CHAPTER IV 



THE NARBONNE LYCOSA: THE BURROW 



IV^" ICHELETP 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- 

 li^t 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 die 

 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, sufEer from the 

 melancholy of a cellar: my rolitude is gay 

 with li^t and verdure; I attend, whenever 



'Jtiles Michelet (1758-1874), author of L'Oisean and 

 L'lnsecU, in addition to the historical worfcs for which 

 he is ^dbr known. As a lad. he hdped his father, a 

 printn^ ty trade; in setting type. — Traiulatoi's NoU 



