Week 9 Story: Therapy Sessions

Kweku Tsin never thought he would have to be here, but his mother was making him come. His grades were slipping, his mind constantly wandered, and his family was becoming concerned. If only they knew it was because of them that these issues occurred.

"When would you say these issues began?" questioned his therapist, Dr. Milli.

"It's been nearly my entire life. My father is not a good man, he is constantly getting into mischief and I've had to cover up for him, trying to make things right. Sometimes I wonder if he does these things because he wants to torture me." replied Kweku Tsin, a sigh escaping from his body as he speaks. He looks over to see his doctor scribbling on his notepad. He's always writing on that notepad, making Kweku Tsin wonder if he's truly listening, or just drawing something. His answers rarely amount to more than "I see."

Dr. Milli looks up from his notes, reading the body language of his patient. He can tell the young man doesn't want to be there, and is doing the bare minimum to get through the session. He's not surprised by this; most patients seem to share this attitude, especially the younger ones. "Kweku Tsin, I'm here to try and help you. I understand the pain you're dealing with, that your father is causing you so much grief. What are some examples of the things he's done?"

"He tried to keep the rest of the world from acquiring knowledge once. The only reason he failed is because he was unable to climb a tree to hide the jar inside. Another time, he killed his friend Nothing simply for having a larger fortune than him and having a better life. He also withheld the food he had found from me and my mother during a famine. These aren't even all of the stories, these are just some of the ones that stick out the most in my mind."

"Have you confronted him about these things before?"

"Once. He swore to stop these actions and live an honest life, but this didn't last more than a few weeks. I'm not sure how to fix him and make it livable with him."

Kweku Tsin pouring his heart out

Source: 123rf

Seeing Kweku Tsin open up brings a smile to Dr. Milli's face. He sees a new person, an anger and frustration that he knew existed, but hadn't been able to tap into until now. He looks at his patient with a new outlook on these sessions. They continue these discussions until they hear a loud ringing sound. They both look to the source of the sound. It's the clock on the wall signaling the end of their session. "I think we made some good progress this week. I'd like to see you the same time next week. My assignment for you this week is to record what your father does to frustrate you this week, and why it made you feel this way. Think you can do that for me?"

Kweku Tsin looks at his doctor warily, but realizes this is the best he's felt in months. "I can't promise it will be perfect, but I'll do my best. See you next week, Dr. Milli!"

Author's Note: In many of the stories throughout the West Africa unit, Kweku Tsin is having to deal with his father's mischief, often being the one to stop him from performing terrible deeds or making other people's life worse. I wanted to take the idea of his father's constant actions wearing on him to the point that he is unable to live a normal life, and the covering for his father and putting up with his antics has caused him to suffer. This reaches the point that his mother believes he needs to work with a therapist to even have a chance of clearing his mind and becoming a normal person again.

West African Folktales by William H. Barker and Cecilia Sinclair, with drawings by Cecilia Sinclair (1917).

Week 9 Reading: West Africa, Part B

West African Folktales by William H. Barker and Cecilia Sinclair, with drawings by Cecilia Sinclair (1917).

The Moon and Stars
During a famine, Anansi and Kweku Tsin found a deer, and Anansi left to find a basket to carry it. Tsin fears his father might not return, so he calls for him, which only summons a dragon, causing him to run and hide. When Anansi gets back, he wishes to see the dragon, who comes and captures them. They are taken to the dragon's home, and defended by a rooster. They distract a rooster with grain, and with the other prisoners, build a ladder, and escape to heaven, Tsin using bones and music to distract the dragon so they may climb. The heavens make Tsin the sun, Anansi the moon, and all the others the stars.

How the Tortoise Got Its Shell
The great Mauri planned a party for Friday, and sent off his messengers to invite everyone, and his servants to gather food and drink. He sent Klo to get wine from Koklovi, who makes Klo fight for the wine and palm trees, as that's the only way to get it. Klo wins, and fills his pot with the wine, and drinks what remains once it is full, and leaves with the trees and wine. While he returns, there is a great storm, and he arrives late and is unable to get in the party. He dies outside as the rain lasts for 2 months. When everyone goes to leave, they find him outside, and powers bring him back to life, but he now has the pot for a shell.

The Hunter and the Tortoise
A hunter hears a song, and surprised to hear it sung by a tortoise. After returning many times, he asks to bring her home, and she agrees, but she will only sing in front of him. He tells others of the beautiful music, but is scorned when he says it comes from a tortoise. He says she will perform for them all, or he will let himself be killed the next day. The next day, the tortoise refuses to sing, and he is killed. Once he is killed, the tortoise talks, and says his fate was all his own for telling the world of her.

The Leopard and the Ram
A ram and leopard unknowingly decide to build a house in the same place. They complete work opposite each other, and think fairies are helping when they are not there, and finding it wasn't fairies, decide to live together. They both have sons, and leopard is curious how the ram gets meat, so he has his son ask one of ram's son to show him. They show each other how they do it, and young leopard warns his father of ram backing up, as this means he charges. One day, the senior ram slips and falls back, and leopard is scared, and runs away, leaving ram with the house and leopard in the woods.

King Chameleon and the Animals
The animals have grown tired of the lack of order in the kingdom, and decide to have a race to see who will be king. The hare gets there much faster than anyone else, but is thwarted by the chameleon, who clung onto him the entire race, and sat in the throne before he could. This meant the chameleon had to be made king. However, none of the animals were happy with this, and dispersed, leaving the chameleon alone.

King Chameleon Watching the World

Source: San Diego Zoo

Elephant and Wren
The king wanted a giant tree to be cut down, and whoever did so with a wooden axe would receive an elephant. Anansi tricks the servant watching him into leaving for some time, and cuts it down mostly with a steel axe, and finishing it with the wooden one. He receives his elephant, but does not want to share it with his family, so he hides it in the forest and tries to capture a wren for them to eat. He fails, but when he goes to get his elephant, he finds that it has run off, leaving him with nothing.

The Ungrateful Man
A poor hunter comes across a man, a rat, a serpent, and a leopard stuck in a hole in the forest. He frees them, and all but the man promises to repay him, even though he invites the man to live with him. The rat brings him valuables to gain him riches, the leopard brings him food, and the serpent gives him an antidote to snake venom. The man becomes jealous, and falsely accuses the hunter of theft from the king when the king is robbed and offers a mighty reward. The hunter is about to be executed, when the king's son is bit by a snake, and the hunter offers the antidote, which must be mixed with a traitor's blood. He tells the king, who knows the man framed the hunter, kills the man, and saves his son.

Why Tigers Never Attack Men Unless They Are Provoked
A man and a tiger befriend each other, and live with each other for some time, alternating between each's home. The tiger is scared the man's friends will kill him, but the man assures him they will not. The man's father dies months later, and the tiger leaves his home to console the man, bringing his cub with him, but is shot by hunters. He is scared that the man sent them to kill him, so he feigns death, which leaves the man distraught when he finds him. He watches the cub all night, and the next day, the tiger says he is alive, and that he will not harm man if he is not attacked first.

How Mushrooms First Grew
Two brothers have made bad decisions, and have much debt. After being robbers, the decide to grow crops to pay off their debt. After planting, a bushfowl comes and eats the seeds, so they capture it and transfer the debt to it. Dismayed, it tries to lay eggs to pay off the debt, which are destroyed by a tree, transferring the debt to the tree. This continues on and on, to an elephant, then a hunter, then a tree stump, and finally ants. The ants buy pure linen thread, and weave it to sell for profit to pay off the debt. The completed product is what we know as mushrooms.

Farmer Mybrow and the Fairies
Farmer Mybrow finds a place for his field, and when he begins to clear it, the fairies ask what who he is, and when he tells them, they help clear the field. This continues, from burning brush, to planting, and growing the crops. Mybrow's wife wants to know where this field is, and he reluctantly tells her, but that she must not answer questions. She does not heed this warning, and speaks to the fairies, who pluck the unripe crops and leave them on the ground, ruining the good harvest. She does not tell her husband, who shows up the next day and is angered by the sight that all his crops are now worthless due to his wife.

Week 9 Reading: West Africa, Part A

West African Folktales by William H. Barker and Cecilia Sinclair, with drawings by Cecilia Sinclair (1917).

How We Got the Name "Spider Tales"
Spider wanted the stories named after him, and Nyankupon agreed to do so if he performed 3 tasks: brought back a jar full of bees, brought a boa constrictor, and captured a tiger. Spider was able to trick his way into completing these three tasks, impressing Nyankupon. As he said, he agreed to allow all of the old stories to be named after Spider.

How Wisdom Became the Property of the Human Race
Anansi dreamed of keeping all of the world's knowledge to himself. He placed it into a sealed jar that no human could ever open. His son, Kweku Tsin, was curious as to what his father was doing, so he followed him, finding him attempting to hide it in a tree, but was unable to climb it. When Kweku Tsin asks why he doesn't carry it a different way, Anansi becomes angry that his son has knowledge he did not possess, and throws the jar down, causing it to break and all the knowledge dispersing throughout the world.

Anansi and Nothing
Anansi travels with his friend Nothing, who is much wealthier than Anansi. They trade clothes, so that Anansi looks wealthy, and nothing looks poor. Anansi gains many wives, while Nothing is spat on and treated horribly, but eventually has a wife. When they return home, however, Anansi's wives are appalled at his lack of wealth. Nothing's wife invites them over for dinner, and they all decide to stay instead of return to Anansi's home. This angers Anansi, who creates a trap that kills Nothing. Nothing's wife is so distraught she gives mashed yams to all the children in the district so they may cry for Nothing for her.

Thunder and Anansi
Anansi's land suffers from a famine. He sees an island, and uses an old boat he finds to try and reach it. On his seventh attempt, he finally reaches the island, but is unable to collect any of the coconuts from the island's lone palm tree; all of them fell into the ocean. Sad, he threw himself into the water, but did not drown, instead finding himself at a sympathetic Thunder's door. He received a pot that never ran out of food, but he did not share it with his family. His son, who can change shapes, became a fly and discovered Anansi's secret, stealing the pot. They tried to share it with the town, but it melted from the heat. Anansi found out and traveled back to the island so that he could find Thunder again. Telling the same story, Anansi received a stick instead of a pot, which beat him endlessly until he let the stick go, letting it and the boat float away.

Why the Lizard Moves His Head Up and Down
Anansi wished to marry the king's daughters, and the only way to do so was to learn their names. He does this by hiding in their bathing place, dropping fruit above them so that they call for each other. When he goes to the king, he has Lizard name them first, so that Lizard has them instead of Anansi. Anansi becomes angry, and frames Lizard for murdering the king's rooster, and rendering him unable to speak, only moving his head up and down. The king punishes Lizard by taking his daughters back and giving them to Anansi.

Tit for Tat
During a famine, Kweku discovers a clearing with an abundance of animals, and is afraid his father will kill them all if he knows about it. However, Anansi tricks Kweku into revealing the location. Knowing his father's plan, Kweku takes an image, and when Anansi is heading home, uses it to force Anansi to drop all of the meat he gathers. He does this until Anansi has killed all the animals, and been forced to drop all of it, which Kweku sold for money. When the famine is over, Kweku tells the entire village of his adventure, embarrassing Anansi and causing him to swear to stop his tricks.

Why White Ants Always Harm Man's Property
During a famine, Spider finds a dead antelope, which he plans to take home, hiding the body in a mat. Leopard and Wolf believe Spider is lying, and make him drop the dead antelope, which they take. Spider is furious, and with the help of a lizard, manages to trap the leopard and wolf, take the antelope back, and enjoy his meal with all the others. An ant comes by, and frees the wolf and leopard, who want to repay him. Spider hears this, and disguises his family and himself as the ant, taking the repayment. When the real ant and his family come by, all but the father is killed, as they think that it is Spider, which angers the ant, who vows not to help anyone, and simply be a pest to man.

Jumping Spider

Source: Seamus' Photo Blog

The Squirrel and the Spider
Squirrel is a farmer, whose farm has no roads to it, since he uses the trees. Spider discovers this, and creates a road with his family, and claims the farm as his own when he is caught stealing the harvest. Squirrel appeals to the law, who sides with Spider, as they had never seen a farm with no road. Spider's family steals the last of the corn, and goes to sell it, but is caught in a storm that night. The next day, they find it being sheltered by a crow, who takes the corn, saying he's never seen corn left on the side of the road, and that it is his, doing to Spider what he had done to Squirrel.

Why We See Ants Carrying Bundles As Big As Themselves
Anansi and Kweku Tsin are farmers, and their crops have not received any rain recently like normal. Tsin finds a dwarf who, magically, was able to make it rain on his fields by tapping him with small sticks. Anansi tries the same thing, but uses two large sticks, killing the dwarf. He tries to frame Tsin, as it was one of the king's jesters, but Tsin tricks Anansi into admitting to the murder, and must carry the box with the dwarf's body on his head forever, unless someone else agrees to carry it. He convinces an ant to carry it on the premise he would come back, but he never does.

Why Spiders are Always Found in Corners of Ceilings
Anansi and his family had a very abundant harvest, much more than they had ever seen. Anansi, being the selfish person he is, plotted to keep it all for himself, sending his wife and son away under the guise of business. His son goes to the field a few weeks later, and finds more than half the harvest gone. With the help of the townspeople, they fashion a rubber scarecrow, who Anansi tries to fight, but becomes stuck to overnight. When everyone arrives and sees him there, he transforms into a spider, and goes to hide in the corner.

The Grinding-Stone That Ground Flour By Itself
During a famine, the only person who seemed to be doing well as Anansi's cousin, which angered Anansi. His cousin Kofi's secret was a stone that ground flour on its own, next to a river of honey. Anansi begged Kofi to take him there, trying to trick him to do so, but Kofi did not bite. Anansi then used an ash trail to track Kofi, and took the stone when he found it, angering the stone. Anansi sold the flour from the stone, becoming very wealthy, but the stone stuck to his head when he tried to rid himself of it, and it slowly ground Anansi down into tiny pieces.