Chapter 6 5.Charlotte

The night seemed to grow longer.Wilbur's stomach was empty, but his mind was full.It's always hard to fall asleep when your stomach is empty but your mind is full of thoughts. During the night, Wilbur woke up many times.When he woke he looked desperately into the darkness, and listened, trying to figure out what time it was.The barn was never completely quiet, and even in the middle of the night there was always noise. The first time he awoke, he heard Templeton drilling a hole in the barn.Templeton's teeth were pounding against the wood with great noise. "That crazy mouse!" thought Wilbur. "Why does he grind his teeth there all night, destroying people's property? Why doesn't he go to sleep, like any normal animal?"

Waking up for the second time, Wilbur heard the goose moving back and forth in her nest, giggling to herself. "What time is it?" Wilbur asked the goose in a low voice. "Perhaps-could-could be eleven-thirty," said the goose. "Why don't you sleep, Wilbur?" "I have too much on my mind," Wilbur said. "Well," said the goose. "I don't have that kind of trouble. I don't have anything in my head, but I have a lot of stuff under my ass. Have you ever tried sleeping on eight eggs?" "No," replied Wilbur. "I guess that must be uncomfortable, how long does a goose egg have to hatch?"

"They say about-about thirty days," answered the goose. "But I sometimes get lazy. In the warm afternoon, I often bring some straw to cover the eggs, and go for a walk alone." Wilbur yawned and fell asleep.In the dream he seemed to hear the voice again, "I will be your friend. Go to sleep—you will see me tomorrow morning." About half an hour before daylight, Wilbur woke up and began to listen.It was still dark in the barn.The sheep slept deeply.Even the goose was quiet.There was no movement at the main building overhead either: the cows were resting, the horses were dozing.Templeton was gone too, probably off to work elsewhere.There was only a slight sound on the roof of the barn, as the hyacinth cock swayed to and fro in the wind.Wilbur loved the barn now—everything was so quiet and peaceful, just waiting for the dawn to come.

"Day is coming," he thought. A gleam of light came in through the small window.The stars went out one by one.Wilbur could now see the goose a few paces away.Her head was hidden under the wings.Then he could see sheep and lambs clearly.Its daybreak. "Oh beautiful day, it's finally here! I'll find friends today." Wilbur searched around.He searched the house.He checked the sill, then looked at the ceiling.But nothing new was found.In the end he had to decide to speak up.Though he would not use his voice to break the lovely dawn silence, he could think of no other way of finding out that mysterious new friend who was nowhere to be seen.So Wilbur cleared his throat.

"Attention!" he said in a particularly sonorous voice. "Please give me a sign, or a signal, from that gentleman or lady who was kind enough to talk to me at bedtime last night!" Wilbur stopped and listened.The other animals looked up and stared at him.Wilbur blushed.But he was still determined to find out this strange friend. "Attention!" he said. "I repeat. Please come out and talk to the friend I had a warm conversation with before bed last night. Please tell me where you are, if you are my friend!" The sheep exchange expressions of disgust with each other.

"Stop talking nonsense, Wilbur!" said the oldest sheep. "If you have a new friend here, you're interfering with his rest; and waking him up before he's ready to get up in the morning is the quickest way to break a friendship. Can you be sure your friend likes to wake up early?" "Excuse me, everyone," Wilbur's voice trailed off. "I don't want to bother anyone." He lay down aggrievedly facing the door.He didn't expect to disturb others, but if his friend was not far away, he should have heard it by now.Maybe the old sheep is right - this friend hasn't woken up yet.

Soon Lu Wei came to deliver breakfast.Wilbur rushed out and ate the food in a hurry, licking the trough all over.The sheep headed down the path, followed by the waddling gander.Just as Wilbur was about to lie down for an early night's sleep, he heard the same noise from last night again. "Salute!" said the voice. Wilbur jumped to his feet. "To what?" he asked. "Salute!" the voice repeated. "What does that word mean, and where are you?" Wilbur screamed. "Please, please, tell me where you are. Also, what do you mean by salute?" "A salute is a term of greeting," said the voice. "When I say salute, it's like saying hello or good morning to you. Actually, it's a stupid way of saying it. It's strange how I just used such a word. Do you want to know where I am? Then Easy. Look at the top corner of the doorjamb! Here I am. Look, I'm waving!"

Wilbur finally found such a friendly animal to talk to.A large spider web was stretched above the door frame, and a large gray spider was hanging upside down from the height of the web.She's the size of a gumball.She had eight legs and was greeting Wilbur with one of them. "See me now?" she asked. "Oh, I did," said Wilbur. "Did see it! Hello! Good morning! Greetings! Nice to meet you. Yoyo, please? May I ask your name?" "My name," said the Spider, "is Charlotte." "Charlotte what?" Wilbur asked eagerly. "Charlotte A. Cavatina. You can call me Charlotte."

"I think you're really pretty," said Wilbur. "Thank you, I am very pretty," replied Charlotte. "There's no question about that. Almost all spiders are pretty good-looking. I'm not as showy as the others, but I'm all right. I hope I can see you, Wilbur, as well as you can." me too." "Why can't you see me clearly?" asked the little pig. "I'm right here." "Yes, but I'm short-sighted," replied Charlotte. "I'm very short-sighted. It's good for me and bad for me. You see I'm here to catch this fly."

A fly that had just been crawling along the edge of Wilbur's trough flew up, but foolishly bumped into Charlotte's web and got entangled in the sticky silk threads.The fly flapped its wings angrily, trying to break free. "First," said Charlotte, "I'm going to sneak up on him." She crawled slowly, head first, towards the fly.As she swung down, a thin silk thread came out of her tail. "Then, I'm going to wrap him up." She grabbed the fly and wrapped several black silk threads around him. The silk threads became tighter and tighter until the fly couldn't move.Wilbur watched all this in horror.He could hardly believe what he was seeing, and even though he hated flies, he felt sorry for the fly.

"Look," said Charlotte. "Now I'm going to knock him out and he'll feel better." She bit the fly. "He's unconscious now," she said. "He'll be a good breakfast for me." "You mean you eat flies?" Wilbur gasped. "Of course. Flies, bugs, grasshoppers, pretty beetles, moths, butterflies, tasty cockroaches, mosquitoes, gnats, long-legged mosquitoes, hemp gnats, crickets -- any little insect that accidentally bumps into my net All. I have to eat, don't I?" "Why? Oh, yes, of course," said Wilbur. "Are they delicious?" "It's wonderful. I don't really eat them, of course. I drink them—drink their blood. I like to drink blood," said Charlotte.Her voice sounded more and more crisp and cheerful. "Stop talking!" Wilbur moaned. "Please don't talk about it!" "Why not? Really, I'm telling the truth. I hate to eat flies and bugs, but that's how I survive. A spider has to make a living, and I happen to be a hunter. I was born to spin a web and use it to catch flies and other insects. Before me, my mother was a hunter. Before her, so was her mother. Our whole family was a hunter. Millions of years ago , we spiders live by eating flies and bugs." "What a sad inheritance that is," said Wilbur quietly.He was really sorry for the cruelty of his new friend. "Yes," agreed Charlotte. "But I can't change this characteristic. I don't know how the first spider in the world came up with the wonderful idea of ​​spinning a web, but she came up with it. She is really smart. Since then, we All spiders do it. Overall, not a bad invention." "It's a cruel invention," replied Wilbur curtly.He didn't intend to argue about it. "Oh, you can't say that," said Charlotte. "You have someone to bring you food. No one to feed me. I had to earn my living alone. I lived only by my wits. I had to be quick and smart to avoid starvation. I had to find ways, To catch what I can, and to eat their blood. That's the way, my friend, I eat the flies and other gnats I catch. Besides," said Charlotte, waving One leg, "Do you understand that if I don't catch the bugs and eat them, the bugs will multiply and multiply until there are enough to destroy the earth and destroy everything?" "Really?" said Wilbur. "I don't want that to happen. Maybe your net is a really good thing." The goose, who had been listening to the conversation, quacked to herself. "There's a lot Wilbur doesn't know about life," she thought. "He's such a naive little pig. He doesn't even know what's going to happen at Christmas; he doesn't even know that Mr. Zuckerman and Lurvy are plotting to kill him." The goose lifted herself up a little, Push her eggs closer down so they can better receive the heat from her warm body and soft feathers. Charlotte paused for a moment above the fly, ready to eat it.Wilbur quickly closed his eyes and lay down.He didn't sleep well last night, and the excitement of meeting new friends for the first time made him feel extra tired.The breeze brought him the smell of clover--the world beyond his fence was full of sweet scents. "Very well," thought he, "I have a new friend, which is very nice. But what a dangerous friendship! Charlotte is fierce, cruel, cunning, bloodthirsty--I don't like any of that. Although she is so Cute, sure, and smart, but how could I bring myself to try to like her?" Like those who make new friends for the first time, Wilbur is plagued by suspicion and fear.Later, he will find that he misunderstood Charlotte.In fact, under her terrifying and indifferent appearance, there is a kind heart. What happens in the future will prove that she is faithful to her friends, really, every moment.