All over the world at some point ancient people have told stories and they have been passed down by word of mouth. Many famous stories and epics such as "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey" have been passed down this way. "Anansi's Fishing Expedition" is one such West African folktale. Often told by the Ashanti people, who have a very rich oral tradition. Like many West African folktales "Anansi's Fishing Expedition" is a trickster tale. The Protagonist, Anansi, tries to be arrogant and greedy and, as a result, he ultimately falls for his own trap.
             Anansi's two major character flaws, which are being greedy and arrogant, can be seen throughout the story. Greediness is a major character flaw since it shows up in numerous instances. Anansi is introduced as person who likes to live well and have other people do things for him. This shows that he is greedy and wants something by doing nothing. Anansi is greedy to the point where he wants Anene to be tired for him and he himself ends up doing all the work.
             "Give me the knife. I shall cut the branches and you get tired for me!"
             There are several other occurrences of this sort where Anansi believes that he is succeeding in doing work, while in actuality he gets duped in his own scheme. Another example of Anansi's avariciousness is shown when he says to Anene that he would sell the rotten fish traps if they got more money.
             "I'll take the fish traps and sell them myself. If there's such a good price to be had, why shouldn't I get it instead of you?'
             Anansi's other character flaw is that he is very arrogant. Since he has fooled numerous people before he thinks he can outwit them all the time. He even says it out loud.
             "What I need is a fool for a partner."
             Anene succeeds in tricking Anansi by letting Anansi's arrogance get the better of him.
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