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THE
LEGEND OF THE CHRISTMAS SPIDER
(A folk legend
from Germany and the Ukraine)
Once upon a time, long ago, a gentle mother was busily
cleaning
the house for the most wonderful
day of the year.... The day on which the Christ child came
to bless the house. Not a speck of dust was left. Even the spiders had been
banished from their cozy corner in the ceiling to avoid the housewife's busy
cleaning. They finally fled to the farthest corner of the attic.
T'was the Christmas Eve at last! The tree was decorated and
waiting for the children to see it. But the poor spiders were frantic, for they
could not see the tree, nor be present for the Christ child's visit. But the
oldest and wisest spider suggested that perhaps they could peep through the
crack in the door to see him. Silently they crept out of their attic, down the
stairs, and across the floor to wait in the crack in the threshold. Suddenly,
the door opened a wee bit and quickly the spiders scurried into the room. They
must see the tree closely, since their eyes weren't accustomed to the brightness
of the room... so the crept all over the tree, up and down, over every branch
and twig and saw every one of the pretty things. At last they satisfied
themselves completely of the Christmas tree beauty
.
But alas!! Everywhere they went they had left their webs, and
when
the little Christ child came to bless the house he was dismayed.
He loved
the little spiders, for they were God's creatures too, but he knew the mother,
who had trimmed the tree for the little children, wouldn't feel the same, so He
touched the webs and they all turned to sparkling, shimmering, silver and gold!
Ever since that time, we have hung tinsel on our
Christmas
trees, and according to the legend, it has been a custom to include a spider
among the decorations on the tree.
