Book 6 1. MAKE HAY WHILE THE SUN SHINES Little House On The Prairie By Laura Ingalls Wilder

[Music]

harper audio presents

the long winter by laura ingalls wilder

read by cherry jones

[Music]

make hay while the sun shines

the mowing machine’s whirring sounded

cheerfully from the old buffalo wallow

south of the claim shanty where blue

stem grass stood

thick and tall and paw was cutting it

for hay

the sky was high and quivering with heat

over the shimmering prairie

halfway down to sunset the sun blazed as

hotly as at noon

the wind was scorching hot but paul had

hours of mowing yet to do before he

could stop for the night

laura drew up a pail full of water from

the well at the edge of the big slough

she rinsed the brown jug till it was

cooled to her hand

then she filled it with the fresh cool

water

corked it tightly and started with it to

the hayfield

swarms of little white butterflies

hovered over the path

a dragonfly with gauzy wings swiftly

chased a nat

on the stubble of cut grass the striped

gophers were scampering

all at once they ran for their lives and

dived into their holes

then laura saw a swift shadow and looked

up at the eyes and the claws of a hawk

overhead

but all the little gophers were safe in

their holes

paul was glad to see laura with the

water jug

he got down from the mowing machine and

drank a mouthful

ah that hits the spot he said

and tipped up the jug again then he

corked it

and setting it on the ground he covered

it with cut grass

the sun almost makes a fella want a

bunch of sprouts to make a shade he

joked

he was really glad there were no trees

he had grubbed so many sprouts from his

clearing in the big woods every summer

here on the dakota prairies there was

not a single tree

not one sprout not a bit of shade

anywhere a man works better when he’s

warmed up

anyway paul said cheerfully and chirped

to the horses

sam and david plotted on drawing the

machine

the long steel-toothed blade went

steadily whirring against the tall grass

and laid it down flat paul rode high on

the open iron seat

watching it lie down his hand on the

lever

lara sat in the grass to watch him go

once around

the heat there smelled as good as an

oven when bread is baking

the little brown and yellow striped

gophers were hurrying again

all about her tiny birds fluttered and

flew to cling to bending grass stems

balancing lightly

a striped garter snake came flowing and

curving through the forest of grass

sitting hunched with her chin on her

knees laura felt suddenly as big as a

mountain

when the snake curved up its head and

stared at the high wall

of her calico skirt its round eyes were

shining like beads

and its tongue was flickering so fast

that it looked like a tiny jet of steam

the whole bright stripe snake had a

gentle look

laura knew that garter snakes will not

harm anyone and they are good to have on

a farm

because they eat the insects that spoil

crops

it stretched its neck low again and

making a perfectly square turn in itself

because it could not climb over laura it

went flowing around her

and away in the grass then the mowing

machine

heard louder and the horses came nodding

their heads slowly in time with their

feet

david jumped when lara spoke almost

under his nose

whoa pau said startle laura i thought

you’d gone

why are you hiding in the grass like a

prairie chicken

paw laura said why can’t i help you make

hay please let me pau please

paul lifted his hat and ran his fingers

through his sweat damp hair

standing it all on end and letting the

wind blow through it

you’re not very big nor strong little

half pint

i’m going on 14 laura said i can help

paw

i know i can the mowing machine had cost

so much that paw had no money left to

pay for help

he could not trade work because there

were only a few homesteaders in this new

country and they were busy on their own

claims

but he needed help to stack the hay well

paul said maybe you can we’ll try it

if you can by george we’ll get this aim

done all by ourselves

laura could see that the thought was a

load off pau’s mind

and she hurried to the shanty to tell ma

why i guess you can ma said doubtfully

she did not like to see women working in

the fields

only foreigners did that ma and her

girls were americans

above doing men’s work but laura’s

helping with the hay would solve the

problem

she decided yes laura you may

gary eagerly offered to help i’ll carry

the drinking water out to you

i’m big enough to carry the jug carrie

was almost 10

but small for her age and i’ll do your

share of the housework besides mine

mary offered happily she was proud that

she could wash dishes and make beds as

well as laura

though she was blind the sun

and hot wind cured the cut grass so

quickly

that paul raked it up next day he raked

it into long

windrows then he raked the windrows into

big haycocks

and early the next morning while the

dawn was still cool

and meadowlarks was singing laura rode

to the field with paw

in the hay rack there paul walked beside

the wagon

and drove the horses between the rows of

haycocks

at every haycock he stopped the horses

and pitched the hay

up into the hay rack it came tumbling

loosely over the high edge

and laura trampled it down up and down

and back and forth she trampled the

loose hay with all the might of her

legs while the fork fools kept coming

over and falling

and she went on trampling while the

wagon jolted onto the next haycock

then paul pitched more hay in from the

other side

under her feet the hay climbed higher

trampled down as solid as hey can be

up and down fast and hard her legs kept

going

the length of the hay rack and back and

across the middle

the sunshine was hotter and the smell of

the hay rose up sweet and strong

under her feet it bounced and over the

edges of the hay racket kept coming

all the time she was rising higher on

the trample down hay

her head rose above the edges of the

rack and she could have looked at the

prairie

if she could have stopped trampling then

the rack was full of hay

and still more came flying up from paw’s

pitchfork

laura was very high up now and the

slippery hay was sloping downward around

her

she went on trampling carefully her face

and her neck were wet with sweat

and sweat trickled down her back her sun

bonnet hung by its strings

and her braids had come undone her long

brown hair blew loose in the wind

then paw stepped up on the wiffle trees

he rested one foot on david’s broad hip

and clambered up onto the load of hay

you’ve done a good job laura he said

you’ve tramped the hay down so well that

we’ve got a big load on the wagon

laura rested in the prickly warm hay

while paul drove near to the stable

then she slid down and sat in the shade

of the wagon

paul pitched down some hay then climbed

down and spread it evenly to make the

big round bottom of a stack

he climbed onto the load and pitched

more hay

then climbed down and leveled it on the

stack

and trampled it down i could spread it

paw

laura said so you wouldn’t have to keep

climbing up and down

paul pushed back his hat and leaned for

a minute on the pitchfork

stacking’s a job for two that’s a fact

he said

this way takes too much time being

willing helps a lot but you’re not very

big little half pint

she could only get him to say well we’ll

see

but when they came back with the next

load he gave her a pitchfork and let her

try

the long fork was taller than she was

and she did not know how to use it so

she handled it clumsily

but while paul tossed the hay from the

wagon she spread it

as well as she could walking around and

around on the stack to pack it tightly

in spite of the best she could do paw

had to level the stack for the next load

now the sun and the wind were hotter and

laura’s legs quivered while she made

them trample the hay

she was glad to rest for the little

times between the field and the stack

she was thirsty then she was thirstier

and then she was so

thirsty that she could think of nothing

else it seemed forever till 10 o’clock

when carrie came lugging the jug

half full pot told laura to drink first

but not too much

nothing was ever so good as that cool

wetness going down her throat

at the taste of it she stopped in

surprise and carrie clapped her hands

and cried out laughing

don’t tell laura don’t tell tapa tastes

it

ma had sent them ginger water she had

sweetened the cool well water with sugar

flavored it with vinegar and put in

plenty of ginger to warm their stomach

so they could drink it until they were

not thirsty

ginger water would not make them sick as

plain cold water would when they were so

hot

such a treat made that ordinary day into

a special day

the first day that laura helped in the

haying

by noon they had hauled all the hay and

finished the stack

paw topped it himself it takes great

skill to round the top of a haystack

so that it will shed rain dinner was

ready when they went to the shanty

ma looked sharply at laura and asked is

the work too hard for her charles

oh no she’s as stout as a little french

horse

she’s been a great help said paw it

would have taken me all day to stack

that hay alone

and now i have the whole afternoon for

mowing

laura was proud her arms ached

and her back ached and her legs ached

and that night in bed she ached all over

so badly that tears swelled out of her

eyes

but she did not tell anyone

as soon as paw had cut and raked enough

hay for another stack

he and laura made it lara’s arms and

legs got used to the work

and did not ache so badly she liked to

see the stacks that she helped to make

she helped paul make a stack on each

side of the stable door

and a long stack over the whole top of

the dugout stable

besides these they made three more big

stacks

now all our upland hay is cut i want to

put up a lot of slough hay

paw said it doesn’t cost anything and

maybe there’ll be some sale for it when

new settlers come in next spring so paul

mowed the coarse tall grass in big

slough

and laura helped him stack that it was

so much heavier than the blue stem grass

that she could not handle it with the

pitchfork but she could trample it down

one day when park came clambering up to

the top of the load

she told him you’ve left a haycock paw

i have said paw surprised where

over there in the tall grass paul looked

where she pointed

then he said that isn’t a haycock half

pint

that’s a muskrat house he looked at it a

moment longer

i’m going to have a closer look at that

he said want to come along the horses

will stand

he pushed away through the harsh tall

grass and laura followed close behind

him

the ground underfoot was soft and marshy

and water lay in pools among the grass

roots

laura could see only paws back in the

grasses all around her

taller than she was she stepped

carefully for the ground was growing

wetter

suddenly water spread out before her in

a shimmering pool

at the edge of the pool stood the

muskrat’s house

it was taller than laura and far larger

than her arms could reach around

its rounded sides and top were rough

hard

gray the muskrats had gnawed dry grass

to bits and mixed the bits well with mud

to make a good plaster for their house

and they had built it up solidly and

smoothly and rounded the top carefully

to shed rain

the house had no door no path led to it

anywhere

in the grass double around it and along

the muddy rim of the pool

there was not one paw print there was

nothing to tell how the muskrats went

in and out of their house inside those

thick still walls paw said the muskrats

were sleeping now

each family curled in its own little

room lined softly with grasses

each room had a small round doorway that

opened onto a sloping hall

the hallway curved down through the

house from top to bottom

and ended in dark water that

was the muskrat’s front door

after the sun had gone the muskrats woke

and went pattering down the smooth mud

floor of their hallway

they plunged into the black water and

came up through the pool to the wide

wild night under the sky all night long

in the starlight or moonlight they swam

and played along the edges of the water

feeding on roots and stems and leaves of

the water plants and grasses

when dawn was coming ghostly gray they

swam home

they dived and came up through their

water door

dripping they went up the slope of their

hallway

each to his own grass-lined room there

they curled comfortably to sleep

lara put her hand on the wall of their

house

the coarse plaster was hot in the hot

wind and sunshine

but inside the thick mud walls in the

dark

the air must be cool she liked to think

of the muskrat

sleeping there paul was shaking his head

we’re gonna have a hard winter he said

not liking the prospect why how do you

know

laura asked in surprise the colder the

winter will be

the thicker the muskrats build the walls

of their houses

paw told her i never saw a heavier built

muskrat’s house than that one

laura looked at it again it was very

solid and big

but the sun was blazing burning on her

shoulders through the faded thin calico

and the hot wind was blowing and

stronger than the damp mud smell of the

slough

was the ripening smell of grass parching

in the heat

laura could hardly think of ice and snow

and cruel

cold paul how can the muskrats know she

asked

i don’t know how they know paul said but

they do

god tells them somehow i suppose then

why doesn’t god tell

us laura wanted to know because said

paul we’re

not animals we’re humans and like it

says in the declaration of independence

god created us free

that means we got to take care of

ourselves laura said faintly

i thought god takes care of us he does

paul said so far as we do what’s right

and he gives us a conscience and brains

to know what’s right

but he leaves it to us to do as we

please that’s the difference between us

and everything else in creation can’t

muskrats do what they please

laura asked amazed no said paw

i don’t know why they can’t but you can

see they can’t

look at that muskrat house muskrats have

to build

that kind of house they always have and

they always will

it’s plain they can’t build any other

kind but folks build all kinds of houses

a man can build any kind of house he can

think of so if his house don’t keep out

of the weather

that’s his lookout he’s free and

independent

paul stood thinking for a minute then he

jerked his head

come along little half pint we better

make hay while the sun shines

his eyes twinkled and laura laughed

because the sun was shining with all its

might

but all the rest of that afternoon they

were rather sober

the muskrats had a warm thick-walled

house to keep out cold and snow

but the claim shanty was built of thin

boards that had shrunk in the summer

heat till the narrow battens hardly

covered the wide cracks in the walls

boards and tar paper were not very snug

shelter

against a hard winter