Abraham Akpan

The Clever Spider Abraham Akpan

We believed that spiders brought good luck and always welcomed them into our mud homes. So when Mfon the elephant met Utu the spider one morning, he was happy to see her but surprised when she challenged him to a race to prove who was cleverer. He was sure there was no way this tiny creature could beat him. As everyone knows, elephants are much larger than spiders; in Mfon's mind, that made him the natural winner. But Utu taught Mfon a lesson he would never forget when she gathered nine of her sisters and outwitted him in a ten-mile race.