[FolkMaster]

"Oh, it was a long time ago," Anansi sighed. "Probably close to 500 years ago by now. Some Spanish soldiers were trying to find the fabled city of El Dorado deep in the jungle. Large groups like that don't come through very often anymore. I ate a lot of them," he said and added with a laugh, "I actually got fat!" Anansi pressed his knuckles into Benji's spine and followed the line of vertebrae up to his neck, then back down, then up again... "He was a lot like you, offering to do anything if it meant I wouldn't gobble him up. He was a scrawny little thing. I didn't take him for one of the soldiers, but probably someone's hand. You know, carrying the maps and fetching water for the troop. That sort. His belly got big, just like yours, with the same lines on his skin. I thought it was amusing how much they reminded me of little rivers cutting across a map."

Another nostalgic sigh. "He gave birth and then, keeping my word, I set him free. I gave serious consideration to eating him or even keeping him around so he could incubate my next brood, but then I had the most delightful thought." The spider's hands moved across Benji's stomach again. "As you might imagine, your size and shape won't merely vanish overnight. You're hardly made of rubber." His fingers teased across the plump little belly button. "So I let him go with the amusing notion that he'd have to explain himself to his own people."