CHAPTER IV 



THE NARBONNE LYCOSA : THE BURROW 



V/TICHELET 1 has told us how, as a 

 ^^*- printer's apprentice in a cellar, he es- 

 tablished amicable relations with a Spider. 

 At a certain hour of the day, a ray of sun- 

 light would glint through the window of the 

 gloomy workshop and light up the little com- 

 positor's case. Then his eight-legged neigh- 

 bour 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 

 melancholy of a cellar: my solitude is gay 

 with light and verdure; I attend, whenever 



'Jules Michelet (1798-1874), author of L'Oiseau and 

 L'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 



