“Will You Walk Into My Parlour?” | Flash Post 462

Said the spider to the fly,

“‘Tis the prettiest little parlour that ever you did spy;

The way into my parlour is up a winding stair,

And I have many curious things to show

When you are there.”

“Oh no, no!” Said the little fly, “to ask me is in vain,

For who goes up your winding stair can ne’er come down again.”

That’s a lovely poem. But is that all there is to it?

Mary Hewitt wrote this poem almost two decades back. The poem is about a spider trying to ensnare a pretty little fly into his den who, after dismissing the spider’s wilyness several times, finally falls prey to his flattery.

Is there a story there?

Just the other day, Dost and I licked a matka of mishti doi (sweet curd) clean when I heard a buzzing sound close-by. I looked around but didn’t see anything at first. As the buzzing got louder, I looked around again and spotted this really big fly making an attempt to get close to the empty matka which still had some of the creamy stuff on it.

Don’t tell me that you took on the role of the spider to entice him to the matka and play the same trick on him!

No, no! Let’s start by giving the fly a name.

What about Kumar?

Why not? Kumar was wary at first. He flew close to the matka then flew off again. He returned, sat on the rim of the matka for a wee bit and flew off yet again. This act continued several times while I was praying for Kumar to sit on the rim of the matka for some length of time so I could click a great picture of him. I had actually put my phone on camera mode and was waiting expectantly.

Truth be told. Did you really want to click a picture of him or did you want to squat him dead?

Take a great picture…honestly!

Did you?

Kumar was kind. Once he had settled down, his only aim was to put his mouth to the curd or whatever was left of it! He nibbled, wiped his mouth with his front legs and then proceeded to rub one wiry thin leg against the other to clean them I guess! This went on and on for a good 5 minutes or more—the nibbling, wiping the mouth with a leg and then rubbing one leg against the other! During this act, I noticed through the camera lens that he had huge bulging aquamarine eyes which he moved from one side to the other to check on intruders perhaps and sheer wings made of the finest gossamer through which you could look into the deepest of depths! And I clicked!

Flies are considered to be unclean because they squat on dirt and spread germs from one place to another. But the ritual Kumar followed of cleaning his mouth and legs every now and then proved otherwise! The poor guy could be squatting on filth while scavenging for food because we don’t feed flies but are ready to kill them.

Who knows, Button! There are lots of information passed onto us by our parents and elders that stay with us—this being one of them about flies being dirty and dangerous because of all the unhygienic places they visit. But after watching Kumar’s fastidiousness, I was left guessing!

Did you really click the picture of the fly below?

Mmmm…

I also want you to read out the rest of the poem to me at some stage.

Gladly!