freedom

The spider sat day after day in the middle of his elegantly engineered web when one day from his high position he spied a glorious looking bee buzzing from flower to flower. "Oh, look at his freedom," exclaimed the spider loudly to himself. "I envy him!"

The dragon-fly, the wizard of the air, heard the spider, buzzed in place before him and said, "Sir Spider, I heard your lament. As I understand it, you want the freedom of the bee." "Yes, yes. That's right," replied the spider. "I sit here day after day with nothing to do. If I were like that bee, I'd have the freedom to do other things." "There's a price with his freedom; he hazards so much," said the dragon-fly. "What could he possibly hazard when, with such freedom, he could avoid it," the spider impatiently retorted. "So be it. Let me see what I can do," and with that the dragon-fly flew off. Negotiating the deal with the tired bee, the dragon-fly magically transformed them both.

One day the spider, now a bee, flew towards a flower garden when he suddenly had his flight arrested in mid-air. "Oh no, I'm caught in a web!" he yelled in despair. The bee, now a spider, slowly treading the web, came over and said, "Such freedoms you have are now over. Your freedom required care, and now you are my meal tonight." Slowly moving closer, and closer, he continued: "I have found what you thought was idleness and the lack of freedom is really sound planning and its patient execution, and that, I must say, is a great advantage in this world."