Later, while Tiger was sleeping he woke up to a sharp pain in his side. He tried to move around to see what was causing so much pain on his tail. He saw Anansi leaning up from stinging Tiger and soon Tiger lost control of his body and passed out. A few minutes later he woke up and realized he was tied to his mango tree and noticed Anansi was in his tree eating all his mangos. Tiger was curious why he wasn’t dead considering Anansi stung him, but Anansi told him he didn’t string him hard enough so he had to wake up to see Anansi eating his precious mangos.
Tiger began to get quite upset and struggled to break himself free. Anansi told him there was no use in trying because the knot was so tight an ant couldn’t even escape. Tiger noticed that this very old man walked by every day at the same time. Tiger would bribe the man with a mango to untie him. As Anansi sat and ate the fruit, Tiger thought about his plan and what he would do once he got out.
Anansi finished with his mangos and returned to his house. Tiger waited for the man to come by at his usual time. When he did, Tiger bribed him with the mango and the old, frail man agreed considering he was very hungry. The man untied Tiger and Tiger gave him his mango as promised. The man went on down the road and Tiger sat by his tree thinking of ways to get back at Anansi.
Later that night, Tiger was headed to Anansi’s house to take his revenge on Anansi when he noticed something strange. The man’s hat was outside Anansi’s house. Tiger rushed in, scared the man was going to be harmed. Tiger looked inside and saw the man dead on the floor. Anansi told Tiger that no one gets away with deceiving Anansi.
Tiger was so upset and couldn’t believe what Anansi had done. He wanted to kill Anansi for killing the sweet old man. One night when Anansi was sleeping Tiger came into his home and killed Anansi for taking that sweet, old man’s life. Tiger didn’t like what he had done but Anansi had hurt an innocent man.
Author’s Note: Jamaica Anansi Stories are written in African dialect that was a bit tricky to understand. They are very hard to understand and grasp what is going on, but I am going to try to retell the story as best I can in my own words. I didn’t use any of the dialect in my story even though I did find it interesting in the first one, but it made it hard to follow. I had to add some detail to add up for the parts I didn’t understand.
In the original story, Brer Tiger has a mango tree on his place. Anansi asks if he can buy a penny worth of mangos from Tiger. Tiger said no, but Anansi really wanted a mango so Anansi tricked Tiger into thinking that he needed to tie himself to the mango tree because a storm was coming. Once Tiger was tied up, Anansi climbed up the tree and ate some mangos. Many people walked by Tiger and he asked them to let him loose. No one agreed aexcept Mr. Duck. Anansi saw this go on and tricked them both into thinking Anansi was Mr. Duck's brother and when they found out he wasn't, they ran him out of the house. They let him in the house when they thought he was Mr. Duck's brother for tea.
The original names are hard to understand so I made it easier in my retelling of the story. I wrote my own story with a more modern tone. I think it makes it easier to follow and understand the story. My story differs from the original because I added more detail and extended the story a little. I added that Anansi tied up Tiger rather than the Tiger tied himself up like the original. I was confused what was going on in the original story so I added my own story where I was confused what was going on in the original. I hope you like the story and find it easy to read and follow along. I think my more modern way of telling the story will really help.
Bibliography: "Tying Tiger" by Martha Warren Beckwith, from Jamaica Anansi Stories (1924).
Tiger was so upset and couldn’t believe what Anansi had done. He wanted to kill Anansi for killing the sweet old man. One night when Anansi was sleeping Tiger came into his home and killed Anansi for taking that sweet, old man’s life. Tiger didn’t like what he had done but Anansi had hurt an innocent man.
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| Tiger's Mango Tree. Source: The Untextbook. |
In the original story, Brer Tiger has a mango tree on his place. Anansi asks if he can buy a penny worth of mangos from Tiger. Tiger said no, but Anansi really wanted a mango so Anansi tricked Tiger into thinking that he needed to tie himself to the mango tree because a storm was coming. Once Tiger was tied up, Anansi climbed up the tree and ate some mangos. Many people walked by Tiger and he asked them to let him loose. No one agreed aexcept Mr. Duck. Anansi saw this go on and tricked them both into thinking Anansi was Mr. Duck's brother and when they found out he wasn't, they ran him out of the house. They let him in the house when they thought he was Mr. Duck's brother for tea.
The original names are hard to understand so I made it easier in my retelling of the story. I wrote my own story with a more modern tone. I think it makes it easier to follow and understand the story. My story differs from the original because I added more detail and extended the story a little. I added that Anansi tied up Tiger rather than the Tiger tied himself up like the original. I was confused what was going on in the original story so I added my own story where I was confused what was going on in the original. I hope you like the story and find it easy to read and follow along. I think my more modern way of telling the story will really help.
Bibliography: "Tying Tiger" by Martha Warren Beckwith, from Jamaica Anansi Stories (1924).
