X The Life of the Spider 



toothsome sphere backwards, when an indelicate 

 colleague, who has been awaiting the completion 

 of the work, appears and hypocritically offers 

 his services. The other well knows that, in 

 this case, help and services, besides being quite 

 unnecessary, will soon mean partition and dis- 

 possession ; and he accepts the enforced col- 

 laboration without enthusiasm. But, so that 

 their respective rights may be clearly marked, 

 the legal owner invariably retains his original 

 place, that is to say, he pushes the ball with 

 his forehead, whereas the compulsory guest, 

 on the other side, pulls it towards him. And 

 thus it jogs along between the two gossips, 

 amid interminable vicissitudes, flurried falls, 

 grotesque tumbles, till it reaches the place 

 chosen to receive the treasure and to become 

 the banqueting-hall. On arriving, the owner 

 sets about digging out the refectory, while the 

 sponger pretends to go innocently to sleep on 

 the top of the bolus. The excavation becomes 

 visibly wider and deeper ; and soon the first 

 dung-beetle dives bodily into it. This is the 

 moment for which the cunning auxiliary was 

 waiting. He nimbly scrambles down from the 



