Mr Spider Initiates The Fowls

This tale has been adapted from the original for readability:

“One time the fowls all gathered together.”

The fowls decided they wanted to put on a Bundo, but they had nobody to lead it. While they were talking, Spider came along and heard them. He said he would do it. He went straight to the chief and told him he wanted to put all the fowls through Bundo, and the chief agreed.

Spider told the chief to send plenty of men to build a great big house. When the house was finished, Spider said to the fowls, “Tomorrow, you all be ready.” Then he sharpened his knife, properly, until it was keen. The fowls were so many they had a whole town to themselves, nothing but fowls. Spider came back and said, “Build a fence round the house with palm, so nobody can see what’s going on.”

When they’d finished the fence, he went to the chief again and said, “I need a great big pot, and plenty of rice for the Bundo food.” The chief gave him what he asked for. Then Spider said, “I need palm oil too, twelve jugs.” The chief gave him that as well, and asked, “What else do you want? Say it, and I’ll give it to you.”

Spider said, “I want the fowls to gather in one place and go inside the house.”

The chief said, “That’s easy, I’ll send word.”

That evening, when it was good and dark, the chief’s messenger went round the town announcing the order. All the fowls were to gather early in the morning and go into the big house that had been built for them, and none of them were to leave the town.

So early in the morning all the fowls met up and filed into the big house, and Spider went in with them. And every morning Spider killed about a thousand of them and put them in the pot.

The child laughed at that, because even for Spider it sounded ridiculous, a thousand fowls for breakfast. But the woman carried on, with a dry edge in her voice.

That was the Bundo Spider was “putting”. He ate the fowls all by himself, until he’d finished them, leaving only a few little ones that were still hatching.

After a while the chief asked him, “So where are you going to pull the Bundo?”

Spider named a place, then added, “I need you to buy plenty of fine things for them to wear. When will you buy them? I want to pull the Bundo at once, so I can go.”

The chief gave him cloth, headscarves, beads, anything that could be tied on hands and feet, all the ornaments you could think of. Spider took it all. Then, when he’d eaten the fowls, he gathered the bones into one heap and the feathers into another, like nothing had happened.

He told the chief, “Tomorrow, when the sun is high, I’ll pull the Bundo.”

That night he called his children together and told them to get ready. He tied up all the things the chief had given him into bundles and mats, and gave them to the children to carry. He shut the door tight and said, “Tonight we’re going. We’ll walk all night. If the chief catches us, he’ll beat us.”

They walked through the night. When the place was clear behind them, they hid in the bush. Spider was afraid, because he knew Leopard lived in that bush, and Leopard was not someone to play with. Still, they stayed hidden.

The next day, when the sun reached the middle of the sky, the time came for the great display. People gathered, waiting to see the show. But Spider wasn’t in the house. They tried the door. At first they couldn’t open it. They struggled for a long time before it gave way.

Then they saw what Spider had done. Bones piled on one side, feathers on the other, and no fowls anywhere. The chief sent people out at once to catch Spider.

In the bush, Leopard heard Spider hiding and gave a shout. Spider screamed too, out of fear. And because Spider was yelling so loud, the people knew exactly where he was. They rushed in and caught him. They brought him to the road, and they caught his children too, but Spider managed to slip away from them again.

He ran to a travelling holy man and begged him, “Make me a charm, so I can jump like a monkey.”

The man said, “First you must give me a fine present.”

So Spider stole cloth and beads from the very things the chief had given for the Bundo display, and handed them over. The man made the charm and tied it on Spider, one on each hand and one on each foot. Then he said, “Go and show yourself to the chief.”

Spider did. The chief saw him and shouted, “Catch Spider, every one of you!”

They chased him hard, driving him into the bush. Spider leapt from stick to stick, branch to branch, like a monkey. And he kept one little charm clenched tight in his hand, because he knew if he dropped it he would lose the power and they would take him at once.

All day they chased him, but when night came they turned back to town, exhausted, saying they’d tried their best. They wanted Spider, but they couldn’t catch him. Nobody catches a monkey in a tree.

The people hung their heads and wondered what else they could do. At last they went to the same holy man Spider had visited. He was famous, and when they told him everything, he said, “If you want to catch Spider, you must bring me a big present first.”

So they brought him a gift far better than what Spider had given. Then the man said, “Bring me a black monkey, properly black.”

They set a trap and caught one alive, and brought it to him. The man made a charm like Spider’s and tied it round the monkey’s neck. He gave the monkey a whip with six cords, and he gave the monkey to seven strong men, telling them to wait until it caught Spider, then they could tie him and bring him back to the chief. The monkey was so strong with the charm that even five men could barely hold it.

Then they set it loose.

The monkey went after Spider, and Spider took off as well. He jumped and jumped and jumped, and at first he thought, This monkey will never catch me, so he didn’t leap as hard as before. But the monkey closed the distance and gave him a lash. And so it went, the whole day, Spider leaping and the monkey following, whipping him when he slowed.

At last Spider reached a rocky place. He still had that one charm in his hand, the one he’d been so careful not to drop. He put it down on a stone while he rested, because he thought he’d left the monkey far behind. He was sure the monkey wouldn’t catch him again.

He wandered on to a farm, dug up cassava, and sat on a rock eating. He didn’t notice the black monkey creeping up.

Suddenly the whip cracked across him, again and again. Spider tried to leap, but he had left the charm behind. The strength was in the charm. Without it, he couldn’t jump like a monkey.

The monkey grabbed him and held him until the men arrived. Spider saw the charm on the monkey’s neck and reached for it, wanting it for himself, but the monkey wouldn’t allow it. The men tied Spider up, carried him to the chief, and the chief threw him in prison. For four days they gave him nothing to eat.

But Spider had a friend, Cunnie Rabbit, and the two of them were as sly as each other. When night came, Cunnie Rabbit used his tricks to slip into the prison and steal Spider away, even though the place was shut tight.

In the morning, when the people went to the prison, Spider was gone. He was free, and he’d already made his way back home.

And that’s how Spider carried on stealing in the world for a long time. He began it, and now we all steal, so the story says.