The
next day was foggy. Everything on the farm was dripping wet. The grass looked
like a magic carpet. The asparagus patch looked like a silver forest.
On foggy mornings,
Charlotte's web was truly a thing of beauty. This morning each thin strand was
decorated with dozens of tiny beads of water. The web glistened in the light
and made a pattern of loveliness and mystery, like a delicate veil. Even Lurvy,
who wasn't particularly interested in beauty, noticed the web when he came with
the pig's breakfast. He noted how clearly it showed up and he noted how big and
carefully built it was. And then he took another look and he saw something that
made him set his pail down. There, in the center of the web, neatly woven in
block letters, was a message. It said:
SOME PIG!
Lurvy felt weak. He
brushed his hand across his eyes and stared harder at Charlotte's web.
"I'm seeing things," he whispered. He dropped to his knees and
uttered a short prayer. Then, forgetting all about Wilbur's breakfast, he
walked back to the house and called Mr. Zuckerman.
"I think you'd
better come down to the pigpen, he said.
"What’s the
trouble?” asked Mr. Zuckerman. “Anything wrong with the pig?""N-not
exactly," said Lurvy. "Come and see for yourself."The two men
walked silently down to Wilbur's yard. Lurvy pointed to the spider's web.
"Do you see what I see?" he asked.
Zuckerman stared at
the writing on the web. Then he murmured the words "Some Pig." Then
he looked at Lurvy. Then they both began to tremble. Charlotte, sleepy after
her night's exertions, smiled as she watched. Wilbur came and stood directly
under the web.
"Some pig!"
muttered Lurvy in a low voice.
"Some pig!"
Whispered Mr. Zuckerman. They stared and stared for a long time at Wilbur. Then
they stared at Charlotte.
"You don't
suppose that that spider . . . " began Mr. Zuckerman--but he shook his
head and didn't finish the sentence. Instead, he walked solemnly back up to the
house and spoke to his wife. "Edith, something has happened," he
said, in a weak voice. He went into the living room and sat down and Mrs.
Zuckerman followed.
"I've got
something to tell you, Edith," he said. "You better sit
down."Mrs. Zuckerman sank into a chair. She looked pale and frightened.
"Edith," he
said, trying to keep his voice steady, "I think you had best be told that
we have a very unusual pig."A look of complete bewilderment came over Mrs.
Zuckerman's face . "Homer Zuckerman, what in the world are you talking
about?" she said.
"This is a very
serious thing, Edith," he replied.
"Our pig is
completely out of the ordinary.""What’s unusual about the pig?” asked
Mrs. Zuckerman, who was beginning to recover from her scare.
"Well, I don't
really know yet," said Mr. Zuckerman. "But we have received a sign,
Edith--a mysterious sign. A miracle has happened on this farm. There is a large
spider's web in the doorway of the barn cellar, right over the pigpen, and when
Lurvy went to feed the pig this morning, he noticed the web because it was
foggy, and you know how a spider's web looks very distinct in a fog. And right
spang in the middle of the web there were the words 'Some Pig.' The words were
woven right into the web. They were actually part of the web, Edith. I know,
because I have been down there and seen them. It says, 'Some Pig,' just as
clear as clear can be. There can be no mistake about it. A miracle has happened
and a sign has occurred hereon earths right on our farm, and we have no
ordinary pig.""Well," said Mrs. Zuckerman, "it seems to me
you're a little off. It seems to me we have no ordinary spider."“Oh, no,”
said Zuckerman. “It’s the pig that’s unusual. It says so, right there in the
middle of the web.”
“Maybe so,” said Mrs.
Zuckerman. “Just the same, I intend to have a look at that spider.”
“It’s just a common
grey spider,” said Zuckerman.
They got up, and
together they walked down to Wilbur’s yard. “You see, Edith? It’s just a common
grey spider.”
Wilbur was pleased to
receive so much attention. Lurvy was still standing there, and Mr. And Mrs.
Zuckerman, all three, stood for about an hour, reading the words on the web
over and over, and watching Wilbur.
Charlotte was
delighted with the way her trick was working. She sat without moving a muscle,
and listened to the conversation of the people. When a small fly blundered into
the web, just beyond the word “pig,” Charlotte dropped quickly down, rolled the
fly up, and carried it out of the way.
After a while the fog
lifted. The web dried off and the words didn’t show up so plainly. The
Zuckermans and Lurvy walked back to the house. Just before they left the
pigpen, Mr. Zuckerman took one last look at Wilbur.
“You know,” he said,
in an important voice, “I’ve thought all along that that pig of ours was an
extra good one. He’s a solid pig. That pig is as solid as they come. You notice
how solid he is around the shoulders, Lurvy?”
“Sure, Sure I do,”
said Lurvy. “I’ve always noticed that pig. He’s quite a pig.”
“He’s long, and he’s
smooth,” said Zuckerman.
“That’s right,” agreed
Lurvy. “he’s as smooth as they come. He’s some pig.”
When Mr. Zuckerman
got back to the house, he took off his work clothes and put on his best suit.
Then he got into his car and drove to the minister’s house. He stayed for an
hour and explained to the minister that a miracle had happened on the farm.
“So far,” said
Zuckerman, “only four people on earth know about this miracle—myself, my wife
Edith, my hired man Lurvy, and you.”
“Don’t tell anybody
else,” said the minister. “We don’t know what it means yet, but perhaps if I
give thought to it, I can explain it in my sermon next Sunday. There can be no
doubt that you have a most unusual pig. I intend to speak about it in my sermon
and point out the fact that this community has been visited with a wondrous
animal. By the way, does the pig have a name?”
“Why, yes,” said Mr.
Zuckerman. “My little niece calls him Wilbur. She’s rather queer child—full of
notions. She raised the pig on a bottle and I bought him from her when he was a
month old.”
He shook hands with
the minister, and left.
Secrets are hard to
keep. Long before Sunday came, the news spread all over the county. Everybody
knew that a sign had appeared in a spider’s web on the Zuckerman place.
Everybody knew that the Zuckermans had a wondrous pig. People came from miles
around to look at Wilbur and to read the words on Charlotte’s web. The
Zuckermans’ driveway was full of cars and trucks from morning till night—Fords
and Chevvies and Buick roadmasters and GMC pickups and Plymouths and
Studebakers and Packards and De Sotos with gyromatic transmissions and
Oldsmobiles with rocket engines and Jeep station wagons and Pontiacs. The news
of the wonderful pig spread clear up into the hills, and farmers came rattling
down in buggies and buckboards, to stand hour after hour at Wilbur’s pen
admiring the miraculous animal. All said they had never seen such a pig before
in their lives.
When Fern told her
mother that Avery had tried to hit the Zuckermans’ spider with a stick, Mrs.
Arable was so shocked that she sent Avery to bed without any supper, as
punishment.
In the days that
followed, Mr. Zuckerman was so busy entertaining visitors that he neglected his
farm work. He wore his good clothes all the time now—got right into them when
he got up in the morning. Mrs. Zuckerman prepared special meals for Wilbur.
Lurvy shaved and got a haircut; and his principal farm duty was to feed the pig
while people looked on.
Mr. Zuckerman ordered
Lurvy to increase Wilbur’s feedings from three meals a day to four meals a day.
The Zuckermans were so busy with visitors they forgot about other things on the
farm. The blackberries got ripe, and Mrs. Zuckerman failed to put up any
blackberry jam. The corn needed hoeing, and Lurvy didn’t find time to hoe it.
On Sunday the church
was full. The minister explained the miracle. He said that the words on the
spider’s web proved that human beings must always be on the watch for the
coming of wonders.
All in all, the
Zuckermans’ pigpen was the center of attraction. Fern was happy, for she felt
that Charlotte’s trick was working and that Wilbur’s life would be saved. But
she found that the barn was not nearly as pleasant—too many people. She liked
it better when she could be all alone with her friends the animals.