6. Escape from the Dragon

(A Retold Myth from Manokwari, West Papua)

Kweku Tsin Outsmarted the Dragon through Shrewd Planning and Accurate Anticipation of Problems and Led the Escape of His Father and Other Prisoners from This Monster.

By CELLY AKWAN

There was a famine in the land and the old Anansi and his son Kweku Tsin went hunting together in a large forest, hoping that they could shoot something. And indeed, Kweku Tsin shot a wonderful deer and he brought it to his father who was sitting and waiting for him under a tree. The old Anansi was very happy when he saw the deer and said to his son: "Stay here near the deer, I’ll just go and bring a large basket, and we can put the meat in it and can bring it home."
It took a long time before Anansi returned and Kweku Tsin slowly began to feel uneasy. Could his father probably miss the way back? Finally, he began to call as loudly as he could: "Father! Father!" He hoped his father could hear him if he had lost his way. Fortunately, a voice called back among the trees: " Yes, my son!" In his gladness, Kwekoe Tsin called out once more: "Father, Father, I’m here!" Of course, he thought Anansi had answered him.

In Captivity of the Dragon
But how shocked he was when suddenly not his father but a gigantic dragon appeared from the forest! The monster spurted fire out of his large nostrils and was terrible to look at! Kweku Tsin was so afraid when he saw the dragon approaching him from a distance that he ran away as fast as he could and hid himself in a hole in the ground.
When the dragon came at the spot under the tree, where the dead deer was lying, he became furious. From the calls of "Father! Father!", he knew he would find a human being here. He furiously ripped the deer up and disappeared afterwards in the forest again.
Soon after that, the old Anansi returned with the basket, and he was surprised when his son told him what had happened.
"Heh," he said, "it’s a pity I wasn’t here! I’d like to see him, too."
Then, that wish soon came true because the dragon was still around and reappeared as soon as he smelled human flesh. And, my goodness! He gripped on both with his sharp claws and dragged them to his house where he had locked up other people. Every day, he picked up the fattest person and ate him up and every day he went into the forest to capture more people.

The Ingenious Plan for Escape
Kweku Tsin said to the other prisoners: "I don’t understand why you’ve never tried to escape if the dragon goes in the forest."

And the others answered: "O yes, we would really like to try that plan, but it won’t really work! Do you see the white, big rooster over there? He has to keep guard over us and he does his job pretty well! If we make just the slightest movement to escape, he began to crow so loudly and piercingly that his master can hear him clearly wherever he is."
Yes, Kweku Tsin was aware that it would be difficult for them to escape. But, he thought, something had to be found out. And when the dragon went out robbing again, he called all prisoners to come together and he said to them: "Listen, guys, this shouldn’t go on any longer. Let’s think together of a way to get away from here!"
"Oh, no," the others complained, "we’ve very often talked about it. But it won’t really work. Even if we’re lucky to escape, the dragon will be able to seize us soon again. His eyes are so sharp that he can see from thousands of fathoms from here a fly that crawls on the leaf of a tree. And not only that ... he also runs faster than the wind. It’s true, Kweku Tsin, nobody can escape him. Now, don’t think about it any longer, it surely doesn’t help you at all!"
But Kweku Tsin did think about his plan. And because he was the shrewdest person in the world, he found out a good plan.
"Listen," he said to the others, "that white rooster of course won’t think about crowing as long as he has to peck at plentiful grains of rice. In the front hall, there are forty sacks of rice. Now all of you help me pull them here and scatter the grains on the ground."

The Successful Escape
They did what they were told to do. And as soon as the ground was thickly scattered with the grains of rice, the rooster began to peck and peck and peck at them so long that his pecks became second nature to him. He was too busy with that delicious rice to pay attention to the prisoners.
"You see," said Kweku Tsin to the other men, "now, all of you get to work to twine long, long ropes from hemp stalks! I’ll use them to make a strong rope ladder and if it’s ready, I’ll throw one end high into the sky. The gods will surely be kind to hold it firmly for us while we climb it up."
While most men were busy making ropes, a few slaughtered several cows from the dragon’s stable. They roasted the meat and all of them ate their fills. But they had to bring all the bones to Kweku Tsin who kept them in a large sack. He also sought the dragon’s violin and took it under his arm.

Finally, the rope ladder was ready and Kweku Tsin threw with his strong arms one end up until it reached the sky. And look, the gods who knew the evil dragon well held the rope ladder firmly. Then, the men climbed up, one after another.

Just as they were climbing the ladder to its upper end and KwekuTsin was putting his foot on the ladder at its bottom, the sharp eyes of the dragon noticed that something strange was happening at his house. In the wink of an eye, he stood at the lowest rung and began to climb the ladder.
But Kweku Tsin had brought along with him the sack filled with bones. Every time the monster came too close to him as he wished, Kweku Tsin threw a bone to him. And the dragon had such a terrible hunger that he climbed down the ladder with that bone in his mouth to gnaw away at it quietly on the ground. Kweku Tsin then climbed again as fast as he could, but he paid good attention to the dragon and kept him busy for a long time by throwing down the bones until the sack was empty. Meanwhile, all the other prisoners arrived safely and well in the sky. Kweku Tsin then took the violin and played a merry ditty. He knew very well that it was a magic violin and that the dragon would have to dance if he heard the music.
And indeed, the monster climbed down and jumped back and forth like a crazy man on the ground until the music stopped. Meanwhile, Kweku Tsin had already climbed a step higher, and when the dragon also came up and in the wink of an eye climbed some steps higher, Kweku Tsin began to play the violin again.
And wuuusshh... the monster slid again to the bottom to perform another dance on the ground! It was very funny to see him jump round and round down there. But Kweku Tsin had no time to laugh. He had to try to come up as quickly as possible.
Often, he played the ditty again and often the dragon had to get down again. But when he climbed up the ladder again, he did it much more quickly than Kweku Tsin so that he almost overtook him. He had already stuck out his claws to grip his victim ...

But the brave boy could still grab his knife and he cut off the rope ladder, just below his own feet. The dragon fell with a thump and was smashed on the stone floor of his own house, but Kweku Tsin was quickly pulled up by the gods. He was safe.

Changed into the Sun, Moon, and Stars
And the gods were very impressed with his wisdom and bravery and they thought he was so adroit in saving the other prisoners first before he saved himself that they said: "O Kweku Tsin, from now on, you shall be the sun, the source that radiates all light and warmth over the earth." His father Anansi became the moon and all the other prisoners already freed from the dragon were changed into stars. Since then, all of them have received their light from KwekuTsin because without him they mean nothing.

Copyright ©2008. All rights reserved. Published with written permission from the author.