The Life of the Spider 



a model of devotion where her family is con- 

 cerned. 



The ogre loved his children; he ate the 

 children of others. Under the tyranny of the 

 stomach, we are all of us, beasts and men 

 alike, ogres. The dignity of labour, the joy 

 of life, maternal affection, the terrors of 

 death: all these do not count, in others; the 

 main point is that the morsel be tender and 

 savoury. 



According to the etymology of her name — 

 dujuyZ, a cord — the Thomisus should be like 

 the ancient lictor, who bound the sufferer to 

 the stake. The comparison is not inappropri- 

 ate as regards many Spiders who tie their prey 

 with a thread to subdue it and consume it 

 at their ease; but it just happens that the 

 Thomisus is at variance with her label. She 

 does not fasten her Bee, who, dying suddenly 

 of a bite in the neck, offers no resistance to 

 her consumer. Carried away by his recollec- 

 tion of the regular tactics, our Spider's god- 

 father overlooked the exception; he did not 

 know of the perfidious mode of attack which 

 renders the use of a bowstring superfluous. 



Nor is the second name of onustus — loaded, 

 burdened, freighted — any too happily chosen. 



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