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» » Little House on the Prairie Stone Soup (1974–1983)

Short summary

A pregnant Laura has a tough time caring for the Wilder farm when Almanzo and Charles are away on a delivery trip to Arizona; a drought and her duties at school doesn't help matters. Later, Laura has a heart-to-heart talk with Willie about responsibility and being a role model. Willie takes the discussion seriously, organizing the classmates to help manage the Wilder farm when Laura falls ill with heatstroke.

User reviews


  • comment
    • Author: Inth
    Another one of my favorites, probably because it featured Laura and Almanzo. They are a pretty awesome couple for sure!

    Laura has to say goodbye to Almanzo for two months while he helps Charles deliver some freight to Arizona. They had just planted trees for an orchard when he left, and it was summer (though the kids were in school) and she was pregnant (and has been for the last year, it seems). In this episode, Laura stated that she had just been in Arizona, but I believe she was there during the previous summer, even though it was at the beginning of this season and she was not showing any signs of being pregnant. I'm wondering if perhaps these episodes are supposed to be in exact chronological order.

    Anyways, Laura feels that she needs to water the trees. Unfortunately, the well runs dry and she has to carry water all the way from the river. She becomes sick, exhausted, and hot! Laura ends up having a heart stroke.

    Another sub-plot in this story is Willie's growing up. He is quickly becoming a young man that Nels can be proud of. This episode is really a turning point for Willie.
  • comment
    • Author: Whiteseeker
    An excruciatingly hot afternoon saw Laura and Almanzo hard at work planting their orchard, so as to go into business for themselves and to leave behind a legacy. As they plowed and planted, Charles comes by with some good news: he'd been offered $300 to deliver some mining equipment to Arizona, and with Almanzo helping him that would be $150 a piece, a lot of money in them days. He was hesitant to go, what with Laura being five months pregnant and the trip would take them two months.... damn, two months to make a delivery from Minnesota to Arizona? Believe it or not, it really took that long. Wagons only ran on 2 horse power, and that don't go very fast. So with her man gone, Laura took to taking care of their orchard herself, hauling buckets of water to and from the well... didn't Charles say he would have Albert help her out? What happened there? Did she refuse his help? If so, why? As if her work at home wasn't stressful enough, work at school became increasingly difficult, mostly due to Willie (so what else is new?) reading stories about the Apaches in Arizona instead of doing the class assignments. Willie learned to buckle down and become more assertive, using his newfound knowledge of Apaches to temporarily fit the bill as teacher one morning when Laura was late. Working as hard as she does has tired her out. Despite Caroline's warnings and even offering to have James and Albert help her, Laura decreed she would handle the crop herself. She's five months pregnant and still she refuses help? She's more worried about losing that damn crop than she is her own baby? Farm girl to the end, I guess. Well, let's hope Miss High and Mighty isn't setting herself up for a huge disaster.

    Even after she nearly passed out in class, Laura still refused help from Albert. So it serves the stuck-up bitch right when she fainted in the middle of her dirt orchard. Fortunately Caroline and Albert found her, having been kind enough to check in on her. Thankfully Doc Baker was able to get to her in time, thanks to Willie running like the wind to his office, and Nels finally got to deliver a block of ice to someone who actually deserved it. Sure enough when Laura came to, the first thing on her mind was the crop. So with Mrs. Wilder down for the count, Caroline stepped in as substitute teacher and told all the children the story of Stone Soup. It's about a lone British soldier who essentially makes soup out of three rocks while being watched by the entire town, who eventually let their curiosity get the better of them and they all added ingredients (real foods). The moral of the story: teamwork, picked up by Willie rather quickly. Immediately after school, Willie, Albert, Carrie, James, Cassandra, all the students and a reluctant Nancy went to lend Laura a hand. So they all got their buckets and watered the trees. It was a community effort and it got the job done. By the time Charles and Almanzo got home, the rain had returned. The drought was over and as for the Wilders' orchard, well, they seldom if ever discuss it again.

    Have to say there wasn't really much to this one. It had a very thin plot and nothing actually happened for the first half of the episode. Just constant shots of Laura struggling to get water and pour on the trees then back to Nels coming back from the ice house with a block of ice to cool off his unruly wife, and then it's repeated two or three times afterwords, before something interesting finally happens. I would much rather have gone with Charles and Almanzo than stay with Laura, because according to her letters, those guys had quite an adventure. I'm sure it was 10x better than what we ended up with. It's also hard to fathom that Laura would keep refusing help, especially since she's pregnant! How selfish can you get? Also why did she keep telling Albert not to help because Ma needed him? Ma's got four other kids: Carrie, Grace, James and Cassandra, I'm sure they can accomplish something without Albert. Reminds me of the useless hired hand they got in "The Legacy". Are you telling me Carrie, Grace, James and Cassandra are useless and can't pull their own weight?? I guess Peter Dixon overlooked all these details when writing the script. This was the only episode of Little House he's written and to date the last episode of any show he's written. I guess he decided it wasn't for him. Anyway, Stone Soup is forgettable at best. All it does is rehash many of the same lessons we've learned throughout the show's first 8 years.
  • Episode cast overview, first billed only:
    Michael Landon Michael Landon - Charles Ingalls
    Karen Grassle Karen Grassle - Caroline Ingalls
    Melissa Gilbert Melissa Gilbert - Laura Ingalls Wilder
    Rachel Lindsay Greenbush Rachel Lindsay Greenbush - Carrie Ingalls (as Lindsay Sidney Greenbush)
    Sidney Greenbush Sidney Greenbush - Carrie Ingalls (as Lindsay Sidney Greenbush)
    Katherine MacGregor Katherine MacGregor - Harriet Oleson
    Richard Bull Richard Bull - Nels Oleson
    Dean Butler Dean Butler - Almanzo James Wilder
    Jonathan Gilbert Jonathan Gilbert - Willie Oleson
    Allison Balson Allison Balson - Nancy Oleson
    Jason Bateman Jason Bateman - James Cooper Ingalls
    Melissa Francis Melissa Francis - Cassandra Cooper Ingalls (as Missy Francis)
    Kevin Hagen Kevin Hagen - Dr. Hiram Baker
    Matthew Labyorteaux Matthew Labyorteaux - Albert Quinn Ingalls
    John Miranda John Miranda - Farmer #1
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