Charlotte’s Web and other classic animal stories: Charlotte’s Web, The Trumpet of the Swan, Stuart Little

Wilbur was now the centre of attraction on the farm. Good food and regular hours were showing results: Wilbur was a pig any man would be proud of. One day more than a hundred people came to stand at his yard and admire him. Charlotte had written the word RADIANT, and Wilbur really looked radiant as he stood in the golden sunlight. Ever since the spider had befriended him, he had done his best to live up to his reputation. When Charlotte’s web said SOME PIG, Wilbur had tried hard to look like some pig. When Charlotte’s web said TERRIFIC, Wilbur had tried to look terrific. And now that the web said RADIANT, he did everything possible to make himself glow.

It is not easy to look radiant, but Wilbur threw himself into it with a will. He would turn his head slightly and blink his long eyelashes. Then he would breathe deeply. And when his audience grew bored, he would spring into the air and do a back flip with a half twist. At this the crowd would yell and cheer. ‘How’s that for a pig?’ Mr Zuckerman would ask, well pleased with himself. ‘That pig is radiant.’

Some of Wilbur’s friends in the barn worried for fear all this attention would go to his head and make him stuck up. But it never did. Wilbur was modest; fame did not spoil him. He still worried some about the future, as he could hardly believe that a mere spider would be able to save his life. Sometimes at night he would have a bad dream. He would dream that men were coming to get him with knives and guns. But that was only a dream. In the daytime, Wilbur usually felt happy and confident. No pig ever had truer friends, and he realized that friendship is one of the most satisfying things in the world. Even the song of the crickets did not make Wilbur too sad. He knew it was almost time for the County Fair, and he was looking forward to the trip. If he could distinguish himself at the Fair, and maybe win some prize money, he was sure Zuckerman would let him live.

Charlotte had worries of her own, but she kept quiet about them. One morning Wilbur asked her about the Fair.

‘You’re going with me, aren’t you, Charlotte?’ he said.

‘Well, I don’t know,’ replied Charlotte. ‘The Fair comes at a bad time for me. I shall find it inconvenient to leave home, even for a few days.’

‘Why?’ asked Wilbur.

‘Oh, I just don’t feel like leaving my web. Too much going on around here.’

‘Please come with me!’ begged Wilbur. ‘I need you, Charlotte. I can’t stand going to the Fair without you. You’ve just got to come.’

‘No,’ said Charlotte, ‘I believe I’d better stay home and see if I can’t get some work done.’

‘What kind of work?’ asked Wilbur.

‘Egg laying. It’s time I made an egg sac and filled it with eggs.’

‘I didn’t know you could lay eggs,’ said Wilbur in amazement.

‘Oh, sure,’ said the spider. ‘I’m versatile.’

‘What does “versatile” mean – full of eggs?’ asked Wilbur.

‘Certainly not,’ said Charlotte. ‘“Versatile” means I can turn with ease from one thing to another. It means I don’t have to limit my activities to spinning and trapping and stunts like that.’

‘Why don’t you come with me to the Fair Grounds and lay your eggs there?’ pleaded Wilbur. ‘It would be wonderful fun.’

Charlotte gave her web a twitch and moodily watched it sway. ‘I’m afraid not,’ she said. ‘You don’t know the first thing about egg laying, Wilbur. I can’t arrange my family duties to suit the management of the County Fair. When I get ready to lay eggs, I have to lay eggs, Fair or no Fair. However, I don’t want you to worry about it – you might lose weight. We’ll leave it this way: I’ll come to the Fair if I possibly can.’

‘Oh, good!’ said Wilbur. ‘I knew you wouldn’t forsake me just when I need you most.’

All that day Wilbur stayed inside, taking life easy in the straw. Charlotte rested and ate a grasshopper. She knew that she couldn’t help Wilbur much longer. In a few days she would have to drop everything and build the beautiful little sac that would hold her eggs.

16. Off to the Fair (#ulink_23960f37-d95f-5dfe-8387-db859d631ff0)

THE NIGHT before the County Fair, everybody went to bed early. Fern and Avery were in bed by eight. Avery lay dreaming that the Ferris wheel had stopped and that he was in the top car. Fern lay dreaming that she was getting sick in the swings.

Lurvy was in bed by eight-thirty. He lay dreaming that he was throwing baseballs at a cloth cat and winning a genuine Navajo blanket. Mr and Mrs Zuckerman were in bed by nine. Mrs Zuckerman lay dreaming about a deep freeze unit. Mr Zuckerman lay dreaming about Wilbur. He dreamt that Wilbur had grown until he was one hundred and sixteen feet long and ninety-two feet high and that he had won all the prizes at the Fair and was covered with blue ribbons and even had a blue ribbon tied to the end of his tail.

Down in the barn cellar, the animals, too, went to sleep early, all except Charlotte. Tomorrow would be Fair Day. Every creature planned to get up early to see Wilbur off on his great adventure.

When morning came, everybody got up at daylight. The day was hot. Up the road at the Arables’ house, Fern lugged a pail of hot water to her room and took a sponge bath. Then she put on her prettiest dress because she knew she would see boys at the Fair. Mrs Arable scrubbed the back of Avery’s neck, and wet his hair, and parted it, and brushed it down hard till it stuck to the top of his head – all but about six hairs that stood straight up. Avery put on clean underwear, clean blue jeans, and a clean jersey. Mr Arable dressed, ate breakfast, and then went out and polished his truck. He had offered to drive everybody to the Fair, including Wilbur.

Bright and early, Lurvy put clean straw in Wilbur’s crate and lifted it into the pigpen. The crate was green. In gold letters it said:

ZUCKERMAN’S FAMOUS PIG

Charlotte had her web looking fine for the occasion. Wilbur ate his breakfast slowly. He tried to look radiant without getting food in his ears.

In the kitchen, Mrs Zuckerman suddenly made an announcement.

‘Homer,’ she said to her husband, ‘I am going to give that pig a buttermilk bath.’

‘A what?’ said Mr Zuckerman.

‘A buttermilk bath. My grandmother used to bathe her pig with buttermilk when it got dirty – I just remembered.’

‘Wilbur’s not dirty,’ said Mr Zuckerman proudly.

‘He’s filthy behind the ears,’ said Mrs Zuckerman. ‘Every time Lurvy slops him, the food runs down around the ears. Then it dries and forms a crust. He also has a smudge on one side where he lays in the manure.’

‘He lays in clean straw,’ corrected Mr Zuckerman.

‘Well, he’s dirty, and he’s going to have a bath.’

Mr Zuckerman sat down weakly and ate a doughnut. His wife went to the woodshed. When she returned, she wore rubber boots and an old raincoat, and she carried a bucket of buttermilk and a small wooden paddle.

‘Edith, you’re crazy,’ mumbled Zuckerman.