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