Sukey and Rosie, the cows, were allowed to walk into the forest now, to eat the wild grass and the juicy new leaves; there were two little calves, or baby cows. Now there were seven little piglets, or baby pigs, with the mother pig in the pigpen. A pigpen is a place for a pig to live.
Last year their father had made an open space between the trees, by cutting trees down. In that open space, he was digging up the dirt with a plough and planting seeds. The seeds were his crops and would grow food for the family. One night he came in from work and said to Laura: "What do you think I saw today?"
She couldn't guess.
"Well," her father said. "When I was working in the clearing (place in a forest with the trees cut down) this morning, I looked up, and there at the edge of the forest stood a deer. She was a doe, a mother deer, and you'll never guess what was with her!"
"A baby deer!" Laura and Mary guessed together, clasping their hands. "Yes," her father said, "a baby deer is called a fawn. And her fawn was with her. It was a pretty little thing, the softest light brown colour, with big dark eyes. It had the tiniest feet, not much bigger than my thumb; it had thin little legs and the softest nose.
"It stood there and looked at me with its large, soft eyes, wondering what I was. It was not afraid at all."
"You wouldn't shoot a little baby deer, would you, father?" Laura asked.
"No, never!" he answered. "Nor its mother, nor its father. No more hunting, now, until all the little wild animals have grown up. We'll just have to do without fresh meat until autumn."
Her father said that as soon as he had the crops planted, they would all go to town. Laura and Mary could go, too. They were old enough now.
They were very excited and next day they tried to play going-to-town. But they had lived their whole lives in the forest. They could not play going-to-town very well, because they were not sure what a town was like. They knew there was a store in town, but they had never seen a store.
Nearly every day after that, the dolls Charlotte and Nettie would ask if they could go to town. But Laura and Mary always said: "No, dear, you can't go this year. Perhaps next year, if you are good, then you can go."
Then one night her father said, "We'll go to town tomorrow."
Little House in the Big Woods
Chapter 1 - Part 1: Introduction
Chapter 1 - Part 2: Wolves in the Night
Chapter 1 - Part 4: Smoked Meat
Chapter 1 - Part 5: Food for Winter
Chapter 1 - Part 6: Butchering Time
Chapter 1 - Part 7: After Butchering Time
Chapter 1 - Part 9: Winter Night
Chapter 1 - Part 10: About the Author & Where to Find the Book
Chapter 2 - Part 1: Winter Days and Winter Nights
Chapter 2 - Part 2: Jack Frost
Chapter 2 - Part 3: Laura and Mary Helped Mother with the Housework
Chapter 2 - Part 4: Churn on Thursday
Chapter 2 - Part 5: The Best Time of All
Chapter 2 - Part 6: Her Father Began to Play his Fiddle and Sing
Chapter 2 - Part 7: Father Told Stories
Chapter 2 - Part 8 - The Story of Grandfather and the Panther
Chapter 3 - Part 1: Introduction (The Long Rifle)
Chapter 3 - Part 2: Making Bullets
Chapter 3 - Part 3: Cleaning the Gun
Chapter 3 - Part 4: Loading the Gun
Chapter 3 - Part 5: Where and Why to Keep a Gun
Chapter 3 - Part 6: The Story of her Father and the Voice in the Forest Part 1
Chapter 3 - Part 7: The Story of her Father and the Voice in the Forest Part 2
Chapter 4 - Part 1: Christmas in the Forest
Chapter 4 - Part 2: Making a Gift for his Wife
Chapter 4 - Part 3: Christmas is Coming
Chapter 4 - Part 4: Children Make Pictures in the Snow
Chapter 4 - Part 5: Prince & the Blue Dress (part 1 of 3)
Chapter 4 - Part 6: Prince & the Blue Dress (part 2 of 3)
Chapter 4 - Part 7: Prince & the Blue Dress (part 3 of 3)
Chapter 4 - Part 8: Christmas Morning
Chapter 4 - Part 9: Santa Claus Only Gives Presents to Children
Chapter 5 - Part 2: The Weekly Bath
Chapter 5 - Part 3: Being Quiet
Chapter 5 - Part 4: The Story of Grandfather's Sledge and the Pig (part 1 of 4)
Chapter 5 - Part 5: The Story of Grandfather's Sledge and the Pig (part 2 of 4)
Chapter 5 - Part 6: The Story of Grandfather's Sledge and the Pig (part 3 of 4)
Chapter 5 - Part 7: The Story of Grandfather's Sledge and the Pig (part 4 of 4)
Chapter 5 - Part 8: Sunday Music
Chapter 5 - Part 9: Birthday Spanking
Chapter 6 - Part 1 - Introduction (Two Big Bears)
Chapter 6 - Part 2 - Getting Ready to Go
Chapter 6 - Part 3 - Milking Sukey the Cow (1 of 2)
Chapter 6 - Part 4a - Milking Sukey the Cow (2 of 2)
Chapter 6 - Part 4b - Review Questions: Milking Sukey
Chapter 6 - Part 4c - Answers for Review Questions
Chapter 6 - Part 5 - Her Father Has Not Come Home
Chapter 6 - Part 6 - The Story Of Her Father And The Bear In The Way (1 of 2)
Chapter 6 Part 7a - The Story of Her Father and the Bear in the Way (2 of 2)
Chapter 6 Part 7b - Review Questions: The Bear in the Way
Chapter 6 Part 7c - Answers for Review Questions
Chapter 6 Part 8 - Evening with Father
Chapter 6 Part 9 - When idiots see a bear: Hey let's feed the real live teddy bear!
Chapter 7 Part 1 Introduction - Maple Syrup
Chapter 7 Part 2 - The snow is melting
Chapter 7 Part 4 - Grandfather prepares to make maple syrup
Chapter 7 Part 5 - Grandfather harvests maple syrup
Chapter 7 Part 6 - Why is it called a sugar snow?
Chapter 7 Part 7 - Delaine Dress
Chapter 8 Part 1 - Going to Grandmother and Grandfather's House
Chapter 8 Part 2 - Grandmother and Grandfather's House
Chapter 8 Part 3 - The Wildman
Chapter 8 Part 4a: Made themselves pretty – Hair
Chapter 8 Part 4b: Made themselves pretty - Corsets
Chapter 8 Part 5: Made themselves pretty – Dresses
Chapter 8 Part 6: Competition - The Babies on the Bed
Chapter 8 Part 8: Grandmother is the Best Dancer
Chapter 8 Part 9: The Syrup is Ready
Chapter 8 Part 10: Maple Sugar
Chapter 9 Part 1: Spring Has Come
by John Larrysson
A native English speaker who has been teaching practical English in Hong Kong for over two decades.
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