ABSTRACT
From the preceding tales and the following ones it seems that Anansi has become the hero of two totally different types of narrative. In one set he would almost certainly seem to be a name for some former hero of these negro people, and in the second type he assumes the character more of a spider or is more animal than human. Among the northern tribes it is quite different. There the monarch in all the great states - in Dagomba, in Mamprussi, in Wala, and in Gonja - is an alien. The opening up of the country by European occupation may to a large extent account for this, for the Dagomba and other northern tribes are now able without any fear of being enslaved or murdered to visit in safety the Ashanti and Fanti centres. In the Ashanti story of the human Anansi the author has pointed out that it was God himself that he found himself pitted against.
