Literary notes about spindle (AI summary)
The word "spindle" in literature is imbued with rich and varied meanings that span the realms of myth, mechanics, and natural description. In fantastical narratives, it emerges as an object of destiny—sometimes a magical tool that rewards virtue or heralds tragic fate, as when a spindle falls into a well or brings ill fortune with a touch [1][2][3][4]. In contrast, more technical or descriptive passages employ the term to evoke a slender, tapered form integral to devices or shapes, whether describing the central axle of a watch or the cigar-like outline of a ship [5][6][7][8][9]. Even in scientific contexts, "spindle" characterizes the shape of botanical structures or anatomical parts, thereby unifying notions of fate, function, and form throughout literary expression [10][11][12].
- ‘That’s a reward for being such a good little maid,’ said Mother Holle, and she gave her the spindle too that had fallen into the well.
— from The Red Fairy Book - So she cried out, "The king's daughter shall in her fifteenth year be wounded by a spindle, and fall down dead."
— from Grimm's Fairy Stories by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm - But scarcely had she touched it, before the fairy’s prophecy was fulfilled; the spindle wounded her, and she fell down lifeless on the ground.
— from Grimms' Fairy Tales by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm - But scarcely had she touched the spindle when the magic decree was fulfilled, and she pricked her finger with it.
— from Household Tales by Brothers Grimm by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm - The front and back of the Nautilus was of that spindle-shape which caused it justly to be compared to a cigar.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne - This pulls on a very minute chain wound round the pointer spindle B , in opposition to a hairspring, H S .
— from How it Works by Archibald Williams - The mainspring is a long steel ribbon fixed at one end to an arbor (the watchmaker's name for a spindle or axle), round which it is tightly wound.
— from How it Works by Archibald Williams - This spindle has a screw thread on it engaging with a collar, B .
— from How it Works by Archibald Williams - Its body was spindle–shaped and swollen in the middle, a fleshy mass that must have weighed 20,000 to 25,000 kilograms.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne - The T. cucumerina , L., is less common, bears a spindle-shaped or obovate fruit, is hairy and lacks ribs.
— from The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines by T. H. Pardo de Tavera - The root is blackish and spindle-shaped.
— from The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines by T. H. Pardo de Tavera - On the ventral side of the gut, some distance behind the gill-crate, there is a spindle-shaped heart.
— from Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie
