Story The Christmas Spiders: adaptation of a German legend.
Christmas had arrived in Germany and of course, also in a small town hidden between the snowy mountains.
Like every year, all its inhabitants were preparing to celebrate the holidays with their families. They were special days and the houses had to be shiny, so they worried about cleaning their homes and brightening them with the beautiful Christmas decorations.
It happened that in one of those houses lived a group of spiders with long legs and thin bodies, those ugly but totally harmless ones. They always remained hidden in a corner of the dining room, hidden behind a wooden sideboard with brass handles. They had been there for several weeks and the chosen site seemed safe. They had woven their strong webs and so far they had remained intact.
They didn’t count on the fact that the owner, determined to make her house the cleanest of all, would appear with the broom at any moment. Unfortunately, that’s what happened. The woman moved the tables and chairs, the shelves and the furniture, to sweep away every last speck of dust.
The spiders, luckily, realized in time that it was approaching their little corner and ran away in terror before being swept away by the relentless brush of the broom. They hid in a ceiling beam and watched as the lady made the cobwebs that had cost them so much work to disappear.
December 24 arrived and from their hiding place, they saw the family gathered in the living room to set up a beautiful Christmas tree, full of bows and wooden dolls. When they finished, parents and children enjoyed a sumptuous dinner and sang Christmas carols well into the night. Around two in the morning, everyone went to sleep.
The little spiders were eager to see that beautiful tree closer, so when silence reigned throughout the house, they climbed down the wall and agilely climbed the branches of the fir tree. They really enjoyed walking around the Christmas tree, sliding along its decorations and feeling the tickle of the pine cones in their bellies. They went from here to there releasing silk threads and in the end, they moved so much that the tree was covered by a huge spider web.
They didn’t even realize that Santa Claus appeared through the chimney, coming to leave gifts for the children. As he approached the tree, he saw that it was full of spiders and that the ornaments could not be seen because they were covered by a large, dense gray spider web. He felt tenderness for those little bugs who were having such a good time. After all, it was Christmas for them too!
Smiling, he asked them if they wanted to stay forever living in that tree. The little spiders answered yes, enthusiastically. Santa Claus touched the tree and magic was done: the spiders became beautiful golden decorations and the cobwebs became bright garlands and silver threads that embellished and gave light to the Christmas tree.
Since then, many Germans decorate their trees with long ribbons and do not forget to buy an ornament in the shape of a spider, in memory of this beautiful legend.
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