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The Spider and the Fly
Download the Spider and the Fly (How-to)
By Mary Howitt
If ever there were a story for children with a terrible warning, it is this. You will find it hard to miss the moral of this classic verse from the Victorian era. Natasha reads the Spider as a silky-throated villain, who weaves his web with flattery. His victem is the gauzy-winged fly.
Colin the Carp has a different interpretation. He thinks that flies are just scrumptious.
Mary Howitt has double-fame in the realm of Children’s literature. She was the first English translator of Hans Christian Andersen.
Read by Natasha. Duration 6.30.
You may also be interest in these external links:
Mary Howitt on the Wikipedia
A translation by Mary Howitt of “The True Story of my Life” by Hans Christian Andersen.
Text of The Spider and the fly by Mary Howitt (1799 to 1888).
“Will you walk into my parlour?” said the Spider to the Fly, ”
‘Tis the prettiest little parlour that ever you did spy;
The way into my parlour is up a winding stair,
And I have many curious things to show you when you are there.”
“Oh no, no,” said the Fly, “to ask me is in vain;
For who goes up your winding stair can ne’er come down again.”
“I’m sure you must be weary, dear, with soaring up so high;
Will you rest upon my little bed?” said the Spider to the Fly.
“There are pretty curtains drawn around, the sheets are fine and thin;
And if you like to rest awhile, I’ll snugly tuck you in!”
“Oh no, no,” said the little Fly, “for I’ve often heard it said
They never, never wake again, who sleep upon your bed!”
Said the cunning Spider to the Fly, “Dear friend, what can I do
To prove that warm affection I’ve always felt for you?
I have within my pantry, good store of all that’s nice;
I’m sure you’re very welcome – will you please take a slice?”
“Oh no, no,” said the little Fly, “kind sir, that cannot be,
I’ve heard what’s in your pantry, and I do not wish to see!”
“Sweet creature,” said the Spider, “you’re witty and you’re wise;
How handsome are your gauzy wings, how brilliant are your eyes!
I have a little looking-glass upon my parlour shelf;
If you step in one moment, dear, you shall behold yourself.”
“I thank you, gentle sir,” she said, “for what you’re pleased to say;
And bidding good morning now, I’ll call another day.”
The Spider turned him round about, and went into his den,
For well he knew the silly Fly would soon come back again;
So he wove a subtle web in a little corner sly,
And set his table ready to dine upon the Fly.
Then he came out to his door again, and merrily did sing,
“Come hither, hither, pretty Fly, with the pearl and silver wing;
Your robes are green and purple, there’s a crest upon your head;
Your eyes are like the diamond bright, but mine are as dull as lead.”
Alas, alas! how very soon this silly little Fly,
Hearing his wily, flattering words, came slowly flitting by;
With buzzing wings she hung aloft, Then near and nearer drew, -
Thinking only of her brilliant eyes, and green and purple hue;
Thinking only of her crested head – poor foolish thing! At last,
Up jumped the cunning Spider, and fiercely held her fast.
He dragged her up his winding stair, into his dismal den
Within his little parlour – but she ne’er came out again!
And now, dear little children, who may this story read,
To idle, silly, flattering words, I pray you ne’er heed;
Unto an evil counsellor close heart, and ear, and eye,
And take a lesson from this tale of the Spider and the Fly.
I thought that the spider and the fly story was scary at the end when the scared little fly
Got eaten.
By Chantelle aged 8
i love this story and a very poor fly
Funny ,hard to understand but I liked it.
i loved it sooooooooooooooooo much that little kids would 2
lovely story but poor fly. Thank you
The story of the spider abd the fly is great and i love it ;-) :-)
As I was searching for this poem The Spider and the fly, I accidently discover storynory.com. Listen to poem and loved it. I will share it tomorrow with my students. We are teaching poetry this next week.
Thanks a million!!!!!!!!!!11
Hello, I’m happy to find this story. I would love to see it illustrated.
VERY NICE NATASHA
I loved it , it was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo awesome. It was also a bit scary. But most of all, I loved how YOU SAID IT
Hello
The Spider and the fly is a wonderful poem by the Victorian poet Mary J Howett. The young fly learns to be very cautious of the spider that is invites him into his parlour. There are other Victorian poems you may enjoy including The Tyger by William Blake and The Pied Piper of Hamelin by Robert Browning
Thanks for listening
Bye Bye
N *
its awesome
Hello
Thank you, this is a wonderful victorian poem by Mary J Howeitt and the characters of the Spider & The Fly in the poem appear very real.
I hope you find more poem you like on Storynory.com
Thanks for listening
Bye Bye
N *
i love it i hpe you carry it on
i love the story soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much then do when like that thank you for that that nice story by sumaya yusuf in aldermoor farm primary school in year 6
i love this book!!
i love that book!!!!!!
Hello
Thank your for your comment
This poem by Mary J Howett is an amazing story in poetic form.
The young Spider asks the nervous fly to step into his parlour but the fly wisely is very cautious for fear the spider will ensare him in his evil web.
Thanks for listening
Bye Bye
N *
Wonderful……..amazing story.
awsome
Awsome poem
best poem ever
hyyyyy
realy story was good but little confusion in some lines
[...] you know a spooky poem – for instance, there is the poem The Spider and The Fly [...]
Hello
The poem by Mary J Howett, is a little confusing but quite simple to untangle
Said the Spider to the Fly:
” Won’t you step in to my parlour”
Here we see The Spider is very manipulative of the young fly who is quite frightened
There is a running dialogue between the spider the fly in the poem
and a sense of danger that the spider will entangle the fly in his web and this
makes us want to read on
Thanks for listening
Bye Bye
N *
At the begining of the poem it was kind of cunfussing to me but of corse i am only a kid the rest made sense and i liked it so much keep on going!!!!!!!!!!
Hello
Thank you for your comment
The spider tries to lure the fly into his parlour. Lure is an old
English word to mean ‘tempting’ and parlour is an olden world for a kitchen.
Written by Mary Howett in the 1800′s the poem is Victorian in feel.
Thanks for listening
Bye bye
N *
I LIKE THIS SENTENCE Within his little parlour – but she ne’er came out again!
This story is so lovely
Dear Mom, yes, some of the Victorian poems have very good morals.
I learned this poem long time ago when I was a child. I have concerns about my teen daughter who has just aged into a young adult and not keeping the best company with individuals. She is young and has many life plans and at the start of her career. As parents we have many concerns re: this issue and have been trying a number of avenues to withdraw her attention and direct it toward her career and the limitless opportunities. All of a sudden this morning when she walked in at 6:00 am after drinking and with spider, (oh did I mention she has to be at work at 9:00 am)the story of the spider and the fly entered my mind. (She is familiar with the story from when she was a child) I said to her, the spider is spinning the web and more and more every day, where does that put you? Very concerned mom. Hope she can relate this story to her current situation, and move forward toward the beginning of her career. Thanks!!
Hello
The spider and the fly by Mary Howitt, written in the Victorian era. A poem in two parts where the spider tries to charm the fly. The spider is quite cruel and the fly timid, both have strengths and weakness’.
Thanks for listening to poems@storynory.com
Bye Bye
N*
Listening to this poem made me a bit scary; just a bit =))
I’m 55 years old now (2011) it was 4th. grade when we read this (1966) it was 1978 when I got the Tatoo (rightside front shoulder) and I am asked all the time “Why a spider and a Fly?” so I tell them Because it’s so becomming of me.
Hello thank you for your comment,
Through the Looking Glass chapter one, in which Alice has fallen into the Looking Glass and finds a book upon on a table with a poem called the Jabberwocky written it. at first it appears like Hoboken gook but when, she holds it up to a mirror finds that it is written in back to front language. The poem written by Lewis Carroll is very famous and written in lexicon language which is like nonce or made up verse. See PRC Lewis Carroll lexicon and verse language.
Thanks for listening
ByeBye
N*
Thank you for your comment
a true inspiring poem……..i loved it.
very good
I had to a paper about this poem when i was in school and i couldn’t get it out of my head for the life of me… i almost went crazy
I played the fly from this poem in a skit put on by my third grade class for the entire school. It has been fifty years since I had to memorize this poem and I CAN STILL RECITE THE WHOLE THING. I loved it and now I have it for my own grandkids to enjoy.
this story was good and had a boom moral at de end
this was cute if you go to artsonia . com , the elementary kids did artwork based on it .
I really love this poem, its one that always sticks in your mind.. well the concept anyway ;D
Hi guys and girls!I invite you all to the storynory paraed and after I have a concert and everyone who wants to come gets in the limmo after the paraed.If any of you want to know more about the storynory paraed ask your questions on this page!I HOPE YOU ALL CAN COME!
BYE!
what kind of poem is this
acctually i am writing a summary on it…and ive just gotten a great idea!!!
BeAuTiFuL StOrY I HoPe cHiLdReN LeArN FrOm tHiS LeSsOn AnD So dO I
that was a good story to do something
that was a bad story you can do what ever you want to do
wowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww wonderful story even though I hate spiders and flies I guess I have 2 say good bye know Natasha
i suck blood
spiders are awsome awsome awsome!
omggggggggggg i have a spider its awsome
NO! I did not.
IT’S REALLY A WONDERFULL APPROACH TO MAKE CHILDREN KNOW HOW TO BE CAUTIOUS OF FLATERERS.
Hi Jessica, very best of luck with the competition
Thank You very much.Because of this poem I have been selected for agreat competition.thank you very much.
its nice n summary is neeeeeeeeeeeeded
Yuk I just hate this poem.
Well Done.Thank You For This wonderful poem/story.
We are learning about this book and its full of fun!!!!!!
I like this story. Keep the good stories coming enjoy listening to them.
I love your story so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Todat my muisc teacher read it to me.Her husband wrote A song to go with it she also read it to me because she thought it is spoky for Holween.Please write back
I love it
I learnt this story from one of the West Indian Reader books as a child and always use the moral of the story when advising teenagers of the plots, schemes and devious ways of those who are up to no good. Con men are very good at this and the internet is full of them.
This poem say’s a lot !Not only for young children,but teenagers as well.It warns them to beware of things some evil ones might say just to get them to do or go somewhere they shouldn’t.
I know I am famous but my cousin Angie told me that Storynory is the best website she ever read in her whole life
I really loved this story.
I wish I really could read it all and all over again
I’ve always loved this story and haven’t heard it in a while, so I said to myself, ‘To the internetz!’
…
Yay internetz!
[...] The Spider and the Fly [...]
we are reding this storey at school
[...] blog StoryNory é possível fazer o download do poema declamado, em formato MP3, com 6MB. Infelizmente, não [...]
I think that this poem is wonderful because it is very realistic
It is wonderful..
It is wonderful,damesh garm
kochikammmmm
The story was awesome and I like it
yo yo yo my name is pete
this is a magnificent story and it tells a good lesson hoping that all kids will follow.
yuk
this is a amazing story i listen almost everyday
I enjoyed this poem/ story…it helped my cute lil brother learn about poems!!!
I have loved this poem/story since I heard it as a child….now I am old and trying to remember the whole story. Am so pleased I could find it on internet. Thank you!!!! Love it! Am going to pass it on to my great grandchildren. I doubt they have heard it. Such good things have been forgotten.
An excellent selection rendered effectively and charmingly. My young granddaughters will enjoy this poem immensely. Thank you!