Er tin tin, (Once upon a time) Anansi's wife had a fine fat sheep that she herself had raised. Anansi often begged her to slaughter the sheep; but she steadily refused, and scolded him angrily for his greediness.

"I will teach my wife not to be so stingy," muttered Anansi one night as he went to bed.

Next morning he did not get up, but pretended to be very sick. He trembled and shook so, that his wife became alarmed, and asked him what ailed him and what she could do to relieve him. "Ke!" [1] replied Anansi weakly, "I don't know what the matter is, but I feel awfully sick."

So he told his wife to consult with the loekoeman, [2] whom she would find under the big kankantri [3] in the forest. His wife did not know the loekoeman, but she started out to find him.

As she was going out, Anansi requested her to take the children with her. "They make such a terrible noise, that I shall go crazy," he explained.

Well, as soon as his wife had departed, Anansi jumped out of bed and disguised himself as an old loekoeman. He pulled an old hat well over his eyes, and, hurrying over a short cut which he knew, reached the kankantri before his wife. After a while his wife and children arrived, and greeted him politely with a kosi, [4] without seeing through the disguise. "Ke, mi papa," [5] spoke his wife, "masra Anansi is very sick. He has convulsions and terrible pains in his stomach, so he has sent me to you for some medicine to cure him."

The loekoeman consulted with the spirits, shook his head thoughtfully, and said, "My good woman, your husband is a very good friend of mine; and so I will tell you a good medicine to cure him, and it will not cost you anything for the advice. My friend Anansi is very sick indeed; his spirit longs for mutton, and the poor man is slowly dying from this craving. You must serve him a nice fat sheep, nicely cooked, and he alone must eat it. You and the children must not even taste it, otherwise the takroe sani ('evil thing') that possesses him will surely kill him. Nothing else can save him."

Anansi's wife thanked the loekoeman and left. As soon as she was out of sight, Anansi hurried home over the short cut, removed his disguise, and jumped into bed, where he awaited the return of his wife and children.

In a short while they arrived, and told Anansi what the loekoeman had said. Anansi praised the loekoeman's wisdom. He said that the advice was good, and he felt that the medicine would cure him.

With unwilling hands his wife and children prepared the sheep for Anansi in a most appetizing manner. Anansi ate so much mutton that he nearly burst, while his wife and children looked on with longing eyes. When he had swallowed the last mouthful, he smacked his lips, thanked his wife, and advised his children to follow their good mother's example and never to be stingy or greedy.