56 THE GOLDEN COBWEBS

I

It was just before Christmas. A beautiful Christmas Tree stood in a pretty room of a pleasant home.

The Tree was trimmed with popcorn, silver nuts, candies, and little candles. Its branches were full of toys.

The doors of the room were locked so that the children could not get in.

“We must not let them see the Tree until Christmas morning, ”said the house-mother.

But there were many other little people in the house. They had seen the Tree already. The big black pussy had seen it with her great green eyes. The little gray kitty had seen it with her round blue eyes. The big house dog had seen it with his kind brown eyes. The yellow canary had seen it with his wise bright eyes.

Even the wee, wee mice had peeped just once when no one was by.

But there was someone who had not seen the Christmas Tree. It was the little gray spider.

You see, the spiders lived in the corners. Some had homes in the warm corners of the attic. Some made their webs in the dark corners of the nice cellar. They wanted to see the Christmas Tree, too.

But just before Christmas the house mother cleaned the house. She swept and dusted everywhere. Her broom went into all the corners of all the rooms—poke, poke, poke!

Of course the spiders had to run. Dear, dear, how the spiders had to run! Not a single spider could stay in the house while it was so clean.

Some ran up the attic stairs and hid in the sunny attic; some ran down the cellar stairs and hid in the dark cellar. They could not see the Christmas Tree.

The spiders like to see all there is to see. So of course they were very, very sad. At last they went to the Christmas Fairy and told her all about it.

“All the other little house people have seen the Christmas Tree, ”they said, “But we cannot see it We love beautiful things, too. Dear Christmas Fairy, help us to see the Christmas Tree! ”

The Christmas Fairy said, “You shall see the tree. Just wait.”

II

The day before Christmas everyone was busy. No one was in the room with the Christmas Tree. So the Christmas Fairy said to the spiders, “Now you may go in. You may look as long as you like.”

So the spiders came creepy, creepy, down the attic stairs. They came creepy, creepy, up the cellar stairs. They came creepy, creepy, along the halls. They went creepy, creepy, into the pretty room.

The fat mother spiders and the old father spiders were there. All the little teeny, tiny, curly, baby spiders were there.

And then they looked! Round and round, the tree they went, creepy, crawly. They looked and looked and looked. Oh, what a good time they had!

“What a beautiful Tree! ”said the old father spiders, “What a beautiful, beautiful Tree! ”said the fat mother spiders. “What a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful Tree! ”said the teeny, tiny, curly, baby spiders.

They looked at everything they could see from the floor. Then they ran up the Tree to see some more. They ran all over the tree, creepy, crawly, creepy, crawly.

They looked at every single thing. They ran up and down and in and out. They ran over every branch and twig.

They ran over every one of the pretty toys on the tree.

They went round and round the doll. They went over and over the drum. They went in and out of the trumpet. They went up and down the jumping-jack.

They stayed until they had seen everything. Then they went away happy. They had seen the beautiful Christmas Tree, too.

In the still, dark night the Christmas Fairy came.

“I must see if the beautiful Tree is all ready for Christmas morning, ”she said, “The children will be up very early to see it.”

But when she looked at it—what do you think? It was all covered with cobwebs! Every place the little spiders had been they had left a spider-web. And you know they had been just everywhere!

The tree was covered from top to bottom with spider-webs. They hung from the branches. They went round and round the toys. The Christmas Fairy could hardly see the doll's face.

What could the fairy do? “Now I see why the house-mother drove all the spiders away, ”she said, “It will never do to have cobwebs on the Christmas Tree. No, indeed! What shall I do? ”

So the Christmas Fairy thought and thought. “Oh, now I have a plan! ”she said. She touched the spider-webs with her fairy wand and turned them all to gold. Was not that a beautiful trimming? They shone and shone all over the Christmas Tree.

And ever since that time the Christmas Tree is always trimmed with golden cobwebs.

(Robert Haven Schauffler)

Word list

cobwebs: spiderwebs

trimmed: cut in a beautiful way

attic: the top room of a house

teeny: very small

wand: a stick that is supposed to produce magic

You Practice

A) Answer the following questions.

1) What month does this story take place? How do you know?

2) Why were the doors of the room locked?

3) What things were on the tree?

4) Do you think the setting of the story is past, present, or future? Why?

5) Who helped the spiders solve their problem? How?

6) What did the spiders do after they went in to see the Christmas tree?

B) What's the word? Using the clues, write the correct words from the story.

1) a kind of snack food: p _ _ _ _ _ _

2) a kind of yellow bird: c _ _ _ _ _

3) a kind of animal sometimes found in houses: m _ _ _

4) not straight: c _ _ _ _

5) a kind of musical instrument: t _ _ _ _ _ _

C) True or false? Read these sentences carefully. Write true or false for each one.

1) _____ The black cat did not see the tree.

2) _____ The spiders were not interested in the Christmas tree.

3) _____ The fairy changed the cobwebs to silver.

4) _____ The Christmas tree fell down.

5) _____ The spiders decorated their own Christmas tree.