Book 2 15. FEVER N AGUE Little House On The Prairie By Laura Ingalls Wilder
fever and egg you
now blackberries were ripe and in the
hot afternoons
laura went with ma to pick them the big
black juicy berries hung
thick in briar patches and in the creek
bottoms
some were in the shade of trees and some
were in the sun
but the sun was so hot that laura and ma
stayed in the shade
there were plenty of berries deer lay in
the shady groves and watched ma and
laura
blue jays flew at their sun bonnets and
scolded because they were taking the
berries
snakes hurriedly crawled away from them
and in the trees
the squirrels woke up and chatted at
them wherever they went among the
scratchy briars mosquitoes rose up in
buzzing swarms mosquitoes were thick on
the big ripe berries
sucking the sweet juice but they like to
bite laura and ma as much as they like
to eat blackberries
laura’s fingers in her mouth were purple
black with berry juice
her face and her hands and her bare feet
were covered with briar scratches and
mosquito bites
and they were splattered with purple
stains too where she had slapped at the
mosquitoes
but every day they brought home pails
full of berries
and moss spread them in the sun to dry
every day they ate all the blackberries
they wanted
and next winter they would have dried
blackberries to stew
mary hardly ever went to pick
blackberries
she stayed in the house to mind baby
carrie because she was older
in the daytime there were only one or
two mosquitoes in the house
but at night if the wind wasn’t blowing
hard
mosquitoes came in thick swarms
on still nights paw kept piles of damp
grass
burning all around the house in the
stable the damp grass made a smudge of
smoke to keep the mosquitoes away
but a good many mosquitoes came anyway
paul could not play his fiddle in the
evenings because so many mosquitoes bit
him
mr edwards did not come visiting after
supper anymore because the mosquitoes
were so thick in the bottoms
all night pat and patty and the colt and
the calf and the cow were stamping and
swishing their tails in the stable
and in the morning lara’s forehead was
speckled with mosquito bites
now this won’t last long paw said fall
is not far away and the first cold wind
will settle them laura did not feel very
well
one day she felt cold even in the hot
sunshine and she could not get warm by
the fire
ma asked why she and mary did not go out
to play and laura said she didn’t feel
like playing
she was tired and she ached moss stopped
her work and asked
where do you ache laura didn’t exactly
know
she said i just ache
my legs ache i ache too
mary said maul looked at them
and said they looked healthy enough but
she said something must be wrong or they
wouldn’t be so quiet
she pulled up laura’s skirt and
petticoats to see where her legs ached
and suddenly lara shivered all over she
shivered so
that her teeth rattled in her mouth
mom put her hand against laura’s cheek
you can’t be cold she said your face is
hot as fire
laura felt like crying but of course she
didn’t only little babies cried
i’m hot now she said and my backaches
mark called paw and he came in
charles do look at the girls she said i
do believe they’re sick
well i don’t feel any too well myself
said paw
first i’m hot and then i’m cold and i
ache all over
is that the way you feel girls do your
very bones ache
mary and laura said that that was the
way they felt
then mom paul looked a long time at each
other and ma
said the place for you girls is bed
it was so queer to be put to bed in the
daytime
and laura was so hot that everything
seemed wavering
she held onto mars neck while ma was
undressing her
and she begged ma to tell her what was
wrong with her
you will be all right don’t worry ma
said cheerfully laura crawled into bed
and ma tucked her in it felt good to be
in bed
ma smoothed her forehead with her cool
soft hand
and said there now go to sleep
laura did not exactly go to sleep but
she didn’t really wake up again for a
long long time
strange things seemed to keep happening
in a haze
she would see park crouching by the fire
in the middle of the night
then suddenly sunshine hurt her eyes and
moth fed her broth from a spoon
something dwindled slowly smaller and
smaller
till it was tinier than the tiniest
thing
then slowly it swelled till it was
larger than
anything could be two voices jabbered
faster and faster
than a slow voice drawled more slowly
than laura could bear
there were no words only voices
mary was hot in the bed beside her mary
threw off the covers
and laura cried because she was so cold
then she was burning up
and pau’s hand shook the cup of water
water spilled down her neck the tin cup
rattled against
her teeth so she could hardly drink then
ma
tucked in the covers and maw’s hand
burned against laura’s cheek
she heard paul say go to bed caroline
moss said you’re sicker than i am
charles
laura opened her eyes and saw bright
sunshine
mary was sobbing i want a drink of water
i want a drink of water i want a drink
of water
jack went back and forth between the big
bed and the little bed
laura saw paw lying on the floor by the
big bed
jack pawed at paw and whined
he took hold of paw sleeve with his
teeth and shook it
pau’s head lifted up a little and he
said
i must get up i must
caroline and the girls then his head
fell back and he lay still
jack lifted up his nose and howled
laura tried to get up but she was too
tired
then she saw ma’s red face looking over
the edge of the big bed
mary was all the time crying for water
ma looked at mary and then she looked at
laura and she whispered
laura can you
yes ma laura said
this time she got out of bed but when
she tried to stand up
the floor rocked and she fell down
jack’s tongue lapped and lapped at her
face and he quivered and whined
but he stood still and firm when she
took hold of him and sat up against him
she knew she must get water to stop
mary’s crying
and she did she crawled all the way
across the floor to the water bucket
there was only a little water in it she
shook
so with cold as she could hardly get
hold of the dipper
but she did get hold of it she dipped up
some water
and she set out to cross that enormous
floor again
jack stayed beside her all the way
mary’s eyes didn’t open her hands held
onto the dipper and her mouth swallowed
all the water out of it
then she stopped crying the dipper fell
on the floor
and laura crawled under the covers it
was a long time before she began to get
warm again
sometimes she heard jack sobbing
sometimes he howled and she thought he
was a wolf but she was not afraid
she lay burning up and hearing him howl
she heard the voices jabbering again and
the slow
voice drawling and she opened her eyes
and saw a big black face close above
her face it was cold black and shiny
its eyes were black and soft its teeth
shone white in a thick big mouth
this face smiled and a deep voice said
softly
drink this little girl
an arm lifted under her shoulders and a
black hand held a cup to her mouth
laura swallowed a bitter swallow and
tried to turn her head away
but the cup followed her mouth the
mellow deep voice said again
drink it it will make you well
so laura swallowed the whole bitter dose
when she woke up a fat woman
was stirring the fire laura looked at
her carefully and she was not black
she was tanned like ma
i want a drink of water please laura
said
the fat woman brought it at once the
good
cold water made laura feel better she
looked at mary asleep beside her
she looked at paw and ma asleep in the
big bed
jack lay half asleep on the floor laura
looked again at the fat woman and asked
who are you i’m mrs scott
the woman said smiling there now
you feel better don’t you yes
thank you laura said politely
the fat woman brought her a cup of hot
prairie chicken broth
drink it all up like a good child she
said
laura drank every drop of the good broth
now go to sleep said mrs scott
i’m here to take care of everything to
your all well
next morning laura felt so much better
that she wanted to get up but mrs scott
said she must stay in bed until the
doctor came
she lay and watched mrs scott tidy the
house and give medicine to paw and ma
and mary
then it was laura’s turn she opened her
mouth
and mrs scott poured a dreadful
bitterness out of a small folded paper
onto laura’s tongue
laura drank water and swallowed and
swallowed and drank again
she could swallow the powder but she
couldn’t swallow the bitterness
then the doctor came and he was the
black man
laura had never seen a black man before
and she could not take her eyes off of
dr
tan he was so very black
she would have been afraid of him if she
had not liked him so much
he smiled at her with all his white
teeth
he talked with paw and ma and laughed a
rolling jolly laugh
they all wanted him to stay longer but
he had to hurry away
mrs scott said that all the settlers up
and down the creek had fever and egg you
there were not enough well people to
take care of the sick and she’d been
going from house to house working night
and day
it’s a wonder you ever lived through she
said
all of you down at once what might have
happened if dr tan hadn’t found them she
didn’t know
dr tan was a doctor with the indians he
was on his way north to independence
when he came
to paw’s house it was a strange thing
that
jack who hated strangers and never let
one come near the house until par
ma told him to had gone to meet dr
tan and begged him to come in
and here you all were more dead than
alive
mrs scott said dr tan had stayed with
them a day and a night before mrs scott
came
now he was doctoring all the sick
settlers
mrs scott said that all this sickness
came from eating watermelons
she said i’ve said a hundred times if i
have once that watermelons
what’s that pau exclaimed who’s got
watermelons
mrs scott said that one of the settlers
had planted watermelons in the creek
bottoms
and every soul who had eaten one of
those melons was down
sick that very minute she said she had
warned them
but no she said there was no arguing
with them
they would eat those melons and now
they’re paying for it
i haven’t tasted a good slice of
watermelon since hector was a pup
said paw next day he was out of bed
the next day laura was up then ma got up
and then mary they were all thin and
shaky but they could take care of
themselves
so mrs scott went home ma said she
didn’t know how they could ever thank
her
and mrs scott said shaw what are
neighbors for but to help each other out
pau’s cheeks were hollows and he walked
slowly
ma often sat down to rest and laura and
mary didn’t feel like playing
every morning they all took those bitter
powders
but ma still smiled her lovely smile and
paul whistled cheerfully
it’s an ill wind that doesn’t blow some
good he said
he wasn’t able to work so he could make
a rocking chair for more
he brought some slender willows from the
creek bottoms
and he made the chair in the house he
could stop any time to put wood on the
fire or lift a kettle for more
first he made four stout legs and braced
them firmly with cross pieces
then he cut thin strips of the tough
willow skin just under the bark
he wove these strips back and forth
under and over
until they made a seat for the chair
he split a long straight sapling down
the middle
he pegged one end of half of it to the
side of the seat
and curved it up and over and down and
pegged the other end
to the other side of the seat that made
a high
curved back to the chair he braced it
firmly
and then he wove the thin willow strips
across
up and down under and over each other
till they filled in the chair back
with the other half of the split sapling
paul made
arms for the chair he curved them from
the front of the seat to the chair back
and he filled them in with woven strips
last of all he split a larger willow
which had grown in a curve he turned the
chair upside down
and he pegged the curved pieces to its
legs to make the rockers
and the chair was done then they made a
celebration
ma took off her apron and smoothed her
smooth brown hair
she pinned her gold pin in the front of
her collar
mary tied the string of beads around
carrie’s neck
and paw and laura put mary’s pillow on
the chair seat
and set laura’s pillow against its back
over the pillows paw spread the quilt
from the little bed
then he took ma’s hand and led her to
the chair
and he put baby carry in her arms
leaned back in the softness her thin
cheeks flushed and her eyes sparkled
with tears but her smile was beautiful
the chair rocked her gently and she said
oh charles i haven’t been so comfortable
since i don’t know when
then paul took his fiddle and he played
and sang to ma
in the fire light ma rocked
and baby carrie went to sleep and mary
and laura sat on their bench and were
happy
the very next day without saying where
he was going
paul wrote away on patty mar wondered
and wondered where he had gone
and when paul came back he was balancing
a watermelon in front of him on the
saddle
he could hardly carry it into the house
he let it fall on the floor
and drop down beside it i thought i’d
never get it here he said
it must weigh 40 pounds and i’m as weak
as water
hand me the butcher knife but charles ma
said you mustn’t mrs scott
said paul laughed his big peeling laugh
again
but that’s not reasonable he said this
is a good melon
why should it have fever and egg you
everybody knows that fever and egg you
comes from breathing the night air
this watermelon grew in the night air
said ma
nonsense pau said give me the butcher
knife i’d eat this melon if i knew it
would give me chills and fever
i do believe you would said ma handing
him the knife
it went into the melon with a luscious
sound
the green grind split open and there was
the bright red inside
flecked with black seeds the red heart
actually looked frosty
nothing had ever been so tempting as
that watermelon on that hot day
ma would not taste it she would not let
laura and mary eat
one bite but paw ate slice
after slice after slice until at last he
sighed
and said the cow could have the rest of
it
next day he had a little chill and a
little fever
ma blamed the watermelon but next day
she had a chill and a little fever
so they did not know what could have
caused their fever and egg you
no one knew in those days that fever and
egg you was malaria
and that some mosquitoes give it to
people when they bite them