Noong unang panahon, walang alam ang mga tao. Hindi sila marunong magtanim, humabi at gumawa ng kasangkapan. Lahat ng karunungan ay tinago ng diyos na si Nyame sa isang palayok sa langit.
Long long ago people didn’t
know anything. They didn’t
know how to plant crops, or
how to weave cloth, or how to
make iron tools.
The god Nyame up in the sky
had all the wisdom of the world.
He kept it safe in a clay pot.
Isang araw, naisipan ni Nyame na ibigay ang palayok ng karunungan kay Anansi. Tuwing tumitingin si Anansi sa loob ng palayok, may natututunan siyang bago! Tuwang tuwa si Anansi.
One day, Nyame decided that
he would give the pot of
wisdom to Anansi.
Every time Anansi looked in the
clay pot, he learned something
new. It was so exciting!
Dahil madamot si Anansi, naisip niya, “Itatago ko ang palayok sa tuktok ng mataas na puno para sa akin lang ang lahat ng kaalaman!” Tinali niya ang palayok sa kanyang tiyan at nagsimulang umakyat sa puno. Pero nahirapan siya dahil tumatama ang palayok sa kanyang tuhod.
Greedy Anansi thought, “I’ll
keep the pot safe at the top of a
tall tree. Then I can have it all
to myself!”
He spun a long thread, wound it
round the clay pot, and tied it to
his stomach.
He began to climb the tree. But
it was hard climbing the tree
with the pot bumping him in the
knees all the time.
Nakatingin lang pala sa kanya ang kanyang batang anak sa baba ng puno. “Mas maganda po siguro kung nakatali sa likod ang palayok,” sabi nito. Tinali ni Anansi ang palayok sa kanyang likod at madali nga siyang nakaakyat.
All the time Anansi’s young son
had been standing at the
bottom of the tree watching. He
said, “Wouldn’t it be easier to
climb if you tied the pot to your
back instead?”
Anansi tried tying the clay pot
full of wisdom to his back, and it
really was a lot easier.
Nang marating niya ang tuktok ng puno, bigla siyang natigilan. “Alam ko dapat lahat pero bakit mas matalino pa sa akin ang anak ko?” Nagalit si Anansi kaya hinagis niya ang palayok pababa.
In no time he reached the top of
the tree.
But then he stopped and
thought, “I’m supposed to be
the one with all the wisdom,
and here my son was cleverer
than me!”
Anansi was so angry about this
that he threw the clay pot down
out of the tree.
Nabasag ang palayok at kumalat ang mga piraso sa lupa. Kumalat din ang karunungan at nabigyan ang lahat. Ganito nalaman ng tao kung paano magsaka ng bukid, humabi ng tela, gumawa ng kasangkapan at marami pang ibang bagay na alam ng tao ngayon.
It smashed into pieces on the
ground. The wisdom was free
for everyone to share.
And that is how people learned
to farm, to weave cloth, to
make iron tools, and all the
other things that people know
how to do.
