Chapter 23 twenty two.gentle wind

So Wilbur returned to his home in the barn cellar next to the manure pile.He returned with a strange appearance: a medal of honor around his neck and a spider's egg sac in his mouth.There's no place as warm as home, he thought, as he carefully placed Charlotte's 514 unborn children in a safe corner.It smells so good from the barn.His friends, the sheep and the geese, were delighted to see him back. The geese welcomed them in their own way. "Congratulations-congratulations!" they shouted. "Nice job." Mr. Zuckerman took the medal from Wilbur's neck and hung it on a nail above the pigsty, where it was easily seen by visitors, and Wilbur could see it at all times.

In the following days, he lived very happily.He is surprisingly big.He no longer worried about being killed because he knew Mr. Zuckerman would keep him alive.Wilbur also often thought of Charlotte.A few remnants of her old net still hang from the door frame.Every day Wilbur would go up there and stand there for a while, looking at the broken, empty net, and then he would choke.No one has ever had such a friend--so close, so loyal, such wise. Autumn passed quickly, Lu Wei piled loofahs and pumpkins from the garden into the barn, where they would not be damaged by the cold of frosty nights.The maple trees and birch trees became extraordinarily bright, and under the blowing of the autumn wind, their red leaves fell to the ground one by one.Under the wild apple tree in the meadow, there were lovely little red apples lying all over the ground, and the sheep and geese came to eat them, and the foxes came and devoured them at night.One night before Christmas, it started snowing.The house, the barn, the fields, the woods, everything was covered with snow.Wilbur had never seen snow before.When he got up in the morning, he went to the yard to arch the snowdrifts, which was very interesting.Fern and Avery came along, dragging the sled.They slid out along the path until they reached the frozen pond beyond the meadow.

"The sledding ride is the most fun," Avery said. "The funniest thing," Fern retorted, "was when the Ferris wheel stopped there and Henry and I went into the top seats, and then Henry let our seats rock and go. That's when we could See everything, no matter how far, how far away it is." "Jesus, are you still thinking about that giant wheel?" Avery said dismissively. "The fair was many, many weeks ago." "I'm thinking about it all the time," said Fern, brushing the snow off her ears. After Christmas, the reading on the thermometer dropped to ten degrees below zero.Cold rules the world.The meadow became desolate.The cows now stay in the barn all day, except on sunny mornings when they come out to stand for a while in the shelter by the straw pile in the yard.In order to keep warm, the sheep also stay in the barn and rarely go out.When thirsty they eat snow.The geese slouched about the yard like the boys in the drugstore.To keep them happy, Mr. Zuckerman fed them corn and turnips.

"Thank you very much, very much!" They always say when they see the food delivered. When winter came, Templeton moved into the house.His home under the pig trough had gotten too cold, so he had built himself a cozy nest in the barn behind the barn.He stuffed it with shredded newspapers and rags, and stored anything he could find.He still visited Wilbur three times a day, always at mealtimes, and Wilbur kept his promise to let the mice eat first.Only when the mouse was too full to put anything in its mouth did Wilbur come over to eat.From eating too much, Templeton grew bigger and fatter than any mouse you've ever seen.He has become a "big rat", almost as big as a small woodchuck.

One day, the old sheep told him about his size. "You might live longer," said the old sheep, "if you ate less." "Who wants to live forever?" said the mouse contemptuously. "I'm a natural eater, and it's from eating and drinking that I get infinite satisfaction. "He patted his stomach, sneered at the sheep, climbed upstairs and lay down. All winter Wilbur tended to Charlotte's egg sacs as if he were his own.He had a special place for the oocysts next to the cow dung pile not far from the fence.Every cold night he lay there, letting his breath warm it.To Wilbur, nothing in his life was more important than this little ball.He waited patiently for the end of winter and the arrival of the little spiders.Life always gets long and monotonous when you're waiting for something to happen or to be hatched.But winter finally passed.

"I heard a frog croaking today," said the old sheep one evening. "Listen! You can hear them now." Wilbur stood still, his ears pricked up.From the other side of the pond came the loud chorus of hundreds of little frogs. "Spring," said the old sheep thoughtfully. "Another spring." As she walked away, Wilbur saw a new lamb following her.It had only been born an hour ago. The snow has melted away.The brooks and ditches were filled with babbling water.A bird with a beautiful stripe under its breast hopped up and began to sing.The sky is getting brighter, and morning will come soon.Almost every morning a newborn lamb is born into the sheepfold.The mother goose is sitting on nine eggs.The sky seemed wider, and there was a gentle wind everywhere.The last few remaining threads of Charlotte's old web were blown out of sight.

One sunny morning, after breakfast, Wilbur was observing his precious egg sac again.He didn't expect much at first, but when he stood there quietly watching, he actually found something moving there.He moved closer and stared at it.A tiny spider crawled out of the egg sac.It was no larger than a grain of sand, nor larger than the head of a pin.Its body is gray with black markings underneath and its legs are taupe.It looks just like Charlotte. Wilbur shuddered with joy when he saw it.The little animal crawled towards him.Wilbur moved closer to the egg sac.Two smaller spiders also crawled out, floating in the air.They crawl around and around the egg sac, exploring their new world.Then came three smaller spiders.Then came eight.Then there are ten.Charlotte's children are all here at last.

Wilbur was filled with pride.He screamed happily.Then he started running in circles, kicking the dung up into the air.Then he ran back again, lifted his front foot, and stopped in front of Charlotte's children. "Hello!" he said. The first little spider said hello too, but its voice was so low that Wilbur didn't hear it. "I'm an old friend of your mother's," said Wilbur. "I'm glad to see you all. How are you all? How is everything?" The little spiders waved their forelegs at him.Wilbur knew they were glad to see him, too. "Is there anything I can do for you? Is there anything you need?"

The young spiders just waved at him.For days and nights they just went here and there, crawling up and down and left and right, waving at Wilbur, pulling tiny silk threads from behind, exploring their home.There are hundreds of spiders here.Although Wilbur couldn't count, he knew that he had countless new friends.They grow very fast.Before long they were all the size of projectiles.They also weave many small webs around the oocysts. One quiet morning, when Mr. Zuckerman opened the north door, something happened.A warm updraft blows gently from the barn cellar.The air is full of the fragrance of earth, the scent of trees, and the sweet smell of spring.The little spiders felt the warm updraft.A spider climbed onto the fence, and then he did something that surprised Wilbur.The spider puts its legs on its head, turns the silk sac behind it towards the sky, and begins to release its cloud-like gossamer.These threads form a large balloon.As Wilbur watched, the spider freed itself from the fence and flew into the sky.

"Good-bye!" said it as it flew past the door. "Wait!" screamed Wilbur. "Where do you want to go?" But this spider was too far away to see.Then another spider also climbed up the fence, stood on its head, made a balloon, and flew into the sky.And then another one.Another one.Before long the air was filled with innumerable small balloons, each of which hung a spider. Wilbur had gone mad.Charlotte's babies all disappeared with alarming speed. "Come back, children!" he cried. "Good-bye!" they replied. "Goodbye!" The last little spider that flew away talked to Wilbur for a while before building its balloon.

"We're leaving here on this warm updraft. This is when we set sail. We're balloonists, we're going all over the world, weaving webs for ourselves." "But where are you going?" asked Wilbur. "Wherever the wind takes us. Whether it's high, low, near, far, east, west, north or south. We ride the breeze and we go away happy." "Are you all going?" Wilbur asked. "You can't all go, I'm here by myself, I won't have any friends, your mother doesn't want this to happen, I'm sure." The air was full of balloon pilots, and the barn cellar now looked like a thick fog.The balloons rose up one by one, circled, drifted away from the door, and sailed in the smooth wind.Countless "good-bye, good-bye, good-bye!" came softly and continuously into Wilbur's ears.He couldn't bear to look at it like this any longer.He sank to the ground in grief and closed his eyes.Abandoned by Charlotte's children, Wilbur feels like the end of the world.Wilbur cried himself to sleep alone. When he woke up, it was almost evening.He looked at the oocyst and it was empty.He looked up into the sky, and the balloonists were gone too.He walked sadly to the door, to the place where Charlotte's web had once existed.He was standing there, chasing after her, when he heard a small voice. "Salute!" said the voice. "I'm up here." "Me too," said another small voice. "Me too," said the third voice. "The three of us stayed. We love it here, and we love you." Wilbur looked up.There are three little spiders working their webs on the top of the door frame.In each network, there is a daughter of Charlotte who is busy working. "I might think so," asked Wilbur, "you've decided to live in this barn cellar, and I'm going to have three new friends?" "You can think of it that way," said the spiders. "Excuse me, what's your name?" Wilbur asked ecstatically. "I will tell you my name," answered the first spiderling, "if you will tell me why you are shaking." "I'm shaking because of extreme joy (Joy)," Wilbur said. "Then my name will be Joy," said the first little spider. "What's my mother's middle name?" asked the second little spider. "A," said Wilbur. "Then my name will be Aranea," said the little spider. "And me?" asked the third little spider. "Can you give me a good name - not too long, not too exaggerated, not too dull?" Wilbur tried to remember. "Nellie?" he suggested. "Very well, I like it very much," said the third spider. "You can call me Nellie." With a graceful movement, she weaved one of her round threads into the web beside her. Wilbur's heart was full of happiness.He felt compelled to make a short speech on this important occasion. "Jolly! Alana! Nellie!" he began. "Welcome to the barn cellar. You have chosen to pull your nets at a sacred door. I just want to tell you how much I love your mother. She saved my life. She is remarkable and beautiful Yes, faithful to my friend until the last moment of my life. I will cherish her memory forever. To you, her daughters, I swear that our friendship will never change." "I swear it," said Jolly. "I swear too," Alana said. "Me too," said Nellie, who had just managed to catch a bite. It was a happy day for Wilbur.In the future, there will be a series of happy and peaceful days. As time went on, months and years passed, Wilbur was never short of friends.Fern stopped seeing him regularly.She was growing out of childish things like sitting on the milking stool by the pigsty.But Charlotte's children and granddaughters, great-granddaughters, lived at the cellar door year after year.Every spring some new little spiders are hatched to replace the old ones, and most of them fly off in their balloons, but there are always two or three who stay and make their home at this gate . Mr. Zuckerman took good care of Wilbur for the rest of his life.He was often visited by friends and admirers, for no one could ever forget his triumphant year and those cobweb miracles, and life in the barn was always very pleasant--day and night, winter, summer, spring and autumn , or cloudy and sunny.It's the best place, thought Wilbur, in this warm and pleasant cellar, with the chattering geese, the changing seasons, the warm sunshine, the migrating swallows, the selfish mice, the stubborn sheep, the lovely spiders, the good smell cow dung, and everything else worthy of praise. Wilbur never forgot Charlotte.As much as he loved her children and granddaughters, no new spider could take Charlotte's place in his heart.She is unique.Few people are true friends and gifted web spinners at the same time.And Charlotte is. Finish March 11, 2000 at 8:56 p.m. Complete translation