10. The Prince Who Hated Spiders and Flies

A young Prince in a rage once said, “I wish all the spiders and flies were driven out of the world!” Not long after that he had to hide at the close of a great battle in a wood, where he fell asleep under a tree. A soldier found him there, and was about to kill him, when a fly tickled the Prince’s face, which awoke him, and made the soldier run away. That same night the Prince hid himself in a cave across the mouth of which a spider wove a web. Next morning two soldiers seeking him were about to enter the cave when they saw the spider’s web. “He can’t be in there,” they said, and passed on. So a hated fly and a spider, after all, saved the Prince’s life!