Long ago, in Japan, a young farmer named Sei was sowing his fields.

Suddenly, he spied a snake slithering across the ground, preparing to eat a spider. Sei took pity on the spider and drove the snake away.

The next day, someone knocked on Sei's door. Opening it, Sei saw a young woman standing there, who offered to weave for him.

Sei welcomed the young woman and led her to his weaving room. "You can work here," he said.

That evening, upon returning from work, Sei found that the woman had woven a dozen beautiful pieces of cloth.

"Impossible," he said. "How could you finish so much?"

The young woman said, "You mustn't ask me that, and never come into the weaving room while I am working. Promise me that."

"I promise," Sei replied. Day after day, the woman wove for him.

After many weeks, Sei's curiosity overcame him. One afternoon, he tiptoed to the weaving room window and peered inside.

He was shocked when he saw an enormous spider instead of the young woman. Then he understood that this was his reward for saving the spider.

He could see that the spider would need more cotton soon.

The next morning, he went to the village and purchased cotton.

On his way home, Sei stopped to rest. As he dozed, the snake he had driven away weeks ago slipped inside the bundle of cotton.

Arriving home, Sei handed the bundle to the weaver.

"Thank you so much," she bowed, and returned to the weaving room.

Inside again, she transformed into a spider, and she began to consume the cotton so that she could spin it into thread. When she reached the last of the bundle, there was the snake. Terrified, the spider leaped out of the window.

The snake caught her just outside Sei's house. Just as he was about to swallow her, a sunbeam lifted the spider up into the sky to safety. KЗwｗｗ.ｆaIrＹ-ｔＡLE．Iｎfoφξˇ∮ㄚ

The spider then used the cotton she had swallowed to weave fluffy clouds in the sky.

This is why the Japanese word "kumo" means both cloud and spider.