ARANEID^ — TRUE SPIDERS. 333 



have come from the roof, and all the ladies at once ap^reed 

 that it must have proceeded from Chapelaiii's wig ; — the 

 wig so celebrated by the well-known parody.^ 



The often-told anecdote of the Scottish monarch, Robert 

 Bruce, and the cottage Spider, is thus related in Chambers' 

 Miscellany : While wandering on the wild hills of Cari'ick, 

 in order to escape the emissaries of Edward, Robert the 

 Bruce on one occasion passed the night under the shelter of 

 a poor deserted cottage. Throwing himself down on a 

 heap of straw, he lay upon his back, with his hands placed 

 under his head, unable to sleep, but gazing vacantly upward 

 at the rafters of the hut, disfigured with cobwebs. From 

 thoughts long and dreary about the hopelessness of the en- 

 terprise in which he was engaged, and the misfortunes he 

 had already encountered, he was roused to take interest in 

 the efforts of a poor industrious Spider, which had begun to 

 ply its vocation with the first gray light of morning. The 

 object of the animal was to swing itself, by its thread, from 

 one rafter to another; but in the attempt it repeatedly 

 failed, each time vibrating back to the point whence it had 

 made the effort. Twelve times did the little creature try to 

 reach the desired spot, and as many times was it unsuccess- 

 ful. Not disheartened with its failure, it made the attempt 

 once more, and, lo ! the rafter was gained. " The thirteenth 

 time," said Bruce, springing to his feet ; " I accept it as a 

 lesson not to despond under difficulties, and shall once more 

 venture my life in the struggle for the independence of my 

 beloved country." The result is well known. ^ 



It is related in the life of Mohammed, that when he and 

 Abubeker were fleeing for their lives before the Coreishites, 

 they hid themselves for three days in a cave, over the mouth 

 of which a Spider spread its web, and a pigeon laid two 

 eggs there, the sight of which made the pursuers not go in 

 to search for them.^ 



A similar story is told in the Lives of the Saints, of St. 

 Felix of Nola: " But the Saint," says Butler, "in the mean 

 time had slept a little out of the way, and crept through a 



1 Kcddie's Cyclop, of Anecd., p. 288. 



2 Chamb. Misc., vol. xi. No. 100. Compare tliis story with that of 

 Timoiir and the Ant. 



3 Ockley's Hist, of the Saracens, i. 36. 



29* 



