Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
Chapter 1
-Bill hears a dog fight while out for a walk
-he saw a gang of dogs chasing a redbone hound and were headed in his
direction
-the hound fought off a big bird dog and a big ugly cur while the others formed a
semi-circle around him
-Bill swings his coat around the make the dogs scatter
-he peers under the hedge and coaxes the hound out
-the dog was starved; he had come a long way judging by the pads on his paws
-it had on a crude collar with the name, “Buddie” written on it by a child
-Bill takes him home, bathes him and feeds him warm milk and meat
-the dog slept over night; in the evening the dog headed off eastward; Bill figured
he was heading off in search of his master
-Bill goes inside and builds a fire in his fireplace
-on the mantle are two cups, one gold and the other silver; they bring back
memories of Bill’s youth
Chapter 2
-when Bill was a 10-year old boy, he dreamed of owning two dogs, hound dogs
-his dad said they didn’t have the money and his mom said she didn’t think he
was old enough to go hunting and she wouldn’t allow him to own a gun until he
was 21
-Billy loved to examine the animal tracks in the mud of the riverbanks
-Billy starts to lose weight because of his fretting for 2 dogs
-he overhears his parents talking about him and told his dad he’d settle for only 1
dog, but his dad explained how bad it was financially all around and that he might
have to quit farming
-his dad bought him three small steel traps. Billy was ecstatic
-he mistakenly caught his pet cat, Samie
-the other animals were all spooked
-his cat got caught again and again until all four legs were bandaged up
-one of his mom’s prize hens was caught
-his dad told him to set the traps out further, where he caught opossums, skunks,
rabbits, squirrels; he also taught him how to skin them
-Billy grew tired of the traps and once more wanted a dog; when denied he tried
to run away but the timber wolf scared him back
-he hears a hound dog at night which makes him want one even more
-Billy can’t sleep and his mom is worried about him
Chapter 3
-Billy helps his dad in the fields
-he checks out a campground after a group of fishermen leave and finds a
sportsman’s magazine
-there’s an ad in the magazine for hound dogs: $25 each; Billy makes a plan to
make and save up his money to buy two
-Billy uses a discarded K.C. Baking Powder can to store his money
-he told his grandfather about his plan
-in 2 years, he had saved what he needed
-he gives the money to his grandfather who agrees to write in to the ad to order
the dogs
-his grandfather gives him a bag of candy and said he could pay him back with
the first ‘coon he killed
Chapter 4
-Billy’s grandfather tells him he received a letter from the kennel, placed an order
and said the dogs would be sent as far as Tahlequah, Kentucky and he got $10
back.
-after 2 weeks, he received notice that the dogs were in
-Billy could get a ride in with Jim Hodges in a week
-he can’ wait, so decides to head off on his own on night, 20 miles away
-Tahlequah is a big town
-Billy felt guilty about leaving home without telling anyone, so he bought his dad
some overalls and his mom and sisters some yards of cloth and al large sack of
candy
-he stops by a schoolyard, the kids are playing a game and he asks to play, but
they start taunting him when they find out he lives back in the hills and is
schooled at home.
-the bell went and the kids went into the school
-Billy slid down the slide and came flying out
Chapter 5
-Billy arrives at the Depot and talked to the stationmaster
-he directs him to the freight doors to get the puppies
-the puppies were crying and whimpering, but Billy couldn’t move
-they waddled up to him and licked him
-Billy put them into his gunnysack
-as Billy walked down the street, people stared at him and laughed at him
-kids flocked around him, taunting “The dog boy has come to town”
-the leader of the gang stomped on Billy’s right foot and made it bleed, then
pulled the ear of the female pup
-Billy doubled his fists at the boy and punched the boy in the nose
-another boy jumped in to wrestle Billy and another came at him until they all
pulled him down
-a marshal came and help him
-Billy explained how he got the puppies
-the marshal bought him a pop
-Billy stayed in a cave in the Sparrow Hawk Mountains
-he made dinner and fed himself and the puppies
-the male dog was bigger, bolder and more aggressive than the female.
-the female was small, timid, short body/legs, small/delicate head, but smart,
sure of herself and more cautious
-Billy is awakened by the scream of a mountain lion; the male pup woke up, went
to the mouth of the cave and howled
-the lion retreated
Chapter 6
-Billy heads home, stops at a campsite and wonders what he’ll say to his parents
-he decides the names of the pups, “Old Dan” and “Little Ann” from names
carved in a tree
-his father went to Billy’s grandfather’s store when he didn’t show up and he told
him what Billy was up to.
-Billy gave his family their gifts
-Billy explains his experience in town and the cave and how he never wanted to
live in town
-his dad tells him not to judge the town’s people too harshly and eventually he’d
like the family to move there so the kids could get a good education
-the next day, Billy builds a doghouse, made some collars with their names
scratched in
-Billy thanked God for helping him
Chapter 7
-Billy needed a coonskin to train his dogs
-his grandfather shows him a way to catch one with a brace, bit, a shiny piece of
tin and 4 horseshoe nails.
-Billy finds a shiny tin in the trash pile and sets 14 traps.
-no coons were trapped but Billy’s dad said it was because his scent was on
them
-a week goes by and no coons; Billy loses confidence, but his dad convinces him
to not lose hope
-he finds a trapped coon in his third trap
-the two pups run up to the coon, it bites Old Dan, but Little Ann attacks it and
they run to Billy
-Billy runs back home with the pups to tell his family
-his mom thinks he was bit by a snake
-they all go together to get the coon
-the dad whacked the coon twice on the head with a club
-he told Billy to dismantle all of the traps
-Billy started training the pups the next day
-soon, they learned how to follow the scent of the coon on land and water
-he taught them all the tricks to outsmart the coons
-he continued to train them through summer and into late fall
Chapter 8
-hunting season opens
-Billy’s mom doesn’t like him hunting at night by himself
-Billy goes off hunting
-Old Dan howls when he spots one; Little Ann goes off to help him
-the pups lost the scent at the river, not remembering their training, but Little Ann
remembers and heads across the river and picks up the scent
-the coon outsmarts the dogs and they lose its scent at the river again
-Little Ann picks up another scent and both dogs chase after it
-a coon runs past Billy with the dogs close on its tail
-they chase it up a huge sycamore tree nicknamed, “the big tree” for its immense
size
-Billy feels obliged to get the coon down for his dogs and starts chipping at the
tree with his axe
-he works hard, but gets tired, sore. He falls asleep
-in the morning his dad arrives on a mule and asks if he’s okay
-he goes back home to get lunch for him and tells his mom he’s okay; sister
returns later with it
-Billy insists on felling the tree himself
Chapter 9
-Billy’s back is sore
-his grandpa arrives and tells him not to give up; he plans to starve the coon
down
-he gathers six 5-foot sticks, a stocking cap half-filled with grass and leaves and
some old clothes to make a scarecrow
-they go back home for dinner
-he goes to bed and is very stiff in the morning
-they go outside to see Old Dan is missing and find him barking at the sycamore
tree
-Billy sees that Little Ann had spent the night by the tree too
-Billy continues chopping and gets blisters on his hands and prays to God for
help
-the wind causes the tree to pop and sway; it falls down
-he tells the dogs to get the coon that runs out
-Little Ann catches it but rips and slashes her head; the coon takes off but she
catches it again at the river’s edge
-Old Dan runs and helps her and together they kill it
-Billy feels sorry for felling the tree
-he goes home and his dad shows him how to skin it
-he tells his dad about asking for God to help since his hands were too sore to
chop and the wind blew it down, not touching any other tree
Chapter 10
-Billy’s mom makes him a coon hat
-Billy goes out hunting every night and catches many coons
-the price of coon hides go up: $4.00-$10.00 per hide
-Billy gives the money to his dad
-he went to his grandpa’s store and exchanged stories with the other coon
hunters
-Little Ann is small, loves to play, very sweet
-Old Tom is tough, heavy, muscular, friendly, but wouldn’t hunt with anyone else,
not even Billy, unless Little Ann was with him
-Little Ann cut her paw, so Billy put her in the corncrib and tried to take Old Dan
hunting, but he refused; he ended up curled in front of the corncrib
-Little Ann never became a mother
-Old Dan and Little Ann go hunting after an old clever coon who tries to outsmart
them by going midstream down the river and climbing onto a tree
-Little Ann starts barking wildly in a slough; Billy thinks Old Dan has been killed
-He sees Little Ann digging a hole in the sand and realizes Old Dan is trapped in
a muskrat den underneath; he runs home, gets a shovel and digs him out
-the dogs find the coon and kill it
-back in the mountains in a place called the Cyclone Timber, the dogs trap a
young coon in a tree
-Old Dan is up in the tree; Billy can’t figure out how he got up there and finds a
hole in the trunk; he had climbed into the hole, up the hollow base and through a
hole further up and onto a branch
-Billy climbed up and shoved him back into the hole, only to see him climb back
up through the hole again and again.
-eventually, he plugged up the hole and they got the coon down and killed it
Chapter 11
-winter storm for 5 days
-Billy takes the dogs hunting and soon are in pursuit of a coon
-it headed to their home, then to the river; Billy whooped several times but got no
response from his dogs
-he hears Old Dan crying and sees him on the ice on the river and he is mournful
-Little Ann fell into the icy water
-Billy hung his lantern on the end of wild cane
-he falls in and holds onto the sycamore and prays for help
-he hears a metallic clink and sees it’s the handle of the lantern that has
suddenly fallen; this inspires him to use the handle to extend the length of the
cane so he can reach Little Ann
-he realizes the water isn’t that deep, so he lowers himself in and wades towards
the middle until it is up to his chin and reaches out to hook Little Ann’s collar
-he pulls her over to the rim of the ice
-she is paralyzed with cold; Billy couldn’t move his feet, stuck in the soft muddy
river bottom
-he gets back to shore and builds a fire; Little Ann regains her strength
-he thanks the lantern for saving Little Ann
-he goes home but doesn’t tell his parents what happened
-he wakes up next morning with a cold
Chapter 12
-Billy’s dogs become well known: bringing in more pelts that any other hunter; his
grandpa brags about him
-Billy’s dad asks him to take some corn to be milled at the store
-he runs into the Pritchard boys who are mean (Rubin and Rainie)
-his grandpa says he’d grind the corn and closes the store; he kicks out the
Pritchard boys
-they follow Billy and his grandpa and bet him $2.00 that his dogs can’t catch a
‘ghost coon’ that lives near where they live
-the next evening, he takes his dogs hunting and chase the coon across the river
many times and eventually across the field and up a tree
Chapter 13
-Billy figures out where the coon is and the dogs ‘tree’ bark him
-Billy notices how mournful the old coon is and decides he doesn’t want his dogs
to kill it
-the Pritchard boys insist they have to kill it in order to win the bet, but Billy
refuses to kill it
-the Pritchard boys’ dog, Old Blue, comes by; it is mean too
-the Pritchards say they’ll get their dog to kill the coon
-they decide to beat up Billy
-meanwhile, Old Blue and Old Dan start fighting, so Rainie decides to beat up
Billy
-Billy’s dogs are beating up Old Blue, so he stops beating up Billy and runs over
to save his dog
-Rubin grabs Billy’s axe and runs over to kill his dogs
-Billy throws a stick at Rubin and makes him trip
-he runs over to take his dogs off of Old Blue, who is barely alive
-Billy sees that Rubin is not moving and that Rainie is looking down at him
-Billy ties his dogs to a barbed wire fence and goes over to help
-Rainie takes off horrified
-Rubin fell on his axe and it was impaled in his stomach; he dies
-Billy goes home and tells his parents everything that happened
-his dad went to see Billy’s grandpa so they could check the body
-Billy went to Old Man Lowry and the Bufords
-the next day was grim; Billy’s dad spent a long time at the Pritchard’s
-the Pritchards didn’t shed a tear and all the men waited in their barn
-the Pritchards didn’t want anyone to bother about the funeral
-they’d bury Rubin on their property
-Billy couldn’t sleep and had bad dreams; he took some flowers his sisters made
for Decoration Day and put them on Rubin’s gravesite
Chapter 14
-Billy’s grandpa asks to see him
-he feels guilty for taking Rubin’s bet about the dogs, but Billy says it wasn’t his
fault
-his grandpa then shows him an ad for the Championship Coon Hunt and wants
to enter the 2 dogs
-he had already registered them and paid the fee
-Billy asks his dad if he’d go with him and grandpa and he agrees
-they load up the wagon and head off
Chapter 15
-Billy, his dad and grandpa stop at Bluebird Creek for the night
-Old Dan doesn’t eat until Little Ann has been given her food
-Billy feels grown up being able to drink coffee
-at night, Billy hears two screech owls, which is an omen of bad luck
-in the morning they continue and reach Black Fox fairly late
-it is much more crowded than anticipated
-Billy checks out the camp and sees all kinds of hounds
-Billy decides to enter Little Ann into the best-looking hound contest the next
morning
-he brushes her with grandpa’s brush and comb and uses butter on her to make
her coat shine
-Little Ann wins the contest and is presented a silver cup
-the head judge announces that evening that the hunting contest will begin and
goes over the rules: 5 sets of hounds hunt each night and the one that hand in
the most number of hides will go onto the final round. Billy draws his card out and
sees that his turn is on the fourth night
-two blue tick hounds treed 3 coons and were in the lead, the next morning
-Billy’s grandpa finds the hairs in his brush; Billy hides under the buggy with his
dogs
Chapter 16
-the judge visits Billy on the afternoon before he goes out on his hunt
-Little Ann gets the first sniff of a coon and they pursue it up the river; they treed
their first coon and skinned it
-across the river, they treed their next coon; grandpa fell into the river while trying
to cross it; the dogs treed and killed their next coon; they built a fire to dry out
grandpa
-the dogs chase after another coon while Billy, his dad and the judge help to
dress grandpa
-the coon tricks the dogs at a rail fence, but Little Ann trees it and after Old Dan
catches up, they kill it
-the judge is impressed with the dogs
-that night Billy sleeps with his dogs because his grandpa is snoring too loud
-only three sets of dogs make it to the eliminations, including Billy
-one of the hunters comes over to their camp and says they are collecting money
for a pot to be given to the winner
-all of the other hunters are routing for Billy to win but he is told that two of the
dogs have won the gold cup four times.
-Billy decides to hunt in the swamp area because it would be easy to tree a coon
being a distance from the river and mountains.
-very quickly the dogs tree their first coon; after being shot at in the tree, it ran to
the river where it sat on Old Dan’s head, biting his ear
-they killed the coon as it left the water and was heading up a sycamore tree
-both dogs licked each other and then headed off
Chapter 17
-a windy storm approaches
-because of the sound of the wind it is difficult to tell where the dogs are and it is
becoming too dangerous to continue
-Billy’s dad, grandpa and the judge think they should pack it in; Billy insists to
continue and they decide to follow him
-the ground is covered in sleet
-the men want to leave; Billy prays for a miracle
-nearby a tree limb cracks; Billy gets an idea; he asks his dad to shoot the gun so
that Little Ann would hear it and come out to show them where they are; she
does come out and leads them towards Old Dan
-Old Dan barks out and Little Ann leads them to him
-Billy’s grandpa can’t be found; they shoot the gun several times but there’s no
response
-Little Ann comes out and cries mournfully
-they find grandpa laying face down in the sleet; his leg is stuck; he is
unconscious
-at first, the judge thinks he is dead, but he is revived
-built a fire in gully; cut grandpa’s boots off
-went to tree where coon was treed, the tree was hollow
-Billy’s father chopped it down; 3 coons rolled out
-Big Dan caught one, Little Ann, another
-the third slipped on a steep bank and got away
-after the 2 coons were killed, the dogs went after the third (Billy had simply
pointed in the direction it headed and they took off)
-they skin the 2 coons; Billy is worried his dogs will get lost; fall in the water and
freeze but his grandpa says not to worry
-Billy warms up the coon skins and places them over his grandpa’s legs
Chapter 18
-storm ends just before dawn; starts to snow
-the men from camp are searching for them; they’re found
-the 2 walker hounds caught 3 coons; Billy needs 1 more to win
-Mr. Benson is further out and when located, explains he saw what looked like
white ghosts: 2 frozen hounds
-Billy passes out
-the men made a stretcher for grandpa and get him back to camp
-the others go out to find Billy’s dogs
-they find them walking around a black gum tree
-they build a fire to warm up the dogs
-one hunter shot the coon out of the tree and Old Dan lunged at it; it held onto his
head, biting his ear; he fell and Little Ann caught the coon’s neck
-they get back to camp; only Billy’s tent is up and Grandpa is inside
-Dr. says they must get him to town
-Billy won the gold cup and money from the pot; over $300
-Grandpa goes with the doctor and Billy, his dad and dogs go back in the buggy
-they travel through the night and stop early next day for breakfast
-they reach Grandpa’s store in mid-afternoon
-they head home and are greeted by the girls and mom; Billy shows them the 2
cups and gives the money to his mom
Chapter 19
-Billy continues to go hunting for three weeks
-one night in Cyclone Timber country, the dogs treed an animal four times; Billy
thinks it is a bobcat
-Old Dan is acting strangely, snarling and baring his teeth up the tree
-Billy sees it is a mountain lion
-the lion leaps down on Old Dan and they roll; Little Ann attacks but the lion rolls
over and drags Little Ann with him
-the lion claws Little Ann in her shoulder deeply
-Billy uses his axe to attack the lion; the lion attacks Billy but his dogs come to his
rescue
-the lion sinks it teeth into Old Dan’s throat; Little Ann sinks her teeth in to the
lion’s neck
-Billy hits the lion with his axe in its back; it lets go of Old Dan and runs off with
Little Ann still holding on
-Old Dan bites the lion in the throat and finally the lion dies
-Billy passes out and wakes up to examine his dogs
-Little Ann has a gash in her shoulder
-Old Dan would let go of the lion; he is badly injured and bleeding
-Billy takes him out of the canyon
-Billy turns Old Dan loose so he could get his lantern
-he starts heading off again; Little Ann is close by but Old Dan is nowhere in sight
-he finds him; his entrails are tangled in a bush
-Billy had not seen the deep gash to his belly
-Billy takes the dogs home; his mom and dad try to doctor Old Dan but he dies
-Billy stays up that night
-He hears Little Ann scratching just outside the door; she got up to sleep beside
Old Dan’s body on the porch and whimpers
-Billy runs out into the fields and to the river and cries
-in the morning Billy returns and makes a pine box for Old Dan and buries her by
a red oak tree on a hillside
-Little Ann refuses to eat over the next few days and has lost the will to live
-she disappears; Billy finds her laying on Old Dan’s grave; she’s dead
-Billy tells his mom that he doesn’t believe in prayers any more
-they cover Little Ann with leaves and Billy’s coat and head home
-Billy’s dad shows him all the money Billy’s dog had earned from the furs and
said there was enough to move to town
-Billy didn’t understand why God took his dogs away
-his dad explained their plan to move to town and let him and his grandpa stay in
the hills so he could be with his dogs to hunt, but God didn’t want the family to be
separated, so they had to die
-in the morning Billy makes another box and buries Little Ann beside Old Dan; he
found a stone and carved their names into it
Chapter 20
-in the Spring, Billy’s family move from the Ozarks
-Billy goes to visit the graves one more time and sees a bush has grown over
them-a beautiful red fern had sprung up between the graves
-it reminded him of a legend saying that only an angel could plant the seeds of a
red fern and that they never died; where they grew; that spot was sacred
-Billy shows his family the red fern and they all believe in the legend of the red
fern
-they head off, looking back over the countryside
Setting
-far back in the Ozarks, new and sparsely settled, on Cherokee land, in the
foothills of the mountains near the banks of the Illinois River in northeastern
Oklahoma
-family lives in a log house in the mouth of a canyon, surrounded by red oaks