First Palm Trees - Tapa dura

Rhythmic language and stunning illustrations highlight this original Anancy Spiderman story The wily trickster Anancy Spiderman tries to bribe Sun, Water, Earth, and Air Spirits into creating the world's first palm trees so he can claim the king's reward. He promises to split the prize with the Spirits, offering each fantastic gifts for creating the trees independently. But the Spirits insist they need to work together. Reluctantly Anancy agrees to a partnership with all four Spirits, confident in his ability to trick them and collect the whole reward himself. However, the Spirits' philosophy of cooperation wins out. When the palm trees appear, they are everywhere; the king declares that since the trees are clearly meant for everyone, everyone should share his reward and he hosts a feast for all the villagers. Only later does Anancy get proper credit for helping to bring palm trees to the world.