ANANSE AND THE FANCY DRESS PARTY

Ananse scratched his head and sat down to have a good think. Like all other animals, he had received an invitation to King Oshiu’s fancy dress party. It was to be held at three o’clock that afternoon and a prize was to be given to the most unusual dressing. But Ananse had a problem.

He couldn’t just decide what to wear. “Rabbit and Bear are bound to turn up in something really special” he muttered. “I will have to find an absolutely fantastic costume if I am going to win that prize.”

He scratched his head very hard “I have it. I have a brilliant idea. I will go dressed up as a knight in a suit of amour.” Ananse set to work straight away. He took a wheelbarrow to a scrap heap down the road and collected a huge pile of metal.

There was an old washtub which had a hole in the bottom and would fit snugly round his body. There was a sauce pan to put on his head and two separate baking tins to wear on his feet.

And there were a lot of tins cans which can be used to cover his arms and legs by knocking out the bottoms and tying them together with bits of string.

By launch time, the suit was ready for Ananse to try on. “I will never be able to walk to the party in this suit.” He thought. “It’s much too heavy. What shall I do?” he soon came up with the answer.

He would put the suit in his wheelbarrow and push it to the field where the party would be taking place. He would hide the suit in some bushes and put it on just before three o’clock.

Everyone was surprised that he would be certain to win the competition. Ananse hid the suit and returned home feeling sure that no one had seen him. He did not realize that at the very moment he pushed his suit into the bridge, Rabbit and Bear were standing on the other side.

“It really is excellent.” Said Bear. “It might have won the competition if we hadn’t fond it.” “POOR ANANSE.’ Said rabbit. “How disappointed he would be when he finds out its gone.”

A few hours later, Ananse returned to the bridge. He had decided that he would be too hot if he wore the amour over his clothes, so all he had on was a small sheet tied round his waist.

He checked and realized that the suit was gone. ‘Only Bear and Rabbit would have played such a mean trick” he thought and run off to confront them. He arrived in time to see the two friends struggling to fit into their donkey costume. Ananse had a wonderful idea.

“I will tell farmer Obiri about the very strange donkey that’s about to enter the field.” Few minutes later a very odd looking beast stumbled into farmer Obiri’s carrot field. The front legs were much shorter than the hind legs and the head was only a few inches above the ground. “Just look at these lovely carrots.” Rabbit said, smacking his lips.

At that moment farmer Obiri crept up behind the strange donkey. He was holding a big, strong stick and he was very angry. “That Rabbit and Bear are always after my carrots. Well now I’ll teach them a lesson they will never forget.” He thought. He brought the stick down hard on the donkey’s back.

He struck the Donkeys back again so hard that Bear collapsed on top of Rabbit. Rabbit tried so hard to wriggle away from Bear but he got a great blow on his head and Bear got another on his back. “HELP” cried the two friends. “We are being attacked by a mad man.”

As the blows came in thick and fast, they struggled very hard and finally the skin split in two and the friends run as fast as they could across the field. Ananse had never seen anything so funny. Bent over with laughter, he walked away – heading straight for the fields where the party was being held! The next thing he knew was that a lot of animals in fancy dress were all laughing at him. He hung his head in shame.

All the animals thought his sheet was a nappy! How he wished he never thought of making a suit out of an amour. But King Oshiu spoke: “Nobody but you, Ananse, would think of dressing as a baby. Your costume is so unusual, you deserve to win the competition.” The other animals agreed. After all, Ananse had given them their best laughs for weeks.