Mama spider, the black widow, watched her six babies. She taught them all the things a mama spider should teach her babies, like how to spin a web and catch flies. She taught them how to drink the morning dew off the web. Each day she worked with them on learning their ABC's, but no matter how hard Mama tried, each of her babies could only learn one letter.

Harry knew how to write the letter O. He learned words like orange, oval and ostrich. His favorite O word was octopus because they had eight legs, just like Harry.

Fuzzy knew how to write the letter R. She learned words like rose, red, rooster, and rainbow.

Creepy knew how to write the letter H. He learned words like hippo, honey, happy and hungry.

Crawly knew how to write the letter M. She learned words like marbles, monkey, mango and milk.

Legs knew how to write the letter E. He learned words like elephant, ear and elm. His favorite E word was eggs, because it rhymed with his name, Legs.

Silky knew how to write the letter T. She learned words like turtle, taffy, tuna and top.

One day Mama was so frustrated that she climbed into her web and cried. The web stretched across a flower garden, between roses and chrysanthemums.

The babies saw how sad their mama looked and wanted to do something to cheery her up and make her feel happy. They spun a single strand of web from the tops of some of the flowers in the garden, holding up the letters they'd learned.

Mama spider looked up when she heard Crawly calling her name. All the letters spelled out a word that made Mama smile. It said MOTHER. Mama opened her arms and all six babies came running for a family hug. Mama was happy because she knew her babies loved her.