ENG
Small and humble, a spider I be;
Yet in stone I adorn, with comrades in peril beside me.
In the olden days, a lesser beetle guai in the Webbed Hollow rose to the rank of captain through sheer prowess. But the promotion swelled his ego, and he lorded it over the others till they shunned him, much to his ire.
Upon a day of rest, the beetle captain found himself bereft of friends to squander the hours with and thus roamed the cave alone. He beheld a stone from which long and slender legs sprouted forth. As it turned out, the stone held a spider stirring from slumber.
These spiders, burdened with stones upon their backs, moved in a slow, clumsy manner. The captain, beset by a foul mood, kicked one over and laughed at its plight as it flailed and struggled to right itself. With each attempt it made to stand, he flicked it down again, guffawing.
After who knows how long, crisp raps echoed from the depths of the cave. Soon, hordes of stone spiders marched out of the dark. Seeing the threat, the captain drew his weapons and charged into their midst. The spiders showed no fear; they hurled stones, spat silk and venom, rammed and butted. They drove the captain into a rage, and he spun his twin blades in a killing frenzy amidst the spiders. As he cut them down with zeal, a flicker of lantern light neared, followed by a playful voice, "You fool, you think you can slay every spider in the Webbed Hollow alone? Come with me-I'll take you to play under the peach blossoms."
The beetle captain lifted his gaze to behold a maiden of unsurpassed beauty. His heart stirred, and he followed her at once. Henceforth, he was seen no more. One old guai mused, "To slay spiders within their lair is but to seek death itself."
The passage begins with a spider speaking modestly, saying it is small and humble but appears in stone together with its comrades. That sets the scene: there are spiders in the Webbed Hollow who are associated with stones, and they group together in the cave.
A lesser beetle, called a guai, rose to the rank of captain by skill. The promotion made him arrogant, and he started bossing the others until they shunned him. One day when he had no companions and was wandering the cave, he found a stone with long, thin legs sticking out — a spider waking up beneath a stone. These particular spiders carried stones on their backs and moved slowly and clumsily because of that burden.
The captain was in a bad mood and kicked one of the stone-spiders over just to mock it. The spider tried to right itself, and each time it struggled he flicked it down again and laughed at its helplessness. His cruelty continued until a sound from deeper in the cave interrupted him.
Crisp raps came from the depths and then many stone spiders marched out together. The captain drew his twin blades and charged into the group. The spiders did not flee: they hurled stones, spat silk and venom, and rammed and butted him. He went into a killing frenzy, spinning his blades and cutting them down with zeal as the fight raged around him.
As he fought, a lantern light drew near and a playful voice taunted him, "You fool, you think you can slay every spider in the Webbed Hollow alone? Come with me — I'll take you to play under the peach blossoms." He looked up, saw a maiden of unmatched beauty, followed her immediately, and was never seen again. An old guai later remarked that trying to kill spiders inside their own lair is basically asking for death, leaving the episode as a warning about arrogance, the spiders' deadly defense of their home, and the captain's unknown fate.