[Arvon]

Spiders with no legs are deaf

A teacher at an infant school is doing a science lesson and asks all the children to perform an experiment of their own choosing. After the children have been busy for a few minutes, she gets to the desk of little Johnny. Johnny has a spider on his desk and she asks what Johnny is doing.

"Well Miss, the spider's name is Herbert and watch this". Johnny then bends down to the spider and whispers "Run, Herbert, Run" and the spider, as if by magic, moves across the desk. The teacher is a little mystified. Johnny them gets hold of the spider and removes a leg. The teacher is taken aback but lets the experiment continue. Johnny again whispers "Run, Herbert, Run" and the spider, as if by magic, moves across the desk. Johnny them gets hold of the spider and removes another two legs and repeats the experiment. "Run, Herbert, Run" and the spider does continue to move across the desk, albeit in a somewhat limp fashion. By this time the teacher is getting a little concerned. The experiment continues in the same vein until Herbert, the spider, has one leg left (the teacher at this point is totally mortified). Johnny then bends down to the spider and again the spider moves across the desk by dragging itself with its one remaining leg. Johnny then remove the last leg so that Herbert is now just a blob and again whispers "Run, Herbert, Run" but Herbert does not move. He repeats the command again but a little louder. After several attempts, Johnny is by now shouting at the spider "Run, Herbert, Run" but still no movement. Johnny then looks at the teacher and the teachers asks "Well, Johhnny, an interesting experiment, but what are you trying to prove with your experiment". Johnny replies,

"Well, Miss, spiders with no legs are deaf".