The children’s world was shocked at the near accidental death of an iconic character today as the ‘Itsy Bitsy Spider’, aka the, ‘Incy Wincy’ Spider, experienced some quirky weather in front of a group of young school children.

In a pre-planned appearance during his New York State summer tour, all was going well until the unthinkable happened in the form of an unexpected rainstorm.

The children, from the Snow White Academy in Schenectady NY, laughed and clapped along, as the spider progressed through his well-travelled routine that consisted of climbing up the water spout, when, to the preschoolers horror, a sudden downpour came and ‘washed the spider out.’

A spokesperson for the entertainment group that produced the show said, “We did not see the grass covered drain below the spout during the pre-show inspection and, well he almost bought it. But really, water spouts are slippery, he should have known.”

“We didn’t expect it.” said show producer Harvey Billington, “As per script, we planned a slight shower after the spider performed a couple of somersaults and a little 4 ball juggling during the climb, but due to the heavy shower, that didn’t happen.”

A few seconds passed and the spider did not emerge from the drain. One child started crying which then spread to the others.

The script called for sun coming out and drying up ‘all the rain’ so the spider could finish the bit to his usual applause, but after one minute, then two, he didn’t re-emerge and the scene turned chaotic for the tots.

Happily, the sun did come out and dried up all the rain as the performer dragged his soggy body up from the depths. “I’m glad the drain was clogged”, the spider said afterwards, “There was a lot of hair down there and that’s what saved me.”

Raffi, a popular children’s singer who recorded the well-known song on his Let’s Play album, was reached for comment at his villa in Switzerland said, “I know him from when he was ‘Incy Wincy. He’s been flirting with death for a long time now. One day the sun won’t come out and he’ll just go ‘down the drain’ and never return. Aside from that, he loves children and his interplay with them is beyond many of the other childhood characters like the Gingerbread man, who incidentally passed last year from a huge mold on his buttock.