介绍:
CHAPTER11 The Miracle
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 eachthin strand was decorated with dozens of tiny beads of water. The web glistened in thelight 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 howclearly it showed up
and he noted how big and carefully built it was. And then he took another lookand he saw something
that made him set his pail down. There, in the center of the web, neatly wovenin block letters, was a message.
It said: SOMEPIG!
Lurvy felt weak. He brushed his hand across his eyes and stared harder atCharlotte’s web.
"I’m seeing things," he whispered. He dropped to his knees and uttered a shortprayer. Then,
forgetting all about Wilbur’s breakfast, he walked back to the house and calledMr. Zuckerman.
"I think you’d better come down to the pigpen," he said.
"What’s the trouble?" asked Mr. Zuckerman. "Anything wrong withthe 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 "SomePig." Then he looked at Lurvy. Then they both began to tremble. Charlotte, sleepy after hernight’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 along time at Wilbur. Then
they stared at Charlotte.
"You don’t suppose that that spider …" began Mr. Zuckerman - but he shook hishead and didn’t
finish the sentence. Instead, he walked solemnly back up to the house and spoketo his wife. "Edith,
somethinghas happened," he said, in a weak voice. He went into the living room andsat down, and
Mrs. Zuckerman followed.
"I’ve got something to tell you, Edith," he said. "You better sitdown."
Mrs. Zuckerman sank into a chair. She looked pale and frightened.
"Edith," he said, trying to keep his voice steady, "I think youhad 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 asign, Edith - a
mysterious sign. A miracle has happened on this farm. There is a large spider’sweb in the doorway
of the barn cellar, right over the pigpen, and when Lurvy went to feed the pigthis 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." Thewords were woven right
into the web. They were actual part of the web, Edith. I know, because I havebeen down there and
seen them. It says, ’Some Pig,’ just as clear as clear can be. There can be nomistake about it. A miracle has happened and a sign has occurred here on earth, 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 mewe have no ordinary spider."
"Oh,no," said Zuckerman. "It’s the pig that’s un usual. It says so, rightthere in the middle of the web."
"Maybeso," said Mrs. Zuckerman. "Just the same, I intend to have a look atthat 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 standingthere, and Mr. and
Mrs. Zuckerman all three, stood for about an hour, reading the words on the webover 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 thepeople. When a small fly
blundered into the web, just beyond the word pig," Charlotte droppedquickly 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 soplainly. The
Zuckermans and Lurvy walked back to the house. Just before they left thepigpen, Mr. Zuckerman took
one last look at Wilbur.
"Youknow," 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 noticehow solid he is
around the shoulders, Lurvy?"
"Sure.Sure I do," said Lurvy. "I’ve always noticed that pig. He’s quite apig."
"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 onhis best suit.
Then he got into his car and drove to the minister’s house. He stayed for anhour and explained to the
minister that a miracle had happened on the farm.
"Sofar," said Zuckerman, "only four people on earth know about this miracle - myself, my wife
Edith, my hired man Lurvy, and you."
"Don’ttell anybody else," said the minister. "We don’t know what it meansyet, but perhaps if I give thought to it, I can explain it in my sermon next Sunday. There can be nodoubt that you have a
most unusual pig. I intend to speak about it in my sermon and point out thefact 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 arather queer child -
full of notions. She raised the pig on a bottle and I bought him from her whenhe 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 lookat Wilbur and
to read the words on Charlotte’s web. The Zuckermans’ driveway was full of carsand trucks from
morning till night - Fords and Chevvies and Buick roadmasters and GMC pickupsand Plymouths and
Studebakers and Packards and De Sotos with gyromatic transmissions andOldsmobiles with rocket
engines and Jeep station wagons and Pontiacs. The news of the wonderful pigspread clear up into
the hills, and farmers came rattling down in buggies and buckboards, to standhour after hour at
Wilbur’s pen admiring the miraculous animal. All said they had never seen sucha pig before in their lives.
WhenFern told her mother that Avery had tried to hit the Zuckermans’ spider with astick, Mrs.
Arablewas so shocked that she sent Avery to bed without any supper, as punishment.
In thedays that followed, Mr. Zuckerman was so busy entertaining visitors that heneglected his
farm work. He wore his good clothes all the time now -got right into them whenhe got up in the
morning. Mrs. Zuckerman prepared special meals for Wilbur. Lurvy shaved and gota 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 tofour meals
a day. The Zuckermans were so busy with visitors they forgot about other thingson 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.
OnSunday the church was full. The minister explained the miracle. He said thatthe words on the
spider’s web proved that human beings must always be on the watch for thecoming of wonders.
All inall, 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 shefound that the barn was not nearly as pleasant - too many people. She liked it better when she could beall alone with her friends the animals.
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