A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

Spider asks a king for an unused field said to belong to a powerful spirit, although warned that no cultivator can eat its rice or bring the harvest into town. When Spider begins cutting vegetation, an unseen voice asks who is working and offers to finish the task. He repeatedly makes enough noise to summon the same assistance. Clearing, burning, sowing, covering seed, weeding and keeping birds away are accomplished for him. Spider sees the finished work and hears the voice but never sees the spirit, while reporting his apparent achievements to the king.

The work proceeds through recognizable stages rather than a single unexplained miracle. At first the spirit promises that the vegetation will be cleared by the next day, but Spider finds it finished even before returning from a drink in the farm-house. He later calls out while setting fire so the voice will intervene again. The king supplies several baskets of seed rice; Spider scatters some and scratches the ground with a long hoe before relinquishing the rest of the work. Weeding and bird-scaring similarly begin with a deliberately audible action. The harvest succeeds, and Spider stores the cut rice on the farm-house roof, making its eventual uselessness to him more striking than a simple failed crop.

At harvest he prepares rice, but the cooked-rice pot runs away when he reaches for it. It stops whenever he stops, starts again whenever he approaches and eventually returns empty. He next binds a cooking pot to a padded support on his head and runs toward town while its contents boil. Near his destination it slips free, repeats the chase and again comes back empty. The pattern continues until he survives on young cassava and abandons the farm. The king's initial warning is vindicated: abundant supernatural labor has not transferred possession of the crop to the would-be cultivator.

Unseen speaking landholderRapid agricultural workCrop retained despite harvestRunning rice pot
01

Origins & earliest records

Florence M. Cronise collected tales from children and adult employees of the Rotifunk mission in Sierra Leone. The 1903 preface credits Henry W. Ward with much of the arrangement and narrative setting; its named speakers are not assumed to be independently documented field informants.

02

Records & interpretation

Complete selected tale directly read, printed pp. 152-159. Preface and introduction separately inspected for collection and editorial mediation.

In the literature

“jus' duh hear de voice, but he no duh see nobody”
Florence M. Cronise, collector; Henry W. Ward, arranger · Cunnie Rabbit, Mr. Spider and the Other Beef
Chapter VI; pp. 151–160; Spider Tries to “Brush” the Devil’s Farm; Invisible worker during rice sowing · Historical Sierra Leone contact-English rendering

Spider hears the worker and sees the completed work without seeing its body.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    Cunnie Rabbit, Mr. Spider and the Other Beef

    Florence M. Cronise, collector; Henry W. Ward, arranger · 1903

    Spider Tries to Brush the Devil's Farm; pp. 152-159.

  2. 02

    Cunnie Rabbit, Mr. Spider and the Other Beef — Spider Tries to “Brush” the Devil’s Farm

    Florence M. Cronise, collector; Henry W. Ward, arranger · 1903

    London, Swan Sonnenschein & Co.; New York, E. P. Dutton, 1903, visually verified title page. Selected Project Gutenberg 48828 transcription retains printed page markers and exact tale anchors. Preface pp. v–vi credits Cronise with collection and Ward with arrangement/setting; introduction pp. 1–4 describes Rotifunk mission children and adult employees as sources. Frame speakers are not independently verified individual informants.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

Located primary passages

Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.

Cunnie Rabbit, Mr. Spider and the Other Beef

London, Swan Sonnenschein & Co.; New York, E. P. Dutton, 1903, visually verified title page. Selected Project Gutenberg 48828 transcription retains printed page markers and exact tale anchors. Preface pp. v–vi credits Cronise with collection and Ward with arrangement/setting; introduction pp. 1–4 describes Rotifunk mission children and adult employees as sources. Frame speakers are not independently verified individual informants.

  1. Spider insists on farming land the king says belongs to a spirit and yields no edible benefit. An unseen speaker completes clearing, burning, sowing, covering, weeding and bird-scaring when Spider noisily starts each task.

    Chapter VI; pp. 151–160; Spider Tries to “Brush” the Devil’s Farm; Forbidden land and invisible agricultural labour

  2. Every attempt to eat or carry the cooked rice fails because the pot runs away and returns empty. Even tying it to his head cannot hold it; Spider abandons the farm and admits the king’s warning was true.

    Chapter VI; pp. 151–160; Spider Tries to “Brush” the Devil’s Farm; Escaping rice pot and abandonment

Complete named tale and relevant footnotes read. Editorial racial generalizations are not adopted. Frame speakers are literary witnesses, not verified informants; spirit/devil vocabulary belongs to this collected rendering and is not equated with Christian Satan or a universal African category.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Collected primary narrative with editorial settingSpider Tries to Brush the Devil's FarmResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

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