Kendall Geurts is a sophomore at St. Norbert College who is a double major in sociology and English. She loves to read and is a self-proclaimed bookworm. Her story is based on a Facebook cartoon named Lucas the Spider. He is a cartoon spider who is created to be adorable so that people have a different view of spiders. This is where her fairytale came from and why she created Gerald the fluffy spider. - Corrine Justice
Once upon a time, there was a little furry spider named Gerald. Gerald was an incredibly kind spider. He never harmed anyone or anything, and he was even a vegetarian. Gerald lived in the king’s castle, and when he would get hungry, he would take a crawl down to the king’s kitchen. He would snack on all the fruits and vegetables and would get sick when he saw any meat or animal products. Gerald was very lonely in that big castle, and he could not go to the other spiders because they disliked his vegetarian lifestyle. The rest of the spiders believed that being a vegetarian was atrocious, so they ostracized him and threatened to eat him if they crossed paths. Gerald despised the fact that he was all alone, and no one understood him. There was one thing that just absolutely crushed his heart. Gerald saw how the royals in the palace all had exotic pets, and they loved them dearly. Gerald’s heart shattered every time someone saw him and screamed. Everyone in the castle saw spiders as a disgusting insect, and no one wanted to take the time to actually try and talk to Gerald. All he wanted was to be loved and become a royal pet like the rest of the animals. He felt exceptionally offended that none of the royals could love an adorable fluffy spider like himself, but the most important royal of them all, the king, could love his enormous slithery python.
The king’s python was always up to no good. He would manipulate everyone in the castle to benefit himself and his true master. The python was given as a gift to the king by an evil sorcerer who was disguised as an old man. The king of course accepted the “old man’s” generosity and loved the snake all his life. He was none the wiser that the two were working together to come up with a plan to take over the castle and the kingdom…
One night, Gerald was suffering from a case of insomnia, so he decided to roam the castle. It was generally safe at this time because everyone was asleep. Gerald was minding his own business as always when he heard the snake speaking with a voice he didn’t recognize. He crept up on the scene and was in shock. Listening in, Gerald learned that the python was planning on killing the king in his sleep the next night for his evil master, the sorcerer. Gerald was appalled and knew he couldn’t let any harm come to the king or kingdom. He quickly crawled back to his home and started to create a plan.
The next day, when the kingdom woke up, the entire grand hall was covered in gold spider webs. The webs all connected and explained the snake and sorcerer’s plan. He had weaved his golden web all night long and only came to rest when he had finished. The king read through the webs and was in shock himself. He had been disgusted so many times by Gerald that he felt a large pang of guilt in his heart. He never took the time to find out that Gerald was a special gold weaving spider, and he never even cared who Gerald was as a person. He thanked Gerald repeatedly and then set out to deal with the evil duo. The king being so furious sent his troops out to capture the sorcerer. He then set out to find his python. The king caught him slithering out the door and stepped on his tail to stop him from escaping. He called out to the snake and damned him to hell. He thought for a split second he might allow the pitiful creature to live, but then in one large swing of his sword, he cut the head off his python. Just as the snake’s head hit the ground, the guards dragged the sorcerer through the front door. The king sentenced the sorcerer to live out the rest of his days in the highest tower. The king then cried out to Gerald in a roar. Gerald was very scared at first, but he crawled down to the floor and up the king’s leg until he was sitting in the king’s hand. The king thanked him again and asked him how in the world he could ever reward the brave little spider. Gerald simply replied, “Gracious king, all I ask is that I am treated as well as any royal pet. The only thing I ever wanted was to be loved by a human like you loved your python.” The king smiled joyfully and proclaimed him to be the king’s new royal pet. He also declared Gerald king of all the spiders in the land. All the other spiders started to respect him for his bravery and loyalty to the king. Gerald was now the most loved, respected, and cherished spider in all the land. He never anticipated his life could change so much in the course of one day. Everyone in the castle used to scream or try and kill him when they saw him, but now they bowed. His bravery and genuine heart rewarded him.