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Jamaica Anansi stories

Chapter 19: 9. The Christening. [Note]
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About This Book

A collection of Jamaican folktales gathers short animal and trickster narratives centered on the spider Anansi alongside tales about tigers, monkeys, goats, and birds. Stories account for curious animal traits, stage comic reversals, and probe themes of cunning, justice, and social order through episodic plots and origin motifs. The volume also presents riddles, dance and song materials, and field-recorded music, arranged in thematic sections that compile variants, brief notes, and folkloric context for each tale.

[Contents]

9. The Christening. [Note]

Charles Wright, Maroon Town, Cock-pit country.

Anansi an’ Tiger bot’ of them fin’ one keg of butter. Anansi says to Tiger, “Let us hide it in the bushes.” Some days after, Anansi says to Tiger, “I receive a letter for a christening.” When he return, Tiger ask him the name of the chile. He says the name is “Top take off.” Another week came again. He say receive another letter for another christening. After he come back, Tiger ask him what’s the name of the chile again. He says, “Catch in de middle.” An’ the las’ week he went back for another christening. Tiger ask him when he come back what’s the name of the chile. He says, “Lick clean.” [13]

Now he says, “Tiger, let us go look for this keg of butter.” He carried Tiger all over the place walkin’ until he get tired, an’ when he nearly catch to the place where they hid the butter he said, “Tiger, we are tired, let us go for a sleep!” An’ after Tiger was sleeping, he went to the keg, he took a bit of stick an’ he scrape as much as he can get from the keg, an’ he wipe a little on Tiger mouth an’ he wipe a little at the tail. Then he climb a tall tree now and he make a wonderful alarm that Tiger eat butter until he melt butter!