Tribes across West Africa tell many tales about the clever spider Anansi. In one such tale, Anansi decided to gather all the wisdom in the world into one great pot and hide it for himself alone.

Anansi traveled everywhere collecting every piece of wisdom he could find, a wise idea from here, a useful piece of advice from there, until the great pot was filled with all the wisdom there was. He then thought to hide it at the top of a very tall tree, so no one else could ever reach it.

Anansi tied the pot to a rope in front of his chest and began climbing the tree, but the large pot kept bumping against the trunk every time he tried to climb, and he could not make any progress no matter how hard he tried.

His young son was watching from below and said to him, Father, why not tie the pot behind your back instead of in front of your chest? You would climb much more easily. Anansi realized his young son had just said something wise that he himself had not thought of, despite all the wisdom he had gathered.

Anansi grew angry with himself, realizing that no one could ever own all the wisdom alone. In his frustration he threw the pot down, and it broke, scattering wisdom across the whole world so that every person could have a small share of it, which is why wisdom is spread among all people to this very day.

The Lesson: No one holds all the wisdom alone; we must be willing to learn from everyone, even the youngest among us.