Reading Charlotte’s Web as a child can only leave you with the impression that a friendship between a pig and a spider is not only possible, but also incredibly touching and meant to break time boundaries. You seek to find a close friend like Wilbur (the pig) or Charlotte (the spider). If you are creative enough, you may even pay more attention to the next animal you come across, for they may have something to share. But as time passes by and you happen to return to E. B. White’s novel, your developed spidey sense (excuse the pun) may alert you there is more to the story itself – and it is a good tingle coming up your spine. I re-encountered the main characters with certain ideas in my mind, which I’ll share with you from the very beginning, so as to follow the same path as I did. Recently, I have come across an unusual representation of the spider, to be found in Jonathan Swift’s Battle of the Books , a satire about the quarrel between Ancients and Moderns, occurring in the Age of