Line after line appeared as if by magic. The lines crossed and recrossed, and at every point where they touched a tiny drop of sticky fluid held them firmly together.
The spider viewed her work with satisfaction.
Lastly, she ran a more delicate thread round and round in spiral fashion. At the end of an hour the web was complete.
“Now I will test it,” said the spider; and she tried her work here and there, and found it quite good.
Only a short time passed before the big fly buzzed into the elastic strands. The more he struggled, the more he became entangled.
The spider was hungry and very impatient. She darted from her lair and seized the fly with her terrible claws.
At the end of the feelers were tubes from which she poured poison into the body of her prisoner, while with her fore feet she entangled still further the fly’s legs and wings.
In a few moments the bluebottle was quite still. Securely bound up in the sticky strands, bitten and poisoned, it was clear that he would never again buzz about in the sunshine. Then the spider enjoyed a better meal than she had had for a long time.
An hour later the housemaid came along, and, catching sight of the web, she flicked it with her duster.
“That miserable insect has been at its tricks again,” she said.