Page 64 - English Expedition Class 2

Then Athena began to weave. She took her yarn from the golden sunrays that
covered the mountaintop, and the snowy white of the summer clouds, and the blue of
the summer sky, and the bright green of the summer fields, and the royal purple of the
19
autumn woods .
20
The web which she wove in the sky was full of enchanting pictures of flowers and
21
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gardens, and of castles and towers, and of mountain heights, and of men and beasts ,
and of giants and dwarfs. And those who looked upon it were so filled with wonder
and delight that they forgot all about the beautiful web which Arachne had woven.

‘Oh, how can I live,’ Arachne cried, ‘now that I must never again use loom or
spindle?’
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And she kept on weeping and
saying, ‘How can I live?’

Then, when Athena saw that the
poor maiden would never have any
joy unless she were allowed to spin
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and weave, she took pity on her
and said, ‘I would free you if I could,
but that is a thing which no one can
do. You can never touch a loom or
spindle again. And yet, since you will

never be happy unless you can spin
and weave, I will give you a new
form so that you can carry on your
work without spindle or loom.’

Then Athena touched Arachne
25
with the tip of the spear which she
26
sometimes carried, and the maiden was changed at once into a nimble spider. It ran
27
into a shady place in the grass and began to spin merrily and weave a beautiful web.
Arachne still lives and spins and weaves, and the very next spider that you see may
be Arachne.

James Baldwin (adapted)

19 wood: (here) forest 24 took pity on: felt sorry for
20 enchanting: fascinating 25 spear: a stick with a pointed blade at one end
21 men: (here) humans 26 nimble: quick and active
22 beasts: animals 27 merrily: in a happy way
23 weeping: crying
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