Book 2 5. THE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE Little House On The Prairie By Laura Ingalls Wilder

the house on the prairie

laura and mary were up next morning

earlier than the sun

they ate their breakfast of cornmeal

mush with prairie hen gravy

and hurried to help mo wash the dishes

paul was loading everything else into

the wagon

and hitching up pet and patty when the

sun rose

they were driving on across the prairie

there was

no road now pat and patty waded through

the grasses and the wagon left behind

only the tracks of its wheels

before noon paw said whoa the wagon

stopped

here we are caroline he said

right here we’ll build our house

laura and mary scrambled over the feed

box and dropped to the ground in a hurry

all around them there was nothing but

grassy prairie spreading to the edge of

the sky

quite near them to the north the creek

bottoms lay below the prairie

some dark a green tree top showed and

beyond them

bits of the rim of earthen bluffs held

up the prairie’s grasses

far away to the east a broken line of

different greens lay on the prairie

and paul said that was the river that’s

the verdigris river he said

pointing it out tomorrow right away he

and mob began to unload the wagon

they took out everything and piled it on

the ground

then they took off the wagon cover and

put it over the pile

then they took even the wagon box off

while laura and mary and jack watched

the wagon had been home for a long time

now there was nothing left of it but the

four wheels and the parts that connected

them

pet and paddy were still hitched to the

tongue

paw took a bucket in his axe and sitting

on his skeleton wagon he drove away

he drove right down into the prairie out

of sight

where’s paul going laura asked

and ma said he’s going to get a load of

logs from the creek bottoms

it was strange and frightening to be

left without the wagon

on the high prairie the land and the sky

seemed too large

and laura felt small she wanted to hide

and be still in the tall grass

like a little prairie chicken but she

didn’t

she helped ma while mary sat on the

grass and minded baby carrie

first laura and ma made the beds under

the wagon covered tent

then ma arranged the boxes and bundles

while laura pulled all the grass from a

space in front of the tent

that made a bare place for the fire they

couldn’t start the fire until paul

brought wood

there was nothing more to do so laura

explored a little

she did not go far from the tent but she

found a queer little kind of tunnel in

the grass

you’d never notice it if you looked

across the waving grass tops

but when you came to it there it was

a narrow straight hard path

down between the grass stems it went out

into the endless prairie

laura went along it a little way she

went slowly

and more slowly and then she stood

still and felt queer

so she turned around and came back

quickly

when she looked over her shoulder there

wasn’t anything there

but she hurried when paul came riding

back on a load of logs laura told him

about that path

he said he had seen it yesterday it’s

some old trail

he said that night by the fire

laura asked again when she would see a

papoose

but pau didn’t know he said you never

saw indians unless they wanted you to

see them

he had seen indians when he was a boy in

new york state

but laura never had she knew they were

wild men

with red skins and their hatchets were

called tomahawks

pawn knew all about wild animals so he

must know about wild men

too laura thought he would show her a

papoose someday

just as he had shown her fawns and

little bears and wolves

for days paw hauled logs

he made two piles of them one for the

house

and one for the stable there began to be

a road where he drove back and forth to

the creek bottoms

and at night on their picket lines pat

and patty ate the grass

till it was short and stubby all around

the log piles

paul began the house first he paced off

the size of it on the ground

then with his spade he dug a shallow

little hollow

along two sides of that space into these

hollows

he rolled two of the biggest logs they

were sound

strong logs because they must hold up

the house

they were called sills then part chose

two more strong

big logs and he rolled these logs onto

the ends of the sills

so that they made a hollow square

now with his axe he cut a wide deep

notch near each end of these logs he cut

these notches

out of the top of the log but with his

eye he measured the sills

and he cut the notches so that they

would fit around half of the sill

when the notches were cut he rolled the

log over

and the notches fitted down over the

sill

that finished the foundation of the

house it was one log

high the sills were half buried in the

ground

and the logs on their ends fitted snugly

to the ground

at the corners where they crossed the

notches let them fit together

so that they were no thicker than one

log

and the two ends stuck out beyond the

notches

next day paul began the walls

from each side he rolled up a log and he

notched its ends

so that it fitted down over the end logs

then he rolled up logs from the ends and

notched them

so that they fitted down over the side

logs

now the whole house was two logs high

the logs fitted solidly together at the

corners

but no log is ever perfectly straight

and all logs are bigger at one end than

at the other end

so cracks were left between them all

along the walls

but that did not matter because paul

would those cracks

all by himself he built the house three

logs high

then ma helped him paul lifted one end

of a log onto the wall

then ma held it while he lifted the

other end

he stood up on the wall to cut the

notches and ma

helped roll and hold the log while he

settled it where it should be to make

the corner perfectly square

so log by log they built the walls

higher

till they were pretty high and laura

couldn’t get over them anymore

she was tired of watching paw and ma

build the house and she went into the

tall grass exploring

suddenly she heard par shout let go get

out from under

the big heavy log was sliding paul was

trying to hold up his end of it to keep

it from falling on ma

he couldn’t it crashed down and laura

saw ma

huddled on the ground she got to ma

almost as quickly as paw did paul knelt

down

and called ma in a dreadful voice

and ma gasped i’m all right

the log was on her foot paul lifted the

log

and ma pulled her foot from under it

paul felt her to see if any bones were

broken

move your arms he said is your back hurt

can you turn your head mom moved her

arms

and turned her head thank god

paul said he helped mata sit up

she said again i’m all right charles

it’s just my foot

quickly part took off her shoe in

stocking he felt her foot all over

moving the ankle and the instep and

every toe

does it hurt much he asked ma’s face was

gray and her mouth was a tight line

not much she said no bones broken

said paw it’s only a bad sprain

ma said cheerfully well

the sprains soon mended don’t be so

upset

charles i blame myself said paw

i should have used skids

he helped ma to the tenth he built up

the fire

and heated water when the water was as

hot as mark and bear

she put her swollen foot into it

it was providential that the foot was

not crushed

only a little hollow in the ground had

saved it

paul kept pouring more hot water into

the tub in which mars foot was soaking

her foot was red from the heat and the

puffed ankle began to turn

purple ma took her foot out of the water

and bound strips of rag tightly around

and around the ankle

i can manage she said she could not get

her shoe on

but she tied more rags around her foot

and she hobbled on

it she got supper as usual only a little

more slowly

but pause said she could not help to

build the house until her ankle was well

he hewed out skids these

were long flat slabs one end rested on

the ground

and the other end rested on the log wall

he was not going to lift any more logs

he and ma

would roll them up these skids but ma’s

ankle was not well yet

when she unwrapped it in the evenings to

soak it in hot water

it was all purple and black and green

and yellow

the house must wait then one afternoon

paul came merrily whistling up the creek

road

they had not expected him home from

hunting so soon

as soon as he saw them he shouted good

news

they had a neighbor only two miles away

on the other side of the creek

paul had met him in the woods they were

going to trade work and that would make

it easier for everyone

he’s a bachelor said paw and he says he

can get along without a house better

than you and the girls can

so he’s going to help me first then as

soon as he gets his logs ready i’ll go

over and help him

they need not wait any longer for the

house and ma need not do

any more work on it how do you like that

caroline

paul asked joyfully and ma said that’s

good charles i’m glad

early next morning mr edwards came he

was lean and tall

and brown he bowed tomorrow

and called her mam polightly but he told

laura that he was a wild cat from

tennessee

he wore tall boots and a ragged jumper

and a skin cap and he could spit

tobacco juice farther than laura had

ever imagined that anyone could spit

tobacco juice

he could hit anything he spit at too

laura tried and tried but she could

never spit so far or so well as mr

edwards could

he was a fast worker in one day

he and paul built those walls as high as

paul wanted them

they joked and sang while they worked

and their axes made the chips fly

on top of the walls they set up a

skeleton roof of slender poles

then in the south wall they cut a tall

hole

for a door and in the west wall and the

east wall

they cut square holes for windows

laura couldn’t wait to see the inside of

the house

as soon as the tall hole was cut she ran

inside

everything was striped there stripes of

sunshine came through the cracks in the

west wall

and stripes of shadow came down from the

poles overhead

the stripes of shade and sunshine were

all across laura’s hands and her arms

and her bare

feet and through the cracks between the

logs

she could see stripes of prairie the

sweet smell of the prairie

mixed with the sweet smell of cut wood

then as paw cut away the logs to make

the window hole in the west wall

chunks of sunshine came in when he

finished

a big block of sunshine lay on the

ground inside the house

around the door hole and the window

holes

paul and mr edwards nailed thin slabs

against the cut ends of the logs and the

house was

finished all but the roof

the walls were solid and the house was

large

much larger than the tent it was a

nice house mr

edwards said he would go home now but

paul moss said he must state a supper

ma had cooked an especially good supper

because they had company

there was stewed jack rabbit with white

flour dumplings and plenty of gravy

there was a steaming hot thick cornbread

flavored with bacon fat there was

molasses to eat on the cornbread

but because this was a company supper

they did not sweeten their coffee with

molasses

ma brought out the little paper sack of

pale brown

store sugar mr edwards said he surely

did appreciate that supper

then paul brought out his fiddle mr

edwards stretched out on the ground to

listen

but first paul played for laura and mary

he played their very favorite song and

he sang it

laura liked it best of all because paw’s

voice went down

deep deep deeper in that song

oh i am a gypsy king i

come and go as i please i pull my old

night cap

down and take the world at my ease

then his voice went deep deep down

deeper than the very oldest bullfrogs

they all laughed laura could hardly stop

laughing oh sing it again pausing it

again she cried before she remembered

that children must be seen and not heard

then she was quiet paul went on playing

and everything began to dance

mr edwards rose up on one elbow then he

sat up then he jumped up and he danced

he danced like a jumping jack in the

moonlight while paw’s fiddle kept on

rollicking and his foot kept tapping the

ground and laura’s hands

and mary’s hands were clapping together

and their feet were padding too

you’re the fiddlinest fool that ever i

see mr edward shouted admiringly to paw

he didn’t stop dancing paul didn’t stop

playing

he played money musk an arkansas

traveler

irish washerwoman and the devil’s

hornpipe

baby carrie couldn’t sleep in all that

music she sat up in ma’s lap looking at

mr edwards with round eyes and clapping

her little hands and laughing

even the fire light danced and all

around its edge the shadows were dancing

only the new house stood still and quiet

in the dark till the big moon rose and

shone on its gray walls and the yellow

chips around it

mr edwards said he must go it was a long

way back

to his camp on the other side of the

woods and the creek

he took his gun and said good night to

laura and mary

and ma he said a bachelor got mighty

lonesome and he surely had enjoyed this

evening of home life

play ingles he said play me down the

road

so while he went down the creek road and

out of sight

paul played and pau and mr edwards and

laura

sang with all their might

oh dan tucker was a fine old man he

washed his face in the frying pan he

combed his hair with a wagon wheel

and out of the toothache in his hill get

out of the way for old and tucker

he’s too late to get his supper supper’s

over and the dishes washed

nothing left but a piece of squash

old dan tucker went to town riding a

mule and leading a hound

far over the prairie ranked paw’s big

voice and lara’s little one

and faintly from the creek bottoms came

a last

whoop from mr edwards

get out of the way for old dan tucker

he’s too late to get his supper

when paws fiddle stopped they could not

hear mr

edwards anymore only the wind rustled in

the prairie grasses

the big yellow moon was sailing high

overhead

the sky was so full of light that not

one star twinkled in

it and all the prairie was a shadowy

mellowness then from the woods by the

creek

a nightingale began to sing

everything was silent listening to the

nightingale

song the birds sang

on and on the cool wind moved over the

prairie

and the song was round and clear

above the grasses whispering

the sky was like a bowl of light

overturned

on the flat black land

the song ended no one

moved or spoke

laura and mary were quiet pau

and ma sat motionless

only the wind stirred and the grasses

sighed

then paul lifted the fiddle to his

shoulder

and softly touched the bow to the

strings

a few notes fell like clear drops of

water

into the stillness a pause

and paul began to play the nightingale

song

the nightingale answered him the

nightingale began to sing again

it was singing with pause fiddle

when the strings were silent the

nightingale went on singing

when it paused the fiddle called to it

and it sang again

the bird and the fiddle were talking to

each other

in the cool night under the moon