Yiyi the Spider and the Elephant's Feast

The Elephant was preparing a great feast for his family and had a huge pile of yams. Yiyi the Spider, smelling the food, wanted it all for himself. He went to the Elephant and said, "Friend Elephant, I see you are preparing a feast! It is our custom that before such a meal, one must wash in seven different rivers to be truly pure." The Elephant, being a creature of tradition, was impressed. "Thank you for reminding me," he said, and he set off on the long journey to find seven rivers. As soon as the Elephant was gone, Yiyi called his own family, and they devoured the entire feast. When the Elephant returned, clean but exhausted, he found nothing left. He knew he had been tricked by the Spider's clever lies. The story is often told to illustrate that social rules and customs, when followed blindly without questioning the source, can be used by tricksters as a weapon against the powerful.