I think it was Robert the Bruce who battled the English seven times but could not drive them out of Scotland and who watched a spider one night above his head trying to shoot a thread from one beam to another. He counted the attempts and seven times the spider failed. Instead of giving up, the spider tried an eighth time and succeeded and built its web. Bruce decided it was a sign to him to try again and, of course, this time he too succeeded. He then signed an edict forbidding the killing of spiders in Scotland but, of course, it was a symbolic gesture as there was no way to enforce it.