33^ The Life of the Spider 



that the analogy extends no further. The 

 mythological Clotho, niggardly with her silk 

 and lavish with her coarse flocks, spins us a 

 harsh existence ; the eight-legged Clotho uses 

 naught but exquisite silk. She works for 

 herself ; the other works for us, who are hardly 

 worth the trouble. 



Would we make her acquaintance ? On the 

 rocky slopes in the oHveland, scorched and 

 blistered by the sun, turn over the flat stones, 

 those of a fair size ; search, above all, the piles 

 which the shepherds set up for a seat whence to 

 watch the sheep browsing amongst the lavender 

 below. Do not be too easily disheartened : the 

 Clotho is rare; not every spot suits her. If 

 fortune smile at last upon our perseverance, we 

 shall see, clinging to the lower surface of the 

 stone which we have Hfted, an edifice of a 

 weatherbeaten aspect, shaped like an over- 

 turned cupola and about the size of half a 

 tangerine orange. The outside is encrusted or 

 hung with small shells, particles of earth and, 

 especially, dried insects. 



The edge of the cupola is scalloped into a 

 dozen angular lobes, the points of which spread 



