Another story

Wow. Several people liked the Jane and Freddy story, and I thought that one was kind of weak. You've inspired me to write down some of the stories I've told the kids over the years that I think are a little bit better and actually have more of a story to them. So here's your story for the day. I know I've told this one several times over the years, but I can't remember who I told it to. Maybe Sofia, but I think definitely Alex. Not sure if Bella ever got this story, but I'm sure she'll hear it now that I've finally written it down...

The Spider Who Caught the Sun

Once upon a time, a spider named Chloe lived in a forest. She loved watching the sun rise in the morning. She marveled at how the sun beamed down brightly throughout the day. And at night, she was always amazed at how such a big powerful thing could gently lay down behind the far mountains.

One morning, before the sun came up, Chloe made a big decision.

“I’m going to catch the sun!”

She found the biggest clearing in the forest that she could find and she started making the biggest web she could possibly make. It took her nearly an hour just to get one thread of silk across the entire span of the clearing, which must have been at least six feet wide. But she was determined, and she kept at it.

After a while, a frog hopped through the clearing. He stopped and looked up at Chloe working away.

“What are you doing, spider?” he asked.

“I’m making a web to catch the sun,” Chloe said. The frog wrinkled his brow and frowned.

“Are you kidding?” he asked. “You’ll never catch the sun. It’s way too big. You’d need a web ten times this big to catch the sun.” And he hopped off.

Chloe never stopped working. She just kept building her web and making it stronger.

It was around noon when a small deer stepped into the clearing, munching on grass. By this time, the web was big enough for most animals to easily see. The deer, with a mouthful of sweet grass, stared at Chloe with boredom.

“That’s a big web, spider.” he said. “Trying to catch an elephant or something?”

“No, I’m going to catch the sun.”

For the first time the deer looked amused. He almost choked on his grass with laughter.

“Ha! Now that is funny! Don’t you realize the sun is way too hot to catch? It’ll burn up your web when it gets caught in it. It would probably even burn up this whole forest.”

Chloe heard the deer, but she just shrugged and kept making her web. The deer snorted with another laugh and walked off, searching for more grass to eat.

It was late afternoon when Chloe finally took a break. The sun was starting to come down so she had to hurry. While she took a drink of water, a butterfly fluttered to a nearby flower. When the butterfly saw the web, she had to ask.

“Why such a big web, spider?”

Chloe wiped her mouth and sighed. “I’m going to catch the sun in it,” she said.

Unlike the frog and the deer, the butterfly thought deeply about Chloe’s statement before answering. The butterfly stared at the web and rubbed her chin.

“And what are you going to do with it when you catch it?”

Chloe hadn’t really thought this far ahead. So now she had to think a bit before answering.

“I think I’ll just look at it and enjoy it. Then I’ll let it go.”

The butterfly nodded a few times, still contemplating this idea. Finally, she sat up to leave.

“Well, be careful. Goodbye!” And the butterfly fluttered off.

Chloe finished her web.

It was spectacular. It was perfectly round. The lines were straight and even and it looked big enough to catch the sun nicely. Chloe was pleased.

The sun went down behind the far mountains.

As the sun went down, the frog, who was still in the area, remembered the spider and smirked. He knew Chloe would fail. The deer watched the sun go down too and chuckled as he thought of the foolish spider. The butterfly watched the sun disappear and she thought of Chloe’s huge web, sitting there in the dark.

Chloe curled up at the edge of her web and waited. She soon fell asleep.

In the morning, the frog and the deer wanted to see Chloe and her web. They wanted to prove that they were right and that she was silly to want to catch the sun. The butterfly also came to visit Chloe and see what had happened. The sun was just rising up into the sky.

When the frog, the deer and the butterfly got to the clearing, they gasped. They could hardly believe the beautiful thing they saw in Chloe’s web.

Along every tiny silk thread in the web clung thousands of drops of morning dew. The entire web was glistening and shining as if it was covered with a million sparkling diamonds. And when the sun peeked up over the trees, the rays of light hit the drops of dew. Every tiny drop of water reflected the sun, creating a rainbow on the surrounding trees and on the ground. As the sun rose higher and higher, the web glowed brighter and brighter, until the animals had to look away from it because it was so bright.

Chloe smiled as she watched her web glow. And she knew she had succeeded.

She had caught the sun in her web!

{Copyright 2007 Wayne Eury}

I'll be signing copies of my book at Barnes and Noble in Tempe on Saturday. Hope to see you there! Ha ha.