180 LITTLE FOLKS 
legs at least five. There's a giant for you! He is not dependent 
on catching flies for his dinner; he is bold as he is big, and he 
bravely goes out to hunt for himself, without any net to catch his 
prey. He is a night Spider — that is, he prefers to sleep through 
the vulgar light of day, and hunt by night, when the birds are all 
in their nests. Then he creeps up in the trees and seizes a hum- 
ming bird or some other not very large bird which is stupidly 
sleeping in its nest, and being very strong he nearly always 
succeeds in killing it. Sometimes, instead of a bird he will take a 
tree lizard. 
The mother of this family puts up her eggs in a bag of white 
silk, which she carries about with her. She sometimes has as many as 
two thousand eggs in one, for some Spiders believe in large families. 
There can't be too many of such very useful and interesting crea- 
tures as belong to my family; though, by the way, perhaps you 
don't think so. Well — tastes differ. The talons of this giant are 
very large, and the people who live in his country take them away 
from him, and set them in gold, for toothpicks. They are said to 
keep away toothache. 
I have heard a story told about one member of this family. It 
is said that an English naturalist saw some of them which had 
been caught and made slaves of, led around by a string tied around 
their waist — by the children in South America. The cruelty of 
you human creatures is shocking to think of. I grieve to think of 
my noble relative made a slave, and following at the end of a string. 
But life is full of trouble! 
One branch of our family is called the Wolf Spiders, and very 
well they deserve the name, for they scorn to make nets like the 
feebler Spiders, to catch their prey, but they hunt it by chasing it. 
One of them is fond of bees, and will eat scarcely anything else. 
The celebrated Tarantula belongs to this family, and that reminds 
me to speak of the absurd story that you human beings have 
believed so many years, that the bite of this innocent Spider causes 
a horrid disease to your kind, which can only be cured by music and 
dancing. For many years, my respected relative was slandered by 
you, and never had a chance to clear himself from the odium, 
because you are so big and your ears so gross that you can't hear us 
when we do speak. However, those prying fellows who are always 
catching some of us to look at and study, have at last found out 
the mistake, and his character is entirely cleared. 
