The Spider Prince

Once an ogre, because he wanted a child and could have none of his own, crept into a village late at night and, peering through all the windows of all the houses, he saw in one of them a little girl asleep in her bed and, climbing through her window, he picked her up and carried her off to his cave deep in the forest.

The little girl was very unhappy when she woke up and realized that she was now the prisoner of the ogre but he said that she would have to stay with him until she had answered a riddle.

“You look at me but you only see yourself”, he said, “What am I?”.

The little girl thought very hard but she couldn’t solve the riddle and, lying awake in the night, she cried because she missed her mother and father so much.

But then, down from the ceiling of the cave there came a little spider that, lowering itself upon a thread, settled upon the pillow next to her and whispered in her ear,

“I know the answer to the riddle. The answer is a mirror”.

The little girl was so overjoyed when the spider told her the answer to the riddle that she gave it a big kiss.

Then, the next morning, she told the ogre the answer to the riddle and reminded him of his promise that she would be allowed to go home once she had answered it.

But the ogre would not let her go.

“You can’t go yet”, it said, “Not until you have answered another riddle. When you see me, you see nothing. What am I?”.

The little girl felt very unhappy about not going home but she hoped that if she answered the riddle then the ogre might keep his word and so she started to think about the riddle but, no matter how she struggled, she just couldn’t think of the answer.

That night, however, just as the night before, the spider lowered itself upon a silken thread and, landing beside her on her pillow, it whispered to her,

“I know the answer to the riddle. The answer is darkness”.

And, just as before, the little girl was so happy when the spider told her the answer that she gave it a kiss.

And then, the next morning, she went to the ogre and told him the answer to the riddle but the ogre still refused to let her go.

“Not till you answer one last riddle”, he said, “But if you answer it correctly then I promise that I will let you go. When you see me then you’ll know what I am. What am I?”.

The little girl was very sad that she would have to answer yet another of the ogres riddles but she was sure that, just as before, the little spider would help her.

And that night, when the little girl was lying in bed, saying the riddle aloud to herself, down from the ceiling came the spider and, landing on the pillow next to her, it said.

“The answer to the riddle is the answer to the riddle”.

And, just as before, when the Spider told the girl the answer, she was so happy that she gave the spider a kiss.

But, this time, just as she was kissing the Spider, the Ogre who was only pretending to sleep, leapt up from his bed and shouted, “Aha! So that is how you solved my riddles, you little cheat”.

And the ogre was about to step on the spider and crush it beneath the heel of his long black boot when, suddenly, there was a flash of bright light and a puff of pink smoke and the little Spider turned into a tall, handsome prince who, drawing his sword, drove it deep into the ogres evil heart.

Then, lifting up the little girl in his arms, he said, “I was turned into a spider long ago by an ogre just like that one but your three kisses broke its curse”.

Then the Prince took the little girl home to her parents and they were so happy to be reunited with her because they’d worried so much about her but, not only that, the Prince made the little girl a Princess and she and her parents lived with him in his palace happily ever after.