E.B. White's "Charlotte's Web" (comprehensive)

The barn had stalls on the main floor for the work horses, tie-ups on the main floor for the cows, a sheepfold down below for the sheep, a pigpen down below for Wilbur, and it was full of all sorts of things that you find in barns: ladders, grindst

Stretched across the upper part of the doorway was a big spiderweb, and hanging from the top of the web, head down, was a large grey spider.

Avery lay dreaming that the Ferris wheel had stopped and that he was in the top car.

Stretched across the upper part of the doorway was a big spiderweb, and hanging from the top of the web, head down, was a large grey spider.

I'm expecting goslings."

"Then my name is Aranea," said the spider.

"Furthermore," said Mr. Zuckerman, "I want you to start building a crate for Wilbur.

In the hard-packed dirt of the midway, after the glaring lights are out and the people have gone home to bed, you will find a veritable treasure of popcorn fragments, frozen custard dribblings, candied apples abandoned by tired children, sugar fluf

So did the geese, who lived with the sheep.

Fern phoned and got her Aunt Edith, and her Aunt Edith hollered for Uncle Homer, and Uncle Homer came in from the barn and talked to Fern.

"I suppose it is uncomfortable. take a goose egg to hatch?"

I'll go and get a bucket of slops."

It's time I made an egg sac and filled it with eggs."

He found a small strip of potato skin and ate it.

"I know where there's a package of soap flakes in the woodshed.

That's a fine specimen of a pig it's no bigger than a white rat."

"Oink, oink, oink!"

"Run toward me!" yelled the gander.

In the hard-packed dirt of the midway, after the glaring lights are out and the people have gone home to bed, you will find a veritable treasure of popcorn fragments, frozen custard dribblings, candied apples abandoned by tired children, sugar fluf

"Homer," she said to her husband, "I am going to give that pig a buttermilk bath."

He walked slowly to his food trough and sniffed to see if anything had been overlooked at lunch.

Avery noticed the spider web, and, coming closer, he saw Charlotte.

"Look at my frog!" said Avery, placing the frog on the drainboard and holding out his hand for pie.

"Can't a rat catch a wink of sleep without being rudely popped into the air?"

"Just in time for a piece of blueberry pie," said Mrs. Zuckerman.

In the horse barn you will find oats that the trotters and pacers have spilled.

And there was always hay being pitched down to the cows and the horses and the sheep.

"Furthermore, each leg of mine has seven sections - the coxa, the trochanter, the femur, the patella, the tibia, the metatarsus, and the tarsus."

"There is to be no more cow manure thrown down into that pigpen.

I'll go and get a bucket of slops."

"I think I shall ask Dr. Dorian about her the next time I see him.

The barn had stalls on the main floor for the work horses, tie-ups on the main floor for the cows, a sheepfold down below for the sheep, a pigpen down below for Wilbur, and it was full of all sorts of things that you find in barns: ladders, grindstones, p

Then she climbed the side of the crate and hid herself inside a knothole in the top board.

"I'm sitting-sitting on my eggs.

The cocker spaniel heard the commotion and he ran out from the barn to join the chase.

Mrs. Zuckerman lay dreaming about a deep freeze unit.

When the children grew tired of swinging they went down toward the pasture and picked wild raspberries and ate them.

There, in the center of the web, neatly woven in block letters, was a message.

We must advertise Wilbur's noble qualities, not his tastiness.

"Charlotte is the best storyteller I ever heard," said Fern, poking her dish towel into a cereal bowl.

Mr. Arable fixed a small yard specially for Wilbur under an apple tree, and gave him a large wooden box full of straw, with a doorway cut in it so he could walk in and out as he pleased.

She was still thinking about the pig when the teacher said: "Fern, what is the capital of Pennsylvania?"

Soon each was as big as a BB shot.

The baby spiders felt the warm updraft.

She plunged headfirst toward the fly.

Skim milk, crusts, middlings, bits of doughnuts, wheat cakes with drops of maple syrup sticking to them, potato skins, leftover custard pudding with raisins, and bits of Shredded Wheat.

And sometimes Avery would find a little grass snake in the hay, and would add it to the other things in his pocket.

The sun

Lurvy appeared, carrying an Indian blanket that he had won.

"A balloonist," said Charlotte.

Mr. Arable cut the motor, got out, walked around to the rear, and lowered the tailgate.

Where's Papa going with that ax?" said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast.

You climbed a ladder to the hayloft.

Flies, bugs, grasshoppers, choice beetles, moths, butterflies, tasty cockroaches, gnats, midges, daddy longlegs, centipedes, mosquitoes, crickets - anything that is careless enough to get caught in my web.

She fed him again at suppertime, and again just before going to bed.

"Furthermore, each leg of mine has seven sections - the coxa, the trochanter, the femur, the patella, the tibia, the metatarsus, and the tarsus."

The Zuckermans' driveway was full of cars and trucks from morning till night - Fords and Chevvies and Buick roadmasters and GMC pickups and Plymouths and Studebakers and Packards and De Sotos with gyromatic transmissions and Oldsmobiles with rocket

"Furthermore, each leg of mine has seven sections - the coxa, the trochanter, the femur, the patella, the tibia, the metatarsus, and the tarsus."

The smell was delicious - warm milk, potato skins, wheat middlings, Kellogg's Corn Flakes, and a popover left from the Zuckermans' breakfast.

The barn had stalls on the main floor for the work horses, tie-ups on the main floor for the cows, a sheepfold down below for the sheep, a pigpen down below for Wilbur, and it was full of all sorts of things that you find in barns: ladders, grindst

Avery carried a live frog in his hand.

"Pig, pig!" said Mr. Zuckerman in a kind voice, and began walking slowly toward the barnyard, looking all about him innocently, as he didn't know that a little white pig was following along behind him.

Skim milk, crusts, middlings, bits of doughnuts, wheat cakes with drops of maple syrup sticking to them, potato skins, leftover custard pudding with raisins, and bits of Shredded Wheat.

By the time the Arables and the Zuckermans and Lurvy returned from the grandstand, Charlotte had finished her web.

"She knows Henry Fussy," said Mrs. Dr. Arable brightly.

She found an old milking stool that had been discarded, and she placed the stool in the sheepfold next to Wilbur's pen.

The grass was wet and the earth smelled of springtime.

That's a fine specimen of a pig it's no bigger than a white rat."

"How about 'Terrific, terrific, terrific'?" asked the goose.

It was a delicious meal - skim milk, wheat middlings, leftover pancakes, half a doughnut, the rind of a summer squash, two pieces of stale toast, a third of a gingersnap, a fish tail, one orange peel, several noodles from a noodle soup, the scum of

It smelled of grain and of harness dressing and of axle grease


and of rubber boots and of new rope.

Buckets with sour mash sticking to them, tin cans containing particles


of tuna fish, greasy paper bags stuffed with rotten ..."

Lurvy took out an enormous handkerchief and blew his nose very loud - so loud, in fact, that the noise was heard by stableboys over at the horse barn.

There were lights on the midway, and you could hear the crackle of the gambling machines and the music of the merry-go-round and the voice of the man in the beano booth calling numbers.

Next day Wilbur was taken from his home under the apple tree and went to live in a manure pile in the cellar of Zuckerman's barn.

Wilbur was poking the straw with his snout.

Next day Wilbur was taken from his home under the apple tree and went to live in a manure pile in the cellar of Zuckerman's barn.

Charlotte read the words: "With New Radiant Action."

From eleven to twelve he planned to stand still and watch flies on the boards, watch bees in the clover, and watch swallows in the air.

Mr. Arable fixed a small yard specially for Wilbur under an apple tree, and gave him a large wooden box full of straw, with a doorway cut in it so he could walk in and out as he pleased.

"The school bus will be along in half an hour."

"Your Uncle Homer sometimes raises a pig.

And on the under side of the leaf of the potato vine are the bright orange eggs of the potato bug.

He doesn't even know what's going to happen to him around Christmastime; he has no idea that Mr. Zuckerman and Lurvy are plotting to kill him."

By had named her pet, selecting the and climbed into the bus.

From the edge of the woods, the white-throated sparrow (which must come all the way from Boston) calls, "Oh, Peabody, Peabody, Peabody!"

Flies, bugs, grasshoppers, choice beetles, moths, butterflies, tasty cockroaches, gnats, midges, daddy longlegs, centipedes, mosquitoes, crickets - anything that is careless enough to get caught in my web.

"They'll never-never-never catch you in the woods."

Templeton seized the string, passed it around the end of the pig's tail, and tied two half hitches.

It was peach-colored and looked as though it were made of cotton candy.

"Furthermore, each leg of mine has seven sections - the coxa, the trochanter, the femur, the patella, the tibia, the metatarsus, and the tarsus."

"Run!" commanded Mrs. Arable, taking the pig from Fern and slipping a doughnut into her hand.

" The song sparrow, who knows how brief and lovely life is, says, "Sweet, sweet, sweet interlude; sweet, sweet, sweet interlude."

When Mr. Arable returned to the house half an hour later, he carried a carton under his arm.

Flies, bugs, grasshoppers, choice beetles, moths, butterflies, tasty cockroaches, gnats, midges, daddy longlegs, centipedes, mosquitoes, crickets - anything that is careless enough to get caught in my web.

The lambs learned about it from their mothers.

Buckets with sour mash sticking to them, tin cans containing particles


of tuna fish, greasy paper bags stuffed with rotten ..."

Then he walked to the sink and washed his hands and dried them on the roller towel.

Rain fell in the barnyard and ran in crooked courses down into the lane where thistles and pigweed grew.

In the trampled grass of the infield you will find old discarded lunch boxes containing the foul remains of peanut butter sandwiches, hard-boiled eggs, cracker crumbs, bits of doughnuts, and particles of cheese.

He was strong and brave, but the truth is, both the goose and the gander were worried about Templeton.

Mrs. Arable found a baby's nursing bottle and a rubber nipple.

The news of the wonderful pig spread clear up into the hills, and farmers came rattling down in buggies and buckboards, to stand hour after hour at Wilbur's pen admiring the miraculous animal.

"Please don't kill it!" she sobbed.

He walked slowly to his food trough and sniffed to see if anything had been overlooked at lunch.

The cocker spaniel heard the commotion and he ran out from the barn to join the chase.

The barn had stalls on the main floor for the work horses, tie-ups on the main floor for the cows, a sheepfold down below for the sheep, a pigpen down below for Wilbur, and it was full of all sorts of things that you find in barns: ladders, grindstones, p

The fish was thrashing wildly.

It was a delicious meal - skim milk, wheat middlings, leftover pancakes, half a doughnut, the rind of a summer squash, two pieces of stale toast, a third of a gingersnap, a fish tail, one orange peel, several noodles from a noodle soup, the scum of

His back itched, so he leaned against the fence and rubbed against the boards.

It smelled of the perspiration of tired horses and the wonderful sweet breath of patient cows.

"Well," said her mother, "one of the pigs is a runt.

Lurvy dumped the slops, scraped the pail, and walked away.

She found an old milking stool that had been discarded, and she placed the stool in the sheepfold next to Wilbur's pen.

"I'm sitting-sitting on my eggs.

He handed Mr. Zuckerman two ten dollar bills and a five dollar bill.

A little girl is one thing, a little runty pig is another."

Then, when Mrs. Arable complained, he was moved to a bigger box in the woodshed.

I don't know how the first spider in the early days of the world happened to think up this fancy idea of spinning a web, but she did, and it was clever of her, too.

He felt the pleasant rubbing of the stick along his itchy back.

With her broad bill the goose pushed the unhatched egg out of the nest, and the entire company watched in disgust while the rat rolled it away.

Mr. the emergency brake. crouched and made Avery wouldn't see her.

Wilbur heard the trill of the tree toad and the occasional slamming of the kitchen door.

"Wash up and eat your breakfast, Avery!" said his mother.

Fern pushed a chair out of the way and ran outdoors.

"It means nobody will be able to live here on account of the smell. rotten egg is a regular stink bomb."

"The last time I swang in this swing, I almost crashed into a barn swallow," he yelled.

And on the under side of the leaf of the potato vine are the bright orange eggs of the potato bug.

In the hard-packed dirt of the midway, after the glaring lights are out and the people have gone home to bed, you will find a veritable treasure of popcorn fragments, frozen custard dribblings, candied apples abandoned by tired children, sugar fluf

She found an old milking stool that had been discarded, and she placed the stool in the sheepfold next to Wilbur's pen.

He handed Mr. Zuckerman two ten dollar bills and a five dollar bill.

Wilbur was poking the straw with his snout.

It was peach-colored and looked as though it were made of cotton candy.

Astride her web, Charlotte sat moodily eating a horsefly and thinking about the future.

CHAPTER 6 Summer Days The early summer days on a farm are the happiest and fairest days of the year.

She was about the size of a gumdrop.

"I didn't ask for a shower bath," said Mr. Zuckerman.

From across the road a bird sang "Whippoorwill, whippoorwill!"

"The way to save Wilbur's life is to play a trick on Zuckerman.

There were lights on the midway, and you could hear the crackle of the gambling machines and the music of the merry-go-round and the voice of the man in the beano booth calling numbers.

The children grabbed each other by the hand and danced off in the direction of the merry-go-round, toward the wonderful music and the wonderful adventure and the wonderful excitement, into the wonderful midway where there would be no parents to gua

Flies, bugs, grasshoppers, choice beetles, moths, butterflies, tasty cockroaches, gnats, midges, daddy longlegs, centipedes, mosquitoes, crickets - anything that is careless enough to get caught in my web.

It was a delicious meal - skim milk, wheat middlings, leftover pancakes, half a doughnut, the rind of a summer squash, two pieces of stale toast, a third of a gingersnap, a fish tail, one orange peel, several noodles from a noodle soup, the scum of

He was heavily armed - an air rifle in one hand, a wooden dagger in the other.

Here, in a small clearing hidden by young alders and wild raspberry bushes, was an astonishing pile of old bottles and empty tin cans and dirty rags and bits of metal and broken bottles and broken hinges and broken springs and dead batteries and la

It was a delicious meal - skim milk, wheat middlings, leftover pancakes, half a doughnut, the rind of a summer squash, two pieces of stale toast, a third of a gingersnap, a fish tail, one orange peel, several noodles from a noodle soup, the scum off a cup

Tears ran down her cheeks and she took hold of the ax and tried to pull it out of her father's hand.

In the hard-packed dirt of the midway, after the glaring lights are out and the people have gone home to bed, you will find a veritable treasure of popcorn fragments, frozen custard dribblings, candied apples abandoned by tired children, sugar fluff cryst

It was apple-blossom time, and the days were getting warmer.

The smell was delicious - warm milk, potato skins, wheat middlings, Kellogg's Corn Flakes, and a popover left from the Zuckermans' breakfast.

Every afternoon, when the school bus stopped in front of her house, she jumped out and ran to the kitchen to fix another bottle for him.

"What did you think I was, a spring chicken?

As I came past that pig next door - the one that calls himself Uncle I noticed a blue tag on the front of his pen.

So Charlotte told him about another cousin of hers who was an aeronaut.

And if he was very tired, he would close his eyes and go to sleep under the doll's blanket.

The only sound was a slight scraping noise from the rooftop, where the weather-vane swung back and forth.

Charlotte liked to do her weaving during the late afternoon, and Fern liked to sit nearby and watch.

Lurvy, the hired man, heard the noise and came up from the asparagus patch where he was pulling weeds.

"My cousin used to stand on her head and let out enough thread to form a balloon.

Mr. Arable fixed a small yard specially for Wilbur under an apple tree, and gave him a large wooden box full of straw, with a doorway cut in it so he could walk in and out as he pleased.

When the children grew tired of swinging they went down toward the pasture and picked wild raspberries and ate them.

Up the road at the Arables' house, Fern lugged a pail of hot water to her room and took a sponge bath.

"Out to the hoghouse," replied Mrs. night."

The goose heard the racket and she, too, started hollering.

But Fern couldn't eat until her pig had had a drink of milk.

The goose chuckled.

I do not play when there are eggs to hatch.

She would wave good-bye to him, and he would stand and watch the bus until it vanished around a turn.

The smell was delicious - warm milk, potato skins, wheat middlings, Kellogg's Corn Flakes, and a popover left from the Zuckermans' breakfast.

Fern phoned and got her Aunt Edith, and her Aunt Edith hollered for Uncle Homer, and Uncle Homer came in from the barn and talked to Fern.

The fish was thrashing wildly.

Under the wild apple trees in the pasture, the red little apples lay thick on the ground, and the sheep knawed them and the geese gnawed them and foxes came in the night and sniffed them.

Twelve o'clock - lunchtime.

It smelled of the perspiration of tired horses and the wonderful sweet breath of patient cows.

From eleven to twelve he planned to stand still and watch flies on the boards, watch bees in the clover, and watch swallows in the air.

The barn had stalls on the main floor for the work horses, tie-ups on the main floor for the cows, a sheepfold down below for the sheep, a pigpen down below for Wilbur, and it was full of all sorts of things that you find in barns: ladders, grindstones, p

Wilbur stood in the trough, drooling with hunger.

It smelled of grain and of harness dressing and of axle grease


and of rubber boots and of new rope.

The cocker spaniel heard the commotion and he ran out from the barn to join the chase.

"Henry Fussy," he mumbled.

The school bus honked from the road.

Where's Papa going with that ax?" said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast.

"Charlotte is the best storyteller I ever heard," said Fern, poking her dish towel into a cereal bowl.

"Let's build a tree house," suggested Avery. with my frog."

"What do you think I am, a messenger boy?" grumbled the rat.

The cocker spaniel was sneaking up on him from one side, Lurvy the hired man was sneaking up on him from the other side.

In the trampled grass of the infield you will find old discarded lunch boxes containing the foul remains of peanut butter sandwiches, hard-boiled eggs, cracker crumbs, bits of doughnuts, and particles of cheese.

The grass was wet and the earth smelled of springtime.

Stop thrashing about!"

A fly that had been crawling along Wilbur's trough had flown up and blundered into the lower part of Charlotte's web and was tangled in the sticky threads.

Mrs. Zuckerman screamed at Lurvy.

Like Fern, she was truly fond of Wilbur, whose smelly pen and stale food attracted the flies that she needed, and she was proud to see that he was not a quitter and was willing to try again to spin a web.

"Good night, Charlotte!" said Wilbur.

Will the owner of a Pontiac car, license number H-2439, please move your car away from the fireworks shed!"

Here, in a small clearing hidden by young alders and wild raspberry bushes, was an astonishing pile of old bottles and empty tin cans and dirty rags and bits of metal and broken bottles and broken hinges and broken springs and dead batteries and la

"Out to the hoghouse," replied Mrs. night."

Then you'll see what trouble a pig can be."

"Cheeky, cheeky!" they say.

Inside it were leftovers from somebody's lunch: a deviled ham sandwich, a piece of Swiss cheese, part of a hard-boiled egg, and the core of a wormy apple.

The children ran out to the road notice of the others in the bus. window, thinking what a blissful have entire charge of a pig.

Where's Papa going with that ax?" said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast.

CHAPTER 11 The Miracle The next day was foggy.

"Don't get overheated!" said their mother.

"When the first light comes into the sky and the sparrows stir and the cows rattle their chains, when the rooster crows and the stars fade, when early cars whisper along the highway, you look up here and I'll show you something.

He crawled into the tunnel and disappeared from sight, completely covered with straw.

Children pay better attention than grownups.

"Oh, be quiet! with pigs." " said the lamb.

"You watch and see what he does."

The barn was pleasantly warm in winter when the animals spent most of their time indoors, and it was pleasantly cool in summer when the big doors stood wide open to the breeze.

"Look," said the old sheep, "next time you go to the dump, Templeton, bring back a clipping from a magazine.

"I have to hang around here whether I want to or not.

"Can I have a frozen custard and a cheeseburger and some raspberry soda pop?" asked Avery.

I'm glad I'm a sedentary spider."

It relieved her mind to know that her baby would sleep covered up, and would stay warm.

Sometimes, on these journeys, Wilbur would get tired, and Fern would pick him up and put him in the carriage alongside the doll.

Pay out line!

"Saved from an untimely death. the good Lord forgive me for this foolishness."

He gulped and sucked, and sucked and gulped, making swishing and swooshing noises, anxious to get everything at once.

Sometimes, on these journeys, Wilbur would get tired, and Fern would pick him up and put him in the carriage alongside the doll.

"You don't have to stay in that dirty-little dirty-little dirty-little yard," said the goose, who talked rather fast.

"Can I have a frozen custard and a cheeseburger and some raspberry soda pop?" asked Avery.

In the hard-packed dirt of the midway, after the glaring lights are out and the people have gone home to bed, you will find a veritable treasure of popcorn fragments, frozen custard dribblings, candied apples abandoned by tired children, sugar fluf

"Salutations!" said the voice.

The barn was pleasantly warm in winter when the animals spent most of their time indoors, and it was pleasantly cool in summer when the big doors stood wide open to the breeze.

So while the children swam and played and splashed water at each other, Wilbur amused himself in the mud along the edge of the brook, where it was warm and moist and delightfully sticky and oozy.

Then you straddled the knot, so that it acted as a seat.

"Control myself?" yelled Fern.

Inside it were leftovers from somebody's lunch: a deviled ham sandwich, a piece of Swiss cheese, part of a hard-boiled egg, and the core of a wormy apple.

They could hear sheep blatting in their pens.

Mr. Zuckerman poured some skim milk into Wilbur's trough, pitched clean straw into his pen, and then he and Mrs. Zuckerman and the Arables; walked away toward the cattle barn to look at purebred cows and to see the sights.

"Run-run-run downhill, make for the woods, the woods!" she shouted to Wilbur.

I left just a tiny bit of mashed potato."

Fern took no She just sat and stared out of the world it was and how lucky she was to the time the bus reached school, Fern most beautiful name she could think of.

Fern had a monkey doll in her arms and was eating Crackerjack.

"Did you hear the way she rambled on about the animals, pretending that they talked?"

In the trampled grass of the infield you will find old discarded lunch boxes containing the foul remains of peanut butter sandwiches, hard-boiled eggs, cracker crumbs, bits of doughnuts, and particles of cheese.

Dodge about, dodge about!"

"I see no difference," replied Fern, still hanging on to the ax. is the most terrible case of injustice I ever heard of."

On an apple bough, the phoebe teeters and wags its tail and says, "Phoebe, phoe-bee!

"Imagine wanting a junky old rotten egg!" he muttered.

The barn had stalls on the main floor for the work horses, tie-ups on the main floor for the cows, a sheepfold down below for the sheep, a pigpen down below for Wilbur, and it was full of all sorts of things that you find in barns: ladders, grindstones, p

In a short time he had dug a tunnel in the straw.

"No, I only distribute pigs to early risers," said Mr. Arable.

From the edge of the woods, the white-throated sparrow (which must come all the way from Boston) calls, "Oh, Peabody, Peabody, Peabody!"

This morning each thin strand was decorated with dozens of tiny beads of water.

He had plowed up quite a piece of ground before anyone noticed him.

Of course, he gets into poison ivy and gets stung by wasps and bees and brings frogs and snakes home and breaks everything he lays his hands on.

The cocker spaniel sprang for Wilbur's hind leg.

The barn had stalls on the main floor for the work horses, tie-ups on the main floor for the cows, a sheepfold down below for the sheep, a pigpen down below for Wilbur, and it was full of all sorts of things that you find in barns: ladders, grindstones, p

When I'm

"That's where you're wrong, my friend, my friend," said a voice.

Avery found an empty candy box and put his frog in it.

The kitchen table was set for breakfast, and the room smelled of coffee, bacon, damp plaster, and wood smoke from the stove.

It was on a day in early summer that the goose eggs hatched.

Then you would drop down, down, down out of the sky and come sailing back into the barn almost into the hayloft, then sail out again (not quite so far this time), then in again (not quite so high), then out again, then in again, then out, then in; and the

"Templeton," said Wilbur, "if you weren't so dopey, you would have noticed that Charlotte has made an egg sac.

Wilbur tagged along at Fern's heels.

The Zuckermans' driveway was full of cars and trucks from morning till night - Fords and Chevvies and Buick roadmasters and GMC pickups and Plymouths and Studebakers and Packards and De Sotos with gyromatic transmissions and Oldsmobiles with rocket eng

"This

He seemed almost ready to

"All right," he said.

The morning light shone through its ears, turning them pink.

You can imagine Wilbur's surprise when, out of


the darkness, came a small voice he had never heard before.

"Just in time for a piece of blueberry pie," said Mrs. Zuckerman.

"Furthermore, each leg of mine has seven sections - the coxa, the trochanter, the femur, the patella, the tibia, the metatarsus, and the tarsus."

"Furthermore, each leg of mine has seven sections - the coxa, the trochanter, the femur, the patella, the tibia, the metatarsus, and the tarsus."

It smelled of hay and it smelled of manure.

Mrs. Arable shifted uneasily in her chair. can crochet a doily and I can knit a sock."

"Probably-obably-obably about half-past eleven," said the goose. aren't you asleep, Wilbur?"

On an apple bough, the phoebe teeters and wags its tail and says, "Phoebe, phoe-bee!

She was still thinking about the pig when the teacher said: "Fern, what is the capital of Pennsylvania?"

"The school bus will be along in half an hour."

His ratty home under the pig trough was too chilly, so he fixed himself a cozy nest in the barn


behind the grain bins.

The thought of death came to him and he began to tremble with fear.

"You're getting your pie on you," said Fern. the henhouse, Aunt Edith?"

Every afternoon, when the school bus stopped in front of her house, she jumped out and ran to the kitchen to fix another bottle for him.

"It's a miserable inheritance," said Wilbur, gloomily. because his new friend was so bloodthirsty.

The children ran out to the road notice of the others in the bus. window, thinking what a blissful have entire charge of a pig.

The food smelled appetizing.

"I believe what I need The

"I think it try again," said Wilbur, cheerfully. is a little piece of string to hold me."

Wilbur had planned to go out, this day, and dig a new hole in his yard.

Avery grabbed his gun and another doughnut.

A minute later, Fern was seated on the floor in the corner of the kitchen with her infant between her knees, teaching it to suck from the bottle.

Fern's sneakers were sopping by the time she caught up with her father.

"Fern," said Mr. Arable, "I know more about raising a litter of pigs than you do.

"Play?" said Templeton, twirling his whiskers. the meaning of the word."

"I don't know what a magnum opus is," said Wilbur.

Fern couldn't take her eyes off the tiny pig. look at him!

And right spang in the middle of the web there were the words 'Some Pig." The words were woven right into the web.

Inside it were leftovers from somebody's lunch: a deviled ham sandwich, a piece of Swiss cheese, part of a hard-boiled egg, and the core of a wormy apple.

"Just the same, I don't envy you," said the old sheep. they're fattening you up, don't you?"

Fern and Avery were standing in the body of the truck hanging on to the sideboards.

Fern came slowly down the stairs.

"You children be quiet till we get the pig unloaded," said Mrs. Arable.

He had plowed up quite a piece of ground before anyone noticed him.

Fern pushed a chair out of the way and ran outdoors.

As a result of overeating, Templeton grew bigger and fatter than any rat you ever saw.

The frog jumped and landed in Mrs. Zuckerman's dishpan full of soapy water.

Fern wanted to know.

But I am going to save you, and I want you to quiet down immediately.

It relieved her mind to know that her baby would sleep covered up, and would stay warm.

"Furthermore, each leg of mine has seven sections - the coxa, the trochanter, the femur, the patella, the tibia, the metatarsus, and the tarsus."

Fern stood at the kitchen sink drying the breakfast dishes as her mother washed them.

Everywhere is loot for a rat - in tents, in booths, in hay lofts - why, a fair has enough disgusting leftover food to satisfy a whole army of rats."

I'll let you start it on a bottle, like a baby.

And Templeton, the rat, crept stealthily along the wall and disappeared into a private tunnel that he had dug between the door and the trough in Wilbur's yard.

For a second you seemed to be falling to the barn floor far below, but then suddenly the rope would begin to catch you, and you would sail through the barn door going a mile a minute, with the wind whistling in your eyes and ears and hair.

When I'm

"That's where you're wrong, my friend, my friend," said a voice.

"Struggle if you must," said he, "but kindly remember that I'm hiding down here in this crate and I don't want to be stepped on, or kicked in the face, or pummeled, or crushed in any way, or squashed, or buffeted about, or bruised, or lacerated, or scarre

He was strong and brave, but the truth is, both the goose and the gander were worried about Templeton.

She worked slowly but steadily while the other creatures drowsed.

"Jump and dance!" said the rooster.

From the edge of the woods, the white-throated sparrow (which must come all the way from Boston) calls, "Oh, Peabody, Peabody, Peabody!"

"In a forest looking for beechnuts and truffles and delectable roots, pushing leaves aside with my wonderful strong nose, searching and sniffing along the ground, smelling, smelling, smelling..."

A spider has to pick up a living somehow or other, and I happen to be a trapper.

It was a delicious meal - skim milk, wheat middlings, leftover pancakes, half a doughnut, the rind of a summer squash, two pieces of stale toast, a third of a gingersnap, a fish tail, one orange peel, several noodles from a noodle soup, the scum of

Flies, bugs, grasshoppers, choice beetles, moths, butterflies, tasty cockroaches, gnats, midges, daddy longlegs, centipedes, mosquitoes, crickets - anything that is careless enough to get caught in my web.

CHAPTER 11 The Miracle The next day was foggy.

Suddenly a voice was heard on the loud speaker.

Mrs. Zuckerman and Mrs. Arable stood on the running board of the truck.

The kitchen table was set for breakfast, and the room smelled of coffee, bacon, damp plaster, and wood smoke from the stove.

When she was finished ripping things out, her web looked something like this: Note: Similar to a wagon wheel with spokes A spider can produce several kinds of thread.

Fern's sneakers were sopping by the time she caught up with her father.

Just watch what you're doing, Mr. Radiant, when they get shoving you in!"

All the animals trusted her, she was so quiet and friendly.

"Almost all young pigs get murdered by the farmer as soon as the real cold weather sets in.

"Play?" said Templeton, twirling his whiskers. the meaning of the word."

"Skip around, run toward me, slip in and out, in and Make for the woods!

If she took her doll for a walk in the doll carriage, Wilbur followed along.

The sheep looked at each other in disgust.

The doll would close her eyes, too, and Fern would wheel the carriage very slowly and smoothly so as not to wake her infants.

He walked to the trough and took a long drink of slops, sucking in the milk hungrily and chewing the popover.

There, inside, looking up at her, was the newborn pig.

Fern's sneakers were sopping by the time she caught up with her father.

Skim milk, crusts, middlings, bits of doughnuts, wheat cakes with drops of maple syrup sticking to them, potato skins, leftover custard pudding with raisins, and bits of Shredded Wheat.

The straw seemed scratchy - not as comfortable as the cow manure, which was always delightfully soft to lie in.

A sparrow with a streaky breast arrived and sang.

It's also the dirtiest trick I ever heard of. of!"

When the children grew tired of swinging they went down toward the pasture and picked wild raspberries and ate them.

Inside it were leftovers from somebody's lunch: a deviled ham sandwich, a piece of Swiss cheese, part of a hard-boiled egg, and the core of a wormy apple.

It is my egg sac, my _magnum _opus."

I'll let you start it on a bottle, like a baby.

The frog jumped and landed in Mrs. Zuckerman's dishpan full of soapy water.

Wilbur was poking the straw with his snout.

It was a delicious meal - skim milk, wheat middlings, leftover pancakes, half a doughnut, the rind of a summer squash, two pieces of stale toast, a third of a gingersnap, a fish tail, one orange peel, several noodles from a noodle soup, the scum of

"There was my cousin, slipping in, dodging out, beaten mercilessly over the head by the wildly thrashing fish, dancing in, dancing out, throwing her threads and fighting hard.

"There's never anything to do around here," he thought.

Then Templeton bared his long ugly teeth and began snipping the threads that fastened the sac to the ceiling.

Skim milk, crusts, middlings, bits of doughnuts, wheat cakes with drops of maple syrup sticking to them, potato skins, leftover custard pudding with raisins, and bits of Shredded Wheat.

"Sleep, sleep, my love, my only, Deep, deep, in the dung and the dark; Be not afraid and be not lonely!

When he had finished the last drop, he grunted and walked sleepily into the box.