King Bruce of Scotland flung himself down in a lonely mood to think;
’Tis true he was monarch, and wore a crown, but his heart was beginning to sink,
For he had been trying to do a great deed to make his people glad,
He had tried and tried, but couldn’t succeed, and so he became quite sad.
He flung himself down in low despair, as grieved as man could be;
And after a while as he pondered there, “I’ll give it all up,” said he.
Now just at the moment a spider dropped, with its silken cobweb clew,
And the king in the midst of his thinking stopped to see what the spider would do.
’Twas a long way up to the ceiling dome, and it hung by a rope so fine,
That how it would get to its cobweb home, King Bruce could not divine.