497- The Spider

 

St-Takla.org Image: An Egyptian spider, photo from Alexandria - Photograph by Michael Ghaly for St-Takla.org. صورة في موقع الأنبا تكلا: عنكبوت من العناكب المصرية في الإسكندرية - تصوير مايكل غالي لموقع الأنبا تكلا.

“Why does the spider weave its web in the corners of the houses?” Peter asked his grandfather “And why does it eat dead insects?”

Grandpa told him the well-known allegorical story of the spider.

The spider had to pay the taxes. Having no money, he said to himself, “I’ll borrow money from the animals and not pay it back. On his way, he found a mouse. Thus, he asked him to lend him 1 dollar till the morning. The mouse gave him the dollar and went. Then, he found a cat and asked her to lend him a dollar promising to pay it back in the morning. He behaved thus with the dog, the tiger and the lion.

He payed the taxes and went home thinking what to do. He took the axe and dug a hole in the garden behind his house and covered it. In the morning, the mouse came asking for his money. He talked to him gaily until some one knocked at the door. The mouse got terrified when he knew that it was the cat. Thus, the spider asked him to hide in a room till he departed. The spider opened the door and welcomed the cat telling him that he would pay the debt soon after eating the delicious meal he prepared for him. He showed him the room wherein the mouse hid. He entered the room and ate him. He returned to the spider who conversed with him until some one knocked at the door. Knowing that it was the dog, the cat hid in a room. The dog entered. The spider showed him the way and the dog killed the cat. He did thus with the tiger and the lion.

After the lion had eaten, The spider asked him to follow him to the garden to give him the dollar. The lion walked above the covered hole and thus fell in it and began to roar. All the animals came to see what the spider had done to the king of the beasts and how he had given each animal as a prey to the other in order not to fulfill his promise. All the animals gathered against him. Therefore, he ran to a corner in the house, wove his web near the ceiling and lived isolated having no food but the dead insects.

Finally, grandpa said to Peter, “He who does not fulfill his promise will be respected by no one. He will live as if in a corner not finding suitable food.

→ English translation of the story here at St-Takla.org: لماذا يعيش العنكبوت منزويًا؟ ولماذا يأكل العنكبوت الحشرات الميتة؟

Help me be honest and keep my promise!

You are the Honest who keeps His promises.

May I resemble You so that I may not feel isolated,

May I fulfill my promises to live in Heaven and enjoy the angelic table.

An Eagle Hunting a Fish

Short Stories (Stories for the Youth) Books by Father Tadros Yacoub Malaty

An Ant Amid the Snow