He was the littlest spider in all his family.  Yet he could run faster than any of them.  He was always playing hide-and-seek.  In and out of holes, under tables and chairs.  Up the walls he'd race.  So fast and little was he, indeed, that nobody could catch him.

"I shall teach you how to weave," said his mother.  "Than perhaps you'll keep out of mischief.  Idle hands do no good.  You must learn that life is not all play."

Soon the littlest spider was weaving great and beautiful webs.  He covered the high corners of the walls with intricately woven silk webs. He created lovely creations, larger and faster than anyone else could weave them.

"Such beautiful webs!" exclaimed his mother proudly.  "God has given you a great gift.  I hope someday you will use it to benefit others."

One cold winter day the littlest spider went for a walk alone.  He wandered across the cold hillsides and fields.  He traveled far and wide, down bleak Judean roads.  He met some people.  The man was leading a donkey, on which sat a young and beautiful woman.  She was holding an infant close to her heart.

"Joseph," said the mother, "I am tired.  May we rest here a while?"  The man looked anxiously up and down the road.  No one was in sight.  "There is a small cave close by," he told her.  "There you will be cut off from the wind and cold.  Come!"

As they reached the cave they were startled to hear hoofbeats in the distance.  "Herod's soldiers are coming to find our Babe," sobbed the mother.  "They will kill our Little One!"  She covered the infant with her shawl.  Hurriedly, they entered the cave.  The littlest spider watched, then stood guard at the entrance.  As the soldiers approached, he began to weave a web back and forth, to and fro, across the opening. He worked so swiftly that by the time the soldiers reached the cave a fine and beautiful web completely covered the entrance.

"No use looking in there," one of the soldiers remarked, eyeing the web. "Evidently no one has been in the cave for a long time.  The web would have been broken had anyone entered."  So they continued hastily on their way.  And the Hold Family rested in peace and safety.

When the littlest spider told his mother what he had done she was very pleased.  "God gave you the gift to work fast and well.  You have used your gift to save the Christ Child."

(Adapted from an old Legend)