Why the Lizard Continually Moves His Head Up and Down

Not far from Anansi’s home was a town ruled by a great king. He had three beautiful daughters, and their names were a secret known only to their own family. One day the king announced that he would give all three daughters as wives to any man who could find out what they were called. Anansi decided that man would be him.

First he bought a big jar of honey and went to the place where the princesses came to bathe. There he climbed a tree loaded with fine fruit, picked some, and poured honey over it. When he saw the girls coming, he let a piece of fruit drop to the ground and kept still. The princesses thought it had fallen by itself, and one of them ran to pick it up. She tasted it and called to her sisters by name to come and try how sweet it was. Anansi dropped another, and the second princess picked it up and called out the names of the other two. In this way Anansi learned all three names.

As soon as the princesses had left, Anansi climbed down and hurried into town. He went round to all the important men and asked them to meet at the king’s palace the next day.

Then he called on his friend Lizard and asked him to serve as herald at the court in the morning. He told Lizard the three names, and Lizard was to sound them out on his trumpet when the moment came.

Early next morning the king and his court gathered as usual, and all the great men of the town came, just as Anansi had asked. Anansi explained why he was there and reminded the king of his promise to give his three daughters to whoever discovered their names. The king asked to hear them, and Lizard blew them out on his trumpet.

The king and his courtiers were astonished. The king treated the announcement as fulfilling his bargain and gave the daughters to Lizard. The daughters’ own wishes were not asked. Anansi was furious. He protested that he was the one who had told Lizard the names, so he deserved at least two of the girls, and Lizard could have the third. The king refused. Anansi pleaded for just one, and that was refused too. He stormed home in a foul temper, swearing he would get even with Lizard for stealing his wives.

He thought long and hard but could not find a way to punish Lizard. At last an idea came to him.

He went to the king and said he was leaving early the next morning on a long journey and needed help to wake in time. The king owned a fine cock that always crowed at daybreak whenever the king wished to rise early. Anansi asked if the king would order the cock to crow the following morning so that Anansi could be sure of starting on time. The king gladly agreed.

As soon as it was dark, Anansi crept by a back way to where the cock slept, grabbed it, and killed it. He carried it to Lizard’s house, where everyone was asleep. There he quietly cooked the bird, hid the feathers under Lizard’s bed, and set some of the meat on a dish right beside Lizard’s hand. Then the wicked spider poured boiling water into poor Lizard’s mouth, so that he could no longer speak.

In the morning Anansi went to the king and complained that the cock had not been allowed to crow. The king was very surprised to hear that his order had not been obeyed.

He sent a servant to fetch the cock, but of course the servant came back empty-handed. The king ordered his men to find the thief, but there was no trace of one anywhere. Then Anansi slyly said, “I know Lizard is a rogue—he stole my three wives. Maybe he is the thief.” So the king’s men went to search Lizard’s house.

There they found the cooked remains of the cock, ready to eat, and its feathers under the bed. They questioned Lizard, but he could not answer. All he could do was move his head helplessly up and down. They thought he was refusing to speak, so they dragged him before the king. To every question the king asked, Lizard gave the same answer, and the king grew very angry. He did not know that Anansi had taken away Lizard’s voice. Lizard tried as hard as he could to speak, but nothing came out.

So Lizard was found guilty of theft, and as his punishment the three wives were taken from him and given to Anansi.

The tale imagines lizards’ head movements as a lasting protest against Anansi’s deception.

About this tale

This is the fifth tale in Barker and Sinclair’s West African Folk-Tales (1917), one of the book’s many Gold Coast stories that explain an animal habit. Barker writes that the non-Anansi stories are mostly of the “just-so” kind, but this one joins a just-so ending to a trickster plot.

Among the Anansi sayings Barker quotes in his introduction is one that expresses distrust of Anansi: “Woe to one who would put his trust in Anansi—a sly, selfish, and greedy person.” Sinclair’s drawing shows a princess bending to pick up the honeyed fruit.

Read the original: West African Folk-Tales by Barker and Sinclair (Gutenberg ebook 66923)

Reading guidance: older readers. Includes marriage treated as a prize, killing an animal, a severe assault that prevents speech and a false conviction. A person’s difficulty speaking is not evidence of dishonesty.

Reading the story closely

The first judgment confuses who announces the names with who discovered them. The second confuses planted objects with proof of theft. In both scenes, the king accepts an appearance without investigating how it was produced. Anansi also attacks Lizard’s ability to contradict the staged evidence.

Make two court records: what is found and what must still be established. For the second, include where the feathers and food came from, who could enter the house, and why Lizard cannot speak. Add the daughters’ unanswered wishes to the record of both marriage decisions.

Think about it

• How did Anansi find out the princesses’ secret names?
• Why could Lizard not defend himself before the king?
• Do you think the king judged fairly? What could he have done differently?

More stories like this

• Why Spiders Are Always Found in the Corners of Ceilings — the day Anansi was caught and hid in the ceiling
• Why We See Ants Carrying Bundles as Big as Themselves — another creature left paying for Anansi’s trick
• Anansi and Nothing — Anansi’s jealousy turns deadly