In a small town in ancient Greece, there lived a maiden named Arachne. Arachne was extremely good at weaving, and the cloth she wove was exquisitely beautiful, well - known far and wide in the town. Arachne was very proud of her weaving skills, and she often boasted that her weaving skills were better than those of the gods.
Her arrogance reached the ears of Athena, the goddess of wisdom. Athena decided to teach this over - confident maiden a lesson. So, Athena disguised herself as an old woman and came to Arachne, advising her not to be too arrogant because the weaving skill was a gift from the goddess to mankind. However, Arachne did not take the advice but instead challenged Athena and demanded a weaving contest.
Athena accepted the challenge. They each sat in front of their looms and began to weave. The cloth that Arachne wove was full of mockery of the gods and human pride. She believed that humans could create great works without the gifts of the gods. However, the cloth that Athena wove was full of the majesty of the gods and teachings for humans, showing the gods' care and guidance for humans.
When the contest was over, after seeing Athena's work, Arachne still refused to admit her defeat. She still arrogantly thought that her work was better. Athena was thoroughly enraged by her arrogance. She used her divine power to turn Arachne into a spider. Since then, Arachne could only weave webs in the corner, forever trapped in the webs she wove herself. This story tells us not to be too arrogant, to respect the gods, and also to respect the gifts of others.
