“Hinkypinky-spider, crawling up the spout”

“Hinkypinky-spider, crawling up the spout” is the nursery-rhyme phrase Polly Chalmers uses to explain the spider hidden inside her charm. As the spider grows by feeding on her pain, the familiar rhyme turns into a compact account of the charm’s bargain: relief has not come without a cost, and the same danger may be present in Alan Pangborn’s charm.

The Rhyme and the Spider

Polly first names the hidden creature as a spider, then recalls the rhyme, “'Hinkypinky-spider, crawling up the spout. Down came the rain and washed the spider out.'” She describes it as initially small, but says it grew as it fed on her pain. The rhyme’s movement from a spider climbing to its being washed away gives her a simple verbal pattern for what happened inside the charm; here, however, the spider did not disappear harmlessly.

Pain, Relief, and the Charm

Polly explains that she killed the spider and took her pain back. She had wanted the pain gone so badly that she had confused wanting relief with needing it. Now she says she can love Alan and life while still bearing the pain, and suggests that pain can make the rest of life better, as a good setting can enhance a diamond. Her account reframes the apparent cure: the charm’s relief was bound to a concealed threat, while accepting pain becomes part of reclaiming her own judgment.

A Warning to Alan

Polly believes the charm has poisoned her and that the poison may kill her if nothing is done. She nevertheless calls that consequence fair, because she bought the poison along with the charm. She connects her experience to the many charms sold by Leland Gaunt in his shop, describing the speed with which he has made such bargains. The rhyme therefore serves not merely as a description of her spider, but as a warning about the hidden price attached to the charms.

The Rhyme Turns Toward Alan

Polly asks Alan what is inside his charm and answers that it is Annie and Todd, the wife and son whose deaths continue to shape his grief. Alan protests that Ace Merrill killed them, but Polly stops him, insisting that the charm’s contents concern what he cannot let go. In this exchange, the rhyme’s spider becomes a pattern of recognition: Polly has identified the concealed cost in her own charm and uses that discovery to make Alan face the grief carried by his.