THE KING'S SPIDER 



" Now shalle thiss spydere teche me gwat to doe ; sin I alsoe have fayled 

 six times." — Legend of Robert the Bruce. 



O said Robert the Bruce, and in so saying 

 gives us the key-note of many another 

 favour done to mankind by his fellow 

 mortals ; for there is no history that 

 does not hold such tales of comradeship, 

 and there has scarcely been a human 

 heart which has not beaten more truly, more steadily, 

 because of some beast that perishes. It is of these 

 countless kindnesses that this chapter speaks, of the 

 tears and laughter, the gladnesses and sadnesses which 

 have come into our lives through the existence of what 

 we call the animal world. 



How many an unjust imprisonment besides Silvio 

 Pellico's has been lightened by the confidence of some 

 of the least of God's creatures, and how many a free 

 life has been cheered by the affection of horse or dog or 

 cat or bird. 



Nor is the record of benefit confined to reality. Who 

 has not laughed over the Jackdaw of Rheims, or felt the 

 blood thrill in the veins over the Ride to Ghent } 



But for the most part there is no record at all. 



