--- title: Bruce and the Spider. — Fifty Famous Stories Retold · full text with trees description: Bruce and the Spider., «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin: the whole chapter, every sentence with its dependency tree and pragmatics. It begins: There was once a king of Scot-land whose name was Robert Bruce. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/12/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Fifty Famous Stories Retold](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/) / Bruce and the Spider. # Bruce and the Spider. Bruce and the Spider. of «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin: the whole text, 26 sentences and 391 words. Every sentence has its own page with its syntax tree and pragmatics, parsed by Mova itself; 1 of them are in the tales treebank and were checked by a teacher model. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/12/1/) — There was once a king of Scot-land whose name was Robert Bruce. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/12/2/) — He had need to be both brave and wise, for the times in which he lived were wild and rude. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/12/3/) — The King of England was at war with him, and had led a great army into Scotland to drive him out of the land. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/12/4/) — Battle after battle had been fought. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/12/5/) — Six times had Bruce led his brave little army against his foes; and six times had his men been beaten, and driven into flight. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/12/6/) — At last his army was scat-tered, and he was forced to hide himself in the woods and in lonely places among the moun-tains. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/12/7/) — One rainy day, Bruce lay on the ground under a rude shed, lis-ten-ing to the patter of the drops on the roof above him. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/12/8/) — He was tired and sick at heart, and ready to give up all hope. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/12/9/) — It seemed to him that there was no use for him to try to do anything more. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/12/10/) — As he lay thinking, he saw a spider over his head, making ready to weave her web. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/12/11/) — He watched her as she toiled slowly and with great care. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/12/12/) — Six times she tried to throw her frail thread from one beam to another, and six times it fell short. — checked by a teacher - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/12/13/) — "Poor thing!" said Bruce: "you, too, know what it is to fail." - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/12/14/) — But the spider did not lose hope with the sixth failure. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/12/15/) — With still more care, she made ready to try for the seventh time. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/12/16/) — Bruce almost forgot his own troubles as he watched her swing herself out upon the slender line. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/12/17/) — Would she fail again? - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/12/18/) — No! - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/12/19/) — The thread was carried safely to the beam, and fas-tened there. - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/12/20/) — "I, too, will try a seventh time!" cried Bruce. - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/12/21/) — He arose and called his men together. - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/12/22/) — He told them of his plans, and sent them out with mes-sa-ges of cheer to his dis-heart-ened people. - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/12/23/) — Soon there was an army of brave Scotch-men around him. - [24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/12/24/) — Another battle was fought, and the King of England was glad to go back into his own country. - [25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/12/25/) — I have heard it said, that, after that day, no one by the name of Bruce would ever hurt a spider. - [26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/12/26/) — The lesson which the little crea-ture had taught the king was never for-got-ten. - ← previous: [A Story of Robin Hood.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/11/) - next →: [The Black Douglas.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/13/) - ↑ back to [Fifty Famous Stories Retold](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/)