Charlotte’s Web

E.B.White

The old sheep nodded.“What a cargo！”she said.“Thatsign ought to say ‘Zuckerman’s Famous Pig and TwoStowaways’”“Look out， the people are coming—omingoming！”shouted the gander.“Cheese it，cheese it，cheese it！”The big truck with Mr. Arable at the wheel backed slowly downtoward the barnyard. Lurvy and Mr. Zuckerman walkedalongside. Fern and Avery were standing in the body of thetruck hanging on to the sideboards.

“Listen to me，”whispered the old sheep to Wilbur.“When they open the crate and try to put you in，struggle！Don’t go without a tussle. Pigs always resist when they arebeing loaded.”“If I struggle I’ll get dirty，”saidWilbur.

“Never mind that—do as I say！ Struggle！ If you wereto walk into the crate without resisting，Zuckerman might thinkyou were bewitched. He’d be scared to go to the Fair.”Templeton poked his head up through the straw.“Struggle ifyou must，”said he，“but kindly remember that I’m hidingdown here in this crate and I don’t want to be stepped on，orkicked in the face，or pummeled，or crushed in any way，orsquashed，or buffeted about，or bruised，or lacerated，orscarred，or biffed. Just watch what you’re doing，Mr. Radiant，when they get shoving you in！”“Be quiet，Templeton！”saidthe sheep.“Pull in you head—they’re coming. Look radiant，Wilbur！ Lay low，Charlotte！ Talk it up，geese！”The truckbacked slowly to the pigpen and stopped. Mr. arable cut themotor，got out，walked around to the rear，and lowered thetailgate. The geese cheered. Mrs. Arable got out of the truck.Fern and Avery jumped to the ground. Mrs. Zuckerman camewalking down from the house. Everybody lined up at the fenceand stood for a moment admiring Wilbur and the beautifulgreen crate. Nobody realized that the crate alreadycontained a rat and a spider.

“That’s some pig！”said Mrs. Arable.

“He’s terrific，”said Lurvy.

“He’s very radiant，”said Fern，remembering the dayhe was born.

“Well，”said Mrs. Zuckerman，“he’s clean，anyway.The buttermilk certainly helped.”Mr. Arable studied Wilburcarefully.“Yes，he’s a wonderful pig，”he said.“It’s hardto believe that he was the runt of the litter. You’ll get someextra good ham and bacon，Homer，when it comes time tokill that pig.”Wilbur heard these words and his heart almoststopped.“I think I’m going to faint，”he whispered to theold sheep，who was watching.

“Kneel down.”whispered the old sheep.“Let theblood rush to you head！”Wilbur sank to his knees，allradiance gone. His eyes closed.

“Look！”screamed Fern.“He’s fading away！”“Hey，watch me！”yelled Avery，crawling on all fours into thecrate.“I’ma pig！ I’ma pig！”Avery’s foot touchedTempletonunder the straw.“What a mess！”thought the rat.“Whatfantastic creatures boys are！ Why did I let myself in forthis？”The geese saw Avery in the crate and cheered.

“Avery， you get out of that crate this instant！”commanded his mother.“What do you think you are？”“I’ma pig！”cried Avery，tossing handfuls of straw into the air.“Oink，oink，oink！”“The truck is rolling away，Papa，”said Fern.

The truck，with no one at the wheel，had started toroll downhill. Mr. Arable dashed to the driver’s seat andpulled on the emergency brake. The truck stopped. Thegeese cheered. Charlotte crouched and made herself assmall as possible in the knothole，soAvery wouldn’t see her.

“Come out at once！” cried Mrs. Arable. Averycrawled out of the crate on hands and knees，making faces atWilbur.Wilbur fainted away.

“The pig has passed out，”said Mrs. Zuckerman.“Throwwater on him！”“Throw buttermilk！”suggested Avery.

The geese cheered.

Lurvy ran for a pail of water. Fern climbed into the penand knelt byWilbur’s side.

“It’s sunstroke，”said Zuckerman.“The heat is too muchfor him.”“Maybe he’s dead，”said Avery.

“Come out of that pigpen immediately！” cried Mrs.Arable. Avery obeyed his mother and climbed into the back ofthe truck so he could see better. Lurvy returned with cold waterand dashed it onWilbur.

“Throw some on me！”cried Avery.“I’m hot，too.”“Oh，keep quiet！”hollered Fern.“Keep qui- et！”Her eyes werebrimming with tears.

Wilbur，feeling the cold water，came to. He rose slowlyto his feet，while the geese cheered.

“He’s up！”said Mr. Arable.“I guess there’s nothingwrong with him.”“I’m hungry，”said Avery.“I want a candiedapple.”“Wilbur’s all right now，”said Fern. "We can start. Iwant to take a ride in the Ferris wheel."Mr. Zuckerman and Mr.Arable and Lurvy grabbed the pig and pushed him headfirsttoward the crate. Wilbur began to struggle. The harder the menpushed，the harder he held back. Avery jumped down andjoined the men. Wilbur kicked and thrashed and grunted.“Nothing wrong with this pig，” said Mr. Zuckermancheerfully，pressing his knee against Wilbur’s behind.“Alltogether，now， boys！ Shove！”With a final heave theyjammed him into the crate. The geese cheered. Lurvy nailedsome boards across the end，so Wilbur couldn’t back out.Then，using all their strength，the men picked up the crate andheaved it aboard the truck. They did not know that under thestraw was a rat，and inside a knothole was a big grey spider.They saw only a pig.

“Everybody in！”called Mr. Arable. He started themotor. The ladies climbed in beside him. Mr. Zuckerman andLurvy and Fern and Avery rode in back，hanging onto thesideboards. The truck began to move ahead. The geesecheered. The children answered their cheer，and away wenteverybody to the Fair.

When they pulled into the Fair Grounds，they couldhear music and see the Ferris wheel turning in the sky. Theycould smell the dust of the race track where the sprinklingcart had moistened it;and they could smell hamburgersfrying and see balloons aloft. They could hear sheep blattingin their pens. An enormous voice over the loudspeaker said：“Attention， please！ Will the owner of a Pontiac car，license number H- 2439，please move your car away fromthe fireworks shed！”“Can I have some money？”asked Fern.

“Can I，too？”asked Avery.

“I’m going to win a doll by spinning a wheel and it willstop at the right number，”said Fern.

“I’m going to steer a jet plane and make it bump intoanother one.”“Can I have a balloon？”asked Fern.

“Can I have a frozen custard and a cheeseburger andsome raspberry soda pop？”asked Avery.

“You children be quiet till we get the pig unloaded，”said Mrs. Arable.

“Let’s let the children go off by themselves，”suggested Mr. Arable.“The Fair only comes once a year.”Mr. Arable gave Fern two quarters and two dimes. He gaveAvery five dimes and four nickels.“Now run along”he said.“And remember，the money has to last all day. Don’t spendit all the first few minutes. And be back here at the truck atnoontime so we can all have lunch together. And don’t eat alot of stuff that’s going to make you sick to your stomachs.”“And if you go in those swings，”said Mrs. Arable，“youhang on tight！ You hang on very tight. Hear me？”“And don’t get lost！”said Mrs. Zuckerman.

“And don’t get dirty！”“Don’t get overheated！”saidtheir mother.

“Watch out for pickpockets！”cautioned their father.

“And don’t cross the race track when the horses arecoming！”cried Mrs. Zuckerman.

The children grabbed each other by the hand anddanced off in the direction of the merry-go-round，towardthe wonderful music and the wonderful adventure and thewonderful excitement，into the wonderful midway wherethere would be no parents to guard them and guide them，and where they could be happy and free and do as theypleased. Mrs. Arable stood quietly and watched them go.Then she sighed. Then she blew her nose.

“Do you really think it’s all right？”she asked.

“Well，they’ve got to grow up some time，”said Mr.Arable.“And a fair is a good place to start，I guess.”WhileWilbur was being unloaded and taken out of his crate andinto his new pigpen，crowds gathered to watch. Theystared at the sign ZUCKERMAN’S FAMOUS PIG. Wilburstared back and tried to look extra good. He was pleasedwith his new home. The pen was grassy，and it was shadedfrom the sun by a shed roof.

Charlotte，watching her chance，scrambled out of thecrate and climbed a post to the under side of the roof.Nobody noticed her.

Templeton， not wishing to come out in broaddaylight，stayed quietly under the straw at the bottom ofthe crate. Mr. Zuckerman poured some skim milk intoWilbur’s trough，pitched clean straw into his pen，andthen he and Mrs. Zuckerman and the Arables walked awaytoward the cattle barn to look at purebred cows and to seethe sights. Mr. Zuckerman particularly wanted to look attractors. Mrs. Zuckerman wanted to see a deep freeze.Lurvy wandered off by himself，hoping to meet friends andhave some fun on the midway.

As soon as the people were gone，Charlotte spoke toWilbur.

“It’s a good thing you can’t see what I see，”she said.

“What do you see？”askedWilbur.

“There’s a pig in the next pen and he’s enormous. I’mafraid he’s much bigger than you are.”“Maybe he’s older thanI am，and has had more time to grow，”suggested Wilbur.Tears began to come to his eyes.

“I’ll drop down and have a closer look，”Charlotte said.Then she crawled along a beam till she was directly over thenext pen. She let herself down on a dragline until she hung inthe air just in front of the big pig’s snout.

“May I have your name？”she asked，politely.

The pig stared at her.“No name，”he said in a big，heartyvoice. “Just call me uncle.”“Very well， Uncle，” repliedCharlotte.“What is the date of your birth？ Are you a springpig？”“Sure I’m a spring pig，”replied Uncle.“What did youthink I was，a spring chicken？ Haw，haw—that’s a goodone，eh，Sister？”“Mildly funny，”said Charlotte.“I’ve heardfunnier ones，though. Glad to have met you，and now I mustbe going.”She ascended slowly and returned toWilbur’s pen.

“He claims he’s a spring pig，”reported Charlotte，“ andperhaps he is. One thing is certain，he has a most unattractivepersonality. He is too familiar，too noisy，and he cracks weakjokes. Also，he’s not anywhere near as clean as you are，nor aspleasant. I took quite a dislike to him in our brief interview. He’sgoing to be a hard pig to beat，though，Wilbur，on account ofhis size and weight. But with me helping you，it can be done.”“When are you going to spin a web？”askedWilbur.

“This afternoon，late，if I’m not too tired，”said Charlotte.“The least thing tires me these days. I don’t seem to have theenergy I once had. My age，I guess.”Wilbur looked at hisfriend. She looked rather swollen and she seemed listless.

“I’m awfully sorry to hear that you’re feeling poorly，Charlotte，”he said.“ Perhaps if you spin a web and catch acouple of flies you’ll feel better.”“Perhaps，”she said，wearily.“But I feel like the end of a long day.”Clingingupside down to the ceiling，she settled down for a nap，leavingWilbur very much worried.

All morning people wandered past Wilbur’s pen. Dozensand dozens of strangers stopped to star at him and to admirehis silky white coat，his curly tail，his kind and radiantexpression. Then they would move on to the next pen wherethe bigger pig lay. Wilbur heard several people makefavorable remarks about uncle’s great size. He couldn’t helpworrying.“And now，with Charlotte not feeling well...”hethought.“Oh，dear！”All morning Templeton slept quietlyunder the straw. The day grew fiercely hot. At noon theZuckermans and the Arables returned to the pigpen. Then，afew minutes later，Fern and Avery showed up. Fern had amonkey doll in her arms and was eating Cracker- jack. Averyhad a balloon tied to his ear and was chewing a candied apple.The children were hot and dirty.

“Isn’t it hot？”said Mrs. Zuckerman.

“It’s terribly hot，”said Mrs. Arable，fanning herselfwith an advertisement of a deep freeze.

One by one they climbed into the truck and opened lunchboxes. The sun beat down on everything. Nobody seemedhungry.

“When are the judges going to decide about Wilbur？”asked Mrs. Zuckerman.

“Not till tomorrow，”said Mr. Zuckerman.

Lurvy appeared，carrying an Indian blanket that he hadwon.

“That’s just what we need，”said Avery.“A blanket.”“Of course it is，”replied Lurvy. And he spread the blanketacross the sideboards of the truck so that it was like a littletent. The children sat in the shade，under the blanket，and feltbetter.

After lunch，they stretched out and fell asleep.

老羊點點頭。“多滿的一箱子貨！”她說，“那些金字應該改成‘祖克曼家的名豬與兩名偷渡客’才對。”“當心，人來——來——來了！”公鵝喊，“小心，小心，小心！”阿拉貝爾開著大卡車慢慢地倒進谷倉的空地。魯維和祖克曼先生在邊上跟著走。芬和埃弗里正站在卡車的后車廂里，手抓著護欄。

“聽我說，”老羊對威伯耳語，“當他們打開箱子想把你裝進去時，你要掙扎！不要不經過爭斗就走。當豬被裝進車里他們總是要反抗的。”“如果我掙扎會被弄臟的。”威伯說。

“別管那些——照我說的做！掙扎！如果你毫無反抗地走進箱子，祖克曼可能會以為你有毛病了，那時他就不敢送你去參加展覽會了。”坦普爾曼從稻草里探出了頭。“如果你要掙扎，”他說，“一定要好心腸地想到，那時我正在板條箱里躲著呢。我可不想被踩癟，或者被踢花臉，或者被揍傷，或者被壓壞任何地方，或者被擠扁，或者被打暈，或者被打青，或者被擦破皮，或者落個疤，或者受到別的什么重擊。你掙扎時一定要看著點兒，閃光先生，當他們把你往箱子里推的時候！”

“安靜，坦普爾曼！”老羊說，“把你的腦袋縮回去——他們正在走過來。看起來閃光點，威伯！往里躲，夏洛！大聲地叫，鵝們！”卡車慢慢地倒進了豬圈，停了下來。阿拉貝爾先生關上發動機，下車走到卡車后面，放下尾板。

鵝們歡叫起來。阿拉貝爾太太下了卡車。芬和埃弗里跳到地面上。祖克曼太太正從房子里走過來。每個人都來到柵欄前，欣賞了一會兒威伯和那個美麗的綠板條箱。沒人知道箱子里已經裝進了一只老鼠和蜘蛛了。

“那真是頭好豬！”阿拉貝爾太太說。

“他很棒。”魯維說。

“他是閃光的。”芬說著，想起了他生下來的那天。

“是的，”祖克曼太太說，“怎么看他都非常干凈。這都是酸奶的功效。”阿拉貝爾先生仔細觀察著威伯。“是的，他是一頭完美的豬，”他說，“很難相信他當初是那一窩里最瘦小的一頭。你將能用它做特別好的火腿和腌肉，霍默，當那頭豬被宰的時候。”聽到這些話，威伯的心跳幾乎都停住了。

“我想我要昏過去了。”他輕聲對在一邊看著的老羊說。

“跪下來！”老羊低叫，“讓血液倒流到你的頭上！”威伯跪下去，身上所有的閃光都消失了。他的眼睛闔上了。

“看吶！”芬尖叫，“他的光彩消失了！”“嘿，看我！”埃弗里叫罷，匍匐著爬進了板條箱。“我是一頭豬！我是一頭豬！”埃弗里的腳踩到了稻草下面的坦普爾曼。“真倒霉！”老鼠想，“男孩子是多么可怕的動物！我為什么要讓自己到這里來受罪？”鵝們看到埃弗里進了箱子，都一起喝起彩來。

“埃弗里，你馬上給我從箱子里出來！”他的母親命令道，“你以為你是什么？”“我是一頭豬！”埃弗里叫著，將滿把的稻草揚向空中，“哼，哼，哼！”

“卡車開走了，爸。”芬說。

卡車突然間失去了控制，向坡下滑去。阿拉貝爾先生沖進駕駛室，去拉緊急制動閘。卡車停住了。鵝們歡呼。夏洛蜷起身子，使自己盡可能小地縮到那個孔里，這樣才不會被埃弗里發現。

84 “馬上出來！”阿拉貝爾太太喊。埃弗里手腳

“大家上車！”阿拉貝爾先生招呼道。他發動了卡車。女士們跟著他進了駕駛室里。祖克曼先生和魯維還有芬、埃弗里上了后車廂，手抓著護欄。卡車開始往前開了。鵝們歡呼起來。

孩子們也一同歡呼著。所有的人都離開這里，往農業展覽會場去。

當他們一到展覽會場，就聽到音樂聲，看到在天空中的費里斯大轉輪。他們能聞到灑水車噴出的道道水跡里散發出的塵土氣息，聞到油煎三明治的香味，看到徐徐升起的大氣球。他們還能聽到綿羊們在圈里咩咩地叫。擴音器里有個很大的聲音喊道：請注意！請車牌為H-2349 號的龐蒂亞克的車主把你的車從放焰火的地方開走！“能給我點兒錢嗎？”芬問。

“也能給我點兒嗎？”埃弗里問。

“我要去玩旋轉輪，讓它停到正確的數碼上，好贏回一個小娃娃。”芬說。

“我要去開噴氣式飛機，用它去撞別的飛機。”“我可以買個氣球嗎？”芬問。

“我能買一個牛奶果凍，一張干酪肉餅，一瓶樹莓汽水嗎？”埃弗里問。

“在那頭豬被卸下來之前，讓你的孩子們都閉嘴！”阿拉貝爾太太說。

“我說還是讓孩子們自己去玩吧，”阿拉貝爾先生建議，“展覽會一年可是只有一次。”阿拉貝爾先生給了芬兩枚兩毛五分的銀幣，兩枚一角的銀幣。他又給了埃弗里五角銀幣和四枚五分錢的鎳幣。“現在玩去吧！”他說，“記住，這些錢是留給你們花一整天的！不要在幾分鐘內就輕易地花光。下午回到卡車這里來，那時我們要一起吃午飯了。不要吃太多的零食，不然開飯時你們就什么也吃不下了。”“如果你們去坐那大轉輪，”阿拉貝爾太太說，“一定要抓緊！抓得非常緊。聽到了嗎？”“不要跑丟了！”祖克曼太太說。

86 “不要把身上弄臟了！”“不要玩得太瘋！”他們的媽媽說。

“留心扒手！”他們的父親警告。

“馬跑過來時不要橫穿賽道！”祖克曼太太叫。

孩子們手挽手蹦跳著向旋轉木馬那邊跑去，跑向那充滿迷人音樂、精彩冒險與神奇刺激的奇妙的游樂場。那里沒有父母的阻攔和嘮叨，可以盡情地玩個痛快。阿拉貝爾太太默默地看著他們的背影，輕嘆了一聲。接著，她又吁了一口氣。

“你真的以為他們會沒事嗎？”她問。

“哎呀，他們早晚要長大的，”阿拉貝爾先生說，“展覽會是一個很好的鍛煉地方，我想。”當威伯被抬下車，從板條箱里帶到他的新豬圈時，好多人都圍過來看。他們看到了“祖克曼家的名豬”那行字。威伯回看著人們，試圖讓自己顯得格外的出眾。他對他的新家很滿意。那里面有很多草，可以為他遮擋從棚頂上照過來的陽光。

夏洛找個機會溜出板條箱，爬到棚頂下的一根桿子上。沒人注意到她。

坦普爾曼可不想在白天露面，就悄悄地在箱子里的稻草間躲著。祖克曼先生往威伯的食槽里倒了些脫脂奶，又往里添了些干凈的稻草，然后和祖克曼太太，阿拉貝爾夫婦到牲口棚去看純種奶牛，并四處觀光去了。祖克曼先生特別想去看拖拉機。祖克曼太太想去看電冰箱。魯維閑逛著，希望會遇到朋友，在游樂場里找點兒樂事。

人們剛一離開，夏洛便對威伯說起來。

“還好，你沒看到我剛才看見的。”她說。

“你看到什么了？”威伯問。

“你旁邊的豬圈里有一頭特別大的豬，恐怕要比你大得多。”“可能他的年紀比我大，有更多的時間來往大里長吧。”威伯說著，淚水不禁涌上了眼眶。

“我要蕩過去仔細看一下。”夏洛說。她順著桿子往那個豬圈爬去。她拖著一條絲線往空中飄去，正好飄到了那頭豬的鼻子上方。

“我可以問你的名字嗎？”她禮貌地問。

那頭豬看了看她。“我沒名字，”他用很粗的嗓門說，“你就叫我伯伯吧。”“好的，伯伯，”

夏洛回答，“你是何時出生的？你是一頭春豬嗎？”“我就是春豬，”伯伯回答，“你以為我是什么，一只春天生的小雞嗎？呵，呵——這笑話不錯吧，呃，小妹妹？”“有點兒意思，”夏洛說，“不過我還聽過更有意思的笑話。很高興認識你，現在我要走了。”她慢慢地收起絲線，往上退回去，不久就回到了威伯的豬圈。

“他說他是頭春豬，”夏洛說，“可能他真的是。不過，他非常的不討人喜歡。他也太冒失，太吵，而且他講的粗俗笑話也一點都不可笑。還有，他并沒有你這么干凈，更沒你這么有禮貌。經過剛才的簡短交談，我發現我非常討厭他。不過，威伯，考慮到他的個頭和體重，他可能會是一個很難擊敗的對手。但如果有我幫你，你就能贏他。”“那你要在什么時候織網呢？”威伯問。

“下午晚些時候吧，如果那時我不太累的話，”夏洛說，“這些天里，就是最輕的活兒也會使我疲倦的。我好像不再有以前那樣的精力了。可能是我老了吧。”威伯看著他的朋友。

她看起來相當的憔悴，一臉倦容。

“聽到你說感覺不好，我非常難過，夏洛，”

他說，“也許你織一張網，抓到幾只蒼蠅后就能感覺好一點兒。”“也許，”她無力地說，“但是我感覺那些漫長的日子快結束了。”她爬上豬圈的頂層睡著了，把憂心忡忡的威伯留在下面。

整個早上人們都從威伯的豬圈旁走過。

無數的陌生人在此駐足，羨慕地看著威伯那絲綢一樣光滑的白皮膚，卷曲的尾巴，還有他那善意的表情，光彩照人的樣子。然后他們去看下一個豬圈里的那頭更大的豬。威伯聽到好幾個人在贊美那個伯伯的個頭。他忍不住去偷聽那些評論，并情不自禁地擔心起來。“現在，夏洛的感覺又不好……”他想，“唉，天吶！”坦普爾曼一早上都在稻草里熟睡。天氣像火一樣熱。下午祖克曼夫婦和阿拉貝爾夫婦回到了豬圈。幾分鐘后，芬和埃弗里也出現了。芬的胳膊下夾著一個玩具猴，嘴里嚼著琥珀爆米花。埃弗里的耳朵上系著一個氣球，嘴里吃著蘋果蜜餞。

孩子們的身上都是汗，看起來很臟。

“很熱吧？”祖克曼太太問。

“熱死了。”阿拉貝爾太太說著，用手里的那份冰箱廣告當扇子扇起來。

他們一個又一個地走進卡車，打開午餐盒。到處都是熱辣辣的陽光，曬得人都沒有興致吃飯了。

“裁判什么時候能宣布威伯的名次？”祖克曼太太問。

“明天吧。”祖克曼先生說。

魯維走了過來，扛著剛才贏來的印第安毛毯。

“那正是我們需要的，”埃弗里說，“一條毛毯。”“當然了。”魯維回答。他把毛毯圍在卡車護欄的四周，使后車廂看起來就像個小帳篷。

孩子們坐在毛毯圍出的陰影里，感覺舒服多了。

午餐后，他們都躺下來，睡了。