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AGES 11-13 • 12 pages • about 3 min to read together
Kweku uses the Time-Twisting Totem recklessly, becomes stranded in a future where time fragments, then repairs the totem by apologizing and aligning past, present, and future with care.
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PAGE 1 OF 12
At the edge of Kweku Anansi’s village stood the Time-Twisting Totem, a tall dark stone pillar on a round plinth. Elders swept around it each morning, but no child was allowed to touch its bronze rings.
PAGE 2 OF 12
The totem was carved with animal faces, elder masks, and tiny stars. At its top glowed an amber sun-and-moon spiral. Kweku stared until curiosity began tapping inside him like a drum.
PAGE 3 OF 12
“Just one turn,” he whispered. He gripped the middle bronze ring and twisted. The spiral flashed, wind wrapped around his scarf, and the village stretched into ribbons of gold, green, and blue.
PAGE 4 OF 12
Kweku landed in an ancient rainforest where trees rose like towers and great horned beasts drank at a misty river. The totem stood beside him, unchanged, humming softly under his hand.
PAGE 5 OF 12
Wonder filled him, but so did pride. “If one turn shows the past,” Kweku said, “another can show tomorrow.” He spun the ring again before the forest’s lesson could settle.
PAGE 6 OF 12
The world leaped forward. Kweku stood beneath shining glass towers while silent sky-carriages crossed the clouds. People hurried past in bright woven jackets, and the totem’s amber spiral flickered uneasily.
PAGE 7 OF 12
Kweku tried to turn the ring home, but the bronze stuck. Around him, yesterday and tomorrow cracked into floating pieces: old huts, future streets, dry leaves, new rain, all shivering at once.
PAGE 8 OF 12
Three future elders found him at the trembling plinth. “This totem is not a toy for collecting adventures,” one said. “It listens to respect. Reckless hands have confused its path.”
PAGE 9 OF 12
They led Kweku to a quiet grove where roots, stone, river wind, and starlight met. The totem stood in the center, heavy and silent, as if waiting for a truthful apology.
PAGE 10 OF 12
Kweku placed both hands on the cold stone. “I wanted every time for myself,” he said, “and forgot each time belongs to the people living inside it.” The amber spiral began to glow steadily.
PAGE 11 OF 12
The elders chanted while Kweku turned the three rings slowly into line: past below, present at the center, future above. Light folded inward, and the village returned around him at dawn.
PAGE 12 OF 12
Kweku helped build a low shrine wall around the Time-Twisting Totem. He still loved questions, but now he asked before touching power, remembering that wisdom is not speed. It is care.
Talk about it together
- What was your favourite part of the story?
- What do you think Anansi learned?
- What would you have done differently?
ABOUT THIS TALE
Anansi (Kwaku Ananse) is the clever spider of Ashanti folklore from Ghana. These tales were told aloud for generations and travelled the world with the Akan people. This is an original retelling that keeps the wit and warmth of the tradition alive for young readers.
More Anansi stories
Anansi and Adoma’s Wish Stone →
Explore more Anansi
- Who is Anansi? — meet the clever trickster spider of Ghana.
- See Anansi in 360° — his spider and human forms.
- More free stories for ages 11–13
