e.b. white, in a letter to ursula nordstrom, shortly after the publication of charlotte's web.

i have a step grandchild named caroline angell who is a quiet little girl of about five. she listened attentively to the reading of the book by her father, and said: "i think there was an easier way to save wilbur, without all that trouble. charlotte should have told him not to eat, then he wouldn't have been killed because he would have been too thin."

trust an author to go to a lot of unnecessary trouble.

Comment by Choonping: Caroline Angell is inattentive. Did Wilbur not try that very strategem, and got sulphur and molasses forced upon him for his pains?