Spider was very lazy. Every morning he got up at
twelve o'clock, ate his breakfast and said to his wife: "I am going to our
farm."
But he did not go to the farm. He had no farm at all. He went to the forest and
sat there under a big tree all day long.
His wife sometimes said to him: "Tell me when you want my help on the
farm."
She said nothing more, she did not want to make him angry.
Spider answered then: "Oh, there is plenty of time yet. Do not be afraid, I
shall tell you, when I need you."
The people often asked him: "When will you begin to work on your
farm?"
And he answered: "There is plenty of time yet."
Then one day he said to his wife: "Tomorrow I want to plant some nuts on
our farm. Go to the market and buy a bag of nuts. I must have them for
tomorrow."
His wife was happy to hear that and ran to the market to buy the nuts. The next
day Spider went with the nuts to the forest, ate as many nuts as he wanted and
then had a good sleep under a big tree. In the evening he came home and said to
his wife: "Oh how tired and hungry I am! I was working on our farm all day
long. Is supper ready? Life is hard for us men. We work from morning til night
and you, women, you have only to cook dinners and suppers."
Every day Spider went away, but he did not work on the farm, he only ate nuts
and then rested in the forest.
Time passed, and people began to bring home their nuts, but Spider brought
nothing. Then his wife said: "When will you bring our nuts home? Shall I
help you?"
"No, no, I do not want your help," Spider answered. "I shall
bring the nuts home in a few days."
But how could he bring the nuts home? He had no nuts now! He had not even a
farm!
"Where can I get the nuts?" he asked himself. "Ah, I know. I
shall steal some," he thought.
At night he went out of his house and soon came to the chief's farm. It was a
big farm, and there were many nuts in the nut trees. So he filled his bag with
nuts, hid the bag under a tree in the forest and went back home. The next
morning he said to his wife: "Today I shall bring the nuts from our farm.
Please make a good supper! I shall be very hungry and tired."
"Yes, my dear," said his wife.
Spider went to the forest. The bag of nuts was there under the tree. Spider ate
some nuts and had a good sleep. In the evening he carried the bag to his wife.
She was so happy! She opened the bag, took one nut, ate it, then took another
and then another. How good they were.!
The next night Spider again went to the chief's farm and again stole a bag of
nuts. When the next evening came, he carried it to his wife. He did the same
thing again and again. But one night the chief's servant saw a thief was
stealing the nuts.
"I must catch the thief. But how can I do that?" thought the servant.
Then an idea came to him. He took two big pots and went to the forest to find
some gutta-percha trees. He made brown rubber out of gutta-percha sap, and then
he made a rubber man. He placed the the sticky rubber man near the nut trees.
"Now I shall know who the thief is," he said to himself.
When night came and all the people were asleep, Spider went to the chief's farm.
He came to the place where the nuts were and suddenly saw a man there.
"Oh," he asked the man, "what do you want here?"
There was no answer.
"Who are you?" Spider asked him again. "What are you doing here
at night?"
The rubber man did not speak.
Then Spider hit the rubber man on the head and cried: "Why do you not
answer me?"
The rubber man was so sticky that Spider could not pull his hand away from the
man's head.
"Let me go! Let me go!" cried Spider and hit the rubber man with the
other hand. And the other hand stuck to the man's head too. Now Spider
understood that it was not a man. Still he tried to push it away with his foot,
but his foot stuck to the rubber man too. Now Spider could not move any
more."
"How silly I was," he said to himself. "People will come in the
morning, and everybody will know that I am a thief."
Poor Spider! In the morning the chief's servant tore him away from the rubber
man and brought him before the chief... .
And from that day on Spider hid in a dark place and did not speak to anybody
because he was so ashamed. And now his children and his children's children and
his children's children's children always hide in dark places.