The Spider Tower

In Dead Man’s Canyon, a deep gorge lateral to the once populated valley of the Rio de Chelly, Arizona stands a stark spire of weathered sandstone, its top rising eight hundred feet above its base in a sheer uplift. Centuries ago, an inhabitant of one of the cave villages was surprised by hostiles while hunting in this region and was chased by them into this canyon. As he ran, he looked vainly from side to side, hoping to secure a hiding place. Assistance came from at least expected source, for on approaching this enormous obelisk, with strength nearly exhausted, he saw a silken cord hanging from a notch at its top.

Hastily knotting the end about his waist so that it might not fall within reach of his pursuers, he climbed up, setting his feet into the roughness of the stone and advancing, hand over hand, until he had reached the summit, where he stayed, drinking dew and feeding on eagles’ eggs, until his enemies went away, for they could not reach him with their arrows, defended as he was by points of rock.

The foemen having gone, he safely descended by the cord and reached his home. This help had come from a friendly spider who saw his plight from her perch at the top of the spire, weaving a web of extra thickness; she made one end fast to a jag of rock. At the same time, the other fell within his grasp, for she, like all of the brute tribe, liked the gentle cave-dwellers better than the remorseless hunters. Hence, the name of the Spider Tower.

Source: Legendsofamerica.com