The myth of Anansi, the trickster spider - Emily Zobel Marshall

[@KootFloris]

It's remarkable how many different cultures have trickster stories, where tricksters helped evolution, let alone humanity advance. Chaotic goodness is a way too little valued quality.

[@kevinlane1219]

To quotes Lex Luthor: "Brains beat brawns, everytime."

[@loki2240]

So true. So true.

[@themostrandomguyever370]

yea

[@chauntesterling1613]

Im doing an essay on this right now lol

[@KootFloris]

@@chauntesterling1613 There's a great book: Trickster made this world. Check it out, should be a summary online too.

[@biblicallyskeptic7650]

I’m a Ghanaian and hearing kwaku Anansi story being told on TED gives me goosebumps. I was told lots of these stories when I was growing up. Ananse is mostly portrayed in the stories as very wise or mischievous. It was fun. FYI, Onyankopon or Onyame is the Twi word for God.

[@petediamonds3950]

The narrator did well with the pronounciation

[@yvetteihemesinwa2981]

Onyakopon was used in the anime attack on titan

[@kwofieeee]

Did I hear mmotia the forest spirit? 💀

[@ebenezeroffei5021]

Yh TEDed has really done well with the story I even heard )sebo as Osebo. Thank you TEDed

[@fiifianyimadu6118]

It doesn't, it fills me with shame... How me and you never held our own stories with this much pride. It only becomes attractive again when a foreigner tells it.

[@Technochaos03]

For reasons totally beyond me, my small town elementary school had a unit on African culture and mythology in second grade. Anansi was a favorite. He got multiple art projects and dedicated story times. And yet, this is a story I never heard! Thank you Anansi for the good times, my number one favorite spider nearly three decades running.

[@virgondust5562]

I'm from Trinidad and Tobago and here we get to enjoy anansi as a major folklore character in our early school days, he's a very interesting character and also one of my childhood favorites

[@yellowandbrown1864]

same. i had a unit on anansi too, we covered this story but it's always worth a relisten.

[@joshuabautch8936]

I assume that Its for PROPER representation Via deep dives into African Culture

[@Jeff_Idiotface]

Props to the Sky God for actually being chill and giving Anansi the stories instead of torturing him for defying a supposedly impossible task.

[@caindain2179]

The Sky God is more honorable than any other god in Greek 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@jimmy.mushroom222]

Zeus: Oh wow you did an impossible task! Sorry, lmao, it was a prank bro.

[@Aeviae]

If nothing else, he got a pretty good story in return.

[@Britzzlee]

Unlike the greeks.... 🤭

[@vary1143]

He was the sky god He was. The god of everything God like a zeus type but js god And thats not how it went Onyankopon didnt do that but its a nice story

[@buttercupkat]

Interestingly, Kwaku is also purple, orange, has a similar headpiece to Anansi, and is scattering a story right now technically... It might be a fun coincidence or nod to the story from the animators, but either way, it's cool!

[@ephyihiai]

I'm not sure if it's to link them but Anansi's full name is Kweku Anansi.

[@shabdankbhanawat8162]

They did say Anancy can shape shift

[@BunnyQueen97]

I think I remember from being a kid that Anansi is the one telling the story through any storyteller’s mouth, any storyteller could be Anansi in disguise and he’s a patron for many storytellers!

[@KaritKtana]

Definitely not a coincidence

[@Hi_Hour]

“shapeshifting spider” makes sense for him to be anansi

[@arpitdas4263]

Easily one of the coolest characters who ever was. Absolute madlad

[@f1shyspace]

Shut.

[@pinkmoonrabbit2072]

heck yeah!

[@eutrader74]

@@f1shyspace no u tbh

[@myouniverse0613]

@@eutrader74 fr fr

[@harshitagrawal791]

Agreed buddy

[@shaniceforbes6658]

Yea! As a Jamaican, I grew up reading about Ananci stories in school. The books were mainly issued to students across the country by the government. It’s nice to hear the story and I was so happy to see a Louise Bennett-Coverley quote used at the beginning! 🇯🇲

[@felixlee9645]

u see that pokemon refrence they threw in there?

[@damionneil6977]

💪🇯🇲

[@lexiyaa3499]

I'm Ghanian-American and my mom always told me this story! Love to see TED-ED's rendition ♥

[@gennagenna8575]

You ever been to ghana?

[@efuabaiden8245]

@@gennagenna8575 I live here

[@gennagenna8575]

@@efuabaiden8245 Accra?

[@lexiyaa3499]

@@gennagenna8575 I've been twice. My mom is from Koforidua and I think my dad is from Kumasi

[@gennagenna8575]

@@lexiyaa3499 Are you able to speak any of the Ghanaian languages?

[@oxide9717]

Fellow Ghanaian here 🇬🇭 Anansi in akan mythology is the smartest being ever with incredibly clever ways of tricking powerful and less powerful being . Even outsmarted god for his powers in one of the stories.

[@Deathtank75]

So, Anansi is a demon then....🤔

[@Hi-vd8lr]

@@Deathtank75 nope hes a spider that messes around with others

[@freebodyevansacquah]

And Anansi is just one clever spider

[@EmmaAbaya]

@@Deathtank75 Anansi is neither explicitly good or bad

[@munachi5294]

@@Deathtank75 so how you got demon from that?

[@Tinky1rs]

They really should make more movies/series that explore african mythology. Great vid!

[@krampusklaws2238]

I whole heartedly support this. The world has so many wonderful and interesting stories from all over, yet we always get the same stories from the same handful of places.

[@kylefenton2262]

Tristan strong punches a whole in the sky is a kids series about the African myths. Anansi is a key character

[@JP-br4mx]

Yes and Voodoo too

[@CrackheadedCreator]

I'm Jamaican and as a child u would either hear Anansi stories from your parent's, at school or you would read them in books. It was great, he's always up to something😂

[@HassanKhan0987]

I adore anansai's story. It emphasizes that knowledge and wit can bring you far even without strength.

[@traditionalafricanpoetryta7398]

Its a good lesson worth sharing, TED-Ed! As a child and growing up in Ghana, the 'Ananse stories or folklore as we call it was shared across many schools, villages; by the fireside as we group together as family to listen to our elders share such stories . The 'Ananse Ntontan' as one of our Adinkra symbols indicates; meaning the Spider Web- (creativity), the cunning Ananse stories will be everywhere was foretold and it is true now! Ananse stories on the Web and everywhere indeed!! 👏 🇬🇭

[@Villager6883]

Skool*

[@DawnKing]

Damn! By the fire side, that’s ages ago….

[@schizophrenicsnowman3226]

Im African American, with my fathers side Jamacian. Not once did i hear of this Trickster Spider who's smarts outsmarted animals and people far more powerful than him. I feel like I've had a 100 doors open after hearing of this amazing folktale

[@jamiesimms7084]

I'm surprised. I've heard these stories since I was small. I just thought they were Jamaican until I realised they were from the mother land

[@nicholasamemazior3066]

it's interesting hearing how non-Ghanaians mention words from one of our local tongues

[@richeyadelani8714]

Bruh I know right 😹😹😹😹

[@AnmolSingh-mu5yq]

I love these stories! The mythologies of different civilizations are so intresting. (I didn't even realise that I wrote intresting as interesting)

[@jonathansaravanan]

Interesting is the correct spelling tho…

[@delavago5379]

As a Jamaican I never thought I'd heard people outside of the island talk about the stories or even hear an anansi story told in plain english💀

[@chanterelle483]

There's book called Anansi's boys by English writer Neil Gaiman. I don't know if it's any good, but I do know that Gaiman values mythology very high so there's a good chance you could like it 🙂

[@yaaobenewaah1697]

Ever heard of Ghana

[@serendipitys-child]

As an Indian, never heard of him but I'm glad I came to know about Anansi. Your videos just never disappoint.

[@petediamonds3950]

I am quite glad that this story is being told on TED-Ed. In Ghana, we call these stories "Anansesɛm".... A student from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has the animated version of this exact story.

[@dmcken4671]

I'm Jamaican born and raised, still live here too. This video filled my heart with warmth. My grandma told me lots of stories about Anansi growing up and I read lots of story books about him too.

[@noix666dezephir]

I cackled at the “Who’s that Pokemon?” edit for Anansi lol Beautiful animation :)

[@MisterVercetti]

IT'S PIKACHU!

[@alexanderkarvos1361]

@@MisterVercetti *Image uncovered* It's anansi!

[@AnikaCrawford]

As soon as I saw the title I was brought right back to my childhood. I grew up hearing many anansi stories, thanks for this video Ted-Ed. 🇯🇲

[@andraebruce6453]

🇯🇲same here

[@emmanuelnyatefe7581]

As a Ghanaian and a fun of TED-Ed, I’m so proud to watch my own native story being told on this channel.🥰🥰 I have always loved Ananse stories 😹😹😹 Like Loki, he always tricks people until his son Entekuma finally wins the day by tricking him😹😹

[@alexandriantria5695]

my first exposure to him was with neil gaiman's book: anansi boys!!! such an amazing book as well :>

[@tendai63]

Lol memories

[@jakhongir_isomiddinov]

I saw him first in the series "American Gods" and then read the book he was quite hilarious ::')

[@jorgewilliam7103]

I first saw it on the Static Shock cartoon

[@braahqwekutv3142]

Thanks for shedding light on our cultural heritage"ANANSE STORIES" MORE LOVE FROM GHANA🙏🙏🥰🥰

[@kofikorankyeasamoah]

As a Ghanaian I think one thing that could make it better is having someone with a Ghanaian accent do the narration, so the pronunciation of the names remain as they are in the local Ghanaian dialect. Aside that, this is great!

[@user-rc9bn3ji8q]

In Curaçao, my beautiful island, "Nanzi" is also very popular with alot of tales written by our people. Such good stories.

[@chelseaopoku4203]

Love this! As a Ghanaian-American, my parents told me and my younger sister Anansi stories growing up, so seeing that Ted-Ed made a video about him makes me super happy 😊. Thank you Ted-Ed for spreading Anansi stories for all the world to hear!

[@otgenesis7410]

Kwaku Anansi, or Anaanu as we the Gas say is a legendary figure in our stories. He could trick anyone and everyone for an extra bowl of food if he wants. Shoutout from Ghana.

[@mypal1990]

Growing up reading African Literature in grammar school made me realize how stories interconnect but custom made to the culture it presents it to.

[@nyrorosaurus]

Love this! What's interesting is that I've heard a different Anansi story where he's trapped by his family in effectively the same way he traps Mmoatia in this one. There's also a Br'er Rabbit story with a similar plot device (I believe the Br'er Rabbit stories were derived from Anansi stories).

[@ParsonNathaniel]

I was just going to write about "the tar baby" which was the only time Br'er Fox was able to catch Br'er Rabbit.

[@irfanismailyowo8273]

Disney brer rabbit love story

[@Optimusprime809]

Huh, very cool! The only reason I know of Anansi is because of Spider-Man's Spiderverse comics, where Anansi the Spider God is one of the characters.

[@domfeadusei5083]

Wow, I'm a Ghanaian and we grow up listening to these stories. These stories were always deep getting us thinking. Ted Ed thumbs up

[@scottthebahamiannaturalist]

Would love to see more Caribbean folklore stories. In The Bahamas, we have the Chickcharney, the Lusca, The gaulin wife and Brer Bouki and Brer Rabbi and others. In the Caribbean there is the Loogaroo, Mami wata, and many more.

[@bsriram6353]

The original Spiderman.

[@apoorvanand9627]

I like how cool Nyame is. He actually gave the well earned stories to Anansi, respecting him for his brilliance. Rather than being annoyed or trying to back out of the deal.

[@afrinaut3094]

Love from a AfricanAmerican here. Fun facts: Ancestral Hero Harriet Tubman is said to have been a descendant of the Asante-Akan. And while Akom (Akan indigenous religion) is still under persecution by Christians, many of its stories, legends & allegories have managed to survive. The “sky father” isn’t really a “sky father archetype”, not such a cliche or stereotype. The God of Akom in some Akan clan traditions is a divine-trinity. That divine-trinity consisting of ONYAME (female, the mother. sometimes referred to as "Nyame"), ONYANKOPON or “Nyame” (her son, the king) & ODOMANKOMA (the being that brings the two together). Asase-Yaa (the great-mother & wife of Oyankopon) is arguably the most important Abosom (types of deities beneath the authority of god).

[@kboyyy]

I’m Ghanaian and I’m so proud that our stories are also being told here.

[@3k4fun]

In one of the Spider-Man comics, there is a shorter and a bit different story. Anansi was a human who, just like here wanted to spread stories from the gods. One day he felt weird. Later, he could shoot webs out of his wrists. He decided to travel across Africa to find something impossible. He wanted to find the God Kvaku and ask him for his stories. He traveled for many days and met extraordinary people. One day he found himself in front of web-like stairs that spread out to the clouds. He climbed and, when he got to the top, he was standing in front of Kvaku. He asked him for his stories, but the God wanted something in return. He asked Anansi would he want to become his loyal servant who will spread him news from "down below", leave his life,friends, family and memories of his past life, all for some stories?! He agreed and suddenly he started to change. He became a spider. That is the Marvel version of the story. WOW THIS IS LONG!!!

[@muhamadirfanisamily7663]

Non superhero over

[@KhoPhi]

As a Ghanaian, my only grudge with this video is the pronunciation of "Nyame" . It's not "Ni-a-me". The correct pronunciation is something close to "N-ya-me". If you know how the musician Enya name is pronounced, the "Nya" sounds the same in Nyame. I wish they got that right, because Nyame (God) is a big deal for religious people and the pronunciation could have been at least on point.

[@kwakuofosu-asare2446]

I'm Ghanaian and I'm happy Ted Ed has made a story about ananse. Medase🙏🙏

[@linglee8688]

Grew up on these and other similar tales here in Jamaica. Glad to see this part of our culture on display. Big up ted!

[@lydiaosa-andrews8237]

This is amazing! My husband just started telling my 3 & 6 year old boys kwaku Ananse (Tsie Anaanu in Ga) stories and we came to KZbin to replenish his bank of stories told to him nearly 4-decades ago by his Dad. We live outside Ghana now but my boys said they don’t want anymore western stories 😁 after hearing just a couple of the might spider’s.😅

[@felesha]

my favorite childhood carribean folklore stories

[@paleoph6168]

I remember these stories back in my younger school days. Thank you for covering them in this video.

[@braahqwekutv3142]

Thanks for shedding light on our "ANANSE STORY" MORE LOVE FROM GHANA🙏🙏🥰🥰

[@playlist7632]

I grew up in jamaica and am still living in jamaica and I remember hearing these stories about anansi ... R.I.P LB

[@lucideandre]

I’ve often wondered if Anansi might be a mythological “ancestor” of Loki’s. As in, if maybe some of Loki isn’t derived from Anansi’s myth (or maybe from another that preceded both). Both are shapeshifting tricksters, and Loki’s name is often related to spiders and spiderwebs (even if none of the myths we currently have of him involve spiders, the association with his name might indicate that this could’ve been part of stories that haven’t survived)

[@EmmaAbaya]

That's an interesting observation

[@jocularjeopardy]

Anansi is my type of person. Cunning, witty, trickster....Kudos to TED-Ed for covering this REAL LIFE spiderman's story.

[@richeyadelani8714]

It’s interesting to see this , since I’ve been hearing Ananse’s stories since I was a kid. This was another good one

[@Bun-Bun-uWu]

My grandmother used to tell me anansi stories and seeing him portrayed in American god's was awesome too. I'll be telling them to my kids too

[@artiseen]

WOOO FINALLY a story on Anasai as a Jamaican glad to see him repped

[@emmanuelbampoe421]

I'm really happy with this. Thanks Ted-Ed! I love my country 🇬🇭!

[@RedwoodTheElf]

Ananzi, by the way, was the origin of the "Brer Rabbit" stories, popularized in the Uncle Remus stories, transcribed by Joel Chandlar Harris. The "Sap Doll" trick should seem particularly familiar. Though Brer Fox used Tar (creosote) instead of sap.

[@chanbricks4461]

Glad to see old Anansi again

[@ashenen2278]

The sticky doll reminded me very much of a story about Br'er Rabbit

[@ernestonwona6070]

This myth makes a good insight on real life because a lot of Ghanaian don't know their history.

[@--Paws--]

I love how this simplified the lore but left in so much detail.

[@bartosz3667]

Whenever there's a story about Spider....it attracts everybody whether it's Anansi spider or Peter Parker spider ❤️

[@nathanwilliams2952]

I really appreciate this as a jamaican 🇯🇲

[@alkritik1351]

being that you guys always talk about things that not many people know, i would like to see a video on albanian myths as they are very unique too. Instead of classic myths that most people know about from pop culture

[@Priyanka-vr2yi]

Why is no one talking about the "tight tight"? That was adorable 🥺

[@nuhakirmani3396]

Plot Twist: The story teller is Anansi. His hair and looks are the same. Also, Anansi was a shape shifter. Kwaku winked b4 telling the story.

[@StarBoundFables]

Awesome 😃 Thank you, Anansi, for sharing your wonderful stories with us 🕷🙏🏽

[@globingoblin]

The spider in the thumbnail looks like Cackletta from Superstar Saga

[@gilbertjeffery2696]

As a Ghanaian I’m very happy to see a kweku ananse story on Ted ☺️☺️

[@nalini3229]

I grew up with theses stories in the Caribbean islands st Lucia 🇱🇨 so glad u guys did this

[@jorgeorta7751]

I remember reading a small children's book full of myths of Anansi that I found on My school's library. This brought back the memories! Love storytelling ever since

[@AneeWa]

Makes me so proud to hear a story from my homeland, Ghana 🇬🇭. The pronunciations of the names ain’t bad either 😄. Awesome job 💯

[@sophieslife8330]

My mom is from Trinidad and growing up I had a childrens book of Anansi stories read to me almost every night

[@Mariana16562]

Anansi travelled far from home, then received a amazing homecoming before going away no way home

[@elizawilson1389]

I love those myths ! Who else agrees ❤👍

[@mrblue___]

I used to love reading this particular myth as a kid. Glad to see it animated.

[@vivanakashbeere2854]

We had anansi stories in our studies( English literature)thanks Ted ed for making video. The story is perfectly narrated.

[@gustavocavaca1757]

Fun fact: When Kwaku speaks, his mouth matches the words. Even animes don't make this often in their animation.

[@noahlarsey]

Ghanaian here. Nice work. The pronunciations of the creature names was off but this puts a smile on my face

[@michelleameyaw3419]

WOAHHHH!!!! My parents are Ghanaian and I grew up on stories about Anansi, it is so so cool and special to see my childhood and west African culture shared like this :))))

[@SLabs-my7vr]

Listening to how the names where mentioned made me a little worried. But I'm proud that these stories have gone across the borders of my country.👏🙂

[@gearsofcreativity7222]

Anansi is a story himself, it would have been good if they had made Anansi realize he didn't need all those story to be told since he had his own.

[@todddenton5862]

This was a wonderful video. I remember Anansi stories from growing up in Jamaica. However I have a sad feeling that this interesting part of our African heritage is slowly disappearing. I really hope that my generation won't be the last to hear these incredible tales (though I think we may be).

[@somethingsomething8758]

It's awesome to see something I grew up with being covered on this channel. I loved "Anansesem" growing up. Folklore all over the world deserves much more love in our modern societies ❤️❤️

[@nanaesio.nyarkoh2858]

Omg I requested this video last year 👀 I’m happy to finally see it 😁

[@quitequeerquesadilla]

Swear to god I only meant to watch a few seconds of this and save time by finishing it later, but the combo of the narration + interesting animation style + delightful sound effects was so engaging I looked up from the screen and realized I finished the video after like 5 minutes

[@youknowwhat4851]

3:50 - Anansi maybe small, 3:15 - but he could carry creatures larger than him in a small sack

[@moonster2343]

I loved how you guys showed the spider as a Pokemon 😂

[@johnjohn-6256]

Spider-man: Stories from Home

[@kareemismail8654]

Love Jamaican Anansi stories Long live Miss Lou."Jack Mandora Mi Nuh Choose none (:"

[@oceanbreeze3213]

Caribbean children grew up with these stories 🇬🇩🇯🇲🇹🇹🇦🇬🇧🇸🇧🇧🇩🇲🇬🇾🇱🇨🇻🇨🇹🇿

[@oopsy444]

This is the 3rd channel I follow that told this story about this character. Love the different takes and extra info

[@AJEETSINGH-nx9ll]

I don't know if I should feel fine or not but this spider outsmarts me

[@lookup2094]

Jesus Christ Our Lord Our Saviour He Comes To Us In The Name Of God. Amen🙏😉

[@rossplendent]

I like how it's 3 stories of a trickster coming up with clever ways to trap his targets, plus one about him just straight up stabbing a leopard.

[@prodviito]

as a Ghanaian i can confirm there are an infinite amount of Anansi stories

[@TheLionPear]

I learned about Anansi as a little kid from watching Gargoyles on the Disney channel.

[@Armed_Insurgent]

The sky god was pretty cool fr, Didnt know bro was chill like that

[@abdulrahmanitani9639]

I honestly adore TED-Ed videos SO much. Every animator, every narrator is awesome! Thank you sooooooo much for these videos. Just amazing.

[@georgenorman2998]

This spider seems less like a trickster and uses brute force instead

[@The_Mops]

I like that they chose the spider for this tale, who is a master of traps

[@DawnKing]

Ananse and Ntakuma…. You just let me relive my childhood again. Much appreciated

[@emmancipations]

I love how Anansi and the storyteller are wearing the same colors

[@rosaliebosma]

I just finished reading "De zwarte met het witte hart" yesterday (I believe the English title is "The two hearts of Aquasi Boachi"), and in it was another story about Anansi, trying to reach the sun he loves so much. Interesting to learn more such stories!

[@SLabs-my7vr]

what country are you in?

[@rosaliebosma]

@@SLabs-my7vr The Netherlands Did you read the book as well?