The Journey of the Tiny Spider

The tiny spider lived on the beach in Mexico. She spent her time spinning webs to catch the petite mayflies that hatched every morning as the dew was sparkling in the new sun. The days were warm and sunny, cool in the morning, hot in the afternoon, and beautiful starry skies all night. There were scores of gnats and miniature flies in the tropical climate, plenty to eat and plenty of time to perfect her many webs.

The silk she spun was so fine, most humans could never see it without the sun glinting off of it or unless it were strung with the smallest diamonds of dew in the early morning mist. She herself was so small she could stand comfortably on the head of a pin without crowding any of her legs.

Something was drawing her North, though. Every evening as she faced the setting sun, she found herself turning to her right to gaze into the vast azure canopy. Every evening she wondered what drew her Northward.

One evening, the wind changed and something compelled her to spin a long web, bunch it up and send it skyward. She lofted her parachute web high into the Southern wind, and to her surprise, she rose with it, higher and higher. Her little home web soon became invisible, as did her little spot on the beach where the stream came to the bay.

To her surprise, she was not afraid to be so high in the sky, and to her delight, she was exhilarated by all the new things she saw. She watched the sea fly by, the wind was so strong and she went faster and higher than she ever knew that she could. She even saw other spiders with web parachutes flying alongside.

In the evening, the wind died down and she floated softly to the surface of the Gulf and she touched the gentle swells with her tiny feet. She was so small she didn’t even disturb the surface of the water. She was so small that none of the locals even knew she was there, so she needn’t fear being eaten.

In the morning, she sent her silk to the dawn and the rising ocean breeze picked her up and sent her back on her way to the mysterious, drawing North.

Her journey lasted for six days and one day she saw land. It reminded her of her own beach so far away. As the shoreline drew closer and larger, she found the wind becoming less intense and her parachute began to let her descend. She had grown tired of spinning more silk to help her sail stay fresh and hold her aloft for days, so she was relieved to be coming down to a new home.

As she alighted on the highest point on the beach, she noticed it was a large man with a sun-hat sitting in a chair. Her silken web caught on the brim of his hat and let herself down. She then ran across his leg to see where it would lead.

It was MY leg she landed on and I smashed her into butter. I don’t like spiders.