Storytelling Starters ~ Spider
I don’t mind spiders. Some people can’t abide them. One summer in my childhood, I remember my father crushing a Daddy-Long-Legs against the window of the caravan where we were staying. My father used the bread knife. I was upset for the spider and rather appalled by my father. Spiders don’t do any harm – at least not the sort that I know.
But some people are really frightened even when the spiders are small and harmless. You know that North American Indian story – The Man Who Was Afraid Of Nothing?
The Man Who Was Afraid Of Nothing
The man who was afraid of nothing was a terrific hero among his people. One night four ghosts who were sitting together happened to mention this man: ‘He’s not afraid of us, so they say,’ said one.
‘I bet I could scare him,’ said another. A third said, ‘Let’s make a wager. Whichever of us scares him most is the one who wins the wager.’
So the four ghosts set about the challenge. The next moonlit night, the first ghost suddenly materialized in front of the young man and challenged him to a game. ‘If you lose,’ said the ghost, ‘I’ll make you into a skeleton like me.’
The young man who was never afraid was not daunted. He took hold of the skeleton and, bone by bone, he kicked it aside.
As the young man walked on, the second ghost turned up, also in the skeleton form. ‘Let’s dance,’ said the skeleton. The young man began, grabbing hold of the skeleton as he did so and beating on the skeleton’s skull with its thigh-bone to make a drum and a drumstick. The ghost complained. ‘You’re hurting me.’ The young man kicked the skull aside and scattered the rest of the bones. ‘You’re a bad man,’ the skeleton moaned.
The young man went on and the third ghost appeared. This ghost challenged the young man to a wrestling match. Again the young man had no trouble. Taking hold of the ghost’s rib-cage, he used it as a sledge to slide himself down a snow-covered hill. The third ghost moaned pitifully. The young man went on.
Finally the chief ghost appeared, also as a skeleton. ‘I’ve come to kill you,’ the chief ghost said. The young man made faces at the skeleton ghost, then snatched the horse on which he was riding. ‘A horse is just what I want,’ he said as he yanked the skeleton from its mount and broke it into little pieces.
The young man mounted the skeleton horse and rode it into camp. Everyone in his village was frightened when they saw him with his ghost horse. Soon, the story of this latest triumph was being passed all round the village and that night, round the fire, he started recounting his story of putting the four skeleton ghosts to flight.
‘This man is really brave,’ said the men of the village. ‘Nothing frightens him. He is the bravest man who ever lived.’
Just then, a tiny spider was crawling up the young man’s sleeve. Someone pointed it out to him and when he looked, he nearly jumped out of his skin.
‘AAARG!’ cried The Man Who Was Afraid Of Nothing. ‘Get this thing off me. I can’t stand spiders.’
Laughing loudly a little girl who was passing removed the spider from his sleeve.
The Man Who Was Afraid Of Nothing is a story of the Sioux people.
You can find it in American Indian Myths and Legends by Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz.
Spiders are honoured in several North American Indian stories.
In one that belongs to the Cherokee people, Grandmother Spider is renowned as the creature who brought light to the earth.
Grandmother Spider is a story worth knowing. It’s about a female, and an old one at that, and this female does not need to be boastful . She has the most cunning plan.
Grandmother Spider: the story
In the beginning when the animals could speak to each other, everything was dark. The animals wished very much that there could be light and one day they met together to talk about how they might get it. One creature, Woodpecker, said he’d heard there were people on the other side of the world who had light. Maybe the animals could get some?
All the animals began to argue about who should go to fetch light. Possum said he would try: he would hide the light under his fur when he got it. He set out promptly on the journey.
But as Possum travelled east, the light grew so strong he had to screw up his eyes. Even today, his eyes are almost completed closed. When he got to the place of the light, he hid some of the light in his big bushy tail and even before he got home, it had burned off all the fur on his tail with its heat – which is why Possums still have bare tails. When Possum finally reached home, all the light was gone.
Next, Buzzard said he would go. He flew so high that the people of the light did not catch sight of him when he arrived. He dived down sharply out of the sky, just like he does today, and succeeded in catching a piece of the light. He placed it on top of his head. But the light was so hot it burned the top of his head – which is why, today, buzzards’ heads are bald on top. Buzzard arrived home with no light.
What were the animals going to do? Suddenly, a tiny voice piped up. ‘Perhaps this is something a woman should try.’
It was Grandmother Spider who was talking. ‘Although I am old,’ said Grandmother Spider, ‘I have made a plan. At least let me have a go.’
The animals agreed to give her a chance and Grandmother Spider set to work on her plan. First she made a tiny bowl out of clay and when she’d finished, she clutched it to her. Then she started east with her bowl, spinning her thread so she could find her way home. When she got to the people of the light, no one spotted her because she was so small. Quickly she took a tiny piece of the sun and put it into her bowl. Then she quietly started to move back along the thread she had spun. Even today, a spider’s web spreads out like the rays of the sun.
Grandmother Spider returned home with the light. All the animals were overjoyed and when they gave their thanks to Grandmother Spider, they said they would always honour her. She was the one who brought them the light.
P.S. I don’t know quite where I found this story but I know I have told it many times. It is one that children love.
Why tell such stories to children?
What people who do not tell stories to children fail to realise is how much children learn from listening to stories, how quickly they pick things up from the stories, making connections with their own previous experience and also with other stories they’ve encountered. Children are clever. Stories engage their imaginations. They use them in so many ways. They draw them, act them, store them in their minds and return to them repeatedly if they like them, demanding to hear them again and again. Often they’ll end up making their own new stories from the stories they’ve been given. Be they stories about creatures or bravery or the coming of light, stories deal with elemental things. They connect us to the world in which we live.
For all these reasons, please tell stories to the children you know. Don’t just read them from books. Seize the opportunity that direct engagement with your listeners offers. That way, the stories will really come alive.
While I was in the process of writing this blog, it occurred to me that with my selection of stories this week, I’d have exactly the array of material I like for doing a storytelling session with children – a couple of good traditional stories plus a snippet from my own experience. If the session was with Early Years children, I’d limit the material to one main story and my choice would be Grandmother Spider. I’d add rhythm and gestures and pauses for thought. If the children were older, I’d use both of the traditional stories I’ve put into this blog. And, younger or older, I’d probably also tell my little personal tale about my father and the Daddy-Long-Legs: I think it would spark off a lot of discussion.
P.S. My amazing cobweb in my top picture this week was photographed in New Zealand. The middle photo is of a delicate spider made of tin that was purchased in South Africa. The bottom image is of a spider and its cobweb in my garden.
See you next week.
Tags: bravery, buzzard, Daddy-Long-Legs, fear, ghosts, Grandmother Spider, my father, possum, skeletons, spider, The Man Who Was Afraid of Nothing, why tell stories, woodpecker