The Snow Spider's Dance
a read aloud story
by Sharon Tregenza

Snow spiders love to dance – they love to dance in snow. They love snow’s crunchiness on their feet (all eight of them) and they love snow’s light, white, brightness.

There are three different snow spider dances:
Number one is ‘The Snow Shoe Shuffle dance.’
Number two is ‘The Snow Goose step,’ but the favourite dance of the snow spiders is the ‘Snow, Snow, Quick, Quick, Snow dance.’ That dance really gets the snow spiders going - their little legs twist and twirl and make patterns in the whiteness.

But one long winter day, when all the snow spiders in the world had gathered together for the annual Snow Ball – there was no snow.

They didn’t know what to do. They ran around on the grass looking for the snow. Unfortunately, because they were white, they were easily spotted on the green grass and birds swooped down and gobbled some up.

The rest of the snow spiders huddled together under a tree to decide what to do. There was lots of squeakings and squealings – snow spiders do that when they are very upset.
At last, one very big snow spider put up four of his legs for silence.

‘We are here for the annual snow ball,’ he said. There was a lot of clapping (there were a lot of legs to clap).
‘But there is no snow.’ There was a lot of booing.
‘But I have an idea.’ There was more clapping.
‘But it won’t be easy.’ There was booing again.

‘Salt instead of snow,’ said the biggest snow spider. ‘We’ll collect all the salt
we can and make a dance floor.’

So they did. They collected salt from all the salty places they could think of -from silver saltcellars and seawater corners – the snow spiders gathered salt. They gathered eight grains at a time and carried them over fields and through woods. They worked hard throughout the day and all through the night until they had enough salt to make a dance floor.

‘Let the dance begin!’ said the biggest Snow spider. They began to dance the “Snow Shoe Shuffle’ dance. At first everything was fine and the snow spiders enjoyed the dancing. But they soon realised that the salt was too hard and it stuck to their legs (all eight of them). It rubbed their feet and made them sore. The snow spiders stopped dancing – it wasn’t fun dancing in the salt.

The biggest snow spider saw that his idea hadn’t worked, so he quickly said,
‘Salt is no good for dancing!’ There was a lot of booing.
‘But I have another idea!’ There was a lot of cheering.
‘But it won’t be easy,’ There was a lot of booing.
‘Sugar instead of snow, ‘ said the biggest snow spider.

Some of the snow spiders were doubtful but they worked as hard as the others to gather all the sugar they could find.

From teatime tabletops and supermarket shelves, the army of snow spiders sneaked the grains of sugar. Through towns and cities the silent army crept with their precious loot sparkling in the moonlight. They worked all night and all through the next day and bit by bit the dance floor grew. A light, bright, gleaming white, dance floor all made of sugar.

‘Let the dance begin!’ said the biggest snow spider proudly. The Snow Spiders danced the Snow Goose step. But the sugar was too sticky and it stuck to their legs as they danced. Their legs became heavier and heavier until one by one they stopped dancing.

‘What now?’ they asked the biggest Snow Spider. But he was out of ideas. The tired and disappointed snow spiders were in an angry mood and grumbled to each other.

The biggest snow spider looked up at the sky for inspiration – and saw it - the first snowflake. The first cold and crunchy snowflake was tumbling down from the sky.

‘We’ll use snow!’said the biggest Snow spider with a smile. And all the snow spiders cheered and cheered. Soon there was enough snow to start the dance. The snow spiders went into their favourite dance of all – the Snow, Snow, Quick, Quick, Snow dance.

Their little legs twisted and twirled and made pretty pattern footprints.
But they didn’t realise quite how tired they were after all their salt and sugar gathering and one by one they lay down and fell fast asleep.

As the snow fell silently onto the dance floor, all that could be heard was a few snufflings and snorings – snow spiders do that when they’re very tired.

THE END