Anansi and Marjani

Long ago, Anansi the spider was walking down the remains of a once stone-laden road. He had left his home days earlier, and was making haste to continue on his journey. It was every important, his travel, since he put in a lot of time and energy into this.

But then, why wouldn’t he?

This was to meet the great King Leopard after all, and one who kept the king waiting would surely meet his end!

So Anansi continued down the road, determined and unabated by the distractions of the land around him. After another hour of walking, tired Anansi took a rest and sat on a large stone near the river; further east, the mouth opened up to the sea, and the beach therein.
Instinctively, Anansi took a golden coin of his pocket and whispering onto the metal, he chucked the coin into the water. Three times it skipped and with each skip, a chime of light from each ring, before the coin sank into the water therein, never to be seen again.

It was expected, for in those days, it was a custom to bring an offering to the river goddess, or her children the Naiads, in return for crossing their territory.

“Hmph”, he grunted, “if only there was another way to cross this river. Then I would not have to waste my money”.

He grumbled to himself as he crossed the river. He hardly paid attention to the fact that each step he took froze the water in place, before resuming its fluidity and form. When finally he made it to the other end, a small bright light began creeping into the corner of his left eye. The light was originally faint, until the sun’s radiance found foothold in the light and it suddenly intensified.
Soon enough, the light became so luminous, that began to blind the left side of Anansi’s face.

Wincing, he cried out,“Ach!”, gagged Anansi, “what is this strange light?”

Moving away from the light, he covered his face with one hand and lowered himself to the shore of the river, and, squinting from the sheer glow, Anansi peered into the waters below, and beheld an astonishing sight. Deep beneath the still waters of the river, in and along the riverbed, lay a beautiful reef of gems and crystals. Each was different and yet similar, and yet so familiar to each other and himself.
Some were huge, like big fat Jelani the Elephant and tall Lumusi the Giraffe, Anansi thought. Some were small, like Chiumbo the Mouse and that annoying idiot Gwandoya the Locust.

But despite them all, there was one that caught Anansi’s eye the most was a gem unlike anything he’d ever seen: a large gemstone colored the same color as the river, but a richer deeper, shade of blue.

A citrine. A River’s Soul. A rare find in all the land.

Anansi’s greedy eye’s widened in glee, his mind immediately kicked into motion, and his thoughts hummed with action. His tunnel vision focused on one thing: to get the river’s soul.

“If I can claim the River’s Soul for myself”, he chuckled, even the great King Leopard will have to bow down to me and insist upon summoning me to use the power of the river. With that, I will be the most powerful one in the land!”

“But first”, he continued, “I must find a way to get the stone.”

Suddenly as he schemed, a series of splashes caught his attention. Turning to the mouth of the river, he saw a wondrous sight.
Standing no higher than that of a laurel tree, a young maiden with shining azure hair was wading in the water, dancing and playing with the waves, causing them to grow and shrink at her will. She wore no shoes, but jeweled bracelets around her ankles. Her dress was long and lustrous, woven from the very waters of the river itself, creating a beautiful long flowing gown. Her hair was braided by jewels from the river bed, and her sapphire eyes glowed with power. Her satin brown skin seemed like melted copper.
She was a Zoetwatermoessel, a Naiad.

She was beautiful. She was powerful. She was exactly was Anansi needed to fulfil his selfish desires.
And so he set about hastening his plan.

Knowing full well naiads were found of beautiful or shiny things, Anansi took various shells from the shore and surrounding land and stacked them a tower-like fashion, creating a small minaret like structure. With each level he made, drew designs within the sand he used as base, creating intricate patterns that he based from the time he spent weaving his webs.
At the same time, he glued the shells together with wax he melted from the bark he stripped from trees in the nearby marsh. And with careful precision, he gently articulated the space for each shell, like the way he wove his webs to catch his prey.

Overall, it looked a seamstress applying her, not out of love or of important, but with a sense of sheer determination.
Once done, he took a bag of pearls he'd won (or rather cheated) from Jelani and, mixed with the silk from his webbing, created a seemingly beautiful crown, upon which he finished with a diamond set in the center and placed it atop the small edifice and loosened the wax around the top so the headdress could be easily removed.

Remembering on an added note that naiads were prone to eating the food from trees that they grew nearest to their watery home, Anansi then made a wicker bowl and set it atop a wide rock by the minaret. Rushing through the forest, he found various fruits and grains and filled them into the bowl and covered the contents with flax.
Finally, using flax, leaves, grass, and tree bark, Anansi created a drum, and sitting by the altar he’d made, began to bang a steady beat he knew would draw her to him. His plan worked, and soon enough, drawn by the music, the naiad began to dance and sing and become totally enthralled in Anansi’s web of deceit.

Drawn by his music, the young maiden began to dance and dance. She then opened her mouth and sang and sang. Her voice was sweet, and like fresh water from a spring. With each note and owrd she spoke, she wove a dirge that made the water jump and sway with her, exploding the area with life.
Anansi smiled, foolishly like a child, the song has become his reality, and for a fleeting moment, he almost seemed enthralled by her youth and spirit. It was possible that, even for small moment, that he may've fallen in love with her. But then a small voice in the back of his head snapped him back to reality.
"Remember why you are here you foolish oaf", it said, "take what is yours."
With that, his smiled hardened, and he played more enthusiastically. And as he changed his tempo, so did she, until the whole land around them seemed vibrate with power.
And then finally she stopped.
And when she stopped, he stopped, and then there was silence.

For a while, neither of them spoke, until Anansi woke up from his delirium.
“Why do you stop?”, Anansi asked innocently, “have I displeased you?”
“No”, she answered smiling. She was as tall as his neck, and her gaze made his heart flutter, but the words echoed in his voice, causing her beauty to be enthralled his greedy heart.
”I am merely hungry", she concluded.
“Then please, stay my love,” he crooned, “and eat of the food I have prepared for you”

And instinctively he handed her the basket of fruit and grain. Touched, the naiad accepted his offering and together they eat and were merry. What the naiad didn’t know was that Anansi had drugged her food. It was an added measure, he said to himself, to ensure her willingness to obey him. There'd been many a sad of tale of those sought boons from the Zoetwatermoessel, only to become their fodder, should their hearts be found to be impure. Anansi had not seen these occasions of course, they were never of any interest to him, nor did they matter to his life, but nevertheless, he believed in the words of strangers, and as such acted accordingly.
At first it seemed as if his rouse had been discovered, for the maiden only pecked at her food. She was young as far as he could tell, but he'd heard that many retained their youth, despite the age they really were. His fears were soon put allay, however, due to the youngling's hunger. And soon enough, after eating for a while the poor maiden began to display visible drunkenness and intoxicated by the liquor and spices he’d fed her.

Now, he thought, time to bat.

“Please my love”, he said,”tell me your name.”

She looked at him, and smiled. Her smiled heartwarming and loving that part of Anansi’s heart began to ache from the realization of what he had done.
“My sweet spider, I am Marjani, youngest daughter of Mami Wata”, she said, “and to you my love I give--”

And at that moment she froze. Suddenly the whole riverland grew quiet; not even single sound came from anything. Anansi looked around his body shivering, the whole of the land grew dark.
Turning back to the naiad, Anansi saw the look of pure horror and shock upon her face.

“You…”, she began.
Now, he thought.

Immediately casting the spell of binding, Anansi's greed reflected from his apologetic eyes that flashed pure glee and in a triumphant voice, when he then shouted, “Marjani, Soul of the River, Eye of Mami Wata, and Jewel of Sea, I command you to bring me the River’s Soul!”

Pure horror spread across her face. At the same time, the sky grew dark, and lightning and thunder flashed in the air, and poor Marjani, bound by the enchantments Anansi had cast, was forced to comply. Diving below the depths, she made her way to the palace of gems that was her at the bottom of the river. Druggingly taking the River’s Soul from it’s earthy pedestal, she made her way back to the surface, where she found an impatient Anansi, and trembling, gave him the gem.
With the River’s Soul in his possession, Anansi’s greed lit up his face and for a minute everything was going fine, until he turned to face Marjani. Eyes tearing, and face filled with shock, Marjani simply looked at him; and then after what felt to Anansi like hours, she quietly turned her heartbroken frame to the river and sank into its depths.
As she left, the rage of the earth quieted, and the once darkened water began to clear. But the murkiness remained, indefinitely.

Filled with overwhelming sorrow from the pain he’d just inflicted on the innocent maiden, Anansi contemplated returning the Soul to her, in return for forgiveness and her love. But deep down he knew the truth: his greed, his pride, they would never allow him to own up to his actions.
The River's Soul gleeming in his, Anansi's fleeting moment of regret immediately melted away, and was instantly replaced by the wonder of the gem he held in his grasp.
Simultaneously, the sky cleared, and the sun returned, and with it the life of the riverland. The river, however, remained dark and foreboding, and the flow if the stream grew more slow and dead-like; the water was mourning the sorrow of the maiden tricked by Anansi’s false affections.

Taking the River’s Soul in hand, Anansi departed from the river, and made his way to King Leopard, whom he told little of the events, despite the overall sense of general panic that the events had caused to many of his fellow animals. His business concluded, Anansi thought about revealing his prize to the court of King Leopard, intent on declaring his feat be worshipped and praised and recognized (for no one dared to take power from Mami Wata, nor her children), but because of his greedy heart, he kept for himself.

And ever since then, whenever you see a spider near a body of water, they instinctively seize power over it. Some simply cross it, while others use it as a ploy to ensnare their prey. There are some, however, that have taken dominion over it and made their home under the waves. But because of their frailtiy, these few are not seen as spiders not because they can’t swim, but because of the sorrow that Anansi had placed upon his children when he cursed the Naiad's love in exchange for greed.

However since many of his children would not be trifled by the wretchedness of naiad’s pain, the strongest of them they stole the power of the spell, and passed down the curse from generation to generation, so that any spider thereafter that came across water could repeat the it, and control the power of the river (or any water) and use it for their own selfish reasons.

And that is that is why some spider’s can walk on or live in water.