The pull of stories (Bragi)
It was Ancient Greece, and the Greeks were all doing things that were very interesting. They had powerful leaders and powerful people running around in the streets. People with rich lives and great pasts. People with stories.
The spider was drawn here for that reason, for all the stories floating around in the air. He was planning on spinning a vast web and catching all the stories that he could manage, steal them and take them home. Of course, Anansi didn't really see it as stealing, since he was the King of All Stories. They belonged to him already, he just had yet to hear them. The problem was, really, where was he to start? And how would he go about getting these people to tell him the stories that he'd missed by not being here earlier? Mortals liked to talk when they were drunk, so there was the option of getting Athens and Sparta soused and listening in, but that left the worry of partial stories and half lies.
Anansi moved on eight small legs, several other similar creatures fanning out to hide in the cracks and crevices of the buildings and homes. To dangle above heads and spin their webs by beds. All of them his little spies, ready to catch what they needed, or direct him to where he would most want to be. He could see through all of them, as much as he could see through his own eyes. His many little children.
He was looking for somebody truly interesting, inspiring, to begin this quest.