Suggestions
Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.Please wait while we process your payment
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
Please wait while we process your payment
By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy.
Don’t have an account? Subscribe now
Create Your Account
Sign up for your FREE 7-day trial
Already have an account? Log in
Your Email
Choose Your Plan
Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan!
Purchasing SparkNotes PLUS for a group?
Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more!
Price
$24.99 $18.74 /subscription + tax
Subtotal $37.48 + tax
Save 25% on 2-49 accounts
Save 30% on 50-99 accounts
Want 100 or more? Contact us for a customized plan.
Your Plan
Payment Details
Payment Summary
SparkNotes Plus
You'll be billed after your free trial ends.
7-Day Free Trial
Not Applicable
Renews February 15, 2023 February 8, 2023
Discounts (applied to next billing)
DUE NOW
US $0.00
SNPLUSROCKS20 | 20% Discount
This is not a valid promo code.
Discount Code (one code per order)
SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. Free trial is available to new customers only.
Choose Your Plan
Payment Details
Payment Summary
For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more!
You’ve successfully purchased a group discount. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. You'll also receive an email with the link.
Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership.
Thanks for creating a SparkNotes account! Continue to start your free trial.
Please wait while we process your payment
Your PLUS subscription has expired
Please wait while we process your payment
Please wait while we process your payment
The day of Robert's trip to Rutland finally arrives. After breakfast, Mrs. Peck packs Robert a giant basket of food, and Aunt Carrie gives him the ten cents that she promised him, all wrapped up in a handkerchief and stuffed deep in his pocket. Mr. Peck yokes up the team, and he and Robert head for Mr. Tanner's house. After dropping off Robert, Mr. Peck gives him one word of advice: manners.
The Tanners and Robert ride to Rutland in Mr. Tanner's hitch pulled by his two identical gray horses. The mare is named Quaker Lady and the gelding is Quaker Gent. They speed along, passing countless other hitches, and arrive in Rutland in no time. Robert is taken aback by the size and business of the place.
They head for where the stock is penned, and on the way Mrs. Tanner exclaims that she needs to find a "restroom." Robert thinks she is just tired, and when they see a pair of bathrooms with the words, "Ladies," and, "Gents," he thinks that they are just the stalls for Mr. Tanner's horses. Mrs. Tanner then shepherds him into the Gents room, telling him not to talk to anyone because "[p]laces like that are full of perverts." He is surprised when the room turns out to be a bathroom and disappointed that he doesn't see any perverts.
Finally, they get to the pen where Bib and Bob are being kept and yoke them up for the show. Pinky's stall turns out to be only two stalls down, so Robert is able to sneak in a visit. "Pinky," he says, "We're in Rutland. Ain't it grand?"
The first thing that they do is have a picture taken with the yoked team. The procedure takes about an hour, culminating in the blinding explosion of the flash, which spooks the team and leaves Robert blind for a few minutes. The time to show the oxen finally arrives, and the announcer calls, "Bib and Bob, owned by Mr. Benjamin Franklin Tanner, and worked in the ring by Mr. Robert Peck." Robert is so shocked by his sudden fame that Mr. Tanner has to give him a hard nudge to start him leading the oxen around the ring. Bib and Bob are well received and the crowd cheers loudly, with many people actually following the team out the runway to get a better look. While he leads them, Robert thinks about how much he wished that his family, Edward Thatcher, Jacob Henry, and Becky Tate. Could see him. He is so proud that he starts to wonder if it might be sinful.
Robert finishes up the show and heads the oxen toward the rest area where Mr. Tanner is waiting for him. For some reason, Mrs. Tanner is not there, and just as Robert starts to wonder what happened to her, she comes running up through the crowd. "Quick," she says, wheezing, "The 4-h men are judging the stock that children raised." She tells them that the judges are reviewing calves right now but that pigs are next, so Robert and Mr. Tanner run off to get Pinky while Mrs. Tanner tends to Bib and Bob. Just as they are about to drive Pinky out of the pen, they notice that she has rolled in something nasty, which sticks out like a soar thumb on her otherwise pristine coat. Robert dives in and starts scraping the dung off with his fingers, but Mr. Tanner tells him to go find some soap. Robert looks all over and finally has to trade his ten cents to a stall boy for a piece of used saddle soap. They clean Pinky off and get her to the show just in time to be judged. As Robert gets into the ring, he starts to sweat from nervousness, and as he puts his hand up to his brow to wipe off some of the sweat, he gets such an intense whiff of pig manure that he almost vomits. Robert manages to hold on for a while, but when he sees a judge walking over and pinning something blue on Pinky, it is just too much. He bends over and throws up, some of which gets on the judge's shoes, and then he fades into darkness.
Please wait while we process your payment