ARACHNE (Retold by Olivia Coolidge)

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PARAGRAPH 1 One day when Arachne turned round with such words,
Arachne was a maiden who became famous throughout an old woman answered her, a gray old woman, bent and very
Greece, though she was neither wellborn nor beautiful and poor, who stood leaning on a staff and peering at Arachne
came from no great city. She lived in an obscure little village, amid the crowd of onlookers. "Reckless girl," she said, "how
and her father was a humble dyer of wool. In this he was very dare you claim to be equal to the immortal gods themselves? I
skillful, producing many varied shades, while above all he am an old woman and have seen much. Take my advice and
was famous for the clear, bright scarlet which is made from ask pardon of Athena for your words. Rest content with your
shellfish, and which was the most glorious of all the colors fame of being the best spinner and weaver that mortal eyes
used in ancient Greece. have ever beheld."

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Even more skillful than her father was Arachne. It was "Stupid old woman," said Arachne indignantly, "who
her task to spin the fleecy wool into a fine, soft thread and to gave you a right to speak in this way to me? It is easy to see
weave it into cloth on the high-standing loom within the that you were never good for anything in your day, or you
cottage. Arachne was small and pale from much working. Her would not come here in poverty and rags to gaze at my skill.
eyes were light and her hair was a dusty brown, yet she was If Athena resents my words, let her answer them herself. I
quick and graceful, and her fingers, roughened as they were, have challenged her to a contest, but she, of course, will not
went so fast that it was hard to follow their flickering come. It is easy for the gods to avoid matching their skill with
movements. So soft and even was her thread, so fine her that of men."
cloth, so gorgeous her embroidery, that soon her products
were known allover Greece. No one had ever seen the like of
them before. PARAGRAPH 7
At these words the old woman threw down her staff and
stood erect. The wondering onlookers saw her grow tall and
PARAGRAPH 3 fair and stand clad in long robes of dazzling white. They were
At last Arachne's fame became so great that people used terribly afraid as they realized that they stood in the presence
to come from far and wide to watch her working. Even the of Athena. Arachne herself flushed red for a moment, for she
graceful nymphs would steal in from stream or forest and had never really believed that the goddess would hear her.
peep shyly through the dark doorway, watching in wonder the Before the group that was gathered there she would not give
white arms of Arachne as she stood at the loom and threw the in; so pressing her pale lips together in obstinacy and pride,
shuttle from hand to hand between the hanging threads, or she led the goddess to one of the great looms and set herself
drew out the long wool, fine as a hair, from the distaff as she before the other. Without a word both began to thread the
sat spinning. "Surely Athena herself must have taught her," long woolen strands that hang from the rollers, and between
people would murmur to one another. which the shuttle moves back and forth. Many skeins6 lay
"Whoelse could know the secret of such marvelous heaped beside them to use, bleached white, and gold, and
skill?" scarlet, and other shades, varied as the rainbow. Arachne had
never thought of giving credit for her success to her father's
PARAGRAPH 4 skill in dyeing, though in actual truth the colors were as
remarkable as the cloth itself.
Arachne was used to being wondered at, and she was
immensely proud of the skill that had brought so many to look
on her. Praise was all she lived for, and it displeased her
greatly that people should think anyone, even a goddess,
could teach her anything. Therefore when she heard them
murmur, she would stop her work and turn round indignantly
to say, "With my own ten fingers I gained this skill, and by
hard practice from early morning till night. I never had time
to stand looking as you people do while another maiden
worked. Nor if I had, would I give Athena credit because the
girl was more skillful than [Link] for Athena's weaving, how
could there be finer cloth or more beautiful embroidery than
mine? If Athena herself were to come down and compete with
me, she could do no better than I."
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Soon there was no sound in the room but the breathing
of the onlookers, the whirring of the shuttles, and the creaking
of the wooden frames as each pressed the thread up into place
or tightened the pegs by which the whole was held straight. PARAGRAPH 12
The excited crowd in the doorway began to see that the skill At that the body of Arachne shriveled up; and her legs
of both in truth was very nearly equal, but that, however the grew tiny, spindly, and distorted. There before the eyes of the
cloth might turn out, the goddess was the quicker of the two. spectators hung a little dusty brown spider on a slender
A pattern of many pictures was growing on her loom. There thread.
was a border of twined branches of the olive, Athena's All spiders descend from Arachne, and as the Greeks
favorite tree, while in the middle, figures began to appear. As watched them spinning their thread wonderfully fine, they
they looked at the glowing colors, the spectators realized that remembered the contest with Athena and thought that it was
Athena was weaving into her pattern a last warning to not right for even the best of men to claim equality with the
Arachne. The central figure was the goddess herself gods.
competing with Poseidon for possession of the city of Athens;
but in the four corners were mortals who had tried to strive
with gods and pictures of the awful fate that had overtaken
them. The goddess ended a little before Arachne and stood
back from her marvelous work to see what the maiden was
doing.

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Never before had Arachne been matched against anyone
whose skill was equal, or even nearly equal to her own. As
she stole glances from time to time at Athena and saw the
goddess working swiftly, calmly, and always a little faster
than herself, she became angry instead of frightened, and an
evil thought came into her head. Thus as Athena stepped back
a pace to watch Arachne finishing her work, she saw that the
maiden had taken for her design a pattern of scenes which
showed evil or unworthy actions of the gods, how they had
deceived fair maidens, resorted to trickery, and appeared on
earth from time to time in the form of poor and humble
people.

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When the goddess saw this insult glowing in bright
colors on Arachne's loom, she did not wait while the cloth
was judged, but stepped forward, her gray eyes blazing with
anger, and tore Arachne's work across. Then she struck
Arachne across the face. Arachne stood there a moment,
struggling with anger, fear, and pride. "I will not live under
this insult," she cried, and seizing a rope from the wall, she
made a noose and would have hanged herself.

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The goddess touched the rope and touched the maiden.
"Live on, wicked girl," she said. "Liveon and spin, both you
and your descendants. When men look at you they may
remember that it is not wise to strive with Athena."