ANANSE AND HIS FISHING FRIENDS

ou paddle to the left a little and cast the net, and you would be surprised’. So the Monkey and his friends rowed to the left and cast the net into the river. When they pulled their net up into the canoe, to their surprise, it was full of different types of big fish.

After they had emptied the net, the oldman told them to cast the net at the same place again. When they did that, they pulled up the same amount of fish. When they came down to land the four friends thanked the oldman and gave him plenty of fish and some money after they had sold the fish to their customers and some people who had come to the beach to buy some fish; from the beach the Monkey and his colleagues went home. The following day they all met at the lake-side but decided not to go fishing but sat to mend the torn net, chatting with their new oldman friend . The Rabbit said, ‘Oldman, you really proved to us that you know fishing. Look at the catch we made yesterday.” The oldman said, ‘I began fishing in this lake five years ago, but I had to stop when my only son drowned in it’.
The Monkey said, ‘Vey sorry oldman, tell us what happened’. The oldman said, ‘You’ve made me sad this morning, but I would tell you about what happened; get me some gin to drink’; so Ananse rushed to the town and brought some local gin for the oldman. The oldman then gulped the gin down and beat his chest three times and then wiped some tears from his eyes. The oldman began and said, ‘My friends, one morning when Iwas going to