SHORT STORIES, LONG SHADOWS · A2/B1 · 50 min

The Spider's Thread

Akutagawa's story of a beautiful pond in Paradise, a bad man in Hell, and a very thin silver thread.

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Today: you'll read a famous Japanese story about a bad man who gets one chance to climb out of Hell — and you'll practise myself, himself, themselves and each other.

Warm up — before we read. Talk about these questions out loud. There are no wrong answers.

Discuss:

Do you think a bad person can become a good person?
Are you afraid of spiders? Do you kill them, or put them outside?
In a difficult situation, do people usually help each other, or think only of themselves?

Now — the words for today's story

Ten words open the story. Do the four short activities. Say your answer out loud first, then click Reveal.

A · What does the word mean here?

1. The spider made a long, thin thread. It was like a silver line in the air.

a thread (n) — a very thin line, like the ones you use to sew clothes. A spider makes a web from threads.

2. Kandata killed people and stole their money. He was a robber.

a robber (n) — a person who takes money or things from people, often with violence. Verb: to rob a person or a bank.

3. He held the thread with both hands and went up, up, up, higher and higher. He climbed.

to climb (v) — to go up using your hands and feet. Careful: we don't say the b: /klaɪm/. climb a tree, climb a mountain.

B · Which word means…?

Three words: Paradise · Hell · pond. Say the right word, then reveal.

1. Which word means a small area of water, smaller than a lake?

a pond (n) — "There are fish and flowers in the pond."

2. Which word means a perfect, beautiful place where good people go after they die?

Paradise (n) — also Heaven. We also say "This beach is paradise!" = it's perfect.

3. Which word means a terrible place where bad people go after they die?

Hell (n) — the opposite of Paradise. "My journey to work was hell!" = very bad.

C · Choose the meaning — a / b / c

1. Kandata shouted, "This thread is mine! Get off!" He was selfish. Selfish means…
(a) thinking only about yourself (b) very happy (c) very strong

(a) — selfish (adj). The opposite is generous or unselfish.

2. The thread was very thin, and suddenly it broke. Broke means…
(a) went into two pieces (b) became longer (c) became gold

(a) — break, broke, broken. "The thread broke." "The thread was broken."

D · Word families & word partners

1. Kandata did many bad things. But once he did a ___ thing: he didn't kill a spider. (Opposite of bad, starts with k.)

a kind thing — kind (adj), kindness (n). "Thank you, that's very kind of you!"

2. Complete with up or down: The Buddha let the thread ___ into Hell. Kandata climbed ___ the thread. Then he fell ___ again.

let the thread down · climbed up · fell down. Also: look up, look down — Kandata does both in this story!

Now use them — out loud

Talk before we read:

Use robber, Hell, thread and climb: what do you think happens in this story?
Which words are about places? Which are about people? Say them in two groups.

The story, in three parts

This is a famous story from Japan, retold here in simple English. Read each part. Then answer the questions from memory, and talk about one question.

Part 1 — The pond in Paradise

One morning, the Buddha was walking by himself next to the pond in Paradise. The flowers on the water were white, and they smelled wonderful. Under the pond was Hell. The water was very clear, so the Buddha could look down and see everything there: the dark, the fire, and a mountain of sharp needles.

He saw a man called Kandata. Kandata was a robber. He killed people, he stole from them, and he burned their houses. But once, in a forest, he saw a little spider on the path. He lifted his foot to kill it. Then he stopped himself. "No," he thought. "It's very small, but it's alive. I won't kill it." And he let the spider go.

The Buddha remembered this one kind thing. "Maybe I can help this man," he thought. Next to him, a spider from Paradise was making a beautiful silver thread. The Buddha took the thread and let it down, very slowly, into Hell.

Quick check — answer from memory, then reveal:

1. How can the Buddha see Hell?

2. What was Kandata's one kind thing?

1. Hell is under the pond, and the water is very clear.

2. He didn't kill a little spider in the forest.

Discuss:

Kandata did many terrible things and only one kind thing. Should he get a chance? Why or why not?

Part 2 — The thread

In Hell, Kandata was in a lake of blood with all the other bad people. It was dark and quiet. Sometimes the people sank down into the blood, and sometimes they came up again. Everyone was too tired to cry, and Kandata was too tired to fight. Then Kandata looked up and saw something shining in the dark. It was a silver thread, and it was coming down to him from the sky!

Kandata was very happy. "I can climb this thread and get out of Hell," he thought. "Maybe I can get into Paradise!" He took the thread in his hands and started to climb. He was a robber, so he was good at climbing. Up and up he went, with his hands and his feet, and he didn't look back. But Paradise was very, very far away. After a long time, he was very tired. He stopped to rest and looked down.

Quick check — answer from memory, then reveal:

1. What is Hell like?

2. Why is Kandata good at climbing?

1. Dark and quiet, with a lake of blood. The people are too tired to cry.

2. Because he was a robber — robbers climb walls and windows!

Discuss:

What do you think Kandata sees when he looks down?

Part 3 — "This thread is mine!"

Hell was far below him now. "I'm going to escape!" he laughed. But then he saw something terrible. Below him, hundreds and hundreds of other people from Hell were climbing the thread too! They were coming up after him, like a long line of ants.

Kandata couldn't believe his eyes. He was afraid. "This thread is very thin," he thought. "It can't hold all these people. It will break, and I will fall back into Hell!" So he shouted down at them: "Hey! This thread is mine! Get off! Get off!"

At that moment, the thread broke — exactly at the place where Kandata was holding it. Kandata and all the other people fell down, down, down into the dark.

In Paradise, the Buddha watched everything. His face was sad, and he walked away. But the white flowers in the pond didn't care. They moved in the water and smelled wonderful, as before. It was nearly lunchtime in Paradise.

Quick check — answer from memory, then reveal:

1. What does Kandata shout?

2. Where does the thread break?

1. "This thread is mine! Get off!"

2. Exactly at the place where Kandata is holding it.

Discuss:

The thread held hundreds of people. It broke only when Kandata shouted. Why, do you think?

Grammar — myself, himself, each other

This story is about one big question: does Kandata think about himself, or about other people? English has special words for this.

Reflexive pronouns — the same person:
I → myself · you → yourself · he → himself · she → herself · it → itself · we → ourselves · you (plural) → yourselves · they → themselves
• Kandata stopped himself. (He stopped his own foot.)
• by + -self = alone: The Buddha was walking by himself.

themselves or each other?
• They looked at themselves in the water. → each person looked at his own face.
• They looked at each other. → A looked at B, and B looked at A.
Careful: in English we don't say ~~I relax myself~~, ~~I feel myself happy~~ or ~~We met ourselves~~. Just: I relax. I feel happy. We met.

1. Choose the pronoun

Write myself, yourself, himself, herself, ourselves or themselves.

1. "Be careful! Don't hurt !" said Kandata's mother to him.

2. The Buddha was walking by .

3. "I made this cake ," said my sister.

1. yourself 2. himself 3. myself

2. themselves or each other?

Write themselves or each other.

1. The two friends gave presents.

2. The people in Hell thought only about .

3. My parents met in 1990. They love very much.

1. each other 2. themselves 3. each other

3. The Buddha speaks — complete the paragraph

Write myself, himself, themselves or each other. Then read it aloud slowly, like the Buddha.

"I was walking by this morning. I saw Kandata in Hell, and I gave him a thread . The other people saw the thread too. They could help . But Kandata thought only about . He wanted to escape by . Now they are all in Hell again, and they can only blame ."

myself · myself · each other · himself · himself · themselves

"Each other" could save them. "Himself" was the problem!

Keep these words ready — in the Speak tab you will tell the story and talk about helping each other.

Going deeper

Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (1892–1927) is one of the most famous writers in Japan. The biggest book prize in Japan has his name. He wrote "The Spider's Thread" in 1918 for a new children's magazine. Japanese children still read it at school today.

The heart of it. The story starts in Paradise, goes down to Hell, and comes back to Paradise. At the start it is morning; at the end it is nearly lunchtime. So everything happens very quickly — and the flowers in Paradise don't care at all. Now look at the thread. It holds hundreds of people with no problem. It breaks only when Kandata says "mine". So what breaks the thread? Not the people. His selfishness.

Talk it through:

Why does the writer start and end the story with the flowers?
Was the Buddha's test fair? Was it easy or difficult?
This story was for children. What do you think children learn from it?
If Kandata said, "Come on, everybody! Climb with me!" — what happens then, do you think?

Speak

This is the most important part of the lesson. Do everything out loud. Use the timer and try to speak for the whole time.

Useful language: First… Then… After that… Finally… · himself / themselves / each other · I think… because… · In my opinion…

Time remaining: 4:00

Task A · Tell the story (3–4 minutes)

Tell The Spider's Thread in your own words. Follow the steps: the pond in Paradise → Kandata the robber → the little spider → the silver thread → the climb → the people below → "This thread is mine!" → the thread breaks → the Buddha and the flowers.

Use himself, themselves and each other, and at least five key words (thread, robber, climb, pond, Paradise, Hell, selfish, break, kind, let down).

Task B · Did he deserve it? (3–4 minutes)

Say what you think and give three reasons. Did Kandata deserve to fall back into Hell? Or was he just afraid, like any normal person?

Then change sides! Speak for one minute for the other opinion.

Task C · Helping each other (3–4 minutes)

Talk about kindness, selfishness and helping each other.

No idea? Choose one of these:

Tell a story about a time when people helped each other — at school, at work or in your town.
Describe a small kind thing that someone did for you.
When are people selfish? Think of queues, buses, shops…
Do you prefer to do things by yourself or with other people? Why?
Animals and insects: should we kill them in our house?
Is there a story in your country about Heaven and Hell? Tell it.

To finish — the big questions

Why does the Buddha give a chance to a very bad man?
The thread broke where Kandata was holding it, so all the other people fell too. Is that fair? Or would they all do the same as Kandata?
The Buddha is sad, but he just walks away. Why doesn't he help again?
Before you go — from memory: say one sentence with himself, one with themselves, and one with each other about the story — and explain why "I relax myself" is wrong.