


The Spinner Family 
affairs. <‘‘ Let Minerva come if she is 
not afraid to make the test,” she said 
haughtily. 
At this the old woman threw off her 
disguise, and Minerva stood revealed 
before the girl, and before all the 
nymphs and people who were ac- 
customed to gather around Arachne. 
Even now the presumptuous maiden 
was not abashed. Soon the contest 
began. 
As Minerva’s shuttle flew back and 
forth she pictured in her web some of her 
greatest victories. Arachne foolishly 
showed in her web some of the short- 
comings of the gods and goddesses. 
Minerva looked upon the web of 
the maiden with admiration, yet so 
enraged was she at the insult to the 
immortals that she struck the fabric 
with her shuttle tearing it in two. At 
the same moment she gently touched 
Arachne. 
158 

