Why Spiders Have 8 Legs
BY: Madeline Roche




Hundreds of years ago, in a rainforest far away, lived a very boastful little spider named Rex. Rex was not very popular around his friends because he always bragged about only having two legs, while the other spiders around him had six legs. Rex would play tricks on his friends and could easily run away from them because he was such a fast runner, and his friends’ extra four legs slowed them down. No one knew how Rex had gotten so lucky, but everyone wanted to be like him.

When Beatle Benjamin, the spirit god of the entire rainforest heard about Rex’s attitude problem, he decided to do something about it. Exactly one week before the Rainforest Dash, (the most anticipated race of the year), Beatle Benjamin decided to have a talk with Rex about his unacceptable behavior.

“Rex, I’ve heard that you’ve been bragging to all of the other spiders about your gift of having only two legs. Is this true?” he asked.

“I don’t see what the big deal is, if I have a gift I should use it! And who cares if they don’t like hearing about it, everyone else is just jealous!” replied Rex.

Beatle Benjamin tried everything, but Rex just wouldn’t budge, so he decided to do something more drastic. Beatle Benjamin told Rex that if he didn’t stop bragging about his two legs, he would give Rex two more legs than everyone else had! That’s right... eight legs! Rex just brushed off the silly things that he thought Beatle Benjamin was saying. Rex thought that there was no way that such a thing could happen. The confident young spider continued to prepare and train for the exciting upcoming race, however, he did not stop bragging about having only two legs.

Soon it was two days before the Rainforest Dash. Rex was not worried, he knew that he had an advantage over the other runners and he intended to use it. On the morning of race day, Rex got a surprise visit from Beatle Benjamin, the spirit god.

“Thanks for the advice” said Rex, “but I never really followed it... why shouldn’t I show off if I have something that no one else has?”

Then the spirit god replied, “Ahh, I see you didn’t understand exactly what I told you earlier. I’m afraid there is nothing I can do now except punish you for disobeying me.” And he did so. In one snap of his fingers, Rex became the first eight-legged spider ever to be seen!

The race went as planned, but Rex finished dead last, due to his eight heavy legs. And just to make sure no other spiders would ever act the way Rex did, the spirit god has given every spider eight legs since then.