John Larrysson's Column: Story Chapter 12 Part 3 Gathering Nuts
The Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
文章日期:2022年11月30日

The days were growing shorter and the nights were cooler. One night the cold weather came and in the morning there were bright colours here and there among the green leaves of the big forest. Soon, all the leaves stopped being green. They were yellow and scarlet-red and crimson-red and golden and brown.

[audio 1]

Along the wooden fence the sumac tree held up its dark red cones of berries above bright flame-coloured leaves. Acorns were falling from the oak trees, and Laura and Mary made little acorn cups and saucers for the playhouses. (Acorns are the seeds of oak trees; they can be eaten but do not taste good.) Walnuts and hickory nuts were dropping from their trees to the ground in the big forest. Squirrels were running busily everywhere, gathering their winter's store of nuts and hiding them away in hollow trees.

Laura and Mary went with her mother to gather walnuts and hickory nuts and hazelnuts. They spread them in the sun to dry. Then they beat off the dried outer hulls and stored the nuts in the attic for winter. (An attic is the space under the roof of the house).

[audio 2]

It was fun to gather the large round walnuts, the smaller hickory nuts and the little hazelnuts that grew in bunches on the bushes. The soft outer hulls of the walnuts were full of a brown juice that stained their hands, but the hazelnut hulls smelled good and tasted good, too, when Laura used her teeth to pry a nut loose.

EVERYONE WAS BUSY NOW

Everyone was busy now, because all the garden vegetables must be stored away. Laura and Mary helped by picking up the dusty potatoes after her father had dug them from the ground. They helped by pulling the long yellow carrots and the round, purple-topped turnips. (Older varieties of carrots nearer to the wild ancestral type were pale yellow instead of orange.)

[audio 3]

Little House in the Big Woods

Chapter 1 - Part 1: Introduction

Chapter 1 - Part 2: Wolves in the Night

Chapter 1 - Part 3: Venison

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 8: Winter

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 1: Sundays

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 3 - Sugar Snow

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 7: Dancing

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

Chapter 9 Part 2: Baby Animals

Chapter 9 Part 3: How to Curl Your Hair and Get Ready to Go to Town

Chapter 9 Part 4: Riding to Town

Chapter 9 Part 5 - What a Town Looks Like

Chapter 9 Part 6 - The Store

Chapter 9 Part 7 - Shopping

Chapter 9 Part 8 - Lunch Beside the Lake

Chapter 9 Part 9 - Going Home

Chapter 10 Part 1 SUMMERTIME

Chapter 10 Part 2 SUMMERTIME VISITORS

Chapter 10 Part 3 Curls and Aunt Lotty

Chapter 10 Part 4 You Must Never Hit Your Sister

Chapter 10 Part 5 Summer Work

Chapter 10 Part 6 Making Cheese

Chapter 10 Part 7 Green Cheese

Chapter 10 Part 8 Old Grimes

Chapter 10 Part 9 Honey Tree

Chapter 10 Part 10 How Her Father Got The Honey Away From The Bear

Chapter 11 Part 1 HARVEST

Chapter 11 Part 2 Work in the Farm Fields

Chapter 11 Part 3 Why Does Charley Scream?

Chapter 11 Part 4 What Happened to Charlie?

Chapter 11 Part 5 "It served the little liar right."

Chapter 12 Part 1 Making Hats

Chapter 12 Part 2 Sewing the Hats

by John Larrysson

[email protected]

A native English speaker who has been teaching practical English in Hong Kong for over two decades.

John Larrysson's Column: link.mingpao.com/75231.htm

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