Lesson 1534 – Lessons Learned from Charlotte’s Web – Chapter 4

Charlotte’s Web Chapter 4 Loneliness

The next day (after Wilbur’s unexpected burst of freedom) was rainy, dark and dreary. The rain upset Wilbur’s plan to go out and dig a new hole in his yard.

After all Wilbur has his entire day planned out. Breakfast, napping, digging holes, talking to his friend Templeton the rat, and even standing still from three to four where he would think of what it was like to be alive, and to wait for Fern.

But the rain put a damper on those plans. Wilbur couldn’t find Templeton and the little pig began to feel lonely.

“One day just like another,” he groaned.  “I’m very young, I have no real friend here in the barn, it’s going to rain all morning and all afternoon, and Fern won’t come in such bad weather. Oh honestly!”

And when Wilbur is given his breakfast, he realizes that he doesn’t want food, he wants love. He wanted a fiend.

Wilbur ties to make friends with the mother goose, but she is too busy taking care of her clutch of eggs.

Next he tries one of the lambs who replies that she will certainly not play with a pig. “Pigs mean less than nothing to me.”

Wilbur goes to sit down. He sees Templeton and asks the rat if he would like to play?

“Play?” replies Templeton “I hardly know the meaning of the word.”

Friendless, dejected and hungry, Wilbur throws himself down in the manure and sobs.

Lurvey reports that something is wrong with the pig

“Give him two spoonful’s of Sulphur and a little molasses.”

Day turns to night and Wilbur doesn’t know if he can endure the awful loneliness anymore.

In the darkness, he hears a small voice “Do you want a friend Wilbur?” it said. “I’ll be a friend to you. I’ve watched you all day and I like you.

 

Chapter 4 Lessons Learned

 

Even if you have plans for the day, unexpected things can still happen which will mess things up.

Lesson Learned – Always have a plan B.

 

Sometimes you just have to endure the rain to get to the sunshine on the other side.

Lesson Learned – After every dark night, there is a dawn.

 

Wilbur has an obsessive relationship with his food. He knows the textures, the different flavors.  It’s fair to say that he lives for food, but because he is so lonely, Wilbur can’t eat. Clever pig.

Lesson Learned – It’s true, sometimes you don’t want food, you want love.

 

Wilbur is so lonely that he cries, feels dejected, and wants to give up.

Lesson learned – Loneliness is very, very  painful. If you know someone who is lonely, reach out to them. Today.

 

Wilbur tries to make friend with the goose, a lamb, and a rat. None of them want to be his friend.

Lesson Learned – there are times when you are better off not being friends with some people.

 

Something appears to be wrong with the pig, so he is given medication.

Lesson Learned – it’s important to figure out *why* you are in pain or are sick. Medication can’t fix everything.

Bonus lesson – If you’re hurting, try to tell someone so they will know best how to help. Don’t have someone give you tummy medication for a broken leg.

 

Wilbur hears a small voice in the darkness telling him that he has a friend.

Lesson Learned – Never, ever, ever give up.

 

***

Wendy Thomas writes about the lessons learned while raising children and chickens in New Hampshire. Contact her at Wendy@SimpleThrift.com

Also, join me on Facebook to find out more about the flock (children and chickens) and see some pretty funny chicken jokes, photos of tiny houses, and even a recipe or two.

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Lesson 1519 – Not for the faint of heart

I had wanted to start the week off writing about my recent trip to Spain and France (as you can probably figure out, I came home with some great stories) or continue with another chapter of Charlotte’s Web. But something happened the night I came back from my trip that takes precedence.

My flock was hit and it was hit hard by a vicious predator.

The night I got back, while I slept (I took some sleeping medication in order to overcome the jet lag) *something* got into our coop. Five chickens were killed outright and four were left wounded. By the afternoon two more had died. That left me with  two remaining ones that I thought had a chance.

The damage was frightening. Heads were crushed, beaks were pulled out. On two birds the bellies were opened and the innards eaten. It was a literal blood bath.

Lesson 1518 – Lessons Learned from Charlotte’s Web – Chapter 3

In Chapter 3 of Charlotte’s Web Wilbur the pig goes to live in the Zuckerman’s barn. At first it is lovely, warm and holds many new experiences. It’s got ladders, pitch forks, monkey wrenches, scythes, lawnmowers, snow shovels, ax handles, milk pails, water buckets, empty grain sacks, and rust rat traps. But soon the barn becomes familiar and Wilbur gets bored with his confinement.

Fern comes to visit Wilbur when she can, but Wilbur wants more. He realizes that he never has any fun – no walks, no rides, no swims. Bored, Wilbur says to himself “There’s never anything to do around here.”

“I’m less than two months old and I’m tired of living,” he adds.

A goose overhears him, tells him about a loose board in the fence and convinces Wilbur to escape. When Wilbur sticks his head through the hole in the fence the goose asks him “how does it feel to be free?”

Wilbur escapes into the yard where Mrs. Zuckerman sees him and alerts Mr. Zuckerman and Lurvy that the pig is loose. They chase Wilbur who gets flustered and confused.

Finally, Mr. Zuckerman holds out a pail of slops toward Wilbur. He smells the warm milk, potato skins, wheat middlings, Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, and a popover left from the Zuckerman breakfast.

“”No, no, no, cries the goose. “You’ll miss your freedom.”

But Wilbur follows Mr. Zuckerman back to the barn where he is rewarded with the slops.

“I’m really too young to out into the world alone,” he thought as he lay down.

 

Chapter 3 Lessons Learned

Look at all the wonderful things in Wilbur’s new home!  Some things are used in the summer, some in the winter, and some every day.

Lesson learned –Look around, there are a lot of things about home to love.

 

Wilbur becomes complacent in his new surroundings and gets bored, but ulatimately if he would just listen to himself, he’d know what to do.

Lesson learned – if you want to have fun– go on a walk, go for a ride or a swim

 

Wilbur wonders what it would feel like to be free and so he pushes his way through the hole in the fence.

Lesson learned – If you want to know what it feels like to be free, then you need to escape from where you are.

 

When Wilbur escapes, Mrs. Zuckerman sounds the alarm.

Lesson learned – Be careful, when you try new things, news travels fast.

 

It takes a bucket of slops to get Wilbur back into his pen.

Lesson learned – never underestimate the power of appealing to someone’s stomach

 

Having a full tummy and tired from his adventures, Wilbur takes a nap.

Lesson learned – there’s no place like home.

Bonus lesson learned – Remember, all moms have eyes in the back of their heads, if you’re doing something wrong, they’ll catch you.

 

***

Wendy Thomas writes about the lessons learned while raising children and chickens in New Hampshire. Contact her at Wendy@SimpleThrift.com

Also, join me on Facebook to find out more about the flock (children and chickens) and see some pretty funny chicken jokes, photos of tiny houses, and even a recipe or two.

Like what you read here? Consider subscribing to this blog so that you’ll never miss a post. And feel free to share with those who may need a little chicken love.

Lesson 1516 – Lessons Learned from Charlotte’s Web – Chapter 2

 

In Chapter 2 of Charlotte’s Web we learn more about the tiny pig named Wilbur. Fern adores him and takes very good care of feeding him before and after school while Mrs. Arable gives him his noontime bottle.

For the first few days Wilbur lives in the house but as he grows he is moved to a pen outside. It’s apple blossom season and the days are getting warmer.

Concerned that the pig might get cold when the temperatures drop, Fern is relieved to see Wilbur dig a tunnel  inside the straw in the wooden box house she provided which will keep him warm when he sleeps at night.

Each morning Wilbur walks to the bus stop with Fern and as soon as she gets home from school she plays with him. Oftentimes he’ll walk alongside her as she pushes a doll carriage and sometimes when he gets very tired she puts the pig in the carriage with her doll and lets him sleep while she carefully maneuvers the carriage so as not to bump it and wake him up.

As Wilbur grows, Mr. Arable tells Fern that it’s time to sell him. All of Wilbur’s brothers and sisters had already been sold. Pigs eat a lot of food and is not worth the cost to keep him.

Naturally Fern is upset because not only will she lose Wilbur but it’s very likely that Wilbur will end up on someone’s breakfast plate. As a farm girl, she knows what will happen.

Seeing her daughter’s distress, Mrs. Arable suggests that Fern “Call up the Zuckermans. Your Uncle Homer sometimes raises pigs.” The Zuckermans live down the road so it appears to be a good compromise.

Fern calls her Uncle who agrees to take the pig and the next day Wilbur is moved from his home under the apple blossom tree to go live in a manure pile in the cellar of the Zuckerman’s barn.

Lesson 1515 – Lessons Learned from Charlotte’s Web – Chapter 1

At a bookstore while I was digging out my debit card, the topic of conversation centered around a tiny “Charlotte’s Web” book pin I was wearing on my sweatshirt.

“I loved that book”, the clerk told me.

“Oh,” I replied, “I loved it too. My great-Uncle wrote it.”

He was duly impressed  and as I handed him my card, he asked me if I had ever met White. I replied that I had not. But while I never met him, in our household you knew his many books by heart and you could not escape knowing all about Wilbur, Charlotte and Fern.

More effective than any church sermon, I was constantly encouraged to “live like Charlotte.”

The other day when organizing my office, I stumbled across an old copy of Charlottes’ Web inscribed by my Uncle, nephew to White. Instead of continuing with the cleaning I sat down to read a chapter or two (or three.)

Just as before, my old friends came back to speak to me and I realized that reading the book with an adult perspective gave me a new appreciation for what we could learn from this charming story. Little did I know how much gentle advice you could glean from the story of a girl, a spider and a pig.

Wouldn’t’ that be a fun thing to write about, I thought to myself.

And so because it is the perfect project for this writer who love to share life lessons, here you go –  my take on lessons learned from Charlotte’s Web written by E.B. White starting at Chapter 1.

 

Chapter 1

Early one morning while getting ready for breakfast, Fern, a little girl who lives on a farm with her brother and parents wonders where her father is going with an axe.

“Well, said her mother, “one of the pigs is a runt. It’s very small and weak, and it will never amount to anything. So your father has decided to do away with it.”

Fern rushes from the table and wrestles her father for the axe. “Please don’t kill i!” she sobbed “It’s unfair.”

“Fern,” said Mr. Arable, I know more about raising a little f pigs than you do. A weakling makes trouble. Now run along.”

“But it’s unfair” cried Fern. “The pig couldn’t help being born small, could it? I I had been very small at birth, would you have killed me?”

Mr. Arable sends Fern back into the house and tells Fern that he will bring the runt into the house and she can take care of it and feed it with a bottle. Fern goes into the house and washes up. In the meantime her brother Avery comes downstairs and sees the pig.

Can I have a pig too?” he asks.

“No, I only distribute pigs to early risers,” said Mr. Arable. “Fern was up at daylight, trying to rid the world of injustice. As a result she now has a pig. It just shows what can happen if a person gets out of bed promptly. Let’s eat.”

Before Fern eats her breakfast she sits down and feeds the tiny pig by bottle. They hear the school bus honk and Mrs. Avery tucks doughnuts into their hands and rushes them out the door to get to school.

Fern delighted with her new charge, calls the pig Wilbur.

 

Lessons Learned

There are so many lessons from this one little chapter. Let’s begin.

 

If Fern hadn’t gotten up early enough to see her father heading out to the barn with an axe, Charlotte’s Web would have been a very short and incredibly sad story. Instead because of her getting up and joining the community and because she was vigilant to injustice, she was able to challenge it and bring awareness which resulted in change.

Lessons learned – Don’t stay behind, get up and join others. Speak out when you see injustice and act against it when you are able to. The sooner you address injustice, the greater your chances of stopping it.

 

Fern wrestles with her father for the axe.

Lesson learned – Don’t’ be afraid of someone who is bigger than you.

 

As a mother it now breaks my heart to read the passage where the father says that a weakling causes trouble. As one whose kids have dyslexia and who has been an advocate for adults and children with disabilities, I now see that Mr. and Mrs. Arable were wrong – not only do runts amount to something, but weaklings can contribute so very much to the community. Hooray for Fern being able to recognize this long before others did.

Lessons learned   Don’t discount people who are weak or small because even the tiniest of voices can make a contribution.

 

Mr. Arable decides to save the pig and gives it to Fern.

Lessons learned – Under the right circumstances people’s attitudes and behaviors can change.

 

Fern is delighted when she discovers that the pig is hers. Realizing it needs care, before she eats breakfast she sits down and feeds her new charge.

Lesson learned – sometimes the needs of others come before yours (you’ll fully embrace this concept when you become a parent.)

 

The school bus honks and Fern and her brother are rushed out of the house to catch it so they can go to school.

Lesson learned – Don’t’ underestimate the power and importance of education.

 

Finally, Mrs. Arable realizing that in all the commotion hadn’t had time for a proper meal, she takes care of her children by giving them doughnuts to eat on the bus and they go out the door.

Lesson learned – no matter what, take care of yourself by starting the day off eating a good breakfast.

Bonus lesson learned – Don’t forget to say “thank you” to your mom.

***

Wendy Thomas writes about the lessons learned while raising children and chickens in New Hampshire. Contact her at Wendy@SimpleThrift.com

Also, join me on Facebook to find out more about the flock (children and chickens) and see some pretty funny chicken jokes, photos of tiny houses, and even a recipe or two.

Like what you read here? Consider subscribing to this blog so that you’ll never miss a post. And feel free to share with those who may need a little chicken love.