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

"I see no difference," replied Fern, still hanging on to the ax. "This
is the most terrible case of injustice I ever heard of."

A queer look came over John Arable's face. He seemed almost ready to
cry himself.

"All right," he said. "You go back to the house and I will bring the
runt when I come in. I'll let you start it on a bottle, like a baby.
Then you'll see what trouble a pig can be."

When Mr. Arable returned to the house half an hour later, he carried a
carton under his arm. Fern was upstairs changing her sneakers. The
kitchen table was set for breakfast, and the room smelled of coffee,
bacon, damp plaster, and wood smoke from the stove.

"Put it on her chair!" said Mrs. Arable. Mr. Arable set the carton
down at Fern's place. Then he walked to the sink and washed his hands
and dried them on the roller towel.

Fern came slowly down the stairs. Her eyes were red from crying. As
she approached her chair, the carton wobbled, and there was a scratching
noise. Fern looked at her father. Then she lifted the lid of the
carton. There, inside, looking up at her, was the newborn pig. It was
a white one. The morning light shone through its ears, turning them
pink.

"He's yours," said Mr. Arable. "Saved from an untimely death. And may
the good Lord forgive me for this foolishness."

Fern couldn't take her eyes off the tiny pig. "Oh," she whispered. "Oh,
look at him! He's absolutely perfect."

She closed the carton carefully. First she kissed her father, then she
kissed her mother. Then she opened the lid again, lifted the pig out,
and held it against her cheek. At this moment her brother Avery came
into the room. Avery was ten.

He was heavily armed - an air rifle in one hand, a wooden dagger in the
other.

"What's that?" he demanded. "What's Fern got?"

"She's got a guest for breakfast," said Mrs. Arable. "Wash your hands
and face, Avery!"

"Let's see it!" said Avery, setting his gun down. "You call that
miserable thing a pig? That's a fine specimen of a pig it's no bigger
than a white rat."

"Wash up and eat your breakfast, Avery!" said his mother.