Where the Red Fern Grows

By Davidheffner2021

  • Billy gets his coon dogs

    When Billy was 10 he really wanted 2 redbone dogs but his family is too poor to buy them. Billy works odd jobs for two years to save the money them.

  • Mountain Lion!

    During their first adventure together, Little Ann and Old Dan scare off a mountain lion. This is the three of them become a team. No coon can outsmart the hounds and Billy is determined to make the best coon hunting team.

  • The Ghost Coon

    The mean Pritchard boys make a bet with Billy that his coons can't tree the "Ghost Coon". On the hunt, the older boy named Rubin falls on Billy's ax when he tries to kill Billy's dogs. This effects Billy for a long time.

  • Coon Hunt

    Grandpa decides to enter Billy and the dogs in a championship coon hunt. It's a successful contest from the start because Little Ann wins the beauty contest and Billy qualifies for the final round. Just as the dogs are close to catching the 4th and final coon, a blizzard sets in. The dogs rush off into the storm to catch the coon leaving Billy, Papa, and grandpa to frantically search for them. Eventually they are found with a treed coon but half-frozen. They kill the coon and Billy wins $300.

  • A sad day...

    Everyone is overjoyed about the win and the money. But after a few weeks Billy and the dogs encounter another mountain lion. The dog's save Billy's life but Old Dan has been seriously injured. Sadly he dies and Little Ann, who loses her will to live, dies a few days later, Billy buries them next to each other. He is upset and can't understand why God took them from him.

  • The Red Fern

    The family can finally move to town in the spring of that year because of the money earned from the the competition as well as the sales of the coonskins. On the day of the move Billy resists the dogs' graves. He finds a red fern has come up between the two mounds. He feels as if this spot is blessed by an angel and is sacred just like in the Indian legend about the children getting lost in a blizzard. They froze to death and when they were found in the spring a red fern had sprouted.