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AGES 7-8 • 12 pages • about 3 min to read together
Kweku keeps the Wisdom Tree’s golden fruit for himself until a dry season proves that many shared ideas are stronger than one person’s secret knowledge.
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PAGE 1 OF 12
Near Kweku Anansi’s village stood the Wisdom Tree. Its roots curled through the red earth, and its old branches seemed to listen whenever people spoke beneath them.
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Once each year, the tree grew one golden fruit. The elders said that anyone who tasted it would learn something wise.
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Kweku felt a bright idea jump inside him. “If I eat that fruit every year,” he said, “I will become the wisest person in the whole village.”
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Before sunrise, Kweku climbed carefully, picked the single fruit, and ate it before anyone arrived. He did the same the next year—and the year after that.
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The fruit helped Kweku mend roofs, remember stories, and read the clouds. Soon he walked with his chin too high. “Wisdom is mine,” he told the animals, “because I reached it first.”
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Elephant lowered his ears. “Wisdom is heavy when one person carries it alone.” Kweku only smiled. “Then I must be very strong.”
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Then a dry season came. The stream grew thin, the soil cracked, and the village gardens bent their leaves in the heat.
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The animals and villagers gathered under the Wisdom Tree. They needed a plan to protect their water and help the gardens survive.
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Kweku knew where rainwater could be stored and how young plants could be shaded. But he folded his arms and waited. “They will have to beg for my wisdom,” he thought.
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No one begged. Owl suggested deeper wells. Tortoise described covered clay jars. Elephant offered to carry stones for a small water wall. Children, farmers, and birds added ideas too.
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Together, they deepened wells, stored clean water, shaded the gardens, and shared every drop carefully. Kweku began to help. When cool water reached the thirsty plants, the village cheered.
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The next time the tree grew its fruit, Kweku called everyone together. They shared the fruit and their ideas beneath the branches. Wisdom grew lighter, stronger, and kinder when everyone carried it together.
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 Sefu’s Hidden Spring →
Anansi and Allo’s Secret Well →
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 7–8
