29 October 2012
Webster Spider knew it was going to be one of those days as soon as he woke up to discover that he'd overslept and his Mum was telling him to get a move on or he'd be late for school. It got worse when, in his rush to get washed and dressed, he somehow manages to put some of his trainers on the wrong feet. Of course he did not realise this until, running down the woodland path on the way to school, he tripped over his feet and landed head first in a muddy puddle.
This caused Sally Squirrel, who was heading in the opposite direction much amusement and she called out ''What's the matter creepy-crawly legs? Can't you balance, even with all those legs?''.
Sally's Mum told her not to be so rude and made sure that Webster was alright, but he still felt a bit of a fool, especially as he couldn't think of a quick reply. Instead he said ''I'm fine thank you'' to Sally's Mum, and then sorted out his trainers onto the right feet.
After all that, he only just made it into school as Old Spidey the teacher, rang the bell , so he didn't even have time to play with the other spiders before the lesson started.
Once in the classroom Old Spidey said ''Today we are going to learn web building, followed by dangling and climbing.'' The little spiders got excited. This was the lesson they had all been looking forwards to. Sadly for Webster, this all started going wrong as well. Every time he tried to spin a straight line between two twigs it all seemed to go haywire and he ended up with lots of loopy spirally bits. He thought they actually looked quite good but Old Spidey didn't agree. The other spiders thought it was quite funny too and Webster got a bit annoyed.
After all, he was trying his best.
By the end of the lesson Webster had constructed something that looked a bit like a web but it was still more loopy and spirally than all the others. In fact, he has gotten quite good at circles and squares too and had been really pleased with the results but he had to admit that it didn't look like everybody else's. Anyway, things got a little better when they moved onto dangling and climbing as even Old Spidey had to agree that Webster was the best.
Webster was on his way home now and he was thinking hard about his web making. ''So what if it doesn't look like all the others. I think it's way more interesting my way.'' he thought to himself. As he wandered ack down the path, all of a sudden he heard something. It sounded like someone crying. He looked but couldn't see where the noise was coming from. He called out ''Who's there?'' A little voice replied ''It's me, Sally Squirrel. I'm down this hole. Can you help me?'' Webster looked down the hole. It was quite a big hole and there, hanging on to a root was Sally Squirrel looking decidedly sorry for herself. ''Hang on'' said Webster ''I'll help you.'' With that, Webster climbed up a branch that was hanging over the hole, attached a web and spun his way down to Sally Squirrel. ''If I loop this round you and go up and down a few more times, the thread will be strong enough to hold you while I get help.'' said Webster. ''Thanks'' said Sally gratefully, as her arms were beginning to hurt. Webster duly climbed and spun up and down several times until he was sure that the thread was strong enough to hold Sally. It was starting to get dark and the little squirrel was starting to cry. ''Don't go Webster, please stay with me until help arrives.'' Webster thought and said ''OK, I'll be here but I must do something to let everyone else know that we need help.'' With that, he climbed a little higher up the branch and started spinning.
At the same time, those creatures in the wood who slept at night were busy getting ready for bed, whilst the creatures who come out at night were waking up. They were all surprised to see Mum and Dad Squirrel, who would normally be in bed, anxiously going round asking if anyone had seen Sally Squirrel who hadn't come home from school. They were very worried, but nobody had seen her. Webster's Mum and Dad also arrived saying that Webster hadn't come home either. All the creatures gathered in the clearing and agreed that they had better form a search party. Owl, who was good at organising , suggested that they form groups and go in different directions to look for them.
Just the , the moon came out and bathed the wood in a beautiful silvery light. It was Hedgehog who first noticed something different though. He called out ''Hey look. What's that in front of the moon?'' All the animals and creatures looked up. There, hanging in front of the moon was what looked like a big silver web, except that it didn't look like an ordinary web. It had loops and spirals and circles all swirling down to a point. They all looked but nobody, not even Owl, knew what it could mean until Old Spidey, who had come down from his hole in the tree to see what all the commotion was, said ''That must be Webster. He's the only one who can make an awful looking web like that. I think we should go to where the pointy bit is pointing.''
So all the animals set off in the direction of the silvery spirally web.
When they got there they found Webster down the hole keeping Sally Squirrel company. Seeing what Webster had done with his thread to stop Sally falling, Owl suggested that the other spiders all made more threads to loop around the little squirrel. The spiders worked hard spinning up and down and when they had finished all the bigger animals pulled on the threads and slowly Sally Squirrel appeared out of the whole.
Her Mum and Dad hugged her and straight away thanked Webster for his help, and then thanked all the other animals for coming to Sally's rescue.
Sally Squirrel also went up to Webster ''I'm sorry I called you creepy-crawly legs... Thanks for saving me.'' Webster replied that it was nothing and that anyone who knew how to spin a web would have done the same thing. Webster's Mum and Dad were very proud of him. Even Old Spidey said, ''Well, we've still got a long way to go with your web building, but well done young Webster, good work.''
At this Webster blushed, smiled and said ''Thank you.'' to Old Spidey.
With the excitement over, all the creatures went back to their business. For Webster, it was time for bed, dreams of web building, and the happy thought that what had seemed like a bad day had turned out quite a good one after all.
Webster The Spider Part 1/4 • Opuss № I