“Learn from spiders. Sometimes you need to walk sideways.”
― Maureen Joyce Connolly
Come into the woods and I'll tell you a story...
Of a spider (A1414.7.5), of fire (A1414.7.5), of a stargazer (J2133.8), of secrets overheard (N450)...
Come into the woods and I'll tell you a story - before there was electricity, there was fire; before there was fire, the world was cold and dark and things were dire.
Have you ever seen a spider web, floating in the midst of a garden, hanging there suspended in midair as if hanging from the very breezes themselves? Strung so far between whatever it's been strung to that you're not entirely sure how Spider got herself such a pretty seat in the middle of everything?
It is this very power that Spider has that she can do most amazing things. One day she decided she had enough of the cold and the dark and the dire. When she looked up at night, she saw the stars twinkling way far away with the faintest of glimmerings deep in the sky. There - that one was faintly blue, and there, that one was faintly a cozy warm orange, that one a cool white, and another a iridescent shimmering yellow.
Spider thought to herself, "What a pretty sight - if I bring some of them back, perhaps things will appear a little less dire, with a little more light..." With that, she set on her journey.
The first drafted thread landed her in a nearby town. She went up to an old man and said - I will return with the fire of the stars, have you need in your home? He said, you are foolish little spider, you cannot reach the stars, they are far away in the frozen wastes of the night. And the stars twinkled down at him catching his eye. "I see..." said she. And she took her leave. The stars continued to twinkle, and the man distracted did not see where he was going and fell into a well.
Spider caught the next draft of thread in the breeze and alighted in a field. It was so very very quiet, she could hear the whispers of the world all around her. The man in the well had doubted her, but everywhere the whispers of the need for light, the need for warmth, and the need for sparks and glittering joy, whispers across time and space, whispers of longing and awe, secret whispers of mysteries. She looked up at the sky as a whisper passed her by, light as her own threads on the breeze - "If one would climb to the stars, they must be very light indeed."
This gave Spider confidence for who else could sit suspended on the breezes in their seat like she? And so, into the deep, cold night she sent out a drift of thread to the top of the nearest tree, gave it a gentle tug to anchor it, and let the breeze catch her on the other end, she floated up into the sky, but the stars were still far above. She sent the next thread out, where it anchored she didn't know, but onward she went, drifting up and up and up time and time again.
The little stars started getting bigger, and closer, and warmer, their twinkling turned into crackling and then into roaring. She dared not look down now, the earth was so far away under her, it was as ephemeral as the stars had been, twinkling in the cold still night.
Now she could anchor her strands from star to star. Quickly she gathered bits of the faint blue star, of the iridescent yellow star, the warm orange star, the cool white star into the basket on her back and started to let herself ease back down towards the earth.
Drifting down would not work now, she tugged on the anchor line to the tall tree and pulled it taut to where she was and purposefully made her way down the strand. This was warm work - hotter than she expected. Closer and closer to earth, warmer and warmer she got.
Her basket burst into flames - and to save herself she threw it from her back. The basket released the sun into the sky - bits and pieces of burnt basket fell to the earth and infused the earth with warmth and light. Some people learned you could strike rocks together to release their fire. Some light was infused into tiny creatures along the tideline that light up as they're jostled as the waves rush towards the shore or paddles strike the water. Some insects ate the fire and seem to glow from the inside with light.
Spider let herself drift back down to earth, lit and warm with the nearby twinkling of stars, of the sun that lights the sky during the day, and the moon that reflects the light at night. An evening's work well done. She threw her strands to the breezes, and floated there in the midst of a garden, hanging there suspended in midair as if hanging from the very breezes themselves, sitting in such a pretty seat in the middle of everything, satisfied with the light and the warmth she had brought back from the sky.
An' the wheel bend, an' the story end.