THE SPIDER 4

 The next morning, a really nice gentleman-spider was sitting on the parsley, but a good way off from the snappish young lady.

 

He had brushed his clothes and spun¹ a couple of fine threads to show what he could do. He bent² and stretched his legs for her to see that he was well-shaped. Seven of his eyes beamed with love, while the eighth took care that she didn’t eat him:

 

“Allow me, miss, to offer you my hand and heart,” said he.

 

“He’s a fair-spoken man,” said the parsley.

 

“A charming man,” said the goat’s-foot.

 

“It was I that sent him here,” said the mouse.

“Idiot!” said the damsel.

 

But the spider did not throw up the game so easily. He gracefully³ bowed his thorax, set two of his eyes to watch that nothing happened to him and looked doubly enamoured with the other six:

 

“Do not think that I mean to be a burden to you,” he said. “I have my own web a little way down the hedge and I can easily catch the few flies I require. I have even got five real fat ones hanging and spun up, which I shall esteem⁴ it an honour to offer you to-morrow, so that you may see that it is love alone that urges me to propose to you.”

 

“Is that you talking your nonsense?” said the damsel. “What the blazes should I do with such a silly man?”

“Dear me!” he said—and now there was only one eye in love, so fierce was her air—“If my courtship seems inopportune to you, I will retire at once and wait till another time....”

 

“I rather think that’s the wisest thing you could do,” said she. “Clear out, this minute, or I’ll....”

 

He slid down a thread in no time and she after him. But he escaped and, a little later, she was sitting in her web again, looking sourer than ever.

 

“What a woman!” said the mouse.

 

“Yes, just so!” said the spider.

 

“It doesn’t do to take the first that comes,” said the parsley.

 

“It’s only that he wasn’t the right one,” said the goat’s-foot.

 

But the unfortunate suitor went round the hedge telling the other spiders about the charming and remarkable⁵ lady whose web hung between the parsley and the goat’s-foot.

 

“She is so big,” he said, spreading his legs as wide as he could. “I have never seen any one so pretty in my life. But she’s as proud as a peacock. I shall certainly die of grief at her refusal. In any case, one thing is sure, that I shall never marry.”

 

They listened to him wide-eyed and made him tell them again. It was not long before the story of the proud and beautiful spider-princess went the round of the hedge. As soon as the men had finished their day’s work, they came together and sat and talked about her. Each of them had his own observations to make, but gradually they were all so excited with love that they thought they simply could not live unless they won the fair one.

 

One after the other, they set out a-wooing and they all fared badly.

 

The first was a dashing fellow, who had chaffed the unfortunate suitor mercilessly for promising⁶ her the five flies which he had got spun up at home in his web:

 

“Women don’t care a hang for promises,” he said. “They like their presents down, then and there. You just watch me.”

 

He came dragging a splendid blue-bottle along and laid it without a word at the damsel’s feet.

 

“Do you think I would allow a man to support me?” she said.

 

Before he could look round, she had caught him and eaten him up. She scornfully let the fly be, but, later in the afternoon, when she thought no one saw her, she came down notwithstanding and ate it.

 

And the wooers that came after fared not a whit⁷ better.

 

She ate six of them in the middle of their speech and two had not even time to open their mouths. One was caught by the starling, just as he was about to make his bow, and one fell into the ditch with fright, when she looked at him, and was drowned.

 

“That makes twelve,” said the mouse.

 

“I have not counted them,” said the spider. “But now I presume they’ll leave me in peace.”

 

“You’re a terrible woman,” said the mouse. “I prophesy⁸ you’ll end by going childless to your grave.”

 

For the first time, the spider seemed a little pensive⁹.

 

“Now her hard heart is melting,” said the mouse.

 

“Oh!” said the wild parsley.

 

“Ah!” said the goat’s-foot.

 

“Stuff!” said the spider.

 

But she continued to look pensive and stared at her combs and never noticed that a fly flew into her web. Presently, she said:

 

“The fact is, one ought at least to see that one brings a pair of strapping¹⁰ wenches into the world. I suppose it’s my duty to leave somebody behind me to inherit my contempt for those wretched men.”

 

“She’s on the road!” whispered the mouse.

 

And the goat’s-foot and the fool’s-parsley nodded and neither of them said a word, so as not to disturb her in her reflections.

 

But the mouse hurried off to the hedge and called all the surviving gentleman-spiders together:

 

“The one who proposes to the princess to-morrow gets her,” said she. “She’s quite altered. She’s melted. Her heart is like wax. She won’t catch any flies, won’t eat, won’t drink and just sits and stares wistfully before her. Look sharp!”

 

Then the mouse ran away.

 

But the spiders looked at one another doubtfully. Not one of them had the proper courage to risk the attempt, seeing how badly the twelve had fared, and a few even of the wiser ones went up at once and hid under their leaves, so as not to fall into temptation.

A few remained behind, who thought about what the mouse had said, including one little young, thin one, who had always listened while the others were talking about the wonderful princess, but had never said anything himself:

 

“I think I’ll try,” he said, suddenly.

 

“You?” cried all the others, in one breath.

 

And they began to laugh at the thought that this chap should achieve what so many a bold spider-fellow had lost his life in attempting.

 

But the little chap let them laugh as much as they pleased:

 

“I don’t suppose I’m poaching on your preserves,” he said. “There’s none of you that has the pluck. And I just feel like making the experiment. I’ve been there to look at her and, by Jove, she is a fine woman! If she’s rejected the twelve, perhaps she’ll accept the thirteenth. Also, I think the suitors went the wrong way to work.”

 

“Oh, you think so, do you?” said the others, still laughing. “And how will you go to work?”

 

“You can come with me and see for yourselves,” he said. “I’ll stroll across to-morrow and propose.”

1 spun   

v.纺，杜撰，急转身

参考例句：

• His grandmother spun him a yarn at the fire.他奶奶在火炉边给他讲故事。
• Her skilful fingers spun the wool out to a fine thread.她那灵巧的手指把羊毛纺成了细毛线。

2 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

3 gracefully   

ad.大大方方地；优美地

参考例句：

• She sank gracefully down onto a cushion at his feet. 她优雅地坐到他脚旁的垫子上。
• The new coats blouse gracefully above the hip line. 新外套在臀围线上优美地打着褶皱。

4 esteem   

n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• The veteran worker ranks high in public love and esteem.那位老工人深受大伙的爱戴。

5 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

6 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

7 whit   

n.一点，丝毫

参考例句：

• There's not a whit of truth in the statement.这声明里没有丝毫的真实性。
• He did not seem a whit concerned.他看来毫不在乎。

8 prophesy   

v.预言；预示

参考例句：

• He dares to prophesy what will happen in the future.他敢预言未来将发生什么事。
• I prophesy that he'll be back in the old job.我预言他将重操旧业。

9 pensive   

a.沉思的,哀思的,忧沉的

参考例句：

• He looked suddenly sombre,pensive.他突然看起来很阴郁，一副忧虑的样子。
• He became so pensive that she didn't like to break into his thought.他陷入沉思之中,她不想打断他的思路。

10 strapping   

adj. 魁伟的, 身材高大健壮的 n. 皮绳或皮带的材料, 裹伤胶带, 皮鞭 动词strap的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• He's a strapping lad—already bigger than his father. 他是一个魁梧的小伙子——已经比他父亲高了。
• He was a tall strapping boy. 他是一个高大健壮的小伙子。