Book 4 8. STRAWSTACK Little House On The Prairie By Laura Ingalls Wilder
[Music]
straw stack
when mr nelson’s harvesting was done paw
had paid for spot
he could do his own harvesting now he
sharpened the long
dangerous scythe that little girls must
never touch
and he cut down the wheat in the small
field beyond the stable
he bounded in bundles and stacked them
then every morning he went to work on
the level land across the creek
he cut the prairie grass and left it to
dry in the sunshine
he raked it into piles with a wooden
rake
he yoked pete and bright to the wagon
and he hauled the hay
and made six big stacks of it over there
at night he was always too tired now to
play the fiddle
but he was glad because when the hay was
stacked he could plow that stubble land
and that would be the wheat field one
morning at daylight
three strange men came with a threshing
machine
they threshed paw’s stack of wheat laura
heard the harsh machinery noises while
she drove spot through the dewy grass
and when the sun rose chaff flew golden
in the wind
the threshing was done and the men went
away with the machine before breakfast
paw said he wished hansen had sown more
wheat
but there’s enough to make us some flour
he said
and the straw with what hay i’ve cut
will feed the stock through the winter
next year he said we’ll have a crop of
wheat that will amount to something
when laura and mary went up on the
prairie to play that morning
the first thing they saw was a beautiful
golden
straw stack it was tall and
shining bright in the sunshine it
smelled sweeter than hay
laura’s feet slid in the sliding
slippery straw but she could climb
faster than straw slid in a minute
she was high on top of that stack
she looked across the willow tops and
away beyond the creek at the far land
she could see the whole great round
prairie
she was high up in the sky almost as
high as birds
her arms waved and her feet bounced on
the springy straw
she was almost flying way high up in the
windy sky
i’m flying i’m flying she called down to
mary
mary climbed up to her jump jump
laura said they held hands and jumped
round and round higher and
higher the wind blew and their skirts
flapped and their sun bonnets swung at
the ends of the sun bonnet strings
around their necks
higher higher lara sang jumping
suddenly the straw slid under her
over the edge of the stack she went
sitting in straw sliding faster and
faster bump she landed at the bottom
plump mary landed on her they rolled and
laughed in the crackling straw then they
climbed the stack
and slid down it again they had never
had
so much fun they climbed up and slid
climbed up and slid until there was
hardly any stack left in the middle of
loose heaps of straw
then they were sober paw had made that
straw stack
and now it was not at all as he had left
it
lara looked at mary and mary looked at
her
and they looked at what was left of that
straw stack
then mary said she was going into the
dugout and
laura went quietly with her they were
very good
helping ma and playing nicely with
carrie until paw came to dinner
when he came in he looked straight at
laura and laura looked at the floor
you girls mustn’t slide down the straw
stack anymore
paul said i had to stop and pitch up all
that loose straw
we won’t paw laura said earnestly and
mary said
no pub we won’t after dinner mary washed
the dishes and laura dried them
then they put on their sun bonnets and
went up the path to the prairie
the straw stack was golden bright in the
sunshine
laura what are you doing said mary
i’m not doing anything said laura i’m
not even hardly touching it
you come right away from there or i’ll
tell ma said mary
pod didn’t say i couldn’t smell it said
laura
she stood close to the golden stack and
sniffed long
deep sniffs the straw was warmed by the
sun
it smelled better than wheat kernels
taste when you chew them
laura burrowed her face in it shutting
her eyes and smelling
deeper and deeper
she said mary came and smelled it and
said
laura looked up at the glistening
prickly golden stack
she had never seen the sky so blue as it
was above that gold
she could not stay on the ground she had
to be
high up in that blue sky laura
mary cried pau said we mustn’t
laura was climbing he did not either
she contradicted he did not say we must
not climb up but he said we must not
slide down it i’m only climbing you come
right straight down from there
said mary laura was on top of the stack
she looked down at mary and said like a
very good little girl
i am not going to slide down paw said
not to
nothing but the blue sky was higher than
she was
the wind was blowing the green prairie
was
wide and far lara spread her arms and
jumped and the straw bounded her high
i am i’m flying she sang
mary climbed up and mary began to fly
too
they bounced until they could bounce no
higher
then they flopped flat on the sweet warm
straw bulges of straw rose up on both
sides of laura
she rolled onto a bulge and it sank but
another rose up
she rolled onto that bulge and then she
was rolling faster
and faster she could not stop
lara mary screamed possit but laura was
rolling
over over over right down that straw
stack she rolled
and thumped in straw on the ground she
jumped up and climbed that straw stack
again as
fast as she could she flopped and began
to roll again
come on mary she shouted paw didn’t say
we can’t roll mary stayed on top of the
stack and
argued i know paw didn’t say we can’t
roll but
well then laura rolled down again
come on she called up it’s lots of fun
well but i said mary then she came
rolling down
it was great fun it was more fun than
sliding
they climbed and rolled and climbed and
rolled laughing harder
all the time more and more straw rolled
down with them
they waited in it and rolled each other
in it
and climbed and rolled down again until
there was hardly
anything left to climb then they brushed
every bit of straw off their dresses
they picked every bit out of their hair
and they went
quietly into the dugout when paul came
from the hayfield that night
mary was busily setting the table for
supper
laura was behind the door busy with the
box of paper dolls
laura paul said dreadfully
come here slowly laura went out from
behind the door
come here said paw right over here by
mary
he sat down and he stood them before him
side by side
but it was laura he looked at he said
sternly
you girls have been sliding down the
straw stack again
no paw said laura
mary said paw did you slide down the
straw stack
no paw mary said
laura pau’s voice was terrible
tell me again did you slide down the
straw stack
no paw laura answered again
she looked straight to paw’s shocked
eyes
she did not know why he looked like that
laura paul said we did not slide
par laura explained but we did roll
down it paul got up quickly and went to
the door
and stood looking out his back quivered
laura and mary did not know what to
think
when pot turned around his face was
stern but his eyes were twinkling
all right laura he said but now i want
you girls to stay away from that straw
stack
pete and bright and spot will have
nothing but hay and straw to eat this
winter
they need every bite of it you don’t
want them to be hungry do you
oh no paw they said
well if that straws to be fit to feed
them
it must stay stacked
do you understand yes paw
said laura and mary that was the end of
their plane
on the straw stack