In ancient Ghana, storytelling was an important tradition, and the griots, or storytellers, played a pivotal role in society. The art of storytelling is still practiced in modern times and one of the most enduring and loved characters to come out of ancient Ghana and into the modern era is Anansi the Spider. Perhaps the reason he has been loved and laughed over for so long is that he isn’t really a hero: he is charming, but also tricky, selfish,and lazy. He’ll scheme for a day to avoid an hour’s work, and often his deceptions backfire.  In your kit, you will find a CD of Anansi stories and a storytelling game. After you have listened to the stories, get together with your family or friends to tell your own Anansi stories and see if you can make up some new tales (or reimagine some old ones) about one of the world’s best loved antiheros.