Book 2 1. GOING WEST Little House On The Prairie By Laura Ingalls Wilder

[Music]

going west

a long time ago when all the

grandfathers and grandmothers of today

were little boys and little girls or

very small babies

or perhaps not even born pa and ma

and mary and laura and baby carey left

their little house in the big woods of

wisconsin

they drove away and left it lonely and

empty in the clearing among the big

trees

and they never saw that little house

again

they were going to the indian country

paw said there were too many people in

the big woods now

quite often laura heard the ringing thud

of an axe which was not paws axe

or the echo of a shot that did not come

from his gun

the path that went by the little house

had become a road

almost every day laura and mary stopped

their plane

and stared in surprise at a wagon slowly

creaking by on that road

wild animals would not stay in a country

where there were so many people

paul did not like to stay either he

liked a country where the wild animals

lived without being afraid

he liked to see the little fawns and

their mothers looking at him from the

shadowy woods

and the fat lazy bears eating berries in

the wild berry patches

in the long winter evenings he talked to

ma

about the western country in the west

the land was level and there were no

trees

the grass grew thick and high there the

wild animals wandered and fed as though

they were in a pasture that stretched

much further than a man could see

and there were no settlers only indians

lived there

one day in the very last of the winter

paul said to ma

see and you don’t object i’ve decided to

go see the west

i’ve had an offer for this place and we

can sell it now for as much as we’re

ever likely to get

enough to give us a start in a new

country

oh charles must we go now ma

said the weather was so cold and the

snug house was so comfortable

if we’re going this year we must go now

said paw

we can’t get across the mississippi

after the ice breaks

so paw sold the little house he sold the

cow

and calf he made hickory bows

and fastened them upright to the wagon

box

ma helped him stretch white canvas over

them

in the thin dark before morning ma

gently shook

mary and laura till they got up in fire

light and candlelight

she washed and combed them and dressed

them warmly

over their long red flannel underwear

she put wool petticoats

and wool dresses and long wool stockings

she put their coats on them and their

rabbit skin

hoods and their red yarn mittens

everything from the little house was in

the wagon except the beds and tables and

chairs

they did not need to take these because

paw could always make new ones

there was thin snow on the ground the

air was still

and cold and dark the bare trees stood

up against the frosty stars

but in the east the sky was pale

and through the gray woods came lanterns

with wagons and horses

bringing grandpa and grandma and aunts

and uncles and cousins

mary and laura clung tight to their rag

dolls and did not say anything

the cousins stood around and looked at

them

grandma and all the ants hugged and

kissed them and hugged and kissed them

again

saying goodbye pa hung his gun to the

wagon bows

inside the canvas top where he could

reach it quickly from the seat

he hung his bullet pouch and powderhorn

beneath it

he laid the fiddlebox carefully between

pillows

where jolting would not hurt the fiddle

the uncles helped him hitch the horses

to the wagon

all the cousins were told to kiss mary

and laura

so they did pau picked up mary

and then laura and set them on the bed

in the back of the wagon

he helped ma climb up to the wagon seat

and grandma reached up

and gave her baby carrie paul swung up

and sat beside ma

and jack the brindle bulldog went under

the wagon

so they all went away from the little

log house

the shutters were over the windows so

the little house could not see them go

it stayed there inside the log fence

behind the two big oak trees that in the

summertime had made green roofs for mary

and laura to play under

and that was the last of the little

house

paul promised that when they came to the

west laura should see a papoose

what is a papoose she asked him and he

said

a papoose is a little brown indian baby

they drove a long way through the snowy

woods

till they came to the town of pepin mary

and laura had seen it once before

but it looked different now the door of

the store

and the doors of all the houses were

shut the stumps were covered with snow

and no little children were playing

outdoors

big cords of wood stood among the stumps

only two or three men in boots and fur

caps and bright plaid coats were to be

seen

ma and laura and mary ate bread and

molasses in the wagon

and the horses ate corn from nose bags

while inside the store paw traded his

furs for things they would need on the

journey

they could not stay long in the town

because they must cross the lake that

day

the enormous lake stretched flat and

smooth

and white all the way to the edge of the

gray sky

wagon tracks went away across it so far

that you could not see where they went

they ended in nothing at all

pod drove the wagon out onto the ice

following those wagon tracks

the horse’s hooves clop clopped with a

dull sound

the wagon wheels went crunching the town

grew smaller

and smaller behind till even the tall

store was

only a dot all around the wagon

there was nothing but empty and silent

space

laura didn’t like it but paul was on the

wagon seat

and jack was under the wagon she knew

that nothing could hurt her while pau

and jack were there

at last the wagon was pulling up a slope

of earth again

and again there were trees there was a

little log house too among the trees

so laura felt better nobody lived in the

little house

it was a place to camp in it was a tiny

house

and strange with a big fireplace

and rough bunks against all the walls

but it was warm when paw had built a

fire in the fireplace

that night mary and laura and baby carey

slept with ma

in a bed made on the floor before the

fire while paws slept outside in the

wagon to guard it and the horses

in the night a strange noise awakened

laura

it sounded like a shot but it was

sharper

and longer than a shot again and again

she heard it mary and carrie were asleep

but laura couldn’t sleep until ma’s

voice came softly through the dark

go to sleep laura ma said it’s only the

ice cracking

next morning paw said it’s lucky we

crossed yesterday caroline

wouldn’t wonder if the ice broke up

today we made a lake crossing we’re

lucky it didn’t start breaking up while

we were out in the middle of it

i thought about that yesterday charles

mar replied gently

laura hadn’t thought about it before but

now she thought

what would have happened if the ice had

cracked under the wagon wheels

and they had all gone down into the cold

water in the middle of that vast lake

you’re frightening somebody charles ma

said

and park caught laura up in a safe big

hug

we’re across the mississippi he said

hugging her joyously

how do you like that little half pint of

sweet side or half drunk up

do you like going out west where the

indians live

laura said she liked it and she asked if

they were in the indian country now

but they were not they were in minnesota

it was a long long way to indian

territory

almost every day the horses traveled as

far as they could

almost every night paw and ma made camp

in a new place

sometimes they had to stay several days

in one

camp because a creek was in flood and

they couldn’t cross it till the water

went down

they crossed too many creeks to count

they saw strange woods and hills

and stranger country with no trees

they drove across rivers on long wooden

bridges

and they came to one wide yellow river

that had no bridge

that was a missouri river pod drove onto

a raft

and they all sat still in the wagon

while the raft went swaying away from

the safe land

and slowly crossed all that rolling

muddy yellow water

after more days they came to hills again

in a valley the wagon stuck fast in deep

black mud

rain poured down and thunder crashed and

lightning flared

there was no place to make camp and

build a fire

everything was damp and chill and

miserable in the wagon

but they had to stay in it and eat cold

bits of food

next day paw found a place on a hillside

where they could camp

the rain had stopped but they had to

wait a week before the creek went down

and the mud dried so that paul could dig

the wagon wheels out of it and go on

one day while they were waiting a tall

lean man came out of the woods riding

a black pony he and paul talked a while

then they went off into the woods

together and when they came back

both of them were riding black ponies

paul had traded the tired brown horses

for those ponies

they were beautiful little horses and

paw

said they were not really ponies they

were western mustangs

they’re strong as mules and gentlest

kittens

paw said they had large soft

gentle eyes and long manes and tails

and slender legs and feet much smaller

and quicker than the feet of horses in

the big woods

when laura asked what their names were

paw said that she and mary could name

them

so mary named one pet and laura named

the other

paddy when the creek’s roar was not so

loud

and the road was drier paw dug the wagon

out of the mud he hitched pat and patty

to it

and they all went on together

they had come in the covered wagon all

the long way from the big woods of

wisconsin

across minnesota and iowa and missouri

all that long way jack had trotted under

the wagon

now they set out to go across kansas

kansas was an endless flat land

covered with tall grass blowing in the

wind

day after day they traveled in kansas

and saw

nothing but the rippling grass and the

enormous sky

in a perfect circle the sky

curved down to the level land and the

wagon was in the circle’s

exact middle all day long

pat and patty went forward trotting and

walking

and trotting again but they couldn’t get

out of the middle of that circle

when the sun went down the circle was

still all around them

and the edge of the sky was pink

then slowly the land became black

the wind made a lonely sound in the

grass

the campfire was small and lost in so

much space

but large stars hung from the sky

glittering so near that laura felt she

could almost

touch them next day the land was the

same

the sky was the same the circle did not

change

laura and mary were tired of them all

there was nothing new to do and nothing

new to look at

the bed was made in the back of the

wagon and neatly covered with a gray

blanket

laura and mary sat on it the canvas

sides of the wagon top were rolled up

and tied

so the prairie wind blew in it whipped

laura’s straight brown hair

and mary’s golden curls every which way

and the strong light screwed up their

eyelids

sometimes a big jackrabbit bounded in

big bounds away over the blowing grass

jack paid no attention poor jack was

tired too

and his paws were sore from traveling so

far

the wagon kept on jolting the canvas top

snapped in the wind two faint wheel

tracks kept going away

behind the wagon always the same

paw’s back was hunched the reins were

loose in his hands

the wind blew his long brown beard

ma sat straight and quiet her hands

folded in her lap

baby carey slept in a nest among the

soft bundles

oh mary yawned

and laura said ma can’t we get out and

run behind the wagon

my legs are so tired no laura

ma said aren’t we going to camp pretty

soon

laura asked it seemed such a long time

since

noon when they’d eaten their lunch

sitting on the clean grass in the shade

of the wagon

paw answered not yet it’s too early to

camp now

i want to camp now i’m so tired

laura said then ma said

laura that was all

but it meant that laura must not

complain so she did not complain anymore

out loud but she was still naughty

inside

she sat and thought complaints to

herself

her legs ached and the wind wouldn’t

stop blowing her hair

the grass waved and the wagon jolted

and nothing else happened for a long

time

we’re coming to a creek or river paw

said

girls can you see those trees ahead

laura stood up and held to one of the

wagon bows

far ahead she saw a low dark smudge

that’s trees paw said you can tell by

the shape of the shadows

in this country trees mean water

that’s where we’ll camp tonight