I looked at his grave and, with tears in my eyes, I voiced these words: You were worth it, old friend, and a thousand times over.
I believe a boy can have anything in life that he wants once he starts working for it. The main thing is not to give up. It makes no difference how tough things get, just bow your back, keep working,...
I couldn't understand these town people. If they weren't staring at a fellow, they were laughing at him.
He realized that the ritualized world he had dismissed as feminine was in fact civilization.
I buried Little Ann by the side of Old Dan. I knew that was where she wanted to be. I also buried a part of my life along with my dog.
I SUPPOSE THERE’S A TIME IN PRACTICALLY EVERY YOUNG boy’s life when he’s affected by that wonderful disease of puppy love.
HAD no idea what was in store for me. To begin with, everything was too perfect
I know, said Papa. It’s all right with me, but women are a little different than men. They worry more.
I don’t see how anything like that can keep a coon in a tree, I said. It’ll keep him there all right, Grandpa
What I saw was more than I could stand. The noise I heard had been made by Little Ann. All her life she had slept by Old Dan's side. And although he was dead, she had left the doghouse, had come back...
On my way home I didn't walk on the ground. I was way up in the clouds just skipping along.
If a man’s word isn’t any good, he’s no good himself.
I was still a boy when I left the Ozarks, only sixteen years old. Since that day, I’ve left my footprints in many lands: the frozen wastelands of the Arctic, the bush country of Old Mexico, and the st...
I found her lying on her stomach, her hind legs stretched out straight, and her front feet folded back under her chest. She had laid her head on his grave. I saw the trail where she had dragged hersel...
Arkansas
Women are a little different than men.
It’s a shame that people all over the world can’t have that kind of love in their hearts, he said. There would be no wars, slaughter, or murder; no greed or selfishness. It would be the kind of world...
It was wonderful indeed how I could have heart-to-heart talks with my dogs and they always seemed to understand. Each question I asked was answered in their own doggish way.Although they couldn’t talk...
I'm sure the red fern has grown and has completely covered the two little mounds. I know it is still there, hiding its secret beneath those long, red leaves, but it wouldn't be hidden from me for part...
I had heard the old Indian legend about the red fern. How a little Indian boy and girl were lost in a blizzard and had frozen to death. In the spring, when they were found, a beautiful red fern had gr...