One summer morning Anansi the Spider sat high up in a knobthorn tree, peering down into Elephant's melon patch. Elephant was hoeing his garden and munching on bean pods. The ripe melons looked so delicious that Anansi gnashed his jaws and said to himself, "Look how sweet and juicy those look! I must have a taste!"

Anansi loved to eat melons, but being a spider, he was not such a good farmer. He had to wait and wait and wait until other animals grew the melons. So he watched from his tree, while the fat sun traveled high in the sky and the breeze grew warm.

By the time noon came, it was too hot to work. Elephant put down his hoe and went inside his house to take a nap.

This was the moment Anansi had been waiting for. He broke off a thorn and dropped down into the melon patch. He used the thorn to bore a hole in the biggest, ripest melon. Anansi squeezed inside and started eating.

He ate and ate until he was round as a berry. "I'm full," Anansi said at last. "Elephant will be coming back soon. It is time to go." But when he tried to squeeze through the hole, Anansi got a surprise. His body was too big to get out of the melon! " I can't get out!" Anansi cried. "I will have to wait until I am thin again."

Anansi sat down on a pile of melon seeds and wondered how long it would take him to turn thin again. He watched the sun continue through the sky from his dark melon cave.

Just then, he heard Elephant returning to the garden. Anansi had a fun idea. "When Elephant gets closer, I will say something. Elephant will think the melon is talking" Anansi giggled to himself just thinking of the joke.

Elephant walked over to the melon patch. "Look at this fine melon. How big and ripe it is!" he said, picking it up. “It will make a sweet snack.”

Anansi cried out from inside, “What are you doing with me!”

Elephant jumped. "Aah! Who said that?"

"I did. The melon," Anansi said.

"I didn't know melons could talk," said Elephant.

"Of course we do. We talk all the time. The trouble is, you never listen."

"I can't believe my ears!" Elephant exclaimed. "A talking melon! Who could believe it? I must show this to the king." Elephant ran down the road, carrying the melon with Anansi inside. Along the way he ran into Hippo.

"Where are you going with that melon?" Hippo asked.

"I'm taking it to the king," Elephant told him.

"What for? The king has hundreds of melons."

"He doesn't have one like this," Elephant said. "This is a talking melon."

Hippo didn't believe Elephant. "A talking melon? How ridiculous it is! That's as ridiculous as..."

". . . a skinny hippo," the melon said.

Hippo got so angry his face turned red. "Who said that? Did you say that, Elephant?"

"It wasn't me. It was the melon," Elephant said. "I told you it talks. Do you believe me now?"

"I do!" Hippo exclaimed. "I want to go with you. I want to hear what the king says when you show him this talking melon."

"Come along, then," said Elephant. So, Elephant and Hippo went down the road together, carrying the melon.

By and by, they ran into Warthog. "Hey, nice watermelon. Can I have some? I’m starving" Warthog asked them.

"No, Warthog! We're taking it to the king," Elephant and Hippo told him.

"What for? The king has hundreds of melons," Warthog said.

"He doesn't have one like this," Hippo replied. "This melon talks. I heard it."

Warthog started to laugh. "A talking melon? How ridiculous it is! That's as ridiculous as..."

"A handsome warthog?" said the melon.

Warthog got so angry he shook all over. "Who said that? Did you say that, Elephant? Did you say that, Hippo?"

"Of course not!" Hippo and Elephant told him. "The melon talks. Do you believe us now?"

"I do!" cried Warthog. "Let me go with you. I want to see what the king does when you show him this talking melon."

Along the way, they met Ostrich, Rhino, and Turtle. They didn't believe the melon could talk either until they heard it for themselves. Then they wanted to come along too.

The animals came before the king. Elephant placed the melon at the king's feet.

The king looked down. "Why did you bring me a melon?" he asked Elephant. "I have hundreds of melons growing in my garden."

"You don't have one like this," Elephant said. "This melon talks." "A talking melon? I don't believe it. Say something, melon."

The melon said nothing and the king grew impatient.

"Melon, if you can talk, I want you to say something. I command you to speak," The king demanded.

The melon did not make a sound. The king was even more impatient. "Oh, this is a stupid melon!"

Just then the melon spoke. "Stupid, am I? Why do you say that? I'm not the one who talks to melons!"

The animals had never seen the king so angry. "How dare this melon insult me!" He shouted. The king picked up the melon and hurled it as far as he could. The melon bounced and rolled all the way back to Elephant's house. KPOW! It smacked into the thorn tree and burst into pieces. Anansi picked himself up from among the bits of melon rind. What a ride!

Through all the excitement, Anansi had time to get thin again, and he was now very hungry. Anansi climbed the banana tree. He settled himself in the middle of a big bunch of bananas and started eating.

Elephant returned. He went straight to the melon patch.

"You melons got me in trouble with the king!" Elephant said. "From now on, you can talk all you like. I'm not going to listen to a word you say!"

"Good for you, Elephant!" Anansi called from the bananas. "We bananas should have warned you. Talking melons are nothing but trouble.