The Biggest Fool
One day Anansi sat by the river. He sat on the rocks and looked at the wide overcast sky. He watched the river gently pushing ripplets of water towards the bank. He listened to the westerly breeze, and the traffic on the bridges nearby. And suddenly he cried out, “Why do I insist on being the biggest fool!?”
A duck sleeping nearby in the river, bundled on a floating pile of debris, woke up with a start. “What?”
Anansi said again, with great angst, “Why do I insist on being the biggest fool?” He tore off his hat and threw it against the rocks.
Duck took a long look at the spider and then chuckled, “But Anansi, the world is full of fools.”
Anansi started crying, “But why do I have to be the BIGGEST?” And then the spider began recounting all of the most embarrassing stories the world tells.
“There was the time I travelled with a known scammer and got trapped in South America…” “Then there was the time I got tricked into a fake marriage before getting my identity stolen…” “Then there was the time I studied with a con artist and got myself plagiarised at school…” “Then there was the time my services coordinator somehow had me taking care of him…” “Then there was the time I got caught by crocodile…”
Duck listened for awhile and let Anansi describe in painful detail all of the stupid and silly notions he’s ever had.
“It’s like a compulsion, I can’t stop even when I know it’s foolish. I just keep on going, stubbornly, as if more foolishness will cancel out the rest. And I don’t know — whyyyyyyyyy am I this way???”
Duck considered for a moment, stretched out his feathers, pruned, and then gently said, “Anansi, are you really the biggest fool? Or could it be that you are just more honest about it?”
Anansi thought about this. He contemplated on the last couple hours of consecutive confessions, and then chuckled in resignation, “But see Duck, if I am the only one being honest about being a fool, doesn’t that make me the biggest of all the fools?”
Duck wanted to be comforting, though he couldn’t help but crack a smile. Finally he conceded, “Yes, Anansi, I see now that you are the biggest fool.”
Anansi looked at Duck. And then they both fell over laughing.
