Hello and welcome to Super Great Kids Stories.
Wise tales from storytellers around the world which will make you laugh and sometimes cry.
Recommended for ages 5 to 105.
I'm Kim and I love stories.
Today We have an Anansi trickster tale for you from the sunny Caribbean, told by Wendy Shearer.
It's called Anansi and the Talking Watermelon.
How are you, super great kids?
It's February, a new month and a little bit closer to spring in the northern part of the world.
I wonder if you can think of something that happened this week that made you happy.
This morning I received a beautiful drawing from seven-year-old Emmett, one of our listeners in Stockholm in Sweden.
She was inspired by a recent fairy tale from China, The Luminous Pearl.
She drew two magnificent sea dragons guarding the underwater treasure cave.
That made my heart sing, so thank you Emmet.
You can see her picture on our website, supergreatkidsstories.com.
And some of you made storyteller Amy Douglas very happy this weekend.
She was storytelling live in London and she said you were all really good at joining in with the stories.
So thanks very much to super great fans Jonah Finn, Rosa Ivy and to all of the rest of you who came.
And if you fancy some storytelling this weekend, then you might like to join Paul Aldeburgh, who told the German fairy tale Hansel and Gretel recently on Super Great Kids Stories.
He'll be telling tales at our regular monthly show online with Jason Buck and Amy Douglas this Sunday, February the 8th.
For tickets, look under news on our website. supergreatkidsstories.com.
Now, as I mentioned, this week's story is an Anansi the Spider Trickster story.
Anansi stories are very popular with Super Great Kids fans.
So here's my question.
How many Anansi stories can you think of?
And if that's a little bit too hard, maybe you could guess how many Anansi stories we have on our podcast at the moment.
So, while we have a quick word with the grown-ups, can you have a think about any Anansi stories you know?
Here's a couple of clues to get you started.
The king likes the... The queen likes the... Yes, that one.
And here's another Nancy story.
Yesterday, this time, me, I am.
Remember that song?
And finally, ticky, ticky, boom, boom, ticky, ticky, boom, boom, buff.
Ready?
Off you go.
Hello, super great kids, I'm back.
How many Anansi stories did you think we had on our podcast?
Well, it's 15.
How many did you remember?
Hands up if you remembered more than five.
Wow, you are a super great Anansi fan.
Did those clues help a bit?
Remember?
The king likes the soup, the queen likes the soup, Anansi likes the soup, Anansi likes the soup.
Yes, of course, that one was Anansi and the hot pepper soup.
How about the second clue?
Yesterday, this time, me, I am tiger fat.
Yes, of course, that is Anansi and the tiger fat.
And then ticky, ticky, boom, boom, ticky, ticky, boom, boom, ticky, ticky, boom, boom, boof.
Did you remember that one told by Kate Corkery?
Anansi and the Magic Yams, of course.
Well done if you got them all.
Other stories you might have remembered include Anansi and the Tree with the Face.
Anansi and Number Five, Anansi and the Birds, Anansi and the Party, and Anansi and the Unknown Challenge.
And now it's time to hear another Anansi story.
So let's give a very warm welcome to Wendy Shearer.
Hello, super great kids.
It's Wendy Shearer here.
I'm a storyteller and a writer and I'm so excited to share with you one of my favourite trickster stories.
It's an Anansi tale.
I'm sure many of you know that Anansi is a wise trickster god from West Africa, and stories about him have travelled around the African continent and the Americas and the Caribbean islands, and he might even be near you.
I'd like to invite you all to travel with me across the Caribbean Sea for the story of Anansi and the Talking Watermelon.
Our story begins today with a great big lazy stretch.
Can you give me a great big stretch?
Oh, yes.
And Nancy was stretching out his spidery legs and he was sitting on the top of a mango tree.
He was chomping and chewing through a wonderful, delicious piece of mango when he looked down and he noticed that the tree was in Elephant's garden.
Elephant had the most magnificent garden.
It was filled with all kinds of fruit trees.
There were lime trees, lemon trees, guava trees, banana trees, all kinds of trees, and he was stretched out in the mango tree eating a piece of his favourite fruit.
Anansi looked down and noticed the elephant was at the bottom of the tree growing some wonderful watermelons.
An elephant was doing up the soil and watering the melons with his elephant trunk, spraying water everywhere.
The sun was blazing down on his head and Anansi, the lazy trickster spider, was stretched out in the tree wondering how he could get to eat some of that delicious watermelon without doing any of that hard work.
So he waited until elephant had plodded off for a cool drink of water.
And then Anansi spun away and landed on the biggest and ripest watermelon.
He said to himself, I'll just take one little bite, just a little taste.
No one will see.
And so he took a bite.
Can you take a bite with me?
It was so sweet.
So delicious, Anansi thought he'd take another bite.
So he did.
Are you ready?
It was so yummy.
The flavours just exploded in his mouth.
And he couldn't help himself.
He took another bite.
Are you ready?
It was so yummy.
He chomped.
He munched.
He gobbled.
He slurped.
And he ate.
And he ate.
And he ate.
And he ate.
And he ate.
And he ate.
And he ate.
Oh my goodness.
He ate so much watermelon.
What do you think happened to him?
Yes, you're right.
His stomach grew bigger.
And bigger.
And bigger.
And bigger.
And bigger.
His stomach grew so big.
He was as round as a... Well, what do you think?
Yes, as round as a watermelon.
And he rolled around inside the melon.
And he was filled with melon.
Oh, my goodness.
His stomach was so big and he was so full.
He thought, I better get out quick before elephant comes back and catches me in here.
So Anansi tried to squeeze his head out of the tiny hole he had made.
But he couldn't fit.
His stomach had grown too large.
All he could do was sit down inside the melon and wait until his stomach had gone down.
So he sat and he waited.
And he waited.
And he waited.
And he waited.
And nothing was happening.
Anansi started to get a little bit bored.
And you know what happens when a trickster gets bored.
They think of their tricks.
He decided to pretend that the melon he was stuck inside, that it could talk.
I'm going to fool that old elephant.
He doesn't know I'm inside here.
So when elephant came back from its cool drink of water, Elephant didn't know Anansi was hiding inside the biggest and ripest watermelon.
Elephant bent down, scooped up the melon and heard a voice inside cry out.
Put me down!
Elephant looked around, didn't see anyone there and then heard a voice cry out again.
I said put me down!
Elephant flapped its large ears. and thought he'd grown a talking watermelon.
Yes, I know, he really thought he had.
He was so proud of himself he decided no one would believe him unless he showed them the talking watermelon.
He said to himself I'm going to take this watermelon and travel through the rainforest and present it in the kingdom of the birds.
Elephant was so pleased with himself and inside Anansi was giggling.
He knew he had tricked the elephant.
Well, elephant lumbered off on his way through the forest and he bumped into one of his friends swinging from tree to tree.
Can you guess which animal this might be?
Yes, that's right.
It was monkey.
Monkey was climbing up and monkey was climbing down and monkey was swinging from vine to vine.
And when monkey saw elephant, he called out to him.
Elephant, what are you doing here in the forest carrying a watermelon?
Elephant replied proudly.
I have grown a talking watermelon.
What? squealed monkey.
A talking watermelon?
That is so silly.
Whoever heard of a talking watermelon?
That is so silly.
But then Monkey heard a voice from inside the watermelon cry out.
About as silly as a clever monkey.
Who said that?
Who said that?
Monkey asked.
But he had to admit it was coming from the watermelon.
So now Monkey believed that the watermelon could talk.
I will go with you to the kingdom of the birds, said Monkey excitedly.
And together they both set off, making their way through the forest.
Everything was going fine until they accidentally stepped into the lair, the den of one of the most fierce cats which fear.
Give you a clue it has stripes all over its body yes, you are right, it was tiger.
And tiger was stretched out and sleeping, snoring heavily, until monkeys giggles woke tiger up, Tiger's eyes popped open wide and Tiger let out the most ferocious roar.
Are you ready?
Give me a big roar.
Who dares to disturb me from my sleep?
While Monkey's legs were shivering and twitching.
I'm so sorry, Tiger.
We didn't mean to wake you up.
It's just that we've got a talking watermelon.
A talking what? growled Tiger.
That is so silly.
But then Tiger heard a voice from inside the melon cry out.
About as silly as a fierce tiger!
Who said that?
Tiger stared hard at elephant and monkey.
But he had to eventually admit that the sound was coming from the watermelon and he thought that it could talk.
And Nancy was still inside, giggling to himself.
Now he had fooled an elephant, a monkey and a tiger.
Tiger wanted to continue with all of the animals.
He wanted to go to the kingdom of the birds too.
I'm in charge, growled Tiger.
Follow me.
And so the animals set off together.
Tiger was growling and prowling.
Elephant was plodding along and monkey was swinging from tree to tree.
But then the weather turned bad.
The rain started to beat down like a drum.
The thunder roared, the lightning clacked and the animals began to fight.
They began to disagree over which way to go.
You see, monkey wanted to go left, elephant wanted to go right and tiger?
Well, tiger was just chasing his tail.
Nobody knew which way to go.
They needed the help of someone tall, someone who could see over the canopy of trees.
Which animal do you think this must be?
Yes?
You are right.
It was a giraffe.
They needed the help of a giraffe.
And there just so happened to be a giraffe standing nearby, grazing on the leaves, chewing slowly.
Do you think you could munch and chew like a giraffe really slowly?
Giraffe did everything slowly.
And when Giraffe saw a monkey, a tiger and an elephant carrying a watermelon, Giraffe asked them Why are you here?
And they all started to talk over each other and explain that there had been a storm and they'd gotten lost and they were on their way to the kingdom of the birds, because they have a talking watermelon.
Now, of course, Giraffe was not going to believe in a talking watermelon.
Giraffe shook its head from side to side and said, A talking watermelon?
That is so silly.
But then Giraffe heard a voice from inside the watermelon cry out About as silly as a long-legged giraffe.
Who said that?
Giraffe couldn't believe its giraffe ears.
But eventually he had to believe that it was a talking watermelon.
And Giraffe knew the way to the kingdom of the birds.
Now you might not know this about giraffes, everybody.
But when they are being chased or hunted by predators, they can run really fast.
They can gallop like a horse.
And so giraffe said to everyone, follow me.
And began to gallop and gallop and gallop really fast around the way up the hill and down the valley, around the lake, around the side.
And finally, they reached the kingdom of the bird.
And the kingdom of the birds was the most colourful place to be.
There were toucans with their long beaks.
There were tiny purple hummingbirds beating their wings so fast.
There were parrots, scarlet macaws peeping in and out of the trees.
There were eagles swooping and diving and circling with their wide wings.
Now when all of the animals came together, with their wonderful talking watermelon.
The golden firebird decided to put this to the test.
You really have a talking watermelon, she squawked.
Oh yes, yes, yes, said Monkey.
Everyone agreed.
They presented the talking watermelon.
Speak right now, said the golden firebird.
Everyone was silent, waiting to hear the magical watermelon speak.
But Anansi the spider did not speak.
Anansi kept his mouth closed.
The firebird grew cross.
She stamped her foot.
I said speak right now!
And again the animals were silent, waiting for the magical watermelon to talk.
But Anansi refused to speak.
I'm not going to speak this time, he said to himself.
And the golden firebird did not believe it was a talking watermelon.
She decided to throw it away.
She lifted the watermelon up high over her head and she threw it as far away as she could.
And the melon went rolling and rolling and tossing and tossing.
It tossed and turned and rolled all the way through the forest until finally it went SMASH into a banana tree.
The watermelon split open into pieces and Anansi the spider crawled out.
His tummy had gone down and he was hungry again.
Anansi crawled up into the banana tree and began secretly eating the bananas.
Poor old elephant plodded back to his garden.
He stood over his watermelon patch and he said I will never ever, ever believe in talking watermelons again.
And then Elephant heard a voice from the banana tree say That's because everybody knows only bananas can talk.
Elephant spun around and thought the banana tree was talking to him and Nancy the spider had tricked him all over again.
Stepped on a pin, the pin bent and that's the way the story went.
Thanks for listening, everyone.
Oh, thank you so much, Wendy, for sharing that story.
What a scamper Nancy is.
Would you like him as your friend?
He is great fun, but could you trust him?
I like the way Wendy gave a Nancy a Caribbean accent and how she made the giraffe talk really slowly.
If you were going to draw a picture from that story, what scene would you draw?
Maybe elephant carrying the watermelon in his trunk and a Nancy shouting from inside it.
About as silly as a clever monkey.
Or maybe you could draw the golden firebird in the kingdom of the birds smashing the watermelon to pieces.
Send your pictures via our website to supergreatkidsstoriescom or to our Facebook page.
Facebookcom forward slash supergreatkidsstories and we can share them with other storylovers.
And now it's time to fly around the world with StoryOwl to say hello and a big thank you to the owlets who recently hopped into our nest and joined our storytelling club.
Let's begin in the north of Europe, in Norway, with Herman and Otto, who are five and two.
They live in the capital of Norway, which is called Oslo.
Herman's favourite stories include Hey Ho from Denmark, The Sausage Tree from Russia and Troll Ale from Scandinavia.
Flying east now over the Baltic Sea to another capital city Tallinn, in Estonia, to say hello to Helen, who was nine in January, and Teddy, who is seven.
They first listened to Super Great Kids stories with their grandma and grandpa, who live in Wisconsin in the US, who then bought the membership to the Owlets Club.
Hurrah!
Thank you, grandma and grandpa.
Helen loves the stories with singing, especially Ashpet.
And Teddy's favourite story is and nancy and the hot pepper soup.
South now to turkey, to greet owlets ray uzay, who's seven, and guinevere serenai, who is four.
They were born in switzerland and now live in orla, outside izmir in turkey.
What exciting places you're experiencing, lucky you.
Ray Uzai's favourites are The Ghost of the Bloody Finger and How the Mosquito Became.
And Guinevere Serenai's favourites are The Baba Yaga Stories.
And sometimes she likes being chased by her parents who are pretending to be Baba Yaga.
How terrifying!
A long flight south and east.
Now all the way to Australia to greet Sienna, who is eight and lives in Albany in Western Australia.
One of her recent favourites is Baba Yaga's bubble bath.
All the way across the Pacific.
Now to Seattle in the United States, to greet Owlet Clara, who is four.
Her favourite stories are The wide-mouthed frog, Molly and the leprechaun and the weeping willow.
Good choices.
And now let's head down the coast as far as San Diego in California, where Owlette Harlow lives.
Harlow, who's seven, has been listening since she was four.
Wow, that's very loyal listening.
Harlow loves listening in the car. and retelling scary stories to her friends.
Her favourites include How the Lion Got Its Roar, Mama Draga The Hairy Toe, The Boy Who Drew Cats, and Bonita the Tricky Sheep.
A short flight back up the coast to Los Angeles next to greet Owlet Yuri, who is six.
Her favourites are Anansi and the Hot Pepper Soup.
And the Baba Yaga stories.
Good choices.
Flying inland now to Arizona to greet Olivia, who's seven, who lives in Phoenix.
Her favourites are Bonita the Pretty Tricky Sheep and The Hairy Toe.
She enjoys reading our Super Great Kids Stories book, which she got for Christmas.
Hurrah!
Let's keep going across the US to beautiful South Carolina to say hello to Elsie, who recently turned six.
Her favourites are, well, all the scary stories.
You must be very brave, Elsie.
And finally, hello to long-time listener and superfan Ben in Morristown, New Jersey, who is about to turn seven.
Hope you have a very happy day, Ben, and maybe even tell a story to celebrate.
And our Pitcher of the Week goes to six-year-old Lily from Weymouth Massachusetts, who sent us not one but two bright, beautiful drawings.
One of Fox at a Party and the other of How the Lion Got His Roar.
When Lily was a baby, she tells us she used to roar and her nickname was Lily the Lion.
So no wonder she chose how the lion got his roar as one of the stories to illustrate.
I just love all the bees you've included swarming around Lion's Mane and the way you've drawn a red circle around his head as they sting him.
No wonder he began to roar.
I'd have been shrieking and roaring if it was me.
Thanks for that, Lily.
If you want to see that picture and others, go to our website supergreatkidsstoriescom and click on the tab artwork and photos.
Or go to our Facebook page, facebook.com forward slash supergreatkidsstories.
And if you follow us on Instagram, you can see our picture gallery there.
That's it for this week.
Thanks to all Owlets for your super great support.
It's because of you that we can keep finding new storytellers in different countries.
If you'd like to support us on Patreon or on Apple Podcasts, we'll say hello to you on the show.
You can hear our stories advert free and, depending on your level of subscription, you'll have access to at least 45 Super Great Scary stories and over 60 bonus stories.
Plus, you'll get access to our Super Great Kids Stories Express with short introductions, no adverts, purely story.
Great for listening to stories back to back.
Visit our website for more details at supergreatkidsstories.com.
And finally, we wanted to say a very big thank you to those of you who bought a copy of our new book and to those of you who've reviewed it online.
Thank you very much.
A recent reviewer said the kids saved for this book and waited for a whole year to have it.
They were not disappointed.
Well, thank you for that and well done for saving.
That puts a little bounce in our step.
Keep telling those stories and singing those songs.
Thanks again to our storyteller this week, Wendy Shearer.
And remember to tune in on Sunday to hear Paul Albrecht, Jason Buck and Amy Douglas telling super great kids stories live online.
This podcast was produced at Wardour Studios in fabulous Fitzrovia in London.
