The inspiration for this automata comes from the "Little Miss Muffet" nursery rhythm many of us learned as children. The idea is that a little girl (Little Miss Muffet) is eating her curds and whey while sitting on a tuffet, when all of the sudden a spider drops down and scares her. To achieve the basic affect of the nursery rhythm, Little Miss Muffet is sitting under a tree eating (the motion is controlled by a crank shaft). A spider (being controlled by a cricket and various other mechanisms) drops and causes her to kick her legs up.