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Ananse* When spring come the Mandan, Arikara an Hidatsa gather 'round the fire sing, dance an tells they in-the-beginning stories. Stories so full they puts that tale from Genesis to shame. Old York say we come from clay but that I first sprung out the ground 'most full grown, then laugh. The Indians, them say they climbed up out the ground one by one until a pregnant woman's weight broke the vine creating the living an the dead or tunneled through the dirt like the badger or mole while still animals helping the Corn Mother who not only gave them food an wisdom but brought Nishanu out the sky to teach them to make war on their enemies. I try to keep every word I hear alive in my head so I can carry them back an warm the fires at home. I thinks my people will 'preciate stories where whoever struggle in the beginning make out alright in the end. "Ananse is the spider, a heroic character in African folklore. Like Br'er Fox he outwits all the other creatures of the forest. ...

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