Charlotte's Web by E. B. White Read Free Book Online Page B

had the best swing in the county. It was a single long piece of heavy rope tied to the beam over the north doorway. At the bottom end of the rope was a fat knot to sit on. It was arranged so that youcould swing without being pushed. You climbed a ladder to the hayloft. Then, holding the rope, you stood at the edge and looked down, and were scared and dizzy. Then you straddled the knot, so that it acted as a seat. Then you got up all your nerve, took a deep breath, and jumped. For a second you seemed to be falling to the barn floor far below, but then suddenly the rope would begin to catch you, and you would sail through the barn door going a mile a minute, with the wind whistling in your eyes and ears and hair. Then you would zoom upward into the sky, and look up at the clouds, and the rope would twist and you would twist and turn with the rope. Then you would drop down, down, down out of the sky and come sailing back into the barn almost into the hayloft, then sail out again (not quite so far this time), then in again (not quite so high), then out again, then in again, then out, then in; and then you’d jump off and fall down and let somebody else try it.
    Mothers for miles around worried about Zuckerman’s swing. They feared some child would fall off. But no child ever did. Children almost always hang onto things tighter than their parents think they will.
    Avery put the frog in his pocket and climbed to the hayloft. “The last time I swang in this swing, I almost crashed into a barn swallow,” he yelled.
    â€œTake that frog out!” ordered Fern.
    Avery straddled the rope and jumped. He sailed out through the door, frog and all, and into the sky, frog and all. Then he sailed back into the barn.
    â€œYour tongue is purple!” screamed Fern.
    â€œSo is yours!” cried Avery, sailing out again with the frog.
    â€œI have hay inside my dress! It itches!” called Fern.
    â€œScratch it!” yelled Avery, as he sailed back.
    â€œIt’s my turn,” said Fern. “Jump off!”
    â€œFern’s got the itch!” sang Avery.
    When he jumped off, he threw the swing up to his sister. She shut her eyes tight and jumped. She felt the dizzy drop, then the supporting lift of the swing. When she opened her eyes she was looking up into the blue sky and was about to fly back through the door.
    They took turns for an hour.
    When the children grew tired of swinging, they went down toward the pasture and picked wild raspberries and ate them. Their tongues turned from purple to red. Fern bit into a raspberry that had a bad-tasting bug inside it, and got discouraged. Avery found an empty candy box and put his frog in it. The frog seemed tired after his morning in the swing. The children walked slowly up toward the barn. They, too, were tired and hardly had energy enough to walk.
    â€œLet’s build a tree house,” suggested Avery. “I want to live in a tree, with my frog.”

    â€œI’m going to visit Wilbur,” Fern announced.
    They climbed the fence into the lane and walked lazily toward the pigpen. Wilbur heard them coming and got up.
    Avery noticed the spider web, and, coming closer, he saw Charlotte.
    â€œHey, look at that big spider!” he said. “It’s tremenjus.”
    â€œLeave it alone!” commanded Fern. “You’ve got a frog—isn’t that enough?”
    â€œThat’s a fine spider and I’m going to capture it,” said Avery. He took the cover off the candy box. Then he picked up a stick. “I’m going to knock that ol’ spider into this box,” he said.
    Wilbur’s heart almost stopped when he saw what was going on. This might be the end of Charlotte if the boy succeeded in catching her.
    â€œYou stop it, Avery!” cried Fern.
    Avery put one leg over the fence of the pigpen. He was just about to raise his stick to hit Charlotte when he lost his balance. He swayed and toppled and landed on the