Summary

Chapter 18, “The Cool of the Evening.”

In the cool of the evening, Charlotte is spinning a web and Wilbur is sleeping as Templeton slinks from the crate and away to explore the fairgrounds. Charlotte calls to Templeton for him to bring her a word for the web and the rat mutters as he creeps away.

Fern meets with her friend Henry Fussy, who pays her way on the Ferris wheel. Templeton finds endless delights of scrap food and gorges himself before grabbing a scrap piece of paper for Charlotte’s web. When he returns, he gives Charlotte the latest word, “humble,” and Charlotte agrees that this epitomizes Wilbur and gets to work finishing her design. After the Zuckermans and Arables leave the fair for the night, Wilbur attempts to talk to Charlotte, but the spider responds that she’s too tired. When Wilbur asks what...