Little House in the Big Woods (Little House, #1)

by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Then Pa growled so terribly, his hair was so wild and his eyes so fierce that it all seemed real. Mary was so frightened that she could not move. But as Pa came nearer Laura screamed, and with a wild leap and a scramble she went over the wood-box, dragging Mary with her. And at once there was no mad dog at all. There was only Pa standing there with his blue eyes shining, looking at Laura. “Well!” he said to her. “You’re only a little half-pint of cider half drunk up, but by Jinks! you’re as strong as a little French horse!” “You shouldn’t frighten the children so, Charles,” Ma said. “Look how big their eyes are.”

“Can’t I go out to play, Ma?” Laura asked, and Ma said: “‘May,’ Laura.” “May I go out to play?” she asked. “You may tomorrow,” Ma promised.

Everybody made a terrific noise, shouting and yelling and stamping, cheering Grandma. Grandma jigged just a little minute more, then she stopped. She laughed in gasps. Her eyes sparkled just like Pa’s when he laughed.