Quotes from Wilson Rawls

saw the hurt in his eyes. It made me feel like someone was squeezing water out of my heart.

Mama," I asked, "do you think God made a heaven for all good dogs?" "Yes," she said, "I'm sure He did.

I figured the lion had scented my pups. The more I thought about anything harming them, the madder I got. I was ready to die for my dogs.

It's not good for a boy to want something with all his heart and then be disappointed. Things like that can hurt for a long time.

I know it is still there, hiding its secret beneath those long, red leaves, but it wouldn't be hidden from me for part of my life is buried there, too.

women are a little different than men.

Yes, I know it is still there, for in my heart I believe the legend of the sacred red fern.

It's strange indeed how memories can lie dormant in a man's mind for so many years. Yet those memories can be awakened and brought forth fresh and new, just by something you've seen, or something you've heard, or the sight of an old familiar face.

Our home was in a beautiful valley far back in the rugged Ozarks. The country was new and sparsely settled. The land we lived on was Cherokee land, allotted to my mother because of the Cherokee blood that flowed in her veins. It lay in a strip from the foothills of the mountains to the banks of the Illinois River in northeastern Oklahoma.

The fishermen were wonderful, as true sportsmen are. They seemed to sense the urgency in my voice and always bought my wares. However, many was the time I'd find my vegetables left in the abandoned camp.

I SUPPOSE THERE'S A TIME IN PRACTICALLY EVERY YOUNG boy's life when he's affected by that wonderful disease of puppy love.

It was then I realized it was all too perfect.

There are monkeys in the bottoms In those tall white sycamores. There are monkeys in the bottoms, Worth a million or more. "So come along, Old Rowdy, And let's get on the trail Of a hundred dollar monkey. We'll catch him by the tail.

I'd been living around Mama for fourteen years; and a boy can learn a lot about his mama in that length of time.

I know it is still there, hiding its secret beneath those long, red leaves, but it woukdn't be hidden from me for part of my life is buried there, too.

I'll always remember this as the summer of the monkeys.

I heard the "bam, bam, bam" of a woodpecker high in the top of a box elder snag. The cry of a kingfisher and the scream of a blue jay blended perfectly with the drum like beat. A barking red squirrel, glued to the side of a hackberry tree, kept time to the music with the beat of his tail. Each noise I heard and each sight I saw was very familiar to me but I never grew tired of listening and watching. They were a God-sent gift and I enjoyed them all.

Grandpa," I asked, "what good's it going to do us, knowing his name?" "It might do a lot of good," Grandpa said. "This trainer says that if you could make friends with that monkey he would probably do anything you wanted him to do." "Make friends with him!" I said. "Grandpa, I don't

hound weren't the only ones awake that night.

I've always figured that a man can do almost anything if he puts his mind to it and doesn't ever give up.

Where the Red Fern Grows taps into the wellspring that runs deep in all of us as we fall in step with a boy and his dogs and, piece by piece, our own stories unfold.

About halfway up, far out on a limb, I found the ghost coon. As I started toward him, my dogs stopped bawling. I heard something I had heard many times. The sound was like the cry of a small baby. It was the cry of a ringtail coon when he knows it is the end of the trail. I never liked to hear this cry, but it was all in the game, the hunter and the hunted. As I sat there on the limb, looking at the old fellow, he cried again. Something came over me. I didn't want to kill him.

When I saw my little sister kneeling in the center of that snow-white circle, and that old crutch laying on the ground beside her, I forgot about ponies and .22s. I wanted my little sister to get that old leg of hers fixed up. I wanted that more than anything I had ever wanted in my life. That was going to be my wish. Once

I'm sure some great champions had slid out of that pipe, and no doubt more than one world record had been broken, but if someone had been there when I came out, I know the record I set would stand today in all its glory.