Directions: Read the selection. Then answer each question.
1 Long ago, there lived a girl named Arachne. She was a very talented weaver. She would sit at her spinning wheel and loom for hours. She wove many beautiful pictures into her cloth.
2 People from near and far would come to see Arachne work and to watch her spin. They would hear the click, click of the loom as they passed by. They would remark, "You are the best weaver in all the land. You must have been trained by Athena, the goddess of crafts. She can also paint beautiful pictures with thread."
3 Arachne said "no" and frowned when she heard this. She was not happy that people thought she had learned from Athena. Arachne believed that she was the most talented weaver in all the world. Arachne had learned about weaving on her own. "My weaving is better than Athena's," Arachne would say. "The goddess herself could not weave more beautiful cloth."
4 Eventually, Arachne's claims were heard by the gods. The goddess Athena became angry. Athena decided to challenge Arachne to a weaving contest. She said to Arachne, "We will both weave our best cloth. Zeus, the ruler of the gods, will declare the winner. The loser of the challenge will never be allowed to touch a spinning wheel or loom ever again."
5 Sure that she was the more talented weaver, Arachne quickly agreed. Two looms were brought into the room. Both Arachne and Athena began to weave. After many hours, they presented their work to Zeus. It was not easy for Zeus to choose a winner. Both cloths had the most extraordinary pictures he had ever seen. But in the end, he declared Athena the winner. Athena smiled triumphantly.
6 Arachne was heartbroken. She would never be allowed to touch her tools again. What would she do? Athena saw Arachne and felt sorry for her. Athena touched Arachne on the forehead and changed her into a spider so that she could weave without a spinning wheel or loom. As a spider, Arachne has spun her web happily ever since.