Summary

Chapter 1, “Before Breakfast.”

In this chapter, the character of Fern is introduced when she asks her mother, “Where's Papa going with that ax?" (Chapter 1, p. 1). Fern is an eight-year-old girl who discovers her father is about to kill the runt of a newly-born pig litter on their farm.

Fern runs to stop her father, pleading “This is the most terrible case of injustice I ever heard of!” (Chapter 1, p. 6). Fern begs her father not to kill the pig just based on its size. John Arable, Fern’s father, relents and allows Fern to keep the runt pig to raise herself, thinking this would prove “what trouble a pig can be" (Chapter 1, p. 6).

Fern returns from her room with eyes red from crying to discover a small carton containing a newborn piglet. Fern decides to name the pig Wilbur. Fern’s brother, Avery, who is ten...