Nokomis loved her young grandson. Each day she took him out, showed him things and made him laugh. In the afternoons he often played in the courtyard while Nokomis rested on her bed, watching him through the window.
When he wanted to show her something he ran inside noisily and climbed on her bed to see if she was sleeping. Sometimes she laughed at what he brought her, and he liked that.

One day Nokomis was resting and watching him. The sun shone through the window and she felt sleepy. Suddenly she saw something shimmering in the corner. She sat up to look more closely. A spider was spinning a web near the floor, the sunlight glinting on the thread as she moved.

Nokomis smiled and called out gently “Hello spider. Your web is beautiful.” Then she settled back down on her cushions again. For the rest of the afternoon she watched both her grandson playing outside and the spider working slowly in the corner.

The next day when Nokomis came to her room again, the spider was still spinning and the web was much bigger. Nokomis bent down to look at it. The spider stopped spinning and looked up at her.

“You’re doing a great job with this web,” said Nokomis softly. “The threads are evenly spaced and the shape is perfect. It looks strong and beautiful.”
The spider waved two of her front legs at Nokomis and then started spinning again. Nokomis straightened up and moved over to settle on her bed so she could watch her grandson through the window as usual.

A short time later the boy stopped playing and ran inside. “Grandma!” he called as he pounded across the hall to her room. “Grandma, are you asleep?”

He rushed through the doorway, then stopped and stared at the spider sitting in its large web.
“Spider,” he said and pulled off his shoe. He crept towards the web, ready to break the beautiful threads and kill the spider. “No, wait!” called Nokomis. “Don’t hurt it!”

The boy stopped and looked at her. “Why not?” he asked. “It’s just a spider.”
“Leave it alone,” said Nokomis. “It’s not hurting you and the web is beautiful. Come here and sit with me.”
The boy pulled his shoe back on and ran over to the bed. Then he laughed and climbed up next to his grandmother. She tickled him and stroked his head gently.
The two of them lay curled up for a while. Then Nokomis sang one of the boy’s favourite songs and he laughed again and joined in. When they finished, he clapped his hands, jumped down and ran outside again. His footsteps echoed through the house.

When the room was quiet again the spider climbed down from its web and walked across the floor to the bed. Nokomis sat up, surprised.

“Thank you for saving my life,” said the spider.
“I’ve seen you watching me while I’ve been spinning my web. I heard you speak to me and I know you like my work. So I’m going to give you a gift.”
Nokomis couldn’t believe what she’d heard. She sat very still as the spider moved again on its eight legs and started climbing the wall by her bed. As it climbed it left a new shining trail behind.
Nokomis watched the spider crawling slowly around the corner near the ceiling, weaving a bigger web this time.

Evening came and the moon rose outside the window. The spider crawled and spun for hours. Just before dawn it stopped and the web was finished. Nokomis knelt on her pillows and leaned up to inspect it.

The threads were shaped into many circles, held apart by strands fanning out from a tiny ring up to the largest circle at the edge of the web. Moonlight shone on the strands and lit up the spider as it clung at the top.

“I’ve made this to catch your dreams when you sleep,” said the spider.

“Good dreams will slide through the hole in the middle and float down to you. Bad dreams will get stuck in the web and disappear when the sun rises. This dream catcher is my gift to you.”