Dictionary Bride price: Goods or money given to a family to make up for the lost income and work the bride provided her family.

A long, long time ago, the sky god, Nyame, issued a challenge to test the wisdom of his creatures. The challenge was issued to both the animals and the people of the kingdom. Before anyone could meet the challenge they had to first pass a qualifying test. The creatures were afraid of what the outcome would be if they failed the test. Everyone gathered in the village square to discuss the situation.

The animals and humans argued amongst themselves as to what the challenge was and how to know if they even wanted to compete or not. Soon there was a great crowd gathered before Nyame' court. Just then a spider approached the crowd.Wondering why everyone was in the village, he asked the elephant what was going he on. He was surprised that no one had accepted the challenge yet.

The spider brushed past the elephant and the others that were in his way. The spider called out to the great one and accepted his challenge. Nyame was surprised that the spider, of all his creations, was accepting the challenge. The spider had been a botched experiment and turned out very funny-looking. Everyone urged the spider to back out, but he would not.

"Break this that we may eat. It is customary that such occasions as this begin with the breaking of kola nuts." "First you have to pass the qualifying test," Nyame said, and handed the spider a rock.

The spider was puzzled, but then he had an idea. He grabbed a cloth from one of the village women and wrapped it around the rock.

"With this cushion I want you to carry the village on your head."

"You can't carry the village on your head. It is land, not a load to carry," Nyame replied.

"Exactly," said the spider, "and this is a rock, not a kola nut."

Nyame and the villagers were very impressed with the spider's performance and wisdom. Nyame told the spider that he had passed the test, now he would be given the challenge. Nyame gave the spider a grain of corn and told him to pay a bride price for a beautiful maiden and return her to the court within seven days. The spider scrambled home to pack for his journey and left the next day with the grain of corn tucked in a sack around his neck.

On the second night of his journey the spider stopped at a poultry farmer's house and asked for shelter for the night. The farmer agreed and after dinner the spider told the farmer about his corn.

"This grows to be the best corn you have ever seen. It yields seven bushels by harvest time. I have been saving it and cannot wait until the planting season." The host was very impressed the such corn existed and agreed to help the spider hide it for the night.

The next morning, as soon as the corn was given to the spider, he set it down and immediately one of the farmer's chickens ate it. The spider was very upset and the farmer asked that he take a chicken for compensation. The spider took the biggest, healthiest chicken.

The spider moved on to the next village looking for a shepherd. The spider again asked for shelter and the shepherd agreed, adding that the chicken could sleep in the sheep corral. Late that night, the spider went to the corral and killed the chicken. When they went to get the chicken the next morning he was dead. To compensate for his loss, the shepherd offered up a fatted ram and the spider moved on towards the next village.

He looked for a cattle herder this time but the herder was not so eager to take the spider and the ram in for the night. The spider told the man that he was on a mission to a distant village of Nyame and that if he would harbor them for the night, good things would happen to him. The cattle herder welcomed the spider and put the ram with his herd of cattle for the night. Again the spider went out in the night killing the ram and acting very upset the next morning. When the spider left he had the best of the herd's bulls with him.

On his way to the next village, the spider came across a group of people crying. The people told him that one of their own had died. It was a little girl and her parents were very upset. The spider had an idea.

"Perhaps I can help. I am Anansi the Spider and messenger of Nyame. I am on a mission to find a girl's body so that I can take her to his kingdom and she will have everlasting life. Take my bull and feed your sorrows."

The parents gave the girl's body to the spider and he left for the next village carrying the body as if the girl were sleeping. The spider walked through two villages before stopping at the third. He explained that he was the messenger of Nyame and the girl was his daughter. They had been on such a long journey that she was exhausted and needed to sleep. The spider would not attempt to wake her for food, reasoning that she would wake up when she got hungry.

That night the spider laid the girl's body in between the village chief's daughters and in the morning claimed that one of them had smothered her in their sleep. The spider told the chief that he must now take one of the chief's daughters to give to Nyame to replace his dead daughter. The chief sent the spider off with his oldest daughter and the body of the little girl for their return to the village of Nyame.

Nyame was very pleased when the spider told him of his adventure because the spider had used his wisdom. He breathed on the little girl, bringing her back to life, and returned her to her parents. He also returned the chief's daughter to him. Then Nyame gave the spider more wisdom and more riches than anyone had ever seen.

Today the spider is the wisest of the animals, as he knows how to spin webs and set traps to catch his food. No one knows what happened to the riches and wealth bestowed on the spider. That goes to show that money can leave but wisdom is forever.