"Goodness gracious! what's all this?" he shouted; and he banged and kicked with all his wings and legs. Such a commotion! "He will smash my web and get away, after all," cried Spinny, and she was out to him in a moment. Quickly she spun a few threads and bound them round him to hold him. Then she unsheathed two sharp claws in her feelers. She drove these into the fly, holding them still for a second while a drop of poison from her poison bag ran down each claw into the wound. Very soon Blue-bottle was dead.
"This is a splendid tea!" said Spinny. "The wings are too hard and dry, but the body is just what I like."
"You savage creature!" cried the Red Butterfly, who had seen the death of the fly. "How can you bear to be so cruel?"
"Again we look at things from different standpoints," said Spinny. "I cannot eat honey like you, but am made to live on flesh and blood. What seems cruelty to you is only my nature, and I cannot help my nature. I must get my food in this way, or I should die."
SPINNY SPIDER'S CHILDREN
"What are you making now?" asked the Red Butterfly of Spinny Spider.
"A round cradle for my babies," said Spinny Spider.
"Really! And where are the babies?"
"They are not here yet. Don't talk to me. I am busy."