8 AMERICAN SPIDERS 



girl wandered far from the hogan and, attracted by a thin wisp of 

 smoke, discovered a small hole in the earth at the bottom of which 

 was an old woman spinning a web. It was the Spider Woman, who 

 quickly invited the girl to enter her house and blew up the hole 

 until it was large enough to accommodate her guest. Befriended by 

 the kindly Spider Woman, the girl stayed several days and learned 

 to weave the blankets and baskets that now distinguish the Navajo. 

 The Pueblo girl then transmitted this weaving art to her adopted 

 people, and along with it an admonition from the Spider Woman 

 that to forestall bad luck a hole must be left in the middle of each 

 article. In compliance with this request, the Navajo women left a 

 spider hole in the middle of each blanket, like the entrance to the 

 burrow of the Spider Woman. Even to this day the spider hole 

 may still be found in the blankets and baskets of the Navajo. Its 

 position and form are greatly changed and masked in deference to 

 the wishes of persons who pay a better price for flawless examples. 

 Needless to say, it is always present in the blankets of the old 

 women, who do not care to risk the anger of the mythical Spider 

 Woman and the threat she made to spin silken threads in their 

 heads. 



In a number of legends, spiders are placed in an unfavorable 

 light and are pictured as villains and murderers. Thus the Win- 

 nebagos tell of the eight blind men who snared and killed people 

 with long cords strung among the trees. Wash-Ching-Geka, the 

 Little Hare, went among the evil creatures, incited them to quarrel- 

 ing, and then poisoned the meat they were cooking. They ate of 

 the meat and were soon dead, whereupon Wash-Ching-Geka dis- 

 covered that they were in reality spiders. 



The duplicity of the spider is dwelt upon in the rhyme of the 

 Spider and the Fly, and that theme also occurs in the Indian legends. 

 Here the spider is often a rascal and excels as a trickster. The Zuni 

 tell a very pleasing story of how "old tarantula" dupes a handsomely 

 dressed youth and finally absconds with his prizes. The youth is 

 persuaded to allow "old tarantula" to don his fine clothes so that 

 he can appreciate how handsome he appears in the eyes of others. 



"Look at me now. How do I look?" asks the spider as he dis- 

 plays the garments. The youth, finding the ugliness of the 

 wearer somewhat detrimental to the appearance of the clothes, 

 is not greatly impressed. The spider moves off a bit, and as dis- 

 tance lends enchantment, or at least makes repulsiveness less 



