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The Story of Christmas Spiders
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ONCE, long ago in Germany, a gentle mother was
busily cleaning the house for the most wonderful day of
the year. Not a speck of dust was left on the day when
Santa was to come and bring the gifts on Christmas
Eve. 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 forgotten attic.
Silently, they crept out of their attic and across the floor to wait in the crack in the threshold. . Suddenly, the door opened a wee bit, and quickly the spiders sneaked into the room. The tree towered so high they couldn't see the ornaments on top. In fact, their eyes were so small they could see only one ornament at a time. They scurried up the trunk, out along each branch, filled with a happy wonder at the glittering beauty. Every place they went they left a trail of dusty, grey web. When at last they had inspected every bit of the Christmas tree, it was shrouded in a dusty grey of spider webs. Santa Claus smiled as He thought of the happy spiders seeing His tree. But He knew the mother would not feel the same way and that she would be broken hearted. So He reached out His hand and touched the webs and blessed them. They all turned to shimmering, sparkling silver and gold. The tree glistened in greater beauty than ever before.
   ***(A folk legend from Germany and the Ukraine) ***
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