And the Oh, Welcome to 1001 classic short Stories and Tales.

Today we bring you two stories, beginning with The Little Girl Who Dared by Henry

Lanier, and ending with The Donner Party account by Virginia Reed.

This story reminds us that home is where your loved ones are,

even in a prairie schooner crossing the desert,

and it reminds us that love of family is the engine

of much courage in the world. The scene is one in a chain of incidents that led to the most

famous disaster of the overland pioneer crossings.

Virginia Reed's act of love and bravery had enormous consequences for the Donner Party.

Later in the winter of 1846-47, when Snows trapped the group in the Sierra Mountains.

Virginia's father led relief efforts to save his family and former comrades.

40 of the 87 immigrants survived the cold and hunger, little Virginia among them.

Both stories center on the actions and later memories of 12 year old Virginia Reed

beginning with a story by Henry Lanier,

after which we joined Virginia Reed's actual account of the ordeal.

And now the little girl who dared by Henry Lanier.

Three years before the Gold Discovery at Sutter's Mill drew thousands across the

continent, a prairie caravan was laboring over the desolate

Nevada sand hills west of the Humboldt River. It was composed of a party of more than 80 men,

women, and children who had split off from a large caravan at

Fort Bridger, lured by reports of a much shorter route.

Among them was James T Reed with his wife and daughter and two families named Donner.

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