Golden Cobwebs
By Rowena Bennett

The Christmas tree stood by the parlor door, But the parlor door was locked And the children could not get inside Even though they knocked. For a Christmas tree must wait, folks say, And not be seen till Christmas Day. But the cat had seen the Christmas tree As she prowled the house by night, And the dog has seen the Christmas Tree By the moon's enchanting light; And a little mouse beside her hole Had looked at it with eyes of coal. Even the spiders hoped to see The secret, silent Christmas tree.

They planned, one day, to creep and crawl Out of their cracks and up the wall To get the highest view of all. But just that day with mop and broom The housemaid swept them from the room And so the spiders could not see The secret, silent Christmas tree.

The fairies heard the spiders weep, All on a winter's night, Although their cries made softer sounds Than moth wings make in flight. The fairies said: "Each living thing That creeps, or crawls, or flaps a wing Shall share the birthday of the King."

They took the spiders to the tree And, since they were too small To see as far as cat or mouse, The fairies, let them crawl Along each twig and bending branch To look at every ball And silver star and popcorn string; And when they had seen everything They thanked the fairies and went back Each one to sleep inside his crack.

But,oh, the tree when they were gone Was very sad to look upon! Its branches were more gray than green And little webs hung in between That dulled the lights and all the sheen.

The fairies shook their heads and sighed, For in their wisdom, ever wide, They knew no housewife cared to see Dull cobwebs on a Christmas tree. They knew the children, too, would weep To waken from their yuletide sleep And glimpse a tree all bearded gray That would not shine on Christmas Day....

And so they turned the webs to gold By waving fairy wands, I'm told; And that is why there'll always be Bright cobwebs on a Christmas tree.