1. Wilson Rawls was born on September 24, 1913, in Scraper,
Oklahoma.There were no schools in the area so him and his sister
werehomeschooled. Rawls was 15 when depression hit the country, his
family fleetedOklahoma and tried to get to California but their car
broke down atAlbuquerque, New Mexico where he started his life.
When he was in his twenties he became a carpenter and traveled to
SouthAmerica, Canada, and Alaska. Wilson met his wife west of Idaho
Falls where he was for work. Sophie AnnStyczinski and Rawls married
on August 23, 1958 Wilson died on December 16, 1984 at the age of
71 Some of Rawls other novels were, Summer of the Monkeys and
Huntersof Cherokee County 2. This book started out with Billy as a
grownup seeing some dogsfighting. He saves a coonhound and cares
for it over night. This reminds him ofhis childhood memories and
the whole book from there is a flashback. Billyreally wanted a dog
as a kid but he was told by his dad that he couldnt affordone.
Billys dad gave him some rodent traps but Billy was not satisfied
with justthose traps. One day in a catalog he sees some coonhounds
for $25. He gets alittle can and starts saving his money so that he
can give it to his grandfatherand he can buy the dogs. Billy doesnt
tell his father about it so its a secret.Billys grandfather orders
the dogs and they decide they would take a bus thenext night. Billy
was way to excited and hiked up to Tahlequah by himself.When Billy
gets there everyone is making fun of him and calling him a
Hillbilly.When Billy picks up the dogs and is going back through
town some school kidsare beating him up. But luckily for him, he is
saved by the town Sherriff. Theycamp in a cave for the night and he
is awoken by the cry of a mountain lion. Hisdogs are terrified and
he wakes up to the boy dog howling. When they get backhe stops at
the campsite in which he found the catalog with the dogs in themand
in the tree there is Dan and Ann carved in it. He decides to name
them OldDan and Little Ann. 3. Once Billy gets back he starts to
train his dogs with a coon hide. They getvery smart and tree a
coon. Billy promises his dogs that all they had to do wastree the
coon and Billy would do the rest for them. This tree is very huge
andBilly does not think that he will be able to do it. But Billy
sees his dogs pout andhe becomes very determined to finish this for
his dogs. Billy stays there and hisfather finds him in the morning
and brings him breakfast. Billys grandfatherteaches him how to make
a scarecrow. Billy makes one and now he can gohome and eat. When
Billy comes back he sees that Old Dan has beenguarding the tree all
night. He then sees imprints in the leaves that shows thatthey took
turns guarding the tree all night. Billy is truly touched. Billy
takes allday trying to cut down the tree. He then gets blisters and
he doesnt think hewill be able to cut it all down. He says a prayer
that it will come down and thewind blew and the tree fell down!
Then, his dogs successfully killed the coon.He continues to coon
hunt and he gets the coon hides and give him to hisgrandfather to
sell and then gives the money to his father. One night in theWinter
Little Ann gets stuck in the river. She falls through the ice and
is barelyhanging on. Billy finds her and thinks it is hopeless but
he finally saves her andeverything is alright. 4. One day Billy is
in his grandfathers store and Ruben and Rainie Pritchard come in.
Theyare the meanest boys in the area and they are telling Billy his
dogs dont look very tough. The make abet with Billy that his dogs
cant catch the legendary ghost coon. Billys grandfather is so upset
and heaccepts the bet for Billy so he has to go. The chase goes
well in the beginning but then they hear nonoise and Ruben says
that the coon always goes up a certain tree and then disappears.
This is whatjust happened and Little Ann is about to give up. But
suddenly a burst of wind comes and she catchesthe scent again and
finds the coon on a fence post and trees it. Billy is so amazed by
the coon anddoesnt want to kill it. Ruben is upset and gets his dog
Old Blue to kill the coon. Then Rainie his littlebrother shouts and
he looks over to see all the dogs fighting and Billys dogs winning
that fight. Rubenruns over to them with his axe in hand and trips
over a stick and falls on the axe. Billy was scarred forlife that
he didnt even hunt for a couple of days. He finally gets up the
courage and goes to Rubensgrave with some flowers and immediately
feels better. Billys grandfather enters them in a coonhunting
competition. Old Dan, Little Ann, Billy, his grandfather and two
judges head out to see howmany coons they can catch. A blizzard
comes and everyone decides to go back to camp, but oncethey get
there they realize that Billys grandfather is missing. They found
him with a twisted ankle andunconscious. They win and get $300 and
a gold cup, which he promised to give to his little sister.When
they get back they were hunting one night when his dogs treed a
mountain lion. The lionattacks and Billy runs in with his axe. The
cat attacks him, but his dogs save him. Billy kills themountain
lion but the dogs are badly injured. While they are walking back
Old Dans insides fall outand Billy tries to push them back in. When
they get back Old Dan dies and Billy is crushed. He buriesthe dog
at the top of a hill. Little Ann has lost the will to live and she
too dies. Billy buries her right nextto Old Dan. Billy doesnt get
over it until his father told him he had raised enough money to
move intotown and before they leave Billy goes to their grave and
sees a red fern growing on it.
