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Benjamin Mays
ePub
A4Chapter 11: The Miracle
carpet. The
asparagus patch looked like a silver
forest.
On foggy mornings, Charlotte's web
was truly a thing of beauty. This morning
each thin strand was decorated with
dozens of tiny beads of water. The web
glistened in the light 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 how clearly it
showed up and he noted how big and
carefully built it was. And then he took
another look and he saw something that
made him set his pail down. There, in
the center of the web, neatly woven in
block letters, was a message. It said:
SOME PIG!
Lurvy felt weak. He brushed his
hand across his eyes and stared harder at
Charlotte's web.
"I'm seeing things," he whispered.
He dropped to his knees and uttered a
short prayer. Then, forgetting all about
Wilbur's breakfast, he walked back to
the house and called Mr. Zuckerman.
"I think you'd better come down to
the pigpen," he said.
"What's the trouble?" asked Mr
.Zuckerman. "Anything wrong with the
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
"Some Pig." Then he looked at Lurvy.
Then they both began to tremble.
Charlotte, sleepy after her night'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 a
long time at Wilbur. Then they stared at
Charlotte.
"You don't suppose that that spider
..." began Mr. Zuckerman - but he shook
his head and didn't finish the sentence.
Instead, he walked solemnly back up to
the house and spoke to his wife. "Edith,
something has happened," he said, in a
weak voice. He went into the living
room and sat down, and Mrs. Zuckerman
followed.
"I've got something to tell you,
Edith," he said. "You better sit down."
Mrs. Zuckerman sank into a chair.
She looked pale and frightened.
"Edith," he said, trying to keep his
voice steady, "I think you had 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 a
sign, Edith - a mysterious sign. A
miracle has happened on this farm.
There is a large spider's web in the
doorway of the barn cellar, right over
the pigpen, and when Lurvy went to feed
the pig this 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 (precisely (Slang)
in the middle of the web there were the
words 'Some Pig." The words were
woven right into the web. They were
actual part of the web, Edith. I know
because I have been down there and
seen them. It says, 'Some Pig,' just as
clear as clear can be. There can be no
mistake 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 me we have no ordinary spider."
"Oh, no," said Zuckerman. "It's the
pig that's unusual. It says so, right there
in the middle of the web."
"Maybe so," said Mrs. Zuckerman.
"Just the same, I intend to have a look at
that 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 standing
there, and Mr. and Mrs. Zuckerman all
three, stood for about an hour, reading
the words on the web over 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 the
people. When a small fly blundered into
the web, just beyond the word pig,"
Charlotte dropped quickly 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 so plainly. The Zuckermans and
Lurvy walked back to the house. Just
before they left the pigpen, Mr.
Zuckerman took one last look at Wilbur.
"You know," 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 notice how solid he is
around the shoulders, Lurvy?"
"Sure. Sure I do," said Lurvy. "I've
always noticed that pig. He's quite a
pig."
"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 on his best suit. Then he got into
his car and drove to the minister's house.
He stayed for an hour and explained to
the minister that a miracle had happened
on the farm.
"So far," said Zuckerman, "only
four people on earth know about this
miracle - myself, my wife Edith, my
hired man Lurvy, and you."
"Don't tell anybody else," said the
minister. "We don't know what it means
yet, but perhaps if I give thought to it, I
can explain it in my sermon next Sunday.
There can be no doubt that you have a
most unusual pig. I intend to speak about
it in my sermon and point out the fact 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 a rather queer child - full of
notions. She raised the pig on a bottle
and I bought him from her when he 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 look
at Wilbur and to read the words on
Charlotte's web. The Zuckermans'
driveway was full of cars and trucks
from morning till night - Fords and
Chevvies and Buick roadmasters and
GMC pickups and Plymouths and
Studebakers and Packards and De Sotos
with gyromatic transmissions and
Oldsmobiles with rocket engines and
Jeep station wagons and Pontiacs. The
news of the wonderful pig spread clear
up into the hills, and farmers came
rattling down in buggies and
buckboards, to stand hour after hour at
Wilbur's pen admiring the miraculous
animal. All said they had never seen
such a pig before in their lives.
When Fern told her mother that
Avery had tried to hit the Zuckermans'
spider with a stick, Mrs. Arable was so
shocked that she sent Avery to bed
without any supper as punishment.
In the days that followed, Mr.
Zuckerman was so busy entertaining
visitors that he neglected his farm work.
He wore his good clothes all the time
now -got right into them when he got up
in the morning. Mrs. Zuckerman
prepared special meals for Wilbur.
Lurvy shaved and got a 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 to four meals a day. The
Zuckermans were so busy with visitors
they forgot about other things on 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.
On Sunday the church was full. The
minister explained the miracle. He said
that the words on the spider's web
proved that human beings must always
be on the watch for the coming of
wonders.
All in all, 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 she found that the
barn was not nearly as pleasant - too
many people. She liked it better when
she could be all alone with her friends
the animals.
