It is said that Sani people lived in a beautiful
place long ago - Guorao (present Kunming in Yi language), living
a life of peace and contentment. Sani's chief was an honest man. He had a magic
sword that helped resist invasion from other tribes: he only needed to wave his
sword and recite the spell, and invaders’ heads would fall correspondingly.
Even if beheaded by other people, Sani's chief could figure out a way to grow
again.
Later he married a beautiful girl from another tribe. The girl defrauded
his trust with sugared words and obtained his secret spell. Chief said, I would
die as well as long as someone used Hedyotis diffusa to scratch my neck three
times to stop my
resurrection. The wife told the secret spell to the tribe chief of her maiden
family, and they worked together to murder Sani Chief. Outsiders drove Sani
people out of Guorao and hunted them down everywhere. Homeless Sani people escaped to Lunan Stone Forest and hid in a cave, which was soon covered by spiderwebs. Chasers rushed to the
entrance of the cave only to see many spider webs. They thought it was
impossible for Sani people to hide inside, so they left. No longer in danger,
Sani people settled there plowing and reproducing. From then on, they have been
taking spider as the god that saved their life to worship. Thus spider has become Sani
people's .