The Spider who was afraid of flies

There once was a spider who was very afraid of flies.

Every time he saw a fly, he would cover himself up with his legs and cower, shake and shiver or

sometimes he would pull a web up over his head and peer out from under it.

All a fly had to do was go boo and this Spider would scamper away, screaming in terror and hide in a hole.

Then, one day, all of the flies, thinking the timid spider very amusing, decided that they would have some fun with him and a big buzzing swarm of them gathered together and chased him about the room.

They chased him up a wall;

“Oh!”, he cried.

They chased him over the ceiling;

“Help! Help!”, he yelped.

They chased him down another wall

“Oh, please stop!”, he protested.

And across a wooden floor.

Finally, in desperation, the Spider leapt into a hole in the floor to hide.

But the flies were having so much fun that they refused to let him be.

“Look!”, said one to the others, “He’s gone in that hole. Let’s go in there and get him!”.

Then one of the flies, giggling, flew into the hole.

And another fly, following his buzzing friend, flew into the hole

And, finally, a third fly flew into the hole.

But none of the flies ever flew out again; only one very satisfied and very fat spider, smiling and rubbing his tummy with one of his six legs.

The Spider, you see, had only been pretending to be afraid of flies because he wanted the flies to chase him.

What a clever spider.