Some of you may have heard of the legend of the Christmas Spider. It's a pretty heartwarming story. Here is a synopsis:
Mother and children are very poor, but they manage to find a beautiful tree in the woods to cut down and bring home for Christmas. They get it set up and the wonderful pine smell wafts through the house. It really is a gorgeous tree, bit it's missing something: Christmas ornaments. The family is so poor that they cannot afford to decorate the tree and they go to bed sad. What they didn't know is that a little spider had come along for the ride. It had been hiding up in one of the branches. It heard what the family had said and it thought to itself, I wonder if perhaps I could wrap my web all around the tree and give the tree a little decoration. So the spider worked all night, wrapping itself around and around the tree, leaving webbing behind it. The family woke up the next day to find a Christmas miracle. The spider's cobwebs had turned to silver and gold tinsel and the tree was beautiful.
But we're into creepy around here, so this story needs some adjusting. This is more like it when it comes to the legend of the Christmas Spider:
A poor family decided to venture out into the woods to find a tree to put up for Christmas. The entered the canopy of trees that all but shut out the daylight. Twisted and gnarled branches hung all around them and brambles pulled at the rags they wore for clothes. Something in the distance made a hideous noise and branches snapped under the feet of a creature unseen. The family pulled up their courage and walked deeper into the murky darkness of the forest. They finally came upon a clearing with a gorgeous tree in the center. It stood seven feet tall and had full branches. It was the perfect tree. The family quickly chopped it down, sneaking peaks over their shoulders as they felt as though something was watching them. They dragged the tree back to their house, relieved to have exited the forest alive.
They put the tree up and it was very nice, but it was missing ornaments. They went to bed sad that they had nothing to with which to decorate the tree. In the middle of the night came a horrible crashing. The family flew down the stairs to see what had made the noise. Their front door was hanging off its hinges and was nearly snapped in two. What had the strength to break a solid wooden door? They quickly found out when a hulking beast appeared in the doorway. Eight black eyes peered out at them as one fuzzy long leg slipped through the opening and then another. Before long, an enormous spider, straight out of Lord of the Rings, was standing in their front room next to the tree. "You stole my tree," the spider roared. And then he ate the whole family in one gulp!
Wouldn't the Grimm Brothers be pleased with our version?
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