Season 1 Episode 10
“The Raccoon”- Little House on the Prairie
Laura breaks her porcelain doll while playing catch with her sister Mary. She
is very upset and her father can’t put it back together. Mary goes to the store
to try and buy a new doll head for Laura’s doll, but she doesn’t have enough
money. On the way home, her dog Jack begins barking at a bush. Mary looks in and
finds a baby raccoon. She decides to take it home to give to Laura so she won’t
feel so bad about her doll. Laura loves the raccoon and wants to keep it as a
pet. She names him Jasper and wants to keep him in the house with her. When her
father comes home, he initially tells her she can’t keep him because he’s a wild
animal that will grow up and not be tame. After a few words with his wife,
Charles decides to give in and let the girls keep the raccoon.
Laura is allowed to keep Jasper in the barn. She gives him chicken eggs and
teaches him tricks. She brings him to school for show and tell. Their dog, Jack,
does not like Jasper much and always barks at him. The school children like
seeing Jasper and get too excited, which scares Jasper and he snaps at the kids.
Laura is a little upset and believes that Jasper would never bite anyone.
On Sunday morning, Laura goes into the barn and gives Jasper an egg before the
family leaves for church. While they are at church, Jasper gets off his rope and
sneaks through a window in the house. Inside, he makes a big mess, knocking over
dishes and food. Charles becomes very angry and takes Jasper into the woods to
let him go. When Charles gets back home, he finds Jasper back at the barn again.
He realizes that Jasper will just keep coming back, so he makes a cage for
Jasper to stay in.
Laura and Mary go to the barn to feed Jasper again. Her dog Jack follows her and
begins barking at Jasper. Mary tries quiet Jack, but he keeps barking. When
Laura opens the cage to feed Jasper, he bites Laura on the arm and then runs out
and bites Jack’s paw when Jack tries to get him. Jasper then runs off into the
woods. Laura is upset because she wants to keep Jasper, so she has Mary promise
not to tell about Jasper biting her and Jack. She knows her father won’t let her
keep Jasper if he finds out he bit her.
That night, the chickens begin squacking and Jack starts barking loudly. Charles
gets out of bed and finds a raccoon trying to eat the chickens. He follows it
into the barn and begins to climb up to the loft where it is hiding. It jumps at
Charles and he has to kill it so it won’t attack him. Laura is very upset
because they think it was Jasper. She feels that it’s all her fault for spoiling
him with eggs.
Charles finds out that the raccoon was rabid and since he knows that Jack got
bit by the raccoon, he has to tie Jack up in case he gets sick. When Mary finds
Jack tied up, she begins to untie him and her father comes in. He tells her she
needs to leave Jack tied up because he might get rabies from the raccoon bite.
Mary becomes very upset and tells her dad that Laura also got bit by Jasper.
Charles and Caroline take Laura to the doctor who tells them that there is
really nothing he can do if Laura develops rabies. All they can do is watch
their dog Jack to see if he develops the disease. This is very frightening to
Mr. and Mrs. Ingalls. They don’t tell Laura about what could happen to her, but
she senses that it is serious. Jack barks a lot while tied up and they all begin
to think that he might be getting sick. One evening, Jack begins barking wildly,
Charles thinks that Jack must have rabies now and loads his gun to shoot him. As
he enters the barn and begins to aim the gun at Jack, suddenly a raccoon jumps
down from the loft and does a trick for him. Charles realizes that this is the
real Jasper and is so happy he runs into the house to tell everyone that it’s
alright and no one is going to get sick. The family is overjoyed!
