Chapter iv 



THE NARBONNE LYCOSA: THE BURROW 



MiCHELET ^ has told us how, as a printer's 

 apprentice in a cellar, he established amicable 

 relations with a Spider. At a certain hour of 

 the day, a ray of sunlight would glint through 

 the window of the gloomy workshop and light 

 up the little compositor's case. Then his eight- 

 legged neighbour would come down from her 

 web and take her share of the sunshine on the 

 edge of the case. The boy did not interfere 

 with her ; he welcomed the trusting visitor as 

 a friend and as a pleasant diversion from the 

 long monotony. When we lack the society 

 of our fellow-men, we take refuge in that of 

 animals, without always losing by the change. 

 I do not, thank God, suffer from the melan- 



' Jules Michelet (1798-1874), author oi L'0iseaua.n6.1!Insecte, in 

 addition to the historical works for which he is chiefly known. As 

 a lad, he helped his father, a printer by trade, in setting type. — 

 Translator's Note. 



