Latest / Sandman Stories Presents / EP 321: Canada- The Fall Of Spiderman (MacMillan)

Transcript

EP 321: Canada- The Fall Of Spiderman (MacMillan) · Sandman Stories Presents

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  Welcome back, listeners to Sam Man's Stories Presents, a
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  folklore podcast where I read you to sleep or until the next
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  story. I'm your host, Dustin, and if
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  you want more Sandman that's too spicy for the main feed, go
• 0:37
  ahead and jump over on the Patreon for free. 99 and I just
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  got a new Patreon, Kate Shaw of the Strange Animals podcast.
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  If you haven't listened to that, go check her out.
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  It's awesome animal stories. And today we are back in the
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  book of Canadian folklore written down by Cyrus McMillan.
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  In today's story, we're going to learn about the fall of Spider
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  Man, who used to live up in the stars.
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  OK, let's begin the fall of Spider Man.
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  In the olden times, Spider Man lived in the sky country.
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  He dwelt in a bright little house all by himself, where he
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  wove webs and long flimsy ladders for people to go back
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  and forth between the sky and the earth.
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  The star people often went to earth at night, where they
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  roamed around as light fairies, doing good deeds for women and
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  children, and they always use Spider Man's ladder.
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  Spider Man had to work very hard weaving his webs and spending
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  the yarn for his ladders. One day taking a break from his
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  work, he looked down at the earth and he saw many of the
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  Earth people playing games and taking sweet syrup from the
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  Maple trees or gathering berries on the rolling hills.
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  But most of the men were lazy and idle and did nothing.
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  The women were all working in the fashion of the Indians of
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  those days. The men worked but barely and
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  Spider man said to himself, I would like to go to the earth
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  country where men waste their time away.
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  I would marry 4 wives who would work for me while I kick back
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  for I need a rest. He was very tired from his work
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  because he kept at it day and night, always spinning and
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  weaving his webs. But when he asked for a rest he
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  was not allowed to stop. He was only kicked for his pains
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  and called sleepyhead and lazy bones and other harsh names and
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  told to work harder. Then he grew angry and resolved
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  to punish the star people because they never gave him a
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  break. He thought that if he had
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  punished them and annoyed them, they would get rid of him.
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  So he came up with just the plan.
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  Each night when the Star Fairy was climbing back up to the sky
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  country, just as he came near the top of the ladder, the
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  Spider Man would cut the strands and the fairy would fall to the
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  earth with a great crash. Night after night he did this,
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  and he chuckled to himself as he saw the sky fairies tumbling
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  through the air and kicking their feet while the Earth
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  people looked up at them and called them shooting stars.
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  Many star people fell to the Earth in this way because of
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  Spider Man's tricks, and they could never go back to the Sky
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  Country because of their broken limbs or the disfigured faces.
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  For in the Sky Country, the people must all have perfect
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  faces and forms. But Spider Man's tricks did him
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  no good. The people would not drive him
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  away because they needed his webs and he was kept busy.
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  At last he decided to run away on his own, and one night when
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  the moon and the stars had gone to work and the sun was still
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  asleep, he said farewell to the sky country and let himself down
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  to earth by one of his own strands of yarn, spinning it as
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  he dropped down in the earth country.
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  He married 4 wives as he had planned for.
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  He wanted them to work for him while he rested.
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  He thought he had worked long enough.
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  All went well for a time and the lazy spider man was quite happy
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  living his lazy and contented life.
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  He didn't spin a strand nor weave a web.
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  No men on earth were working, only the women toiled.
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  At last Gluskap, who ruled the earth back then, became very
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  angry because the men in these parts were so lazy, and he sent
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  Famine into their country to punish them for their sins.
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  Famine stealthily crept into the land, and he gathered up all the
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  corn and it carried it off. Then he called all the animals
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  and the birds and the fish of the sea in the river, and he
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  took them away with him. There was nothing left to eat in
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  all the land, only the water remained.
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  The people were very hungry and lived on water for many days.
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  Sometimes they drank the water cold, sometimes hot, sometimes
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  lukewarm, but at best it was just water.
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  The Spider Man soon grew tired of this strange diet.
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  Water cooled his hunger, but it just wasn't the same.
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  It filled his belly and swelled him to a great size, but it
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  brought him little nourishment or strength.
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  So he said there must be good food somewhere in the world.
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  I will find it. That night, when all the world
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  was asleep, he took a large bag and softly crept away from his
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  wives and set out on his quest for food.
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  He did not want anyone to know where he was going.
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  For several days he travelled, living only on water, but he
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  found no food and the bag on his back was still empty.
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  At last, one day he saw birds in the trees and knew that he was
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  near the border of Hungerland. That night in the forest, when
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  he stopped to have streamed a drink, he saw a tiny light
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  peeking out through the trees. He hurried towards the light and
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  soon he came upon a man with a great hump on his shoulders and
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  scars on his face. He had a light hanging on his
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  back with a shade on it that it could close and open.
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  Spider man said I'm looking for food, tell me where to find it.
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  The Lantern man said, Do you want it for your people?
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  Spider man said no, I want it for myself.
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  Then the Lantern Man laughed and said, You are near the land of
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  plenty, follow me and I will give you food.
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  Then he flashed the light on his back, opening and closing the
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  shade so that the light flickered, and he set off
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  quickly through the trees. Spider Man followed the flashing
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  light in the dark, but he had to go so fast that he was almost
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  out of breath when he reached the house where the Lantern man
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  had stopped. But he only laughed when he saw
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  Spider Man coming, puffing wearily along with his fat and
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  swollen belly. He gave him a good meal and the
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  spider man felt better after his long fast.
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  Then the Lantern man said, you are Spider Man who once weaved
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  webs in the sky. I too once dwelt in the Star
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  country and one night as I was climbing back from the earth
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  country on your ladder carrying my lamp on my back to light the
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  way, when I was near the sky, you cut the strands of the web
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  and I fell to the earth with a great crash.
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  That is why I have a great hump on my back and scars on my face.
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  And because of this, I've never been allowed to go back to the
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  sky country of the stars. I roam the earth at night as a
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  forest fairy, just as I did in the olden days, for I have my
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  former powers still with me, and I still carry my lamp on my
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  back. It is the Starlight from the sky
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  country. I shall never get back to the
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  star country while I have life, but someday, when my work on
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  Earth is done, I shall go back. But although you were cruel to
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  me, I will give you food. Spider Man remembered the nights
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  he cut the ladders, and he laughed to himself at the memory
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  of the star fairies falling to earth with a great crash.
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  But the man with the light knew that now he had his chance to
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  take vengeance on the Spider Man.
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  The latter did not expect evil. He was glad to get food at last.
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  Then the Lantern man said, I will give you 4 pots.
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  You must not open them until you get home.
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  They will be filled with food, and thereafter when you open
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  them, they will always be packed with food, and the food will
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  never run out. Spider Man put the four pots in
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  his bag, and slinging them over his shoulder, he set out for
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  home. After he had left, the Lantern
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  Man used his power to make him hungry.
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  Yet for several days he travelled without opening the
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  pots, for although he was almost starving, he wished to do as the
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  Lantern Man had told him. At last he couldn't wait any
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  longer. He stopped near his home, took
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  the pots out of his bag, and he opened them.
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  They were filled with good food, as he had been promised.
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  In one was a fine meat Stew, in another there were many
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  vegetables, in another there was bread made from corn, and in
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  another luscious ripe fruit. He ate until he was full.
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  He covered the pots and putting the bag in his bag, and hid the
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  bag among the trees. Then he went home.
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  He felt bad for his people, and he decided to invite the chief
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  and all the tribe to a feast the next evening, for the pops would
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  be full and the food would never decrease and there would be
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  enough for all. He thought the people would call
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  him a wonderful man because he could supply all of them with
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  good food. When he reached his home his
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  wives were very glad to see him, and they brought him water, the
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  only food they had. But he laughed at them and threw
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  the water in their faces and said, Ho, foolish women, I do
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  not want water. It is not food for a great man
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  like me. I've had a good meal of meat,
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  Stew and cornbread, and cooked vegetables and luscious ripe
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  fruit. I know where food is to be
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  found, but only I know I can find food when all others fail,
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  for I am a great man. Go forth and invite the chief
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  and all the people to a feast which I shall provide for them
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  tomorrow night, a feast for all the land, for my food never
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  grows less. They were all amazed when they
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  heard his story, and the thought of his good meal greatly added
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  to their hunger. But they went out and summoned
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  all the tribe to a feast, as he had told them.
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  The next night all the people gathered for the feast, for the
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  news of it had spread throughout the land.
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  They had taken no water that day, for they wished to eat
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  well, and they were very hungry. They were as hungry as wild
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  beasts in search of food. Spider Man was very glad because
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  the people praised him, and he probably brought out his bag of
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  pots. The people all waited hungrily
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  and eagerly, but when he uncovered the first pot, there
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  was no food there. He uncovered the second pot, but
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  there was no food there. He uncovered all the pots, but
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  not a bit of food was left in any of them.
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  They were all empty, and at the bottom of each was a great
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  gaping hole. Now it happened in this way.
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  When the Lantern Man, the Star Fairy, had given the pots to
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  Spider Man, he knew well that the Spider Man would disobey his
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  orders and that he would open the pots before he reached his
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  home. He chuckled to himself, for he
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  knew now that he could take vengeance on the web Weaver who
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  had injured him. So when the Spider Man had left
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  the pots among the trees, the Lantern man used his magic power
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  and made holes in the pots, and the charm of the food was
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  broken, and all the food disappeared.
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  When the people saw the empty pots, they thought that they had
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  been purposely deceived. The remains of the food and the
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  smell of the Stew and of the fruit still clung to the pots.
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  They thought the Spider Man had eaten all the food himself.
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  So in their great hunger and their rage and their
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  disappointment, they fell upon him and beat him and bore him
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  into the ground, while the Hump Man, with the lamp on his back
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  hiding behind the trees, looked on and laughed in Glee.
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  Then the people split Spider Man's arms to the shoulders and
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  his legs to the thighs, so that he had eight limbs instead of
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  four. And the Lantern Man, the star
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  fairy named Firefly, came forth from behind the trees and stood
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  over the fallen Spider Man. He said, because of your cruelty
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  to the other star people, you will always crawl around on 8
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  legs, and you will have a fat round belly because of the water
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  you drank. And sometimes you will live on
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  top of the water, but you shall always eat only flies and
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  insects, and you will always spin downwards and never
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  upwards. And you will often try to get
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  back into the Star country, but you shall always slip down again
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  on the strand of yarn you have spun.
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  Then Firefly flashed his light and quickly went away, opening
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  and closing the shade on his lamp as he flitted among the
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  trees. And to this day, Spider Man
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  lives as the Lantern Man said, because of the cruelty he
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  practiced on the Star fairies in the olden days.
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  The End. He was put on the shelf.
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  Well, first we all walked out and then we were locked out.
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  And then by a foul, we were all but knocked out.
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  Our union minors face guns in jail.
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  Hundreds of us were held without bail.
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  But by August 1914, our labor they were courting, but they
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  blacklisted me. Well I love the explanation of
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  the spider man and the Firefly. The cruelty of Spider Man was
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  well punished and the four wives thing, it's like, well, I'm just
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  going to get you to work for me. That's not what marriage is.
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  And I'm of course excited about more stories in this book.
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  We got quite a while to go. And the podcast Shout out is to
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  just the Zoo of us. It is hosted by Alan and
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  Christian and they talk about animals and rate them.
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  It is also wholesome as heck. Go and listen to them.
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  And the listener shout out is to Christchurch, New Zealand.
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  Located on the South Island, this city has for years been
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  confused with the actual capital of New Zealand, Wellington.
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  Oh, almost at Auckland there. Oops.
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  Hey, and if I'm lucky enough to visit the country of long white
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  clouds, I would love to see the Marmite factory, although I've
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  heard that it has moved too. But to my listener in
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  Christchurch, I say thank you for surviving Armageddon and
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  good night.