deal puzzled about the whole affair, I caught sight of a large spider
crouched up in a corner with his stomach on the ground and his knees
above his head, as some spiders do sit, and looking at me, as I
fancied, through a pair of spectacles. (About the spectacles I do not
feel sure. It may have been two of his bent legs in apparent connection
with his prominent eyes.) I thought of the beetle, and said civilly,
'Can you tell me, sir, if this is Fairyland?' The spider took off his
spectacles (or untucked his legs), and took a sideways run out of his
corner.

"'Well,' he said, 'it's a Province. The fact is, it's the Land of Lost
Toys. You haven't such a thing as a fly anywhere about you, have you?'

"'No,' I said, 'I'm sorry to say I have not.' This was not strictly
true, for I was not at all sorry; but I wished to be civil to the old
gentleman, for he projected his eyes at me with such an intense (I had
almost said greedy) gaze, that I felt quite frightened.

"'How did you pass the sentries?' he inquired.

"'I never saw any,' I answered.

"'You couldn't have seen anything if you didn't see them,' he said;
'but perhaps you don't know. They're the glow-worms. Six to each tree,
so they light the road, and challenge the passers-by. Why didn't they
challenge you?'

"'I don't know,' I began, 'unless the beetle--'

"'I don't like beetles,' interrupted the spider, stretching each leg in