Spider's Bridge

At that time, the animals of the forest were sundered by a great river that flowed through the woods, so swift and deep that none but Raven and Eagle and Sparrow could cross it. The animals looked enviously on them as they soared across on their strong wings, each wishing to have wings of his own so that he might visit his friends on the other side.

Now, one day, Spider, who was known across the forest as the cleverest of all the animals, bethought him of a brilliant plan. He thought to himself, “I make webs to trap Fly and Moth and Bee, and I walk across the threads with my nimble feet that do not stick in the threads. I will build a web for myself a web across the river so that I can visit Fox and Snake.” And so, that night, Spider built a great, strong bridge across the river, and it sparkled with dew in the morning so that it looked like a thing of crystal. He used all of his cunning and brilliance to devise a web that would not snap or drag even in the strongest wind and rain. And he rejoiced and ran across the bridge to meet with Fox and Snake. Those three, great friends long estranged as they were, talked and told stories all through the night and into the next day.

Now, when the other animals awoke, they celebrated, seeing the bridge that arched across the river so gracefully it seemed to float in the air. “Hurray!” they shouted, “Now we can visit our friends across the river!”

And Mouse said, “This must be Spider’s doing. How clever it was of him to build a bridge for all of us!” (Even though Spider had thought only of himself, but that will be forgiven.)

“Yes!” said Raccoon, “And how brave of him to cross the water and build it! Surely he is braver and cleverer than we thought!”

“Now,” said Turtle, “Where is Spider, that he might show us the way across?” But Spider was not there, for he was with Fox and Snake still, spinning tales.

Then Mantis stepped forward, saying, “Spider was not the one who built this bridge. It was I who built it out of crystal. I will show you the way across!” Mantis said this because he was proud, and he hated Spider because the animals called him the cleverest, when Mantis thought that honor should go to himself.

So he stepped out onto the bridge, thinking to pick his way across as he had often watched Spider do on his webs and prove that he was the cleverest. But he did not have Spider’s nimble feet and quick mind, and he did not know the places where the web was dry enough to cross, and he was trapped on the bridge. All the animals laughed, then, and said that Spider was so clever he could trap Mantis without trying.

When Spider returned and found Mantis, he laughed, as was his wont, and he reworked the bridge so that any animal could pass, and placed Mantis in the center, so that every animal to pass over would step across Mantis’s back, and Mantis could say “I make the bridge and am the way across.”