- On the day of the fair, Aunt Carrie gives Rob the ten cents, all wrapped up in a handkerchief.
- Mama packs him a huge basket of food, and Papa drives him over to the Tanner's place in the wagon. This is all pretty exciting stuff—for Rob, at least.
- Rob asks Papa to tell him about Rutland, but Papa says he's never been there.
- When Papa drops Rob off, the last thing he says to him is "Manners." What a good dad.Rob and Mr. and Mrs. Tanner take the Tanners' horse and buggy to the fair.
- When they get to Rutland, Rob is amazed by all the people and their fancy clothes. Ah, big city life.
- At the fair, the first thing Mrs. Tanner wants to do after getting Bob and Bib settled in is to find a rest room. Rob doesn't understand why she needs to rest, since it's still early in the day.
- Instead of finding a place to rest in, though, they go to "a pair of shanties, one marked LADIES and other one GENTS" (10.16).
- Rob thinks that this is where Mr. Tanner's horses will be housed (his horses are named Quaker Lady and Quaker Gent).
- Mrs. Tanner pushes Rob toward the "GENTS" door, and tells him not to talk to anyone inside, because "[p]laces like that are full of perverts" (10.18).Rob doesn't know what a pervert is, so he's not sure what to look for.
- He's heard Aunt Matty mention them before, though, so he thinks maybe they have something to do with grammar. He can't seem to find any in the GENTS room, which is kind of disappointing for him. (We hope you had a good chuckle with that little scenario there. If not, go ask someone to explain it to you.)
- After they're done in the rest rooms, Rob and the Tanners go to visit Bob and Bib and Pinky in their pens. Rob and Mr. Tanner yoke the calves and take them to another booth to get their pictures taken. Rob is puzzled by the photographer's flash lamp, saying it looks like an exploding snow shovel.
- After the photographs, they go to show Bob and Bib in the oxen competition.
- Rob himself walks them around the ring, standing up tall and answering the questions put to him by the audience.
- As Rob and Mr. Tanner are taking the oxen back to their pen, Mrs. Tanner runs up to announce that it's almost time for the children's stock competition—Pinky's division. (YAY!... sorry, we're a little excited for this.)
- When Rob and Mr. Tanner get to Pinky's pen, though, they discover that Pinky has been rolling in "something that wasn't very clean" (10.41) and that doesn't smell so good. Yikes. Her whole left side is covered with dung.
- Mr. Tanner tells Rob to run and find some soap while he gets a bucket of water.Rob, desperate to find some soap in time to get Pinky to the competition, gives his ten cents to a man in exchange for a bar of saddle soap.
- He and Mr. Tanner get Pinky cleaned off and just barely make it to the ring on time.
- Rob is hot and sweaty from his rush to get Pinky to the competition, and he still has the smell of dung on his hands.
- He starts to feel sick and dizzy while he's standing in the ring with Pinky and the other competitors.
- One of the judges says something to Rob, and then puts "something blue" (10.54) on Pinky.
- Rob suddenly leans over and vomits right on the judge's shoe. Just a tip, Shmoopers: not a great way to make a good impression.
- Rob finds himself back at Pinky's pen with Mr. and Mrs. Tanner.
- Mrs. Tanner has put a cold cloth on his head, and Mr. Tanner points out that Pinky has won a blue ribbon for "Best-Behaved Pig." Hilarious.