Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-08-24
SANDMAN STORY.
by Mrs. +. A. Walker.
Copyright. 1915. by Mcclure Newspaper
Syndicate. New York City
WHY SPIDERS SPIN WERS


Once upon time two sisters lived in
lonely cottage far back in the pines.
All night long they would sit at thei
wheels and spin glossy threads whicl
shone like gold. The fame of their worl
went throughout the land till it cam,
TO the ears of the Queen. So the Queer
ordered OF the sisters n gown to be wover
OF white silk, with threads dotted with
pearls. II was to he ms light as floss
to gleam like gems in the sunlight anC
| IL must De the color of moonlight
Now one day the Prince came to look
at the gown He was handsome Young
man and was At once attracted to the
| younger sister, Margery The Older
| one did not like this and at once became
| jealous So the next day she went to
| an old witch to sec what she could do
| to win the Princes love for herself The
hag built fire, threw into it yellow
powder, muttcred some strange words
then out of the smoke there came n
voice. 1t sang a verse in weird tone
and this is what il said.
Place this powder on the loom;
The one deserving shall meet her doom =
That is just what ! want" said the
older sister, whose name was Zona
III put this powder on the loom Margerv
will use 10 finish the cloth for the Queen s
dress she will have sad fate and | can.
perhaps, win the Prince
The witch gave Zona small packet
of the powder and the girl, placing il IN
her dress, ran home At noon there
was sound Of trumpcts, and the Prince
came galloping IIp. followed by his at
tendantS on handsome horses He saw
Margcry bending over the loom in which
she put her cloth
My mother IS so charmed with your
work fair Nargcry, said the Prince.
that she wants YOU to be my wife.
Will YOU say yes?
Niargcry smiled and hlushed, so the
Prince took II to mean that she loved
him This made Iona angry With
Jealous looks she watched the pair walk
about talking rs If very happy
Then she thought of the magic pow
der gwen her by the witch The wicked
woman had said that the one deserving
sad fate would meet II If the stuff
were sprinkled on loom. So Zona,
thinking that Margcry would be the one,
decided at once 10 begin She took out.
the bag and quietly poured it on the
loom At which Margerv had been work
ing then she went 10 the spring for water
In a few moments Margery and the
Prince entered
Let me see how the looms work, "
said the Prince So Margery began to
weave AZ the ono used by her sister
Under her fingers the cloth rippled like
spun gold into billows Of softncss
You are using my loom, erred Zona,
entering the chamber hastily Here
let M get back T. mp work
oh! no, replied the Prince Mar
gerry Is showing me = pretty pattern she
is weaving. so YOU use hers for awhile
iona never thought the magic powder
would do her any harm, down she sat
and began TO throw the shuttle Of Mar
gerv's loom back and fourth But hardly
had the machine began TO work when
a strange change came over Zona Her
body shnvoled Tier clothing fell away
and feft her with thin, WHY form about
two inches long. ugly and with many legs.
The loom became web, covered with
dust in fact, Zona had become a spider
and the cloth Of gold her web
There was nothing to do for her now
She had deserved and received the fate
she had thought to bring on another.
80 Margery rode away with the Prince
to be his wife at the castle, while Zona
remained a spider in her cottage. Grad
ualy ii fell into ruins the owls perched
in the rafters. the rain came in the broken
windows and the wind sang down the
tumbled chimney But still in the midst
az the dirt and mold the spiders ran
about in the dark corners, while the
biggest one. who was Zona. sat ever
spinning her web and wondering what
had become OF Aiargery and the Prime.