A tale as rich as chocolate, as clever as Ananse...

Ananse had tried and failed to steal the secret of Midunu’s chocolate. But if he couldn’t take the knowledge, perhaps he could take the chocolates themselves. And so, he hatched a new plan.

One moonlit night, he crept into the Midunu kitchen once more. This time, he didn’t go for the recipe book—no, he was smarter than that. Instead, he gathered as many truffles as he could carry: the warming heat of Almaz, infused with Ethiopian berbere spice; the umami richness of Talata, touched with dawadawa; the fragrant spices of Adwoa, wrapped in dark chocolate.

With his bounty secured, Ananse scurried back to his web, eager to indulge. But as he unwrapped the first truffle, something strange happened. The chocolate shimmered—and then, before his very eyes, vanished into thin air!

Ananse blinked. Had his eyes deceived him? He reached for another truffle—gone. Another—gone. No matter how many he tried, each one disappeared just before he could taste it.

Frustration bubbled inside him like a pot of boiling groundnut soup. "This must be some trick!" he muttered. "But I am Ananse—I do not fall for tricks, I create them!"

A soft chuckle filled the air. Ananse turned sharply and found himself face to face with the old woman from the Midunu kitchen. She stood, arms crossed, a knowing smile playing on her lips.

"You see, Ananse," she said, "chocolate is not taken—it is given. It is shared. It is savored in good company. And you, my friend, have tried to hoard what was never meant to be kept for yourself."

Ananse’s many legs twitched with frustration, but deep inside, he knew she was right. He had tricked himself out of the very thing he desired most.

With a sigh, he lowered his head. "What must I do?" he asked.

The old woman smiled. "Come back to Midunu, but this time, not as a thief. Come as a guest. Learn, share, and you will see—chocolate tastes far sweeter when it is not stolen."

And so, for the first time in a long while, Ananse set aside his tricks. But whether he had truly changed… well, that is a story for another time.

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