The Flight of the Golden Bird by Duncan Williamson Read Free Book Online Page B

“Help me, someone, please help me!” she cried. But no one heard her cries.
    And then, old Grandfather Spider wakened up. He took two of his eight hairy legs and he rubbed them to his eyes.
    And he said, “Someone has been at my thread while I was asleep and tangled it all up.” He wanted to retract his thread. So, he began very carefully to pull – left and right – but with the thread he naturally pulled in little Mrs Fly.
    “Oh, Mr Spider, I’m so sorry. You see, I’m so sorry. You must set me free!” cried Mrs Fly.
    “Set you free, my dear, after what you’ve done to my thread? I cannot set you free!”
    “But you must set me free! You must; I must go home to my children. It was all a mistake. I promise you I will never touch your thread again,” cried Mrs Fly.
    “It is too late, my dear, the damage has been done. You see,” said Mr Spider, “no one told you to touch my thread. And I was asleep. You are too nosy; you won’t leave well alone. But now you’re in big trouble!” And again he began very carefully to pull in this thread – piece after piece, he wound it. As he pulled in this thread, closer and closer came little Mrs Fly.
    “But you must set me free! I cannot stay here; I must go home to my children, to my family!”
    “I cannot set you free, my dear.” said old Mr Spider.
    “But you must! I promise you I will never touch your thread again… I’ll do anything for you if you’ll only set me free!”
    “Anything?” said old Mr Spider. “You’ll do anything for me?”
    “Oh, yes, I promise you! I’ll do anything for you.”
    “Then, my dear, you must marry me!”
    “Marry you, Mr Spider? I could never marry you; you see, you’re a big ugly spider. I’m just a poor little fly.”
    “Well, my dear, I cannot set you free!” Very carefully he pulled the thread in – closer and closer came little Mrs Fly.
    “But you must, you must set me free!”
    “Then you must marry me!”
    “But why, Mr Spider? I mean, you’re a big ugly spider and I’m just a tiny little fly. Why should you want to marry me?”
    “Well, I’ll tell you, my dear, why I want to marry you. You see, you have been very naughty: you have been at my thread while I was asleep and no one told you to touch my thread. Now I have you trapped in my thread. But, if you were to promise to marry me, then I could set you free. And then, of course, you could come and live with me. And every morning when I waken up – and should I feel hungry – I would always have you beside me for my breakfast!”
    So remember, boys and girls, if you’re walking around your home or your school or your play park, or visiting friends, and you should see a piece of cable or a piece of wire stretched out or hanging down – please, do not touch it! Because, just like old Mrs Fly, it could get you into a lot of trouble.
    That’s the end of my story.

Lion and the Four Bulls
    Now the next story I’m going to tell you is a very old story. There’s a lot o’ folk tell it in different ways, you know. But I heard this one from my father, who told it to me a long time ago.
     
    There was this lion. And he was out hunting in the forest when he spied four bulls grazing peacefully together in a corner of this little field in the middle of the wood. So him being an old lion, he knew fine that he wouldn’t be able to tackle the four bulls by himself. He just sat down and said to himself, “Well, I’ll have to be cunning here. I’ll have to plan…”
    And like any other animal, lions can be cunning if they really try. So he raiked his brains. “There’s only one thing for it,” he said. “I’ll just have to wait till I get one bull away from the others a wee bit, get a wee talk to him, and see what I can do. If I can get them separated from each other I can manage them one by one. But I’ll never manage them all together.
    So, he kept guard on the four bulls and they kept grazing beside each other. They were the best of pals these