"Children's Books - White, E.B. - Charlotte's Web" - читать интересную книгу автора (Children's Books)

"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
Wilbur was crying again, for the second time in two days.

At six-thirty Wilbur heard the banging of a pail. Lurvy was standing
outside in the rain, stirring up breakfast.

"C'mon, pig!" said Lurvy.

Wilbur did not budge. Lurvy dumped the slops, scraped the pail, and
walked away. He noticed that something was wrong with the pig.

Wilbur didn't want food, he wanted love. He wanted a friend - someone
who would play with him. He mentioned this to the goose, who was
sitting quietly in a corner of the sheepfold.

"Will you come over and play with me?" he asked.

"Sorry, sonny, sorry," said the goose. "I'm sitting-sitting on my eggs.
Eight of them. Got to keep them toasty-oasty-oasty warm. I have to
stay right here, I'm no flibberty-ibberty-gibbet. I do not play when
there are eggs to hatch. I'm expecting goslings."

"Well, I didn't think you were expecting woodpeckers," said Wilbur,
bitterly.

Wilbur next tried one of the lambs.

"Will you please play with me?" he asked.

"Certainly not," said the lamb. "In the first place, I cannot get into
your pen, as I am not old enough to jump over the fence. In the second
place, I am not interested in pigs. Pigs mean less than nothing to me."

"What do you mean, less than nothing?" replied Wilbur. "I don't think
there is any such thing as less than nothing. Nothing is absolutely the
limit of nothingness. It's the lowest you can go. It's the end of the
line. How can something be less than nothing? If there were something
that was less than nothing, then nothing would not be nothing, it would
be something - even though it's just a very little bit of something. But
if nothing is nothing, then nothing has nothing that is less than it
is."

"Oh, be quiet! " said the lamb. "Go play by yourself! I don't play
with pigs."

Sadly, Wilbur lay down and listened to the rain. Soon he saw the rat
climbing down a slanting board that he used as a stairway.