THE SPIDER
AND OTHER TALES
BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR
Published by CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
| THE SPIDER AND OTHER TALES | net, $1.00 |
| TWO-LEGS | net, $1.00 |
| MY LITTLE BOY | net, $1.00 |
THE SPIDER
AND OTHER TALES
BY
CARL EWALD
TRANSLATED FROM THE DANISH
BY
ALEXANDER TEIXEIRA DE MATTOS
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
NEW YORK : : : : : : : 1907
Copyright, 1907, by Charles Scribner’s Sons
Sole Authorized Translation
Published, April, 1907
The Trow Press, New York
CONTENTS
| PAGE | |
| THE SPIDER | 3 |
| THE MIST | 59 |
| THE ANEMONES | 77 |
| THE QUEEN BEE | 97 |
| THE CATERPILLAR | 123 |
| THE BEECH AND THE OAK | 143 |
| THE WEEDS | 165 |
| THE WATER-LILY AND THE DRAGON-FLY | 183 |
| AUNT EIDER-DUCK | 199 |
THE SPIDER
THE SPIDER
1
THE hedge had once been full oftrees and bushes, but they were cutdown and nothing now shot up fromtheir stubs but long, thin twigs.
In between the stubs grew goat’s-footand fool’s-parsley and moreweeds of the same kind, which alllook like one another and are calledwild chervil by people who know nobetter.
Their branches were almost as longas those of the bushes. And they wereas pretentious as though they reallywere bushes and as though they didnot wither in the autumn and have[4]to start all over again with a littleseed, just like some silly daisy orpansy. They strutted and swaggered,they rustled in the wind, theysnapped, they lost their leaves andgot new ones, exactly as if their timewere their own. If any one askedthem what they really were, theypretended not to hear, or turned itoff as a jest, or refused pointblankto answer.
And then