Bright and Pete

Quick quiz: Before reading this post, could you identify the "characters" that belong to the pair of names in the title?

A Little House-era illustration featuring oxen

Bright and Pete are the oxen that Pa traded for when the Ingalls family moved to Plum Creek. Here's the story from Laura Ingalls Wilder's On the Banks of Plum Creek in which Laura meets Bright and Pete. 

"There was a manger of willow poles, and two oxen were tied there. One was a huge gray ox with short horns and and gentle eyes. The other was smaller, with fierce, long horns and wild eyes. He was bright red-brown all over. 

'Hello, Bright,' Pa said to him. 

'And how are you, Pete, old fellow?' he asked the big ox, slapping him gently. 

'Stand back out of the way, Laura,' he said, 'till we see how these cattle act. We've got to take them to water.' 

...

'Pa," she asked, in a little voice, 'did Pet and Patty truly want to go out west?' 

'Yes, Laura,' Pa told her. 

'Oh, Pa,' she said, and there was a tremble in her voice. 'I don't think I like cattle - much.' 

Pa took her hand and comforted it in his big one. He said, 'We must do the best we can, Laura, and not grumble. What must be done is best done cheerfully. And some day we will have horses again.' "

From On the Banks of Plum Creek chapter 2 "The House in the Ground"

Happy reading! Come back soon for more fun from the Little House books. 

Elizabeth