The Year
Little House on the Prairie is the story of one year, and the family ends it by leaving the house they built.
I read all twenty-six chapters and counted what I could. This summary spoils everything, including the ending. The name Pa appears seven hundred fifty times, and Laura only six hundred eighty-eight, so even in her own book, Laura shares the stage.
Spring: Leaving Wisconsin
In chapter one, Pa sells the little house in the Big Woods of Wisconsin. He says too many people have moved in. The family, Pa, Ma, Mary, Laura and Baby Carrie, packs the covered wagon in the last of winter, and Jack the bulldog trots underneath.
They cross a frozen lake on the ice, then the Mississippi, then cross the Missouri River on a raft. Pa trades the horses for two mustangs, and the girls name them Pet and Patty.
In chapter two they ford a creek that rises under them. Pa has to swim beside the horses, and Jack, left on the bank, is lost. That night on the High Prairie, in chapter three, two green eyes come out of the dark. It’s Jack, safe, after Pa raises his gun at him.
Summer: Building the House
Chapters four to ten are the building. Pa picks a spot on the prairie in chapter five and hauls logs. Ma sprains her ankle when a log falls, and the neighbor Mr. Edwards helps Pa raise the walls. That night Pa’s fiddle answers a nightingale.
In chapter seven Pa rides home with fifty wolves trotting around his horse, and Pet has a colt, named Bunny. In chapters eight to ten the house gets a door, a fireplace, a roof and a floor.
Chapter eleven is the first time Indians come in. Pa is hunting, and two Native men walk into the house, eat Ma’s cornbread and take Pa’s tobacco. Laura and Mary run in to help Ma, though Laura ends up hiding behind a slab of wood.
In chapter nine the first fire on the hearth lets Ma cook indoors, and in chapter ten Pa lays a floor of split logs and chinks the walls with mud.
Chapter twelve is the well, and Mr. Scott faints at the bottom. Chapter thirteen brings Texas longhorns, and the cowboys give Pa a cow and calf. In chapter fourteen Pa takes the girls to an empty Native camp, where they find beads.
Fall: Fever and the Trip to Town
Chapter fifteen is the sickness. Fever and ague takes everyone, Pa, Ma, Mary and Laura. Jack stays beside them. Doctor Tan, a doctor working with the Indians, finds the family, and Mrs. Scott nurses them.
In chapter sixteen the chimney catches fire, and while Ma fights it outside, Laura drags the rocking chair, with Mary and Carrie in it, back from the burning sticks. While Pa is away, Jack will not let Mr. Edwards near the cow, and chases him up the woodpile. Mrs. Scott visits Ma, says the only good Indian is a dead Indian, and mentions the Minnesota massacre before Ma stops her. Chapter seventeen is also Pa’s trip to Independence for four days. He comes home with glass for the windows, and with white sugar.
Winter: Furs and Santa Claus
Chapter eighteen is the tall Indian. An Osage man comes to the house and sits at the fire with Pa. Pa explains to Laura that the government will make the Indians move west, and that the Ingalls get the best land because they arrived first. Laura asks a question, and Pa tells her to stop.
As winter comes, two Indians come in while Pa is out, and one takes the bundle of furs to the door before the other speaks to him and he drops it. Ma says she’s thankful they didn’t take the plow and seeds, which were in that bundle. From then on Jack is chained, because Pa is afraid of what would happen if the dog bit anyone. The chain is a sad running thread through the winter.
Chapter nineteen is Christmas. A creek has flooded, so everyone thinks Santa can’t come. But Mr. Edwards swims it, carrying presents from Independence on his head. Chapter twenty is a night scream, which Pa says was a panther.
Spring Again: Fire and War Cries
Chapter twenty-one is Pa’s return from town with a plow and seeds, on an evening of Native shouting and singing from the creek. In chapter twenty-two a prairie fire races at the house. Pa plows a furrow, sets a backfire, and the house is saved.
Chapters twenty-three and twenty-four are the book’s climax. Night after night, drums and war cries come from the creek. Pa makes a huge pile of bullets and sits up by the window. The sleepless days go on.
Then Pa learns why it stopped. An Osage leader, Soldat du Chene, argued with the other tribes until they agreed not to attack the settlers. The next morning, a line of Native families rides slowly west past the house. Laura begs for a baby from one of the baskets, and Pa tells her to hush.
Leaving
In chapter twenty-five, spring comes green. The garden grows. Then Mr. Scott and Mr. Edwards say soldiers are coming to move the settlers out of Indian Territory. Pa’s face goes red, and he decides to leave in the morning.
They give the cow and calf to Mr. Scott. Laura thanks Mr. Edwards for Santa Claus one last time. They eat the seed potatoes.
In chapter twenty-six they pack the wagon, and Pa leaves the latch-string out in case someone needs shelter. The plow stays behind. On the road that night, Pa plays his fiddle, and Laura drifts off to sleep.
What Counted
Let me show you the counts. The words Indian and Indians appear about two hundred thirty-five times, and four chapters, eleven, eighteen, twenty-three and twenty-four, hold one hundred forty-one of them. That’s the book’s tension, in numbers.
Jack is named about one hundred fifty times, the fiddle about thirty, and wolf or wolves about sixty. So the book’s year is mostly a dog, a fiddle and wolves, with the Native families as the thing everybody is afraid of.
What to Make of It
This is a book that makes a hard thing look like an adventure. Reportedly, the real family had no legal right to the land, and the book never says so. It calls the place home, and the family leaves because the government says so. Pa and Ma disagree about the Native people nearby, and the book lets both of them talk.
It is a lovely book about work, weather and family. It is also a book you should read with the Native chapters in mind. My parents guide goes through those.
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