The Grinding-Stone That Ground Flour by Itself

Another great famine had spread across the land, and the villagers were thin and pale from hunger. Only one family looked healthy and well fed: the household of Anansi’s cousin.

Anansi could not understand it, and he was sure his cousin was getting food from somewhere. Greedy as he was, he made up his mind to find out the secret.

Here is what had happened. One morning while out hunting, the cousin, whose name was Kofi, had found a wonderful stone lying on the grass in the forest. It ground flour all by itself, and close beside it ran a stream of honey. Kofi was delighted. He sat down and ate a good meal. Not being greedy, he took home only as much as his family needed. Every morning after that he went back to the stone and collected enough for the day. So he and his family stayed strong and plump while the villagers around them starved.

Anansi pestered Kofi until he agreed to show him the stone. Kofi did not want to, because he knew his cousin’s wicked ways. He was certain that once Anansi saw the stone, he would never be satisfied with taking only what he needed. But Anansi badgered him with so many questions that in the end Kofi gave in. They would go, he said, the next morning, as soon as the women began their work.

Anansi was far too impatient to wait. In the middle of the night he woke his children and told them to bang the pots about as though they were the women starting the day’s work. Then he ran to wake his cousin. “Quick! It’s time to go!” But Kofi saw that it was a trick and went back to bed, saying he would not leave until the women were sweeping.

As soon as Kofi was asleep again, Spider had his children grab brooms and sweep as noisily as they could. He woke his cousin a second time. “We should have left by now!” Once more Kofi refused to go, saying this was just another of Spider’s tricks, and he went back to sleep.

This time Spider crept into his cousin’s room and cut a hole in the bottom of his bag. Then he filled the bag with ashes, went away, and left Kofi in peace.

When morning came, Kofi woke and saw no sign of Spider. Glad to have got rid of the nuisance, he set off alone for the forest. But no sooner had he sat down by the stone than Anansi appeared. He had followed the trail of ash all the way.

“Aha!” he cried. “Here is plenty of food for everyone. No more starving!”

“Hush,” said his cousin. “You must not shout here. This is too wonderful a place. Sit down quietly and eat.”

They ate a good meal, and Kofi got ready to go home with enough for his family. “No, no!” cried Anansi. “I am taking the stone.” Kofi tried his best to talk him out of his greed, but it was no use. Anansi insisted on lifting the stone onto his head and setting off for the village.

The stone began to sing:

“Spider, spider, put me down.
The pig came and drank and went away,
the antelope came and fed and went away:
Spider, spider, put me down.”

Spider would not listen. He carried the stone from village to village, selling flour, until his bag was stuffed with money. Then he headed for home.

When he reached his hut he was very tired and went to put the stone down. But the stone would not move from his head. It stuck there, and nothing he tried could shift it. Soon its weight was too much for Anansi, and it pressed him down and down until it had ground him into tiny pieces, all hidden beneath it. That is why we often find little spiders gathered together under big stones.

About this telling

This is story XIII in Barker and Sinclair’s West African Folk-Tales (1917). The cousin is named Kofi, and the stone’s little song, sung as it rides on Anansi’s head, compares the spider with the pig and the antelope, who took only what they needed and went on their way.

The ash trail from a slit bag also appears in the book’s “Tit for Tat,” where Anansi uses it on his son. Sinclair’s drawing for this story is titled “The wonderful Grinding-stone.”

Read the original: West African Folk-Tales by W. H. Barker and Cecilia Sinclair (Project Gutenberg)

Best for older readers with an adult — famine and profiteering end with Anansi crushed into pieces beneath a magical stone.

Reading the story closely

Anansi announces that there is enough food for everyone, but then removes the source and sells its flour. His words promise shared relief while his actions create private profit. Kofi limits what he takes, yet the story also leaves a question about why only his family has been eating while neighbors starve.

Compare three ways of using the stone: taking a day’s food, inviting others to it, and carrying it away to sell its output. Which choices leave access for others? Read the stone’s song as its own objection to being moved. The final spiders are a fanciful explanation, not a claim about animal origins or proof that a painful death is deserved.

Think about it

• Why did Kofi take only a little food from the stone each day?
• What tricks did Anansi use to try to wake Kofi early?
• What did the stone’s song mean when it talked about the pig and the antelope?

More stories like this

• Thunder and Anansi — a magic pot that greed destroys
• Tit for Tat — the ash-trail trick used on Kweku Tsin
• How Beasts and Serpents First Came into the World — a magic drum and a disobedient Anansi