The Devil's Nine Questions

With all the talk of ballads this week I was listening to Jean Ritchie on the way home and this song came on.

It is clearly linked to the Child Ballad 'Riddles Wisely Expounded', but was collected in North Carolina by Dr Frank C Brown in the early 1900s:
https://archive.org/details/frankcbrowncolle04fran/page/332

This book attributes the collection to Richard Chase:
https://archive.org/details/balladtreestudyo0000well/page/168

How the alternate refrain came to be, and why there are eight questions but the song is called 'Nine Questions' is confusing. Is there another riddle hidden in the song?

And what does the song have to do with weavers? Is the answer an eight legged spider that bites like a thorn, weaves and makes white silk?

Purchase my music:
Bandcamp: https://ozfolklounge.bandcamp.com/