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Once in the heart of a forest thicket was the animal kingdom of Adepa. The kingdom was ruled by a centuries-old tortoise, Akye; he was wise, kind and compassionate. All the animals lived and traded peacefully with each other under Akye’s wise and just rule, life was good. In the kingdom also lived the cunning and ever mischievous Kwaku Ananse the Spider.
Oneday, while roaming the forest, looking for trouble, Ananse chanced upon Opuro the squirrel, busily burying seeds and preparing for the coming rainy season. Ananse carefully and quietly watched Opuro, and as he did so, a clever plan began to brew in his head. After a while, Ananse approached the busy Squirrel and started a conversation, “Opuro have you ever heard our ancestors’ wise saying about working together?”
“No I haven’t. And what about it?” Answered a very tired Opuro.
“Our ancestors say, go together if you want to go far.” Ananse cleverly answered
“Go together?” Go together where and what has that go to do with me?”
“You’re an excellent farmer, I am a clever planner. Let’s cultivate maize as a team. With your stellar work ethic and my management skills, we will be widely successful.” Opuro readily agreed. And thus Ananse set his clever plan in motion.
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Ananse borrowed land and seed from Akye, never once mentioning to the King that the farm belonged to both him and Opuro. Then Ananse convinced Opuro that in order to protect their farm from thieves and jealous neighbors, they had to keep it a secret. And so instead of creating a footpath to their farm, they both agreed to access it by climbing and swinging from tree to tree. They both worked hard day in day out, and the farm stayed hidden in the middle of the forest, surrounded by dense brushes.
The farm flourished and was soon ready to harvest. Ananse quickly cleared a footpath to the farm and went complaining to Akye the King, that Opuro was stealing from his farm by stealthily swinging from tree to tree in order to avoid detection. Opuro was summoned to the King’s court, and try as he would, he couldn’t convince the King and his elders that he was part owner of the farm, and that the tree route was Ananse’s idea. At the end, Opuro was banned from the farm and Ananse given full rights to their hard work.
“What happed to go together if you want to go far?”, Opuro sadly asked Ananse.
“There is another part to that age-old adage I didn’t tell you, and it says:
Go alone if you want to go fast!
At this point, I would very much like to go fast!” Ananse replied without a hint of remorse.
And so Ananse became very rich off the harvest and decided to quit farming and trade. He chose to trade in salt because it was a very scarce commodity in Adepa. He travelled to the Ga people at the coast and bought a wagon load of salt. Keeping with his “go alone and go fast” motto, he went alone. He was not at all prepared to work and share the profit with anyone.
It was a long and tedious journey, especially with a wagon-load of salt to push. But Ananse was determined, for five days and five nights he walked and pushed his load. Then at last, he reached the outskirts of Adepa, he was excited indeed! But suddenly the sky darkened and rain began to pour. Ananse parked his load under a tree and went looking for palm fronds to cover it. He returned, to find a mighty Hawk settled on the wagon. It had spread its wings to shield the salt from the rain. Ananse was grateful indeed.
“What a good friend you are. Thank you for this friendly gesture,” Ananse said.
When the rains stopped, Ananse realized to his chagrin that the Hawk was doing him no favors. He was rather staking a claim to his precious load. An argument ensued and the Hawk and Ananse, together with the precious load of salt, ended up in Akye’s court.
The Hawk said, ” this load is mine and very precious to me. I carried it a long way and protected it with my body when the rain started.”
Ananse said, “the salt is mine! I bought it with my own money and carried it a long way to get here. I went to find palm fronds to protect it, only to return and find this thief sitting on it.”
It didn’t take long for the elders to deliberate and conclude that no one would spend much money and energy to buy and transport salt from so far a place, only to leave it at the mercy of the rain. And so the load was given to the Hawk.
Somewhere in the crowd at the court Opuro sat with his family. And as Ananse passed by, alone, tired, defeated, angry and embarrassed, Opuro approached him and said, “you sure did go fast my friend, next time try and go far!”
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