Clay-style animation series
Anansi Tales
Anansi is the spider of Akan folktales from Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire, where he is also known as Kacou Ananzè. Clever, greedy and proud, he is often caught out by his own cleverness. This series retells his stories in clay-style 3D animation, and every episode names the people and the book each tale comes from.
By Victor Tseng 曾浩瑜A new episode every other Thursday
EP1 · 68 seconds
The Pot of Wisdom
Anansi wants to gather all the world's wisdom in one pot and hide it at the top of the tallest tree. With the pot tied to his chest, he cannot climb. Down below, his son offers a very simple idea. Stung, Anansi throws the pot to the ground, and wisdom spreads across the whole world.
What did you last learn from someone younger than you?
Where the story comes from
Adapted from the Akan tale “How Wisdom Became the Property of the Human Race”, published in West African Folk-Tales by W. H. Barker and Cecilia Sinclair (London: Harrap, 1917). The book is in the public domain and free to read on Project Gutenberg.
In the original tale, Anansi ties the pot to his front and cannot climb. His son tells him to tie it on his back, and Anansi smashes the pot in anger. The three failed attempts and the son watching from the foot of the tree were added for the animation.
Cultural notes
Who the Akan are. The Akan live mainly in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire. The Baoulé and Agni peoples of Côte d'Ivoire belong to this group. Anansi stories are the tales told in their homes in the evening.
“Spider stories”. In Akan tradition, Anansi bought all the stories in the world from the sky god Nyame. That is why they are called Anansesem, “spider stories”.
In Côte d'Ivoire, he is Kacou Ananzè. That is the spider's name in Le Pagne noir (1955), a collection of tales by the Ivorian writer Bernard B. Dadié.
The spider's web. Among the Akan adinkra symbols, Ananse Ntontan means “spider's web”. It stands for wisdom, creativity and the complexity of life.
Characters
AsoAnansi's wife and the family's real strategist. She appears in the next episode.
Season 1
- EP1The Pot of WisdomAkanOut now
- EP2Where Stories Come FromAkanNext
- EP3My Name Is “All of You”Igbo
- EP4Going Back Is No ShameAkan
- EP5Leuk the Hare and Bouki the HyenaSenegal
- EP6Is That Really an African Proverb?Fact-check special
Discover more of Africa
Play Akwaba! An African Adventure Visit AKWABA · House of African Taste
References
- W. H. Barker & Cecilia Sinclair, West African Folk-Tales (London: Harrap, 1917)
- Britannica, “Ananse”
- R. S. Rattray, Akan-Ashanti Folk-Tales (1930), cited in Legon Journal of the Humanities 30.1 (2019)
- Bernard B. Dadié, Le Pagne noir (Présence Africaine, 1955)
- Ananse Ntontan, as defined in W. Bruce Willis, The Adinkra Dictionary
Clay-style 3D animation made with AI tools; characters designed for the series. © 2026 Victor Tseng 曾浩瑜