Bean Feast"
	+ "Anansi Know-all"