and the executioner of spiders? Since others injured him, why did he not
revenge himself in doing harm according to his strength; for instance, by
causing the flies to be eaten by spiders, or in letting the crickets drown
themselves, or even drowning them himself.'"

"Yes; exactly; why did he not revenge himself in that way?" said Nicholas.

"What good would that have done him?" said another.

"Why, to do harm because others harmed him!"

"No! I can comprehend why the poor little kid liked to save the flies,"
answered Blue Cap. "He thought, perhaps, 'Who knows that some one will not
save me in the same way?'"

"Pal, you're right," cried Pique-Vinaigre; "you have read in your heart
what I was about to explain to the honorable company. Gringalet was not
malicious; he saw no further than the end of his nose; but he said to
himself, 'Cut-in-half is my spider; perhaps one day somebody will do for me
what I do for the flies; they will break up his web, and snatch me from his
claws.' For until then, on no account would he have dared to run away from
his master; he would have thought himself stone dead. Yet, one day, when
neither he nor his turtle had had any luck, and they had only earned two or
three sous, Cut-in-half began to whip the child so hard, so hard, that,
hang it! Gringalet could stand it no longer. Tired of being the butt and
martyr of everybody, he watched the moment when the trap-door of the garret
was open, and while the padrone was feeding his beasts, he slipped down the
ladder."

"Hooray! so much the better!" said a prisoner.