It was perhaps one of the most beautiful spiders I'd ever seen. A tiny thing, which looked like a tarantula. It was mostly black, with a dabs of white on its abdomen, front legs, and jaws. Tiger stripes and yin and yang. I reached down to pick it it up, since it appeared lost and confused on the walk. It was barely the size of my thumbnail.
"Hello, my pretty," I whispered as I drew it close.
We looked at each other for a few heartbeats. Two eyes to eight. Alien to alien. There was no fear.
I set the spider down on a fencepost. It would be safer there. Not all creatures that walk on two legs are as tolerant of arachnids as I. This is something I find sad, but mei fei tsu. Being vertebrate-centric is annoying, but certainly not something I can really do anything about.
The spider scampered down the fencepost quickly, disappearing into the budding foliage of a nearby sidewalk garden. There was no offense taken in the haste of its exit. After all, it was out hunting. I inclined my head slightly, in fact, because, I swear, I heard it thank me for helping it across the walk.
This is a beautiful story. I've also saved a few spiders in my life, not as beautiful as yours though.
ReplyDeleteThank you. I'd never seen one like this. It was quite amazing.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful observations. I feel relaxed observing creatures of the world, but usually the kinds that don't have that many legs. :)
ReplyDeleteThat seems to be a common reaction. My daughter's one of the few bipeds I know that shares my appreciation of spiders, but that's probably my fault ;).
ReplyDeleteI admire your fearlessness of spiders, I had one that was close to the size of Texas on my bath towel this morning and squished it before I could help myself.
ReplyDeleteAnd the fearfulness is something I have a hard time grasping. Granted, some species of spider have rather potent venoms, put they lack coagulants in their blood, making the simplest nick potentially fatal, and well, the fact the smallest human is still several times larger than the biggest spider. But I suppose it's a primal reaction.
ReplyDeleteI have a tiny spider occupying the top corner of the window above my bath. It spends most of it's time hidden in the gap between my window and the frame and seems only to venture out when Im in the bath when It sits, like a little choclate drop on it's web and we contemplate each other through the steam.
ReplyDeleteThat's neat, and I liked the description of contemplation through steam.
ReplyDelete