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"IT IS NOT TRUE that all tarantulas are poisonous," Mr Crepsley said He had a deep voice I ed to tear e "Most are as harmless as the spiders you find anywhere in the world And those which are poisonous norh poison in them to kill very small creatures

"But some are deadly!" he went on "Some can kill a man with one bite They are rare, and only found in extremely remote areas, but they do exist

"I have one such spider," he said and opened the door of the cage For a few seconds nothing happened, but then the largest spider I had ever seen crawled out It was green and purple and red, with long hairy legs and a big fat body I wasn’t afraid of spiders, but this one looked terrifying

The spider walked forward slowly Then its legs bent and it lowered its body, as though waiting for a fly

"Madam Octa has been with er than ordinary spiders The monk who sold her to me said some of her kind live to be twenty or thirty years old She is an incredible creature, both poisonous and intelligent"

While he was speaking, one of the blue-hooded people led a goat onto the stage It wasto run The hooded person tied it to the table and left

The spider began e of the table, where it stopped, as if awaiting an order Mr Crepsley produced a shiny tin whistle he called it a flute from his pants pocket and blew a few short notes Madaoat’s neck

The goat gave a leap when the spider landed, and began bleating loudly Mada on, and moved a few inches closer to the head When she was ready, she bared her fangs and sunk theoat froze and its eyes ide It stopped bleating and, a few seconds later, toppled over I thought it was dead, but then realized it was still breathing

"This flute is how I control Madam Octa," Mr Crepsley said, and I looked away frooat He waved the flute slowly above his head "Though we have been together such a long time, she is not a pet, and would surely kill oat is paralyzed," he said "I have trained Madaoat would die in the end, if we left it there is no cure for Madam Octa’s bite but we shall finish it quickly" He blew on the flute and Mada on its ear She bared her fangs again and bit The goat shivered, then went totally still

It was dead

Madaoat and crawled toward the front of the stage The people in the front rows became very alarmed and some jumped to their feet But they froze at a short command from Mr Crepsley

"’Do not : a sudden noise could e, then stood on her two back legs, just like a dog! Mr Crepsley blew softly on his flute and she began walking backward, still on two feet When she reached the nearest leg of the table, she turned and climbed up

"You will be safe now," Mr Crepsley said, and the people in the front rows sat down again, as slowly and quietly as they could "But please," he added, "do not ht come after me"

I don’t know if Mr Crepsley was really scared, or if it was part of the act, but he looked frightened He wiped the sleeve of his right arm over his forehead, then placed the flute back in his e little tune

Madam Octa cocked her head, then appeared to nod She crawled across the table until she was in front of Mr Crepsley He lowered his right hand, and she crept up his ar his flesh made me sweat all over And I liked spiders! People ere afraid of the the insides of their cheeks to pieces

When she got to the top of his ar his shoulder, up his neck, over his ear, and didn’t stop until she reached the top of his head, where she lowered her body She looked like a funny kind of a hat

After a while, Mr Crepsley began playing the flute again Mada the scar, and walked around until she was standing upside down on his chin Then she spun a string of web and dropped down on it