Hour by hour she sat motionless, deep in thought. Having promised Wilbur that she would save his life, she was determined to keep her promise. Charlotte was naturally patient. She knew from experience that if she waited long enough, a fly would come to her web; and she felt sure that if she thought long enough about Wilbur’s problem, an idea would come to her mind. Finally, one morning toward the middle of July, the idea came. “Why, how perfectly simple!” she said to herself. “The way to save Wilbur’s life is to play a trick on Zuckerman. If I can fool a bug,” thought Charlotte, “I can surely fool a man. People are not as smart as bugs.” Wilbur walked into his yard just at that moment. “What are you thinking about, Charlotte?” he asked. “I was just thinking,” said the spider, “that people are very gullible.” “What does ‘gullible’ mean?” “Easy to fool,” said Charlotte. “That’s a mercy,” replied Wilbur, and he lay down in the shade of his fence and went fast asleep.
