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.
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).
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, 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.)
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
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 8 - Lunch Beside the Lake
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 6 Making Cheese
Chapter 10 Part 7 Green Cheese
Chapter 10 Part 10 How Her Father Got The Honey Away From The Bear
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 2 Sewing the Hats
by John Larrysson
JohnLarrysson@gmail.com
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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