full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Emily Zobel Marshall: The myth of Anansi, the trickster spider

Unscramble the Blue Letters


As the sun sets on a plantation in Jamaica, children flock to Mr. Kwaku for a story. They all know he’s full of tales from ghnaa, the land of their ancestors. But what they don’t know, Kwaku winks, is how their ancestors got those sirotes in the first place.

Long ago, all stories belonged to Nyame, the all-seeing Sky God. People on erath were bored and knew nothing about their htisroy. But one cretaure decided enough was enough. Anansi, the tircky, shapeshifting spider, resolved to bring the stories down to Earth. He spun a web that stretched into the clouds and cimlebd up to confront the Sky God. Crouching at Nyame’s feet, Anansi shouted at the top of his lungs that he had come to take ownership of the world’s stories. Looking down from his goledn stool, Nyame hooted with laughter at the spider’s absurd request.

Open Cloze


As the sun sets on a plantation in Jamaica, children flock to Mr. Kwaku for a story. They all know he’s full of tales from _____, the land of their ancestors. But what they don’t know, Kwaku winks, is how their ancestors got those _______ in the first place.

Long ago, all stories belonged to Nyame, the all-seeing Sky God. People on _____ were bored and knew nothing about their _______. But one ________ decided enough was enough. Anansi, the ______, shapeshifting spider, resolved to bring the stories down to Earth. He spun a web that stretched into the clouds and _______ up to confront the Sky God. Crouching at Nyame’s feet, Anansi shouted at the top of his lungs that he had come to take ownership of the world’s stories. Looking down from his ______ stool, Nyame hooted with laughter at the spider’s absurd request.

Solution


  1. earth
  2. stories
  3. golden
  4. creature
  5. ghana
  6. tricky
  7. climbed
  8. history

Original Text


As the sun sets on a plantation in Jamaica, children flock to Mr. Kwaku for a story. They all know he’s full of tales from Ghana, the land of their ancestors. But what they don’t know, Kwaku winks, is how their ancestors got those stories in the first place.

Long ago, all stories belonged to Nyame, the all-seeing Sky God. People on Earth were bored and knew nothing about their history. But one creature decided enough was enough. Anansi, the tricky, shapeshifting spider, resolved to bring the stories down to Earth. He spun a web that stretched into the clouds and climbed up to confront the Sky God. Crouching at Nyame’s feet, Anansi shouted at the top of his lungs that he had come to take ownership of the world’s stories. Looking down from his golden stool, Nyame hooted with laughter at the spider’s absurd request.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
sky god 3
nyame told 2
told anansi 2
anansi knew 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
nyame told anansi 2

Important Words


  1. absurd
  2. anansi
  3. ancestors
  4. belonged
  5. bored
  6. bring
  7. children
  8. climbed
  9. clouds
  10. confront
  11. creature
  12. crouching
  13. decided
  14. earth
  15. feet
  16. flock
  17. full
  18. ghana
  19. god
  20. golden
  21. history
  22. hooted
  23. jamaica
  24. knew
  25. kwaku
  26. land
  27. laughter
  28. long
  29. lungs
  30. nyame
  31. ownership
  32. people
  33. place
  34. plantation
  35. request
  36. resolved
  37. sets
  38. shapeshifting
  39. shouted
  40. sky
  41. spider
  42. spun
  43. stool
  44. stories
  45. story
  46. stretched
  47. sun
  48. tales
  49. top
  50. tricky
  51. web
  52. winks