Chapter 3 Summary

After a week in bed recovering from his ordeal, Robert gets up. It is Saturday, as the boy notes, and he is happy to spend two days out of doors before having to return to school Monday morning. When Robert enters the kitchen for breakfast, Papa comments that he's glad to have some help with the farm work. The two commence work on a fence between their farm and Mr. Tanner's property. Papa uses this work time together with his son to teach the boy lessons of life. For example, the father teaches the son that fences actually bind people together by creating safe boundaries. Papa points out that in the natural world, birds and animals create virtual fences by their song or their territory marking.

While they work, Mr. Tanner approaches leading Apron, the cow, and not one but two calves. This...