Chapter-11 The Spider and the Fly

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Understanding

1. List of things the spider offers to the fly if she visits his parlour:
   • To show her many curious things.
   • To let her rest on his comfortable bed with fine sheets and pretty curtains.
   • To give her nice things to eat from his pantry.
   • To let her look at herself in his little looking-glass (mirror).
2. Features of his parlour the spider tells the fly about:
   • It’s the prettiest little parlour; the way is up a winding stair.
   • There are many curious things to see there.
3. Words/expressions used to flatter the fly (Stanza 4):
   • “Sweet creature”
   • “You’re witty and you’re wise”
   • “How handsome are your gauzy wings”
   • “How brilliant are your eyes”
4. Why did the spider think the fly would come again?
   • The spider knew the fly was silly and would be tempted by his flattery and offers.
5. What did the spider do to trap the fly?
   • He weaved a subtle web in a corner, set his table to dine, and waited for the fly to return.
6. What did the spider plan to do once the fly was caught?
   • The spider planned to eat the fly.
7. What made the fly fall into the spider’s trap at last?
   • The fly was fooled by the spider’s flattering words and forgot the warnings.
8. Words or expressions that show how the spider caught the fly:
   • “Up jumped the cunning spider, and fiercely held her fast”
   • “He dragged her up his winding stair, into the dismal den”
9. Advice the poet gives to the reader:
   • Never trust or listen to silly, flattering words, and always ignore bad advice.
10. Rhyming words in the poem:
    • fly/spy, stair/there, vain/again, thin/in, do/you, wise/eyes, shelf/self, den/again, sing/wing, head/lead, by/hue, fast/last, den/again, read/heed, eye/fly.

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Words (from the poem):

• without success (stanza 1): in vain
• tired (stanza 2): weary
• see (stanza 3): behold
• clothes (stanza 5): robes
• strongly (stanza 6): fiercely
• attention (stanza 7): heed