Part 11 (1/2)
”I didn't know there was such ht ”The deep night of death is upon ht sun Good-by, my dear friend-bees Why did I leave you? A happy life to you I must die”
The spider sat wary, a little to one side She was still afraid of Maya's sting
”Well?” she jeered ”How are you feeling, little girl?”
Maya was too proud to answer the false creature She merely said, after a while when she felt she couldn't bear any ht away”
”Really!” said the spider, tying a few torn threads together
”Really! Do you taketo die anyhow, if you're kept hanging long enough, and that's the ti Too bad, though, that you can't see how dreadfully you've daed my lovely web Then you'd realize that you deserve to die”
She dropped down to the ground, laid the end of the newly spun thread about a stone, and pulled it in tight Then she ran up again, caught hold of the thread by which little en
”You're going into the shade, my dear,” she said, ”so that you shall not dry up out here in the sunshi+ne Besides, hanging here you're like a scarecrow, you'll frighten away other nice littleAnd sometimes the sparrows co, my name is Thekla, of the family of cross-spiders You needn't tell me your name It makes no difference You're a fat bit, and you'll taste just as tender and juicy by any na in the shade of the blackberry vine, close to the ground, completely at the mercy of the cruel spider, who intended her to die by slow starvation Hanging with her little head doard--a fearful position to be in--she soon felt she would not last many rew feebler and feebler Who was there to hear?
Her folk at ho of this catastrophe, so _they_ couldn't corass, she heard so”
Maya's agonized heart began to beat stor-beetle
”Bobbie,” she called, as loud as she could, ”Bobbie, dear Bobbie!”
”Make way! _I'”
”But I' over your head The spider has caught me”
”Who are you?” asked Bobbie ”So many people know me You know they do, don't you?”
”I am Maya--Maya, the bee Oh please, please help me!”
”Maya? Maya?-- Ah, now I reo-- The deuce! You _are_ in a bad way, if I must say so myself You certainly do need my help As I happen to have a few moments' time, I won't refuse”
”Oh, Bobbie, can you tear these threads?”
”Tear those threads! Do you mean to insult irl Hard as steel No th I can dothat'll make you open your eyes”
Bobbie crawled up on the leaf, caught hold of the thread by which Maya was hanging, clung to it, then let go of the leaf
The thread broke, and they both fell to the ground
”That's only the beginning,” said Bobbie-- ”But Maya, you're treirl, how pale you are! Noould be so afraid of death? You must look death calmly in the face as I do So I'll unwrap you now”