Anansi, the West African spider, is one of myth's great tricksters

Anansi (also Ananse) is a trickster from the folklore of the Akan peoples of present-day Ghana, most often pictured as a spider and sometimes in human form. He stands for cunning and wisdom, using cleverness rather than strength - and a whole genre of tales, the Anansesem or “spider stories,” is named after him.

In his most famous myth he asks the sky god Nyame to make him owner of all the world’s stories. Nyame sets seemingly impossible tasks - capturing a python, hornets, a leopard and a fairy - and Anansi outsmarts each one to win the tales.

Anansi, the spider, is one of the most popular animal tricksters from West African mythology.

Carried across the Atlantic during the slave trade, Anansi took root in the Caribbean and the Americas, where his quiet victories of brain over brawn spoke to the enslaved. In African American folklore he survives as Aunt Nancy.