The legend

Once upon a time an old woman was preparing forbed when she spied a spider weaving an intricate web above her bed. She marveled at the complexity and the beauty of the web and at the perseverance of the spider. She watched the spider over a period of several days as he completed his web.

One night the old woman's grandson came into her bedroom and saw the web. As he reached to kill the spider, the grandmother stopped him and told him how she had been watching the spider, with all his patience and skill, weave such a beautiful web. She assured her grandson that the spider was harmless and that the web was a work of art and a symbol of patience.

So the spider gratefully thanked the old woman, telling her that he would now bestow upon her a wonderful gift. He would make sure that for the rest of her life, his web would snare all her bad dreams while it would grant to her only beautiful and pleasant dreams.