Editing Anansi (section)

====How Anansi got a bald head====

Sometime after they were married, it is said Kwaku Anansi the Spider and his wife Aso were living together.<ref name="rattray" />{{rp|118–122}} One day, they had returned from a visit to the plantation outside of the village, when a messenger came to them. Anansi approached the messenger and asked him why he'd come, and the man responded that Anansi's mother-in-law had died the previous day. In response Anansi told his wife Aso what had taken place, and told Aso that they would go to the village to mourn her mother, as the funeral would take place within a few days. Soon the messenger left, and the next morning came. Anansi spared no time and went to the others in the village for a favor and found Odwan the Sheep, Okra the Cat, Okraman the Dog, Akoko the Fowl, and Aberekyie the Goat. Anansi told them of his mother-in-law's passing and asked if they could accompany him to her funeral, and they agreed. Anansi thanked them, and then returned to his home to prepare.

Anansi made clothes to wear to the funeral, sewing a hat from leopard's skin; he dyed his cloth russet, and had the attire he wished to wear prepared. Thursday eventually came and it was time to head out toward the village where the funeral of Aso's mother would take place. He called those who'd agreed to accompany him, and they left the village, but not without supplies – guns, drums, [[palm-wine]], and other things first so they would have things to share with the rest of those who attended as they celebrated his mother-in-law's memory. Soon, Anansi reached his mother-in-law's village and fired their guns in the air to signal they had arrived, and went to the home where her wake was taking place. Anansi shared all that he'd brought, giving palm-wine to those mourning. He then presented an offering to help pay for the funeral: six peredwan packets of gold dust, a velvet pillow, two cloths, a wool blanket, shell money (to barter with ghosts), a sheep, and more palm-wine. They accepted his offer, and the others matched it.

The next morning, everyone ate and invited Anansi to eat as well. However, Anansi said that he was not allowed to, as it was his mother-in-law's funeral and he would not eat until the eighth day. Instead, Anansi said he'd gather some for his neighbors who'd accompanied him and remain while they left. True to his word, Anansi asked Aso to find them food and she brought it to them. Anansi bade them farewell, and he remained at the home. Days passed and he resisted eating, but when the fourth day came, he was too hungry to resist eating, and went to search for food inside the home where he was staying. He went into the kitchen and saw that there was a fire going, and at that fire there were beans boiling in a pot. Anansi decided he would eat those, so he took his leopard hat and scooped some of the beans inside once he was sure no one was watching him. However, just as soon as he placed on his hat to hide the beans, he saw Aso enter the room. Startled, Anansi hatched up another plan and told Aso that a hat-shaking festival was taking place in his father's village; he intended to go there himself. Aso became suspicious and asked Anansi why he had not told her of the festival before; she reminded him that he had not eaten anything and advised the Spider to wait until the next day. However, Anansi refused to listen to his wife's advice and she stormed off.

Aso gathered the people in the village and told them what Anansi was planning so they could hopefully keep him from leaving, and then headed back to her husband. Anansi saw Aso returning with the crowd and grabbed his hat, singing: "Just now at my father's village they are shaking hats! Saworowa, they are shaking hats! E, they are shaking hats, o, they are shaking hats! Saworowa!" Anansi began to panic, because the beans in his leopard's hat were burning him, and he told them he was leaving and would not remain whatsoever. Anansi left, but the villagers followed him, even when he told them to leave. In panic he sang again, "Turn back, because: Just now at my father's village they are shaking hats! Saworowa, they are shaking hats! E, they are shaking hats, o, they are shaking hats! Saworowa!"

Now, the beans were unbearably hot upon his head, so Anansi threw his hat with its beans away. When Aso realized what Anansi had done, she and the villagers booed him and he ran away down the road. He promised the road that he would thank it if it helped him escape, and it agreed to, leading him away from the villagers and to medicine he could use. So it is that Anansi has a bald head, from the airs he gave himself during his mother-in-law's funeral.