The Spider and the Honey Tree
There was a very clever little girl who lived in a village where fruit was hard to find. She had a special talent: she could find the most delicious fruit trees. The girl searched successfully for the most delicious bananas, she knew where to go to pick the juiciest berries and she always obtained the sweetest honey.
The little girl was also very good-natured and she always shared her fruit with others. One day, a spider approached the girl. He said, “Can you tell me where to find some good fruit? I am starving. Please help.” The little girl kindly accepted and said “Yes, I will help you find fruit.”
The girl walked and walked and the spider scurried with its six legs along with her. They found more bananas than the spider could imagine! Whenever they saw them, the spider pushed the girl aside and scurried as fast as he could to the bananas. He ate every one of them and did not even say “thank you.” The girl was disappointed, but just kept on walking.
The next day, the spider was hungry again, so he returned to the girl. He said, “Can you tell me where to find some good berries? I am starving. Please help.” The little girl was suspicious, but since she was so good-natured, she said “Yes, I will help you find some berries.”
Just like on the previous day, the girl walked and the spider scurried along. They found so many berries! Once more, the spider pushed the girl out of the way and got there first, and ate every one of the berries without saying “thank you.” The girl sighed and thought, “I will be kind, but nature will not.”
The next day, the spider approached the girl for the third time and said, “Can you tell me where to find some good honey? I will not push you this time. Please help!” The little girl had a plan. She said “Yes, I will help you find some honey, but do not eat it all. Nature is not kind to the greedy.”
“Ha! What a silly girl!” thought the greedy spider, as he scurried along with her to a tree. Inside a hole in the tree, there was more honey than the spider could imagine. Again, the spider pushed the girl out of the way, climbed inside the hole in the trunk of the tree and ate all the honey! “Foolish girl!” said the spider. He laughed.
Then he turned to go home.
The spider tried to get out, but he could not squeeze out of the hole. He was stuck in the tree because his stomach had expanded so much from eating all the honey. The girl laughed and said, “Nature is kind to me, so I am kind. Now you will learn to be kind to Nature too.” The girl turned and walked home, and on the way, she picked deliciously sweet berries and ate them with a smile.