Chapter 16

  • The night before the fair, everyone is dreaming about how great the next day is going to be. Mr. Zuckerman dreams that Wilbur wins all the fair prizes so that he's completely covered in blue ribbons.
  • Even the barn animals are excited for the fair. They all go to bed early, so they can see Wilbur in the morning before he begins his first road trip.
  • On the morning of the fair, the Arables and the Zuckermans get ready for the big event. For Fern, this means putting on a cute dress because you just never know who you're going to see at the fair.
  • For Wilbur, getting ready for the fair means enjoying a buttermilk bath from Mrs. Zuckerman. Mr. Zuckerman doesn't think Wilbur is dirty at all, but Mrs. Zuckerman insists that she bathe Wilbur in buttermilk. Apparently it's something her grandmother used to do.
  • Turns out that Mrs. Zuckerman is right. After Wilbur's buttermilk bath, he looks great. He sure does look radiant on the outside and he feels radiant on the inside, too.
  • While the Zuckermans and Lurvy finish getting ready for the fair, Charlotte makes an announcement: she is going to the fair with Wilbur, after all.
  • Charlotte thinks Templeton should come, too. He might be good for running errands. However, Templeton is being grumpy and declares that he has no interest in coming to the fair. Thankfully, the wise old sheep tells Templeton all about the food scraps he'll find at the fair, and Templeton changes his tune.
  • So Charlotte and Templeton hide in Wilbur's crate for the fair. The sheep figures this means the crate should really read "Zuckerman's Famous Pig and Two Stowaways.”
  • The Arables arrive to load Wilbur into his crate and get it onto the truck. Everyone can't help but notice what a very handsome pig Wilbur is.
  • Unfortunately for Wilbur, this admiration is short-lived because Mr. Arable is about to say something really upsetting: "You'll get some extra good ham and bacon, Homer, when it comes time to killthatpig".
  • Uh-oh, looks like Charlotte's plan to save Wilbur's life isn't working out as well as it should.
  • Wilbur can't stand this news, so he faints.
  • One bucket of water later, Wilbur is awake again and pushed into the crate. Now that he's on the back of the truck, everyone is off to the fair.

Chapter 17

  • When the truck arrives at the fairgrounds, the place is already crowded. There's music playing and rides spinning, so Fern and Avery waste no time heading off on their own.
  • Mr. and Mrs. Arable warn them to keep safe, but otherwise those kiddos have no supervision for the day. Freedom!
  • The adults load Wilbur into his pen, and then they head off to enjoy the fair, too.
  • Charlotte has found herself a seat in Wilbur's pen. She can see into some of the other pens and realizes that there's a huge pig next door to Wilbur.
  • Charlotte thinks this is bad news for her friend, so Charlotte sets out to meet this big pig. When she drops into his pen, the big pig says that he has no name but is just called "Uncle." Hmm, wonder where that name came from?
  • Charlotte thinks Uncle is pretty stupid and noisy, while Wilbur is much nicer. But she does worry about how big Uncle is. When you're a pig getting judged at a fair, size is definitely important.
  • After this meet-and-greet, Charlotte is exhausted—even though the day has just begun. This has Wilbur pretty worried about how his friend is feeling.
  • Meanwhile, the Arables, the Zuckermans, and Lurvy all head back to Wilbur's pen. The children have clearly been having a lot of fun. Now it's time for some lunch and a little nap.
  • That sounds pretty good to us, too.

Chapter 18

  • After such a hot day, everyone is happy when the cooler evening arrives.
  • For Charlotte, this is a good time for her to spin a web. She tells Templeton to bring her back some inspiration, because "I shall be writing tonight for the last time.”
  • Templeton heads out of the pen. His first concern is food, but once he's eaten his fill of scraps he snatches part of a piece of paper to bring back to Charlotte.
  • Templeton's a lucky little rat, because it turns out that he just so happened to grab a good word: humble. Charlotte says this word is perfect because it means both "not proud" and "near the ground". Wilbur is both, so the word is two for two.
  • Charlotte weaves "HUMBLE" into the center of the web. Because it's so dark, none of the people can see the word.
  • The Arables and the Zuckermans head home for the night and Wilbur settles in to sleep.
  • When Wilbur starts to talk with Charlotte, he realizes that she's not on her web. Instead, she's in a corner doing something mysterious.
  • All she tells Wilbur is that she's "making something" and he'll have to wait until the morning to see it. That means we're stuck in suspense too.
  • Back at the Arable home, Fern and Avery are off to bed. This has been a pretty great day. In fact, Fern says it's the best day ever.

Chapter 19

  • The next day, Wilbur gets to find out what this "something" is that Charlotte was making. When he looks up into the corner of the pen, he sees a sac next to his spider friend.
  • Charlotte tells Wilbur that this is her greatest work. She's super proud of her egg sac. And why wouldn't she be when there are five hundred and fourteen eggs in there?
  • Wilbur is amazed at the egg sac. He can't quite believe that Charlotte is going to have 514kids. She's going to be one busy mother.
  • But according to Charlotte, the spiders won't arrive until next spring, and this is bad news for Charlotte because she doesn't feel too great. Actually, she feels like she might not be around for much longer.
  • Charlotte doesn't want to focus on that, though. Instead, she points out the nice web that she's woven. This one is another beautiful masterpiece.
  • While Wilbur and Charlotte admire the web, Templeton comes back into the pen to rain on their parade. Templeton has seen a blue ribbon on Uncle's pen, so he figures that Wilbur hasn't won a prize and the Zuckermans will probably kill Wilbur soon.
  • Charlotte tells Templeton to shut up, and Wilbur tries to ignore the rat's rudeness. To change subjects, Wilbur points out Charlotte's beautiful egg sac. Even Templeton has the manners to congratulate Charlotte on her hundreds of future offspring.
  • Later that morning, the Arables and Zuckermans arrive at the pen. They all love the new writing on the web.
  • Soon, this joy goes down the pipe when Avery points to that blue ribbon on Uncle's pen. They realize that Wilbur didn't win first prize.
  • Mrs. Zuckerman is really upset, but Mr. Zuckerman gets happy pretty quickly. He says it's time for Wilbur's bath, so it's time get out the buttermilk.
  • Bath time becomes a pretty popular show at the fair, since more and more people gather to watch the Zuckermans bathe Wilbur.
  • Everyone seems impressed with how clean Wilbur is, even if he isn't as big as his neighbor, Uncle.
  • After a little while, there's an announcement over the loud speaker. Mr. Zuckerman needs to bring Wilbur to the main stage for a "special award".
  • Everyone is very happy about this special prize. Charlotte, invisible to human eyes up in her perch, is happy too because she knows she saved her friend's life, but Charlotte is also feeling weak.
  • The men load Wilbur into the crate and onto the truck. Templeton sneaks his way onto the crate and Fern perches on top. Everyone is happy about Wilbur's prize.
  • Fern is too, but she's also looking at the Ferris wheel and thinking about that cute boy, Henry.