Infatuation

It was a terrible morning when Arachne awoke. Large spheres of cold water, almost as big as herself, were crash-landing on the leaf litter above her head.  She was glad of the covering shield but throughout the recent wet days, her hormones had been stirring more and more urgently and now she was just itching to get out and about.

Her chance came when she felt incresing warmth, signifying the arrival of sunshine and the banishment of the threatening rain.  Arachne siezed the opportunity.  No time for make-up.  She hurried out and clambered up the nearest plant stem to pose herself demurely on a lower leaf ensuring her best side was facing outwards.


Peter Parker had also sensed the change in the weather and reckoned it was time to put himself about a bit - 'Who Dares Wins' and all that.  With a quick wipe of his pedipalps, Peter scurried outside.  Before long, he found himself on a leaflet adjacent to where Arachne was languishing.  She looked gorgeous in the sunshine but Peter felt a cautious hesitation was required, after all, she was bigger than him and he didn't want to rush in lest she thought him too foreward.  He stood still.  Maybe an overture of small-talk would break the ice?  His palps twitched.  Yes, they were in working order.  A distinctive whistle might have been appropriate but Peter didn't know how since his palps wouldn't fit in his mouth;- strange that, a wolf spider unable to wolf-whistle!  Instead, he waved his palps about, semaphore fashion, hoping she'd get the message.

Arachne got it alright, but not the intended meaning, instead she saw him as a brash young upstart chancing his leg.  "I'll teach him": and with that she lunged towards Peter who, even more rapidly, leapt off the leaf and hid.

Moral: 'He who turns and runs away, lives to mate another day.'


[Footnote]
These are wolf spiders, assumed to be Pardosa amentata*
Male on left, female on right.

* Similar species are  available, but can only be distinguished by microscopic inspection of their genitalia.