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