Book 2 4. PRAIRIE DAY Little House On The Prairie By Laura Ingalls Wilder
prairie day
soft wickerings were close to laura’s
ear
and grain rattled into the feed box
paw was giving pat and patty their
breakfasts
back pet don’t be greedy he said
you know it’s patty’s turn pet stamped
her foot and knickered
now patty keep your own end of the box
said paw
this is for pet then a little squeal
from patty
got nipped didn’t jeff paul said and
serve you right i told you to eat your
own corn
mary and laura looked at each other and
laughed
they could smell bacon and coffee
and hear pancakes sizzling and they
scrambled out of bed
mary could dress herself all but the
middle button
laura buttoned that one for her then
mary button laura
all the way up the back they washed
their hands and faces in the tin wash
basin on the wagon step
ma combed every snarl out of their hair
while paul brought fresh water from the
creek
then they sat on the clean grass and ate
pancakes and bacon
and molasses from the tin plates in
their laps
all around them shadows were moving over
the waving grasses while the sun rose
meadowlarks were springing straight up
from the billows of grass into the high
clear sky
singing as they went small pearly clouds
drifted in the immense blueness overhead
in all the weed tops tiny birds were
swinging and
singing in tiny voices paul said they
were dick sizzles
dicky dicky laura called back to them
dickie bird eat your breakfast laura
ma said you must mind your manners even
if we are a hundred miles from anywhere
paul said mildly it’s only 40 miles to
independence caroline
and no doubt there’s a neighbor so
nearer than that
40 miles then ma agreed but whether or
no it isn’t good manners to sing at
table
or when you’re eating she added because
there was no table
there was only the enormous empty
prairie
with grasses blowing and waves of light
and shadow across it
and the great blue sky above it and
birds flying up from it
and singing with joy because the sun was
rising
and on the whole enormous prairie there
was no sign that
any other human being had ever been
there
in all that space of land and sky stood
the lonely small
covered wagon and close to it said paw
and ma
and laura and mary and baby carrie
eating their breakfasts
the mustangs munched their corn and
jack sat still trying hard not to beg
laura was not allowed to feed him while
she ate but she saved bits for him
and mom made a big pancake for him of
the last of the batter
rabbits were everywhere in the grass and
thousands of prairie chickens but jack
could not hunt his breakfast that day
paul was going hunting and jack must
guard the camp
first paw put pat and patty on their
picket lines
then he took the wooden tub from the
side of the wagon
and filled it with water from the creek
maul was going to do the washing
then paul stuck his sharp hatchet in his
belt
he hung his powder horn beside the
hatchet he
put the patch box and the bullet pouch
in his pocket
and he took his gun on his arm he said
to ma
take your time caroline we won’t move
the wagon till we want to
we’ve got all the time there is
he went away for a little while they
could see the upper part of him above
the tall grasses
going away and growing smaller then he
went out of sight
and the prairie was empty
mary and laura washed the dishes while
ma made the beds in the wagon
they put the clean dishes neatly in
their box
they picked up every scattered twig and
put it in the fire
they stacked the wood against a wagon
wheel
then everything about the camp was tidy
ma brought the wooden panicking of soft
soap from the wagon
she kilted up her skirts and rolled up
her sleeves
and she knelt by the tub on the grass
she washed sheets and pillowcases
and white under things she washed
dresses and
shirts and she rinsed them in clear
water
and spread them on the clean grass to
dry in the sun
mary and laura were exploring they must
not go
far from the wagon but it was fun to run
through the tall grass and the sunshine
and the wind
huge rabbits bounded away before them
birds fluttered up and settled again
the tiny dickie birds were everywhere
and their tiny
nests were in the tall weeds and
everywhere
were little brown striped gophers
these little creatures looked soft as
velvet
they had bright round eyes and crinkling
noses
and wee paws they popped out of holes in
the ground
and stood up to look at mary and laura
their hind legs folded under their
haunches
their little paws folded tight to their
chests
and they looked exactly like bits of
dead wood sticking out of the ground
only their bright eyes glittered
mary and laura wanted to catch one to
take to ma
again and again they almost had one the
gopher would stand perfectly still
until you were sure you had him this
time then just as you touched him
he wasn’t there there was only his round
hole in the ground
ran and ran and couldn’t catch one
mary sat perfectly still beside a hole
waiting for one to come up
and just beyond her reach gophers
scampered merrily
and gophers set up and looked at her but
not one
ever came out of that hole
once a shadow floated across the grass
and every gopher vanished
a hawk was sailing overhead it was so
close
that laura saw its cruel round eye
turned downward to look at her
she saw its sharp beak and its savage
claws
curled ready to pounce but the hawk saw
nothing but laura and mary
and round empty holes in the ground
it sailed away looking somewhere else
for its dinner
then all the little gophers came up
again
it was nearly noon then the sun was
almost overhead
so laura and mary picked flowers from
the weeds
and they took the flowers to ma instead
of a gopher
ma was folding the dry clothes the
little panties and petticoats were
whiter than snow
warm from the sun and smelling like the
grass
ma laid them in the wagon and took the
flowers
she admired equally the flowers that
laura gave her
and the flowers that mary gave her and
she put them together in a tin cup full
of water
she set them on the wagon step to make
the camp pretty
then she split two cold corn cakes and
spread them with molasses
she gave one to mary and one to laura
that was their dinner and it was
very good where is a peppu small
laura asked don’t speak with your mouth
full laura
said ma so laura chewed
and swallowed and she said i want to see
a papoose
mercy honest moss said whatever makes
you want to see
indians we will see enough of them
more than we want to i wouldn’t wonder
they wouldn’t hurt us
would they mary asked mary was always
good
she never spoke with her mouth full no
ma said don’t get such an idea into your
head
why don’t you like indian’s ma laura
asked
and she caught a drip of molasses with
her tongue
i just don’t like them and don’t lick
your fingers laura
said ma this is indian country isn’t it
lara said what did we come to their
country for if you don’t like them
ma said she didn’t know whether this was
indian country or not
she didn’t know where the kansas line
was but whether or no
the indians would not be here long paul
had word from a man in washington
that the indian territory would be open
to settlement soon
it might already be open to settlement
they could not know because washington
was so far away
then ma took the sat iron out of the
wagon and heated it by the fire
she sprinkled a dress for mary and a
dress for laura
and a little dress for baby carrie and
her own sprigged calico
she spread a blanket and a sheet on the
wagon seat
and she ironed the dresses
baby carrie slept in the wagon
laura and mary and jack lay on the shady
grass beside it because now the sunshine
was
hot jack’s mouth was open and his red
tongue hung out
his eyes blinked sleepily ma
hum softly to herself while the iron
smoothed all the wrinkles out of the
little dresses
all around them to the very edge of the
world
there was nothing but grasses waving in
the wind
far overhead a few white puffs of clouds
sailed in the thin blue air
laura was very happy
the wind sang a low rustling song in the
grass
grasshoppers rasping quivered up from
all the immense prairie
a buzzing came faintly from all the
trees in the creek bottoms
but all these sounds made a great warm
happy
silence laura had never seen a place she
liked
so much as this place
she didn’t know she’d gone to sleep
until she woke up
jack was on his feet wagging his stump
tail
the sun was low and paul was coming
across the prairie
laura jumped up and ran and his long
shadow stretched to meet her in the
waving grasses
he held up the game in his hand for her
to see he had a rabbit
the largest rabbit she had ever seen and
two plump prairie hens
lara jumped up and down and clapped her
hands and squealed
then she caught hold of his other sleeve
and hippity-hopped through the tall
grasses beside him
this country’s cram jammed with game he
told her
i saw 50 deer if i saw one an antelope
squirrels rabbits birds of all kinds
the creek’s full of fish he said to my
i tell you caroline there’s everything
we want here we can live like
kings that was a wonderful supper
they sat by the campfire and ate the
tender savory flavory meat till they
could eat
no more when at last laura sat down her
plate
she sighed with contentment she didn’t
want anything more in the world
the last color was fading from the
enormous sky and
all the level land was shadowy the
warmth of the fire was pleasant because
the night wind was cool
phoebe birds called sadly from the woods
down by the creek for a little while
a mockingbird sang then the stars came
out
and the birds were still softly pause
fiddle saying in the starlight
sometimes he sang a little and sometimes
the fiddle sang alone
sweet and thin and far away the fiddle
went on singing
[Music]
none
[Music]
the large bright stars hung down from
the sky
lower and lower they came quivering with
music
laura gasped and mark came quickly
what is it laura she asked and laura
whispered
the stars were singing
you’ve been asleep ma said it’s only the
fiddle
and it’s time little girls were in bed
she undressed laura in the firelight and
put her nightgown on
and tied her nightcap and tucked her
into bed
but the fiddle was still singing in the
starlight
the night was full of music and laura
was sure that part of it came from the
great
bright stars swinging so low above the
[Music]
prairie