One day when Pa was hunting, two Indians came. They came into the house, because Jack was chained.
Those Indians were dirty and scowling and mean. They acted as if the house belonged to them. One of them looked through Ma’s cupboard and took all the cornbread. The other took Pa’s tobacco-pouch. They looked at the pegs where Pa’s gun belonged. Then one of them picked up the bundle of furs.
Ma held Baby Carrie in her arms, and Mary and Laura stood close to her. They looked at that Indian taking Pa’s furs. They couldn’t do anything to stop him.
He carried them as far as the door. Then the other Indian said something to him. They made harsh sounds at each other in their throats, and he dropped the furs. They went away.
Ma sat down. She hugged Mary and Laura close to her and Laura felt Ma’s heart beating.
“Well,” Ma said, smiling, “I’m thankful they didn’t take the plow and seeds.”
Laura was surprised. She asked, “What plow?”
“The plow and all our seeds for next year are in that bundle of furs,” said Ma.
~Laura Ingalls Wilder, in Little House on the Prairie, Chapter 18
I have a confession to make. When I was a little girl reading this passage, I took Ma very literally. I thought the plow and seeds were actually hidden within the bundle of furs.
I know it’s not at all logical. I even suspected that it wasn’t. “But didn’t that Indian think those furs were awfully heavy?” I would think. “It’s lucky that part of the plow didn’t stick out when he picked up the bundle. How could that Indian not have known that something big and bulky was in those furs!?”
If it was a passing thought, it might not be so shameful, but I was well into my late teen years before the real meaning of Ma’s statement hit me. And then, how I laughed! And immediately picked up the phone to call my Little House friend to tell her how silly I’d been all these years.
“I always thought the same thing!” she exclaimed. And when I told my mother? “I remember thinking that when I was little too,” she admitted.
Surely we aren’t the only ones. And this can’t be the only passage whose meaning has been mistaken!
So it’s your turn. Any stories to share of how you, or someone you know, has misinterpreted a line in a Little House book, with hilarious results? Please share with us!