“Once in the middle of the night Laura woke up and heard the pig squealing. Pa jumped out of bed, snatched his gun from the wall, and ran outdoors. Then Laura heard the gun go off, once, twice. When Pa came back, he told what had happened. He had seen a big black bear standing beside the pigpen. The bear was reaching into the pen to grab the pig, and the pig was running and squealing. Pa saw this in the starlight and he fired quickly. But the light was dim and in his haste he missed the bear. The bear ran away into the woods, not hurt at all. Laura was sorry Pa did not get the bear. She liked bear meat so much. Pa was sorry, too, but he said: “Anyway, I saved the bacon.”
―
Laura Ingalls Wilder,
Little House in the Big Woods
