"Ah, ha!" cried the sea spider to herself, "here is where I have a good rabbit dinner."
Slowly and softly she went on until she was quite close to the old gentleman rabbit, and Uncle Wiggily never awakened. Then the sea spider began to weave a web around the rabbit, just as a land spider weaves a web around a fly that gets into her trap. Strand after strand of the cobwebs did the sea spider throw around the sleeping rabbit, until Uncle Wiggily was as tightly fast as if he had been tied with ropes.
"Now, I'll bite him and that will be the end of him," said the sea spider, and she was just going to do this when, all of a sudden, some of the cobweb blew down and tickled Uncle Wiggily on the end of his twinkling nose, and he woke up.
"Ha! What's this?" he exclaimed, and then he found that he could not move, for he was fast in the web. "What does this mean?" he asked.
"It means that I have you!" cried the sea spider, wiggling her legs like a trolley car.
"Oh, please let me go," begged the rabbit.
"Never! Never! Never!" exclaimed the spider. Then Uncle Wiggily tried, and he tried, and he tried again, but he couldn't get loose from the web.
"Oh, will no one help me?" cried the rabbit. And just then, if you'll believe me, the waves washed something up on the sand, close to where the sea spider had Uncle Wiggily fast. And that something was a curious little fish, shaped like a star. In fact, it was a starfish with five sharp points to it. And that starfish heard Uncle Wiggily calling.
"I'll help you, Mr. Rabbit!" kindly exclaimed the fish.
"Now, you get right away from here," cried the sea spider, for well she knew that the sharp-pointed starfish could cut her cobweb in a second. "Keep away or I'll bite you!" the spider said.
"Oh, you can't scare me!" shouted the starfish. "I'm not afraid of you, and I'm going to help Uncle Wiggily." So the starfish began to roll over and over on the sand like a pinwheel, a hoop, or a wheel that has no rim, and only spokes to it. Bumpity-bump on its five points went the starfish, until it was close to Uncle Wiggily.
Then right into the sea spider's cobweb rolled the sharp-pointed starfish until, with his points, he had cut the web all to pieces and set Uncle Wiggily free, as easily as you can eat bread and jam on Saturday afternoon.