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a eer t,".
 HEIDI
By JOHANNA SPYRI
x
With an Introduction by
ADELINE B. ZACHERT
Librarian, State Department of Education
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

Illustrated by CLara M. Burp

2S CPS (Cea ier aS

 Copyright, 1924, by
Tas Joun C. Winston Company
Coryrricat In Great Brrrar
Tse Brrrish Dominions AND PossEssions

Corrriaut, 1925, in THE Puitiprive [sLanps

All rights reserved

J. G. Ferguson and Associates, Sole Distributors

PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.

 PREFACE

KEKE KEKE

HARACTER grows from ideals. It is caught

by contagion. One may catch it from one’s
| companions; children often learn of it from
the friends who live within the covers of their story
books. These characters introduced through the pages
of books become the companions of their thoughts.
They become real; they live and act in the imagina-
tion of children, and often exert a greater influence
than do the flesh-and-blood associates with whom
they come in daily contact. Almost any autobiog-
raphy proves this. To provide children with the right
book at the right time, therefore, becomes an impor-
tant duty of those who have the responsibility of safe-
guarding the mental and moral life of children.
There are not many children’s books that measure
up to the high standard set by teachers, librarians,
and thoughtful parents, and which are also enthusias-
tically approved by the children. Among such stand-
ards, Johanna Spyri’s ‘“‘Heidi” easily takes high
rank. It has been a prime favorite for many years.
Before children’s rooms in public libraries claimed it
for their shelves, and so helped greatly to popularize
it, before reading for pleasure came to be recognized
as a legitimate classroom activity requiring a collec-
tion of the choicest children’s books, the English
lll
iv PREFACE

translation of ‘Heidi’? had been introduced to many

children in the form of Christmas and birthday gifts.
For more than a quarter of a century Johanna
Spyri’s books have appeared on the approved lists
of best books for children. ‘Moni, the Goat Boy,”
has become almost as popular as “‘Heidi’’; “‘Rico and
Wiseli’”’ is read eagerly by the fortunate children who
know Heidi and Moni. In more recent years Gritle’s
children, Cornelli and Rosele, have been added to the
group of delightful child characters created for us by
Frau Spyri in her ‘sunny, genuine stories of child life
in the Swiss Alps. |
Johanna Spyri knew children, she knew how they
think and act, for she was one of a large family of
children, and so had ample opportunity to acquire an
insight into children’s minds and hearts. Coupled
with this opportunity of knowing children, Frau Spyri
had the advantage of being reared in a happy, cultured
home and in a literary environment. The art of vivid
portrayal of child life was hers by heritage and train-
ing. Her mother, Meta Heusser, was a popular writer
and poet. Her father was. a well-known and greatly
beloved physician in the canton of Zurich. The hos-
pitable home of the Heusser’s attracted the literary
and other intellectual people of the time. Johanna
Spyri’s early life is clearly felt in all her books. She
knew child life and she knew how to tell about it.
Her stories give an impression of reality. The char-
acters stand out as personalities. The sunny tempered
PREFACE. ’
Heidi, the stolid but dependable Peter, the patient
Clara, as well as all adult characters never once fail to
be true to type, to think and speak and act as real
people.
It is not surprising, therefore, that children every-
where know and love these little Swiss boys and girls
who were introduced to them through Frau Spyri’s
books. But of all the children Heidi and her associates
are best beloved.
The grown-ups approve of ‘‘Heidi’”’ because the story
gives our American children delightful pictures of child
life among the Swiss mountains, because it is a genuine
story of a happy little girl, the kind of child who in
real life would make an ideal playmate for children.
The story produces a realization of the freshness of
mountain breezes, of colorful flowering meadows, which
invite to a new enjoyment of the great outdoors. It
makes the right kind of emotional appeal to children;
there are incidents which awaken sympathy, foster
kindness, stimulate a sense of justice. The reading of
the story establishes a knowledge of human nature, a
clearer understanding of human motives, an accurate
and kindly judgment of people and events. All this
is accomplished easily and naturally without any ob-
vious drawing of morals. Such a book is eminently
good for children.
However, children do not always like what is good
for them. The reason “Heidi” is a great book is that
children as well as adults read it with interest and like
vi PREFACE

it. For more than two years a librarian, who had un-
usual facilities for investigation, tested the reading
tastes of children in various parts of the country by
securing written answers to a series of direct questions.
Through these reports, spontaneously and sincerely
given, fairly accurate opinions have been formed re-
garding the choice of books and the reason for such
voluntary choices.
These are some of the reasons given for their choice
of “‘Heidi’’:
“T liked it because it shows so much kindness on
the part of one person in the story.”
“T liked it because it tells a story of a little girl liv-
ing in the Alps mountains.”
“The reason why I like it is because of the ad-
ventures that it told about.”
“Tt was not hard to understand.”
“Because it tells of travels which I should like my-
self.”
‘“‘T came to read it because so many girls told me
about it.”
“Because Heidi liked all the people so well and they
liked her and because she was so nice and courteous.
“T liked it because it showed Heidi was kind to the
Alm-Uncle and he was kind to her. Anyone who is
pleasant can get along.”
“On my way to the library one day I was undecided
what book to get. I met a girl friend coming from the
library and she was all smiles. Then she said, ‘I
 PREFACE vii

just finished a good book called ‘‘Heidi,”’ so I went

right down and asked for it and I did enjoy it.”
“T liked it because everybody had a good time in it.”
“T liked it because there was much conversation and
- incidents in it.”
“T liked it because it is a boy’s book and has plenty
of fun and adventure.”
“T liked it because it was of girls and tells us we can
accomplish something if we try.”
“She (Heidi) learned to study more than we do.”
“Because it is about a girl my age.”
“T liked it because it seemed so real and exciting.
I have read it many times, and it just seemed like it
was real and I was one of the characters. It also had a
very good moral.”
Surely a book that has so wide and so varied an
appeal, one that has the endorsement of critics of
children’s literature as well as the approval of the chil-
dren themselves, is worthy to be presented to a con-
stantly increasing clientele in a form which shall have
a wide appeal. At the same time it should retain as
much as possible of the quaintness and the charm
of the story in the original.
The content must always be the first consideration
in the presentation of a new edition of a children’s
book, but the physical make-up of the book is of next
importance. The children’s first response to a book
depends very largely upon its general outward ap-
pearance, the color and texture of the binding, and
viii PREFACE

the decoration on the cover. Illustrations arouse in-

terest in proportion to their quality. Full-page colored
illustrations make an immediate appeal and stimulate
a desire to find out more and thus lead to the reading
of the story. If, however, the type is small, too much
effort has to be expended to translate little black
characters into glowing images, and the book is soon
laid aside.
The great need for children’s books printed in
clear type has long been urged by those who have made
a study of the psychology of children’s reading. It
has been the concern of teachers and librarians who
have opportunities to measure the effect which poorly
printed books have on groups of children.
In this new edition of ‘‘Heidi” the delightful atmos-
phere of the story, the colorful descriptions, and the
human appeal have been retained. The story has been
retold so as to give pictures of life in a foreign country,
but is free from troublesome foreign idioms and
allusions. To meet the high standard set for the
content of the book an effort has been made to pre-
sent this children’s classic in a form to meet the
children’s need, through its clear, large type, its high-
grade paper, its attractive and durable binding, and
its colored illustrations.
—ADELINE ZACHERT
 CONTENTS

KEKE KEES

CHAPTER PAGE

. UP THE MOUNTAIN TO ALM-UNCLE ..........-ccccccces

. AT HOME WITH GRANDFATHER ...........ccccccccscees
COE PeMPET IT TEE GATS. coc oc ov hee ce cc blue Seecbbecbe™

MISs ROTTENMEIER SPENDS AN UNCOMFORTABLE DAY ....

. THERE IS GREAT COMMOTION IN THE LARGE HOUSE ......
NY
CO
Pw
AM
A. Mr. SESEMANN HEARS OF THINGS WHICH ARE NEW TO HIM
Pee
el Pie GA NUIT ELE eos so x oe die wlelo be was ee ces 9s

. A SUMMER EVENING ON THE MOUNTAIN .............--.

Ms MADEN MES ECE TAG 9 hes Feet else oe he Be. eh ek

MN PRENSA ne gre alo nbs 9 card vind ala el o'eowa yd 8 uo Bele

PRIME PER TINS ts. gy ae eS sna ea oe hed oie dese
MBEaE PRIUS ORV ENE 6567 Jie 4-2.ctv 25 9 ae 8 ocho Gove ole Mae tn ew ows
ME rime y rt CONTINUES - 2 ean li sor aweeneeeawunes
ENEWS FROM DISTANT FRIENDS .......2Z.cscccsseccees
. How LIFE WENT ON AT GRANDFATHER'S ...........06.45
. DOMETHING UNEXPECTED HAPPENS .......%..-ecscseees
NY
BSB
&
ee =. “GooD-BY TILL WE
DNoNN
Pe
BF
SB Oonre
woNan»prawon
HOB
SS
© MEET AGAIN” ....6....ccceccccseees
ix
 ILLUSTRATIONS

KOKO ECE EEC ECCS

PAGE

PARM THEY OURS, GRANDFATHER?” Qo. 2. eo coe ecne suc cekk. 20

CLARA WITH THE KITTENS ON HER LAP ........ SAR OC

HEIDI CLIMBED UP TO SEE WHAT SHE HAD BEEN LONGING FoR 84

PETER Now GAVE A LAST TREMENDOUS WHISTLE .....s0s000+ 171

THERE WAS GRANDFATHER SITTING AS IN OLD DAYE .......++ 180

CLARA BEGAN TO HOLD OUT THE LEAVES ONE BY ONE TO SNOW-

MUA ere et ee eee ins abe act wrace Cora a Wimtiace teares 213
 CHAPTER

I
KEKE
KEKE KEKE

Up the Mountain to Alm-Uncle

UP THE MOUNTAIN TO ALM-UNCLE

HE pleasant old village of Mayenfeld lies in a
valley at the foot of lofty mountains. From it
a footpath leads through shady, green meadow
to the mountains and on up to their summit. As the
path ascends, the land grows wilder and the meadow
grasses soon give place to mountain plants.
On a clear, sunny morning in June a tall, strong-
looking girl climbed up the path, leading a little girl
by the hand. The child’s cheeks were so aglow with
heat that the crimson color could be seen even through
the dark, sunburned skin. This was hardly to be
wondered at, for in spite of the hot June sun she was
clothed as if to keep off the bitterest frost. She did
not look more than five years old, if as much, but
what her natural figure was like it would have been
hard to say. She had on apparently two, if not three,
dresses, one above the other, and over these a thick,
red, woolen shawl wound round about her, so that
her little body presented a shapeless appearance. Her
small feet were shod in thick, nailed mountain shoes.
Slowly and laboriously she plodded along in the
heat. The two must have left the valley a good hour’s
walk behind them when they came to the hamlet
{
2 HEIDI

known as Dorfli, which is situated halfway up the

mountain. Here they were greeted from all sides.
Some of the villagers called to them from windows,
some from open doors, others from outside, for the
elder girl was now in her old home. She did not, how-
ever, pause in her walk to respond to her friends’
welcoming cries and questions, but passed on with-
out stopping for 2 moment until she reached the last
of the scattered houses of the hamlet.
Here a, voice called to her from the door: “Wait
a moment, Dete; if you are going up higher, I will
come with you.”
The girl stood still, and the child immediately let
go her hand and sat down on the ground.
‘“‘Are you tired, Heidi?” asked her companion.
“No, I am hot,’ answered the child.
“We shall soon get to the top now. You must
walk bravely on a little longer, and take good long
steps, and in another hour we shall be there,” said
Dete in an encouraging voice.
They were now joined by a stout, good-natured-
looking woman, who walked on ahead with her old
acquaintance. The two at once began a lively con-
versation about everybody and everything in Dérfli
and its surroundings, while the child wandered on be-
hind them.
‘“‘And where are you off to with the child?” asked
the one who had just joined the party. “I suppose it
is the child your sister left?”
UP THE MOUNTAIN TO ALM-UNCLE 3

“Yes,” answered Dete. “I am taking her up to

Uncle, where she must stay.”
“The child stay up there with Alm-Uncle! You
must be out of your senses, Dete! How can you think
of such a thing? The old man, however, will soon send
you and your proposal packing off home again!”
“He cannot very well do that, seeing that he is
her grandfather. He must do something for her. I
have had the charge of the child till now, and I can tell
you, Barbel, I am not going to let her keep me from
taking the place I have had offered to me. It is for
the grandfather now to do his duty by her.”
“That would be all very well if he were like other
people,” said stout Barbel warmly, “but you know
what he is. And what can he do with a child, especi-
ally with one so young! The child cannot possibly
live with him. But where are you thinking of going
yourself?”
“To Frankfurt, where an extra good place awaits
me,” answered Dete. “The people I am going to were
down at the Baths last summer, and I took care of
their rooms. They would have liked then to take me
away with them, but I could not leave. Now they
are there again and have repeated their offer, and I
intend to go with them, you may make up your mind
to that!”
“T am glad I am not the child!” exclaimed Barbel,
with a gesture of horrified pity. ‘Not a creature knows
anything about the old man up there! He will have
2
4 HEIDI
nothing to do with anybody, and never sets his foot
inside a church from one year’s end to another. When
he does come down once in a while, everybody clears out
of the way of him and his big stick. The mere sight
of him, with his bushy, gray eyebrows and his immense
beard, is alarming enough. He looks like any old
heathen or Indian, and few would care to meet him
alone.”
“Well, and what of that?” said Dete, in a defiant
voice. ‘He is the grandfather all the same, and must
look after the child. He is not likely to do her any
harm, and if he does, he will have to answer for it,
not I.”
“T should very much like to know,” said Barbel,
‘what the old man has on his conscience that he looks
as he does, and lives up there on the mountain like a
hermit, hardly ever allowing himself to be seen. All
kinds of things are said about him. Didn’t you
learn a good deal about him from your sister?”
“Yes, I did, but I am not going to repeat what I
heard. If it should come to his ears I should get into
trouble about it.”
Now Barbel had for a long time been most anxious
to learn particulars about Alm-Uncle. She could not
understand why he seemed to feel such hatred toward
his fellow creatures, and insisted on living all alone, or
why people spoke about him half in whispers, as if
afraid to say anything against him, and yet unwilling
to take his part. Moreover, Barbel was in ignorance
UP THE MOUNTAIN TO ALM-UNCLE 5

as to why all the people in Dorfli called him ‘“Alm-

Unele,” for he could not possibly be uncle to every-
body living there. Barbel had lived in Dérfli only
since her marriage, which had taken place not long
before. Previous to that her home had been below in
Prattigau. For this reason she was not well acquainted
with all the events that had ever taken place in Dorfli
and its neighborhood.
Dete, on the contrary, had been born in Dorfli,
and had lived there until her mother’s death the year
before. She had then gone over to the Baths at Ragatz
and taken service in the large hotel as chambermaid.
Barbel knew that Dete could tell her all about Alm-
Uncle and she was therefore determined not to lose
this good opportunity of satisfying her curiosity. She
put her arm through Dete’s in a confidential sort of
way, and said: ‘I know I can find out the real truth
from you, and the meaning of all these tales that are
afloat about him. Now do tell me what is wrong with
the old man, and if he was always shunned as he is
now, and always hated people so.”
“Tf I was sure that what I told you would not go
the whole round of Prattigau,”’ said Dete, “I could re-
late all kinds of things about him. My mother came
from Domleschg, and so did he.”
‘Why, Dete, what do you mean?” asked Barbel,
somewhat offended. ‘Gossip has not reached such a
dreadful pitch in Prattigau as all that, and I am quite
capable of holding my tongue when it is necessary.”
6 HEIDI

“Very well then, I will tell you—but just wait a

moment,” said Dete in a warning voice. She looked
back to make sure that the child was not near enough
to hear all she was going to relate, but the little girl
was nowhere to be seen. She had wandered away
some time before, while her companions were too eagerly
occupied with their conversation to notice it. Dete
stood still and looked around her in all directions.
The footpath wound a little here and there, but could
nevertheless be seen along its whole length nearly to
Dorfli. No one, however, was visible upon it at the
moment.
“T see where she is,” exclaimed Barbel. ‘‘Look!”
She pointed to a spot far away from the footpath.
“She is climbing up the slope over there with the
goatherd and his goats. I wonder why he is so late
to-day bringing them up. It happens well, however,
for us, for now he can look after the child, and you can
the better tell me your tale.”
“Oh, as to the looking after,’ remarked Dete, ‘‘the
boy need not put himself out about that. Heidi is
not by any means stupid for her five years, and she
knows how to use her eyes. She notices all that is
going on, and learns quickly, and it is a good thing,
for she will have to look out for herself some day.
The old man has nothing to leave her but his two
goats and his hut.”
“Did he ever have more?” asked Barbel.
“T should think so indeed,’’ replied Dete with ani-
UP THE MOUNTAIN TO ALM-UNCLE 7

mation. “He was owner once of one of the largest

farms in Domleschg, but he tried to play the grand
gentleman and he soon drank and gambled away his
property. Having nothing left to him but his bad
name, he disappeared. After many years he came back
to Domleschg, bringing with him a young child, whom
he tried to place with some of his relatives. Every
door, however, was shut in his face, for no one wished
to have anything more to do with him. Embittered
by this treatment, he vowed never to set foot in
Domleschg again, and he then came to Dorfli.
“His son, Tobias, became a carpenter. He was a
steady lad, and kindly received by everyone in Dorfli.
The old man, however, was still looked upon with sus-
picion, and there were many strange rumors about
him. We, however, did not refuse to acknowledge
our relationship with him. You see, my great-grand-
mother on my mother’s side had been his grandmother’s
sister. So we called him ‘Uncle,’ and soon he became
known all over the place as Uncle. Since he went to
live on the Alm he has been known everywhere as ‘Alm-
Uncle.’ ”
“And what happened to Tobias?” asked Barbel,
who was listening with deep interest.
‘Wait a moment, I am coming to that,” replied
Dete. ‘Tobias was taught his trade in Mels, and when
he had served his apprenticeship, he came back to
Dorfli and married my sister Adelheid, but their happi-
ness did not last long. Tobias met with his death
8 HEIDI

only two years after their marriage. A beam fell upon

him as he was working, and killed him on the spot.
They carried him home, and when Adelheid saw the
poor, disfigured body of her husband she was so over-
come with horror and grief that she fell into a fever
from which she never recovered. And so, two months
after Tobias died, his wife followed him.
“Their sad fate was the talk of everybody. People
thought it was a punishment which Uncle had de
served for the godless life he had ied. All at once we
heard that he had gone to live up the Alm and did
not intend ever to come down again. Since then he
has led his solitary life on the mountainside, at en-
mity with God and man.
“Mother and I took Adelheid’s little one, Heidi,
then only a year old. When mother died last year,
and I went down to the Baths to earn some money, I
paid old Ursel, who lives in the village just above, to
take care of Heidi. I stayed on at the Baths through
the winter. Early in the spring the same family ]
had waited on before returned from Frankfurt, and
again asked me to go back with them, as I told you.
And so we leave the day after to-morrow, and I can
assure you it is an excellent place for me.”’
‘And you are going to give the child over to the
old man up there? It surprises me beyond words that
you can think of doing such a thing, Dete,” said Barbel
in a voice full of reproach.
“What do you mean?”’ demanded Dete. “I have
UP THE MOUNTAIN TO ALM-UNCLE 9

done my duty by the child, and what would you have

me do with her now? I certainly cannot take a child
five years old with me to Frankfurt. But where are
you going, Barbel? We are now halfway up the
Alm.”
“We have just reached the place I wanted,” answered
Barbel. “I had something to say to the goatherd’s
wife, who does some spinning for me in the winter.
So good-by, Dete, and good luck to you!”
Dete shook hands with her friend and stood look-
ing after her as she went toward a small, dark-brown
hut, which stood a few steps away from the path in a
hollow that afforded it some protection from the moun-
tain wind.
Here lived Peter the little eleven-year-old goatherd.
Every morning he went down to Dorfli to get the
roats and drive them up on the mountain, where
they were free to browse till evening on the delicious
mountain plants. Then Peter, with his light-footed
animals, would go running and leaping down the
nountain again till he reached Dorfli. There he would
sive a shrill whistle through his fingers, whereupon
ull the owners of the goats would come out to take
10me the animals that belonged to them.
Peter’s father, who had also been known as the
roatherd, had been accidentally killed while cutting
vood some years before. His mother, whose real name
vas Brigitta, was always called ‘the goatherd’s wile,”
or the sake of old association, while the blind grand-
10 HEIDI

mother was just ‘‘grandmother” to all the old and

young in the neighborhood.
Dete stood for a good ten minutes looking about
her in every direction for some sign of the children
and the goats. Not a glimpse of them, however, was
to be seen, so she climbed to a higher spot, where she
could get a fuller view of the mountain as it sloped
beneath her to the valley. With ever-increasing anx-
iety on her face and in her movements, she continued
to scan the surrounding slopes.
Meanwhile the children were climbing up by a
roundabout way, for Peter knew many spots where
all kinds of good food grew for his goats. Heidi, ex-
hausted with the heat and weight of her thick armor
of clothes, panted and struggled after him, at first,
with some difficulty. She said nothing, but her bright
eyes kept watching first Peter, as he sprang nimbly
hither and thither on his bare feet, clad only in his
short, light breeches, and then the slim-legged goats
that went leaping over rocks and shrubs and up the
steep ascents with even greater ease. All at once she
sat down on the ground, and as fast as her little fingers
could move, began pulling off her shoes and stockings.
This done she rose, unwound the hot, red shawl and
threw it away, and then proceeded to undo her frock.
It was off in a second, but there was still another to
unfasten, for Dete had put the Sunday frock on over
the everyday one, to save the trouble of carrying it.
Quick as lightning the everyday frock followed the
 UP THE MOUNTAIN TO ALM-UNCLE 11
other. The child stood up, clad only in her light,
short-sleeved under-garment, and stretched out her
little bare arms with glee. She put all her clothes to-
gether in a neat heap, and then went jumping and
climbing up after Peter and the goats as nimbly as
any of them.
Peter had not noticed what the child was doing
when she stayed behind, but when she ran up to him
in her new attire, his face broke into a grin, which grew
broader still as he looked back and saw the small
heap of clothes lying on the ground. He said nothing,
however.
The child began at once to ask Peter many ques-
tions. She wanted to know how many goats he had,
where he was going with them, and what he had to do
when he arrived there. At last, after some time, they
approached the hut and came within view of Dete.
As soon as she caught sight of the little company
climbing up toward her she shrieked out: ‘Heidi,
what have you been doing? What a sight you have
made yourself! And where are your two frocks and
the red scarf? And the new shoes I bought, and the
new stockings I knitted for you—everything gone!
Not a thing left! What can you have been thinking
of, Heidi? Where are all your clothes?”
The child quietly pointed to a spot below on the
mountain side and answered, ‘‘Down there.”
Dete followed the direction of her finger. She could
just distinguish something lying on the ground, with
12 GEIDI

a spot of red on the top of it which she had no doubt

was the woolen scarf.
“You good-for-nothing little thing!’’ exclaimed Dete
angrily. “What could have put it into your head to do
that? What made you undress yourself? What do
you mean by it?”
“T don’t want any clothes,” said the child, not
showing any sign of repentance for her deed. -
“You wretched, thoughtless child! Have you no
sense in you at all?” continued Dete, scolding and
lamenting. ‘Who is going all that way down to get
them? It’s a good half-hour’s walk! Peter, you go
off and bring them for me as quickly as you can, and
don’t stand there gaping at me, as if you were rooted
to the ground!”
“T am already late,” answered Peter slowly, with-
out moving.
“Well, you won’t get far if you only keep on stand-
ing there with your eyes staring out of your head,”
was Dete’s cross reply. ‘But see, you shall have some-
thing nice,” and she held out a bright new piece of
money that sparkled in the sun. Peter was immediately
off down the steep mountain side, taking the shortest
cut. In an incredibly short space of time he reached
the little heap of clothes and gathered them up under
his arm. He was back again so quickly that even
Dete was obliged to give him a word of praise as she
handed him the promised money. Peter promptly
thrust it into his pocket, his face beaming with de-
UP THE MOUNTAIN TO ALM-UNCLE 13

light, for it was not often that he was the happy pos-
sessor of such riches.
“You may carry the things up for me as far as
Uncle’s since you are going the same way,’’ went on
Dete. She was preparing to continue her climb up
the mountain side, which rose in a steep ascent im-
mediately behind the goatherd’s hut. Peter willingly
undertook to do this. Heidi and the goats went skip-
ping and jumping joyfully beside him.
After a climb of more than three-quarters of an
hour they reached the top of the Alm mountain. Uncle’s
hut stood on a projection of the rock, exposed indeed to
the winds, but where every ray of sun could rest upon
it, and a full view could be had of the valley beneath.
Behind the hut stood three old fir trees, with long,
thick, untrimmed branches. Beyond these rose a fur-
ther wall of mountain, the lower heights still over-
grown with beautiful grass and plants, above which
were stonier slopes, covered only with scrub, that led
gradually up to the steep, bare, rocky summits.
Against the hut, on the side looking toward the
valley, Uncle had put up a seat. Here he was sitting,
his pipe in his mouth and his hands on his knees,
when the children, the goats, and Dete suddenly
climbed into view. Heidi reached the top first. She
went straight up to the old man, put out her hand,
and said, ‘Good evening, grandfather.”
“So, so, what is the meaning of this?” he asked
gruffly, as he gave the child an abrupt shake of the
14 HEIDI

hand, and gazed long and curiously at her from under

his bushy eyebrows. Heidi stared steadily back at
him in return with unflinching gaze. He was so re-
markable looking, with his long beard and thick, gray
eyebrows that grew together over his nose and looked
just like a bush, that Heidi was unable to take her
eyes off him.
Meanwhile Dete had come up, with Peter after
her. The boy stood still a while to watch what was
going on.
“T wish you good day, Uncle,” said Dete, as she
walked: toward him. “I have brought you Tobias and
Adelheid’s child. You will hardly recognize her, for
you have never seen her since she was a year old.”
‘“‘And what has the child to do with me up here?”
asked the old man curtly. ‘‘You there,” he then called
out to Peter, “‘be off with your goats, you are none too
early as it is, and take mine with you.”
Peter obeyed on the instant and quickly disap-
peared, for the old man had given him a look that
made him feel that he did not want to stay any longer.
“The child is here to remain with you,’”’ Dete made
answer. “I have, I think, done my duty by her for
these four years, and now it is time for you to do yours.”
‘‘That’s it, is it?’ said the old man, as he looked at
her with a flash in his eye. ‘And when the child begins
to fret and whine after you, as is the way with these
i ada little beings, what am I to do with her
en
UP THE MOUNTAIN TO ALM-UNCLE 15
“That’s your affair,” retorted Dete. “I know 1
had to put up with her without complaint when she
was left on my hands as an infant, and with enough to
do as it was for my mother and myself. Now I have to
go and look after my own earnings, and you are the
next of kin to the child. If you cannot arrange to
keep her, do with her as you like. You will have to
answer for the result if harm happens to her, though
you have hardly need, I should think, to add to the
burden already on your conscience.”
Now Dete was not quite easy in her own conscience
about what she was doing, and consequently was feel-
ing hot and irritable, and said more than she had in-
tended. As she uttered her last words, Uncle rose
from his seat. He looked at her in a way that made
her draw back a step or two, then flinging out his arm,
he said to her in a commanding voice: ‘Be off with
you this instant, and get back as quickly as you can
to the place you came from, and do not let me see
your face again in a hurry.”
Dete did not wait to be told twice. ‘“‘Good-by to
you, then, and to you too, Heidi,’’ she called, as she
turned quickly away and started to descend the moun-
tain at a running pace, which she did not slacken till
she found herself safely at Dorfli. Again questions
came raining down upon her from all sides, for
everyone knew Dete. They all knew, too, the particulars
of the birth and former history of the child, and they
wondered what Dete had done with the little one.
10 HEIDI

From every door and window came voices calling:

‘Where is the child?” ‘““Where have you left the child,
Dete?”? and more and more reluctantly Dete made
answer, ‘Up there with Alm-Uncle! With Alm-Uncele,
I said.”
Then the women began to hurl reproaches at her.
First one cried out, ‘“How could you do such a thing!”
then another, “To think of leaving a helpless little
thing up there,” while again and again came the words,
“The poor mite! The poor mite!’ pursuing her as she
went along. Unable at last to bear it any longer Dete
ran as fast as she could until she was beyond the reach
of their voices. She was far from happy at the thought
of what she had done, for the child had been left in her
care by her dying mother. She quieted herself, how-
ever, with the idea that she would be better able to do
something for Heidi if she was earning plenty of money.
It was a relief to her to think that she would soon be
far away from all these people who were making such
a fuss about the matter, and she rejoiced further still
that she was at liberty now to take such a good place.
 CHAPTER

At Home with Grandfather

S soon as Dete had disappeared the old man went

back to his bench, and there he remained seated,
staring at the ground without uttering a sound,
while thick curls of smoke floated upward from his
pipe. Heidi, meanwhile, was enjoying herself in her
new surroundings. She looked about till she found
a shed, built against the hut, where the goats were
kept; she peeped in, and saw that it was empty. She
continued her search and presently came to the fir
trees behind the hut. A strong breeze was blowing
through them, and there was a rushing and roaring
in their topmost branches. MHeidi stood still and
listened. The sound grew fainter, and she went on
again, to the farther corner of the hut, and so around
to where her grandfather was sitting. Seeing that he
was in exactly the same position as when she left him,
she went and placed herself in front of him, and putting
her hands behind her back, stood and gazed at him.
Her grandfather looked up, but still the little girl
continued to stand there without moving.
‘What do you want?” he asked.
“T want to see what you have inside the house,”
said Heidi.
17
18 HEIDI

“Come, then!” and the grandfather rose and led

the way toward the hut.
“Bring your bundle of clothes in with you,” he
told her as she was following.
“T shan’t want them any more,” was her prompt
answer.
The old man turned and looked searchingly at the
child, whose dark eyes were sparkling in delighted
anticipation of what she was going to see inside. “She
is certainly not wanting in intelligence,’ he murmured
to himself. ‘‘And why shall you not want them any
more?” he asked aloud.
“Because I want to go about like the goats with
their thin, light legs.”
‘Well, you may do so if you like,” said her grand-
father, ‘but bring the things in; we must put them in
the cupboard.”
Heidi did as she was told. The old man now opened
the door and Heidi stepped inside after him. She found
herself in a good-sized room, which covered the whole
ground floor of the hut. A table and a chair were the
only furniture. In one corner stood the grandfather’s
bed, in another was the hearth with a large kettle hang-
ing above it, and on the farther side was the cupboard.
The grandfather opened the cupboard door. Inside
were his clothes, some hanging up, others, a couple
of shirts, and some socks and handkerchiefs, lying on
a shelf; on a second shelf were some plates and cups
and glasses, and on a higher one still, a round loaf,
AT HOME WITH GRANDFATHER 19

smoked meat, and cheese. Everything that Alm-Uncle

needed for his food and clothing was kept in this cup-
board. Heidi ran quickly forward and thrust in her
bundle of clothes, as far back behind her grandfather’s
things as possible, so that they might not easily be
found again. She then looked carefully round the
room, and asked, “‘Where am I to sleep, grandfather?”
.“‘Wherever you like,”’ he answered.
Heidi was delighted, and began at once to examine
all the nooks and corners to find out where it would be
pleasantest to sleep. In the corner near her grand-
father’s bed she saw a short ladder against the wall; up
she climbed and found herself in the hay loft. There
lay a large heap of fresh, sweet-smelling hay. Through
a round window in the wall she could see right down the
valley.
“T shall sleep here, grandfather,” she called down
to him. “It’s lovely up here. Come up and see how
lovely it is!”
“Oh, I know all about it,” he called up in answer.
“T am getting the bed ready now,” she called down
again, as she went busily to and fro at her work, ‘“‘but
I shall want you to bring me up a sheet; you can’t have
a bed without a sheet to lie upon.”
“All right,” said the grandfather. Presently he
went to the cupboard, and after rummaging about in-
side for a few minutes he drew out a long, coarse piece
of stuff, which was all he had to do duty for a sheet.
He carried it up to the loft, where he found that Heidi
3
20 HEIDI

had already made a very good bed. She had put an

extra heap of hay at one end for a pillow, and had
so arranged it that, when she was in bed, she would
be able to see comfortably out through the round
window.
“That is capital,” said her grandfather. “Now we
must put on the sheet, but wait a moment first.”” He
went and brought another large bundle of hay to make
the bed thicker, so that the child should not feel the
hard floor under her. The two together now spread
the sheet over the bed, and where it was too long or
too broad, Heidi quickly tucked it in under the hay.
It looked now as tidy and comfortable a bed as you
could wish for, and Heidi stood gazing thoughtfully
at her handiwork.
“We have forgotten something now, grandfather,”
she said after a short silence.
“What’s that?’ he asked.
“A coverlet; when you get into bed, you have to
creep in between the sheet and the coverlet.”’
“Oh, that’s the way, is it? But suppose I have no
coverlet?” said the old man.
“Well, never mind, grandfather,” said Heidi in a
consoling tone of voice, ‘‘I can take some more hay to
put over me,’ and she was turning quickly to get
another armful from the heap, when her grandfather
stopped her.
“Wait a moment,” he said, and he climbed down
the ladder again and went toward his bed. He re-
“Are They Ours, Grandfather?’’
AT HOME WITH GRANDFATHER 21

turned to the loft with a large, thick sack, made of

linen, which he threw down, exclaiming, ‘“There, that
is better than hay, is it not?”
Heidi began tugging away at the sack with all her
little might, in her efforts to get it smooth and straight,
but her small hands were not fitted for so heavy a job.
Her grandfather came to her assistance, and when
they spread it neatly over the bed, it all looked so
warm and comfortable that Heidi stood gazing at it
in delight. ‘That is a splendid coverlet,” she said,
“and the bed looks lovely! I wish it were night, so
that I might get inside it at once.”
“T think we might have something to eat first,”
said the grandfather. ‘“‘What do you think?”
Heidi in the excitement of bed making had forgotten
everything else, but now when she began to think about
food she felt very hungry, for she had had nothing to
eat since the piece of bread and little cup of thin coffee
that had been her breakfast early that morning before
she had started on her long, hot journey. So she an-
swered without hesitation, ‘“‘Yes, I think so, too.”
“Tet us go down then, since we both think alike,”
said the old man, and he followed the child down the
ladder. While the old man busied himself at the
hearth, toasting a large piece of cheese, Heidi went
back and forth to the cupboard. Presently the grand-
father got up and came to the table with a jug and
the cheese, and there he saw it already neatly laid with
the round loaf and two plates and two knives each in
22 HEIDI

its right place. Heidi had taken exact note that morn-
ing of all that was in the cupboard, and she knew which
things would be wanted for their meal.
“Ah, that’s right,” said the grandfather. “I am
glad to see that you have some ideas of your own,
but there is still something missing.”
Heidi looked at the jug that was steaming away in-
vitingly, and ran quickly back to the cupboard. At
first she could see only a small bowl left on the shelf,
but she was not long in perplexity, for a moment later
she caught sight of two glasses further back. Without
an instant’s loss of time she returned with these and
the bowl and put them down on the table.
“Good, I see you know how to set about things;
but what will you do for a seat?” The grandfather
himself was sitting on the only chair in the room.
Heidi flew to the hearth, and dragging the three-
legged stool up to the table, sat down upon it.
‘Well, you have managed to find a seat for your-
self, I see, only rather a low one I am afraid,”’ said the
grandfather, ‘but you would not be tall enough to
reach the table even if you sat in my chair. The first
thing now, however, is to have something to eat, so
come along.”
With that he stood up, filled the bowl with milk,
and placing it on the chair, pushed it in front of Heidi
on her little three-legged stool, so that she now had a
table to herself. Then he brought her a large slice of
bread and a piece of the golden cheese, and told her to
AT HOME WITH GRANDFATHER 23

eat. After this he went and sat down on the corner of

the table and began his own meal. Heidi lifted the
bowl with both hands and drank without pause till
it was empty, for she was thirsty after her long, hot
journey. Then she drew a deep breath and put down
the bowl.
“Was the milk good?” asked her grandfather.
“T never drank any so good before,’ answered
Heidi.
“Then you must have some more.” The old man
filled her bowl again to the brim and set it before her.
The child looked the picture of content as she sat eat-
ing and drinking.
When the meal was over, the grandfather went
outside to put the goat shed in order. Heidi watched
with interest while he first swept it out, and then put
fresh straw for the goats to sleep upon. Then he went
to the little well shed, cut some long, round sticks,
and a small, round board. In this he bored some holes
and stuck the sticks into them, and there, as if made
by magic, was a three-legged stool. Heidi stood and
looked at it, speechless with astonishment.
“What do you think that is?” asked her grand-
father.
“It’s my stool, I know, because it is such a high
one; and it was all made in a minute,” said the child,
still lost in wonder and admiration.
“She understands what she sees, her eyes are in the
right place,” remarked the grandfather to himself.
24 HEIDI

The time passed happily till evening. Then the

wind began to roar louder than ever through the olc
fir trees. Heidi listened with delight to the sound, anc
it filled her heart so full of gladness that she skippec
and danced around the old trees, as if some unheard-o.
joy had come to her. The grandfather stood anc
watched her from the shed.
Suddenly a shrill whistle was heard. Heidi pausec
in her dancing, and the grandfather came out. Dowr
from the heights above the goats came springing ons
after another, with Peter in their midst. Heidi sprang
forward with a cry of joy and rushed among the flock
greeting first one and then another of her old friend:
of the morning. As they neared the hut the goat
stood still, and then two of their number, two beauti
ful, slender animals, one white and one brown, rai
forward to where the grandfather was standing an
began licking his hands. He was holding a little sal
which he always had ready for his goats on their re
turn home. Peter disappeared with the remainde
of his flock. Heidi tenderly stroked the two goat
in turn, running first to one side of them and then th
other, and jumping about in her glee. ‘‘Are the
ours, grandiather? Are they both ours? Are yo
going to put them in the shed? Will they alway
stay with us?”
Heidi’s questions came tumbling out one after th
other, so that her grandfather had only time to answe
each of them with ‘‘Yes, yes.”” When the goats ha
AT HOME WITH GRANDFATHER 25

finished licking up the salt her grandfather told her to

go and get her bowl and the bread.
Heidi obeyed and was soon back again. The grand-
father milked the white goat and filled Heidi’s basin
with the rich, warm milk.
“Now eat your supper,” he said, handing her the
bowl and a piece of bread, ‘‘and then go up to bed.
Aunt Dete left another little bundle for you with a
nightgown and other small things in it, which you
will find at the bottom of the cupboard if you want
them. I must go and shut up the goats, so be off and
sleep well.”’
“Good night, grandfather! Good night. What are
their names, grandfather, what are their names?” she
called after him.
“The white one is named ‘Little Swan,’ and the
brown one ‘Little Bear,’’”’ he answered.
“Good night, Little Swan, good night, Little Bear!’’
she called again at the top of her voice, for they were
already inside the shed. Then she sat down on the seat
and began to eat her supper, but the wind was so
strong that it almost blew her away, so she finished
hastily. Running indoors she climbed up to her bed,
where she was soon lying as sweetly and soundly
asleep as any young princess on her couch of silk.
Not long after, and while it was still twilight, the
prandfather also went to bed, for he was up every morn-
ing at sunrise, and the sun came climbing up over the
mountains at a very early hour during these summer
26 HEIDI

months. The wind grew so violent during the night

and blew in such gusts against the walls that the
hut trembled and the old beams groaned and creaked.
The wind came howling and wailing down the chimney
like voices of those in pain, and it raged with such
fury among the old fir trees that here and there a
branch was snapped and fell. In the middle of the
night the old man got up. ‘The child will be fright-
ened,” he murmured half aloud. He climbed the
ladder and went and stood by Heidi’s bed.
Outside the moon was struggling with the dark,
fast-driving clouds, which at one moment left it clear
and shining, and the next swept over it, so that all
again was dark. Just now the moonlight was falling
through the round window straight onto Heidi’s bed.
She lay under the heavy coverlet, her cheeks rosy with
sleep, her head peacefully resting on her little round
arm. Her baby face wore a happy expression, as
though she dreamed of something pleasant. The old
man stood looking down on the sleeping child until
the moon again disappeared behind the clouds and he
could see no more. Then he went back to bed.
 CHAPTER

3
KEKE RE

Out with the Goats

EIDI was awakened early the next morning by

a loud whistle. The sun was shining through
the round window and falling in golden rays
on her bed and on the large heap of hay, and as she
opened her eyes everything in the loft seemed gleam-
ing with gold. She looked around her in astonish-
ment and could not imagine for a while where she was.
In a moment, however, she heard her grandfather’s
deep voice outside, and then she began to recall all
that had happened.
Heidi felt very happy as she remembered all the
many new things that she had seen the day before
and which she would see again that day. Above all
she thought with delight of the two goats. She jumped
out of bed and dressed quickly. Then she climbed
down the ladder and ran outside the hut. There
stood Peter with his flock of goats. The grandfather
was just bringing his two out of the shed to join the
others. Heidi ran forward to wish good morning to
him and the goats.
“To you want to go with them up the mountain?”
asked her grandfather. Nothing could have pleased
Heidi better, and she jumped for joy in answer.
27
28 HEIDI
While the little girl was bathing at a large tub
which stood outside the door, the grandfather went
inside the hut, calling to Peter to follow him and bring
in his bag. Peter obeyed with astonishment, and laid
down the little bag which held his scanty dinner. In-
side it the old man put a large piece of bread and an
equally large piece of cheese, which made Peter open
his eyes, for each was twice the size of the portions
which he had for his own dinner.
“There, now there is only the little bowl to add,”
said the grandfather. ‘You must milk two bowlfuls
for Heidi when she has her dinner, for she is going with
you and will remain with you till you return this
evening. Take care she does not fall over any of the
rocks, do you hear?”
The children started joyfully for the mountain.
During the night the wind had blown away all the
clouds; the dark-blue sky was spreading overhead,
and in its midst was the bright sun shining down on
the green slopes of the mountain. Heidi went running
hither and thither, shouting with delight, for here
were whole patches of delicate red primroses, and there
the blue gleam of the lovely gentians, while above
them all laughed and nodded the golden rock-roses.
Enchanted with all this waving field of brightly
colored flowers, Heidi forgot even Peter and the goats.
She ran on in front of them off to the side, tempted
first one way and then the other, as she caught sight
of some bright spot of glowing red or yellow. And
OUT WITH THE GOATS 29

all the while she was picking whole handfuls of the

flowers which she put into her little apron. Peter had
therefore to be on the alert, and his round eyes, which
did not move very quickly, had more work than they
could well manage, for the goats were as lively as Heidi.
They ran in all directions, and Peter had to follow,
whistling and calling and swinging his stick to get all
the runaways together again.
“‘Where are you now, Heidi?” he called out some-
what crossly.
“‘Here,’’ called back a voice from somewhere. Peter
could see no one, for Heidi was seated on the ground at
the foot of a small hill thickly overgrown with sweet-
smelling prunella. The whole air seemed filled with its
fragrance, and Heidi thought she had never smelled
anything so delicious. She sat surrounded by the
flowers, drawing in deep breaths of the scented air.
“Come along here!’’ called Peter again. ‘You are
not to fall over the rocks; your grandfather gave orders
that you were not to do so.”
‘‘Where are the rocks?” asked Heidi, without mov-
ing.
“Up above, right up above. We have a long way
to go yet, so come along! And on the topmost peak
of all the old bird of prey sits and croaks.”
That did it. Heidi immediately sprang to her feet
and ran up to Peter with her apron full of flowers.
“You have enough now,” said the boy as they be-
gan climbing up again together. ‘You will stay here
30 HEIDI

forever if you go on picking, and if you gather all the

flowers now there will be none for to-morrow.”
This last argument seemed a convincing one to
Heidi, and moreover her apron was already so full that
there was hardly room for another flower. So she
now kept with Peter. The goats also became more
orderly in their behavior, for they were beginning to
smell the plants they loved that grew on the higher
slopes, and they climbed up now without pause, in
their anxiety to reach them.
The spot where Peter generally halted for his goats
to pasture for the day lay at the foot of the high rocks,
which were covered for some distance up by bushes
and fir trees, beyond which rose their bare and rugged
summits. On one side of the mountain the rock was
split into deep clefts. The grandfather had had reason
to warn Peter of danger. When they had climbed as
far as the halting place, Peter unslung his bag and put
it carefully in a little hollow of the ground, for he
knew what the wind was like up there and did not
want to see his precious belongings sent rolling down
the mountain by a sudden gust. Then he threw him
self at full length on the warm ground, for he was
tired after all his exertions.
Heidi meanwhile unfastened her apron and, roll-
ing it carefully round the flowers, laid it beside Peter’s
bag inside the hollow. She then sat down beside his
outstretched figure and looked about her. The valley
lay far below bathed in the morning sun. In front
OUT WITH THE GOATS 3

of her rose a broad snow field, high against the dark-

blue sky. To the left was a huge pile of rocks on either
side of which a bare, lofty peak, that seemed to pierce
the blue sky, looked frowningly down upon her. Peter
had fallen asleep and the goats were climbing about
among the bushes overhead. Heidi had never felt
so happy in her life before. So the time went on, while
to Heidi the mountains seemed to have faces, and to
be looking down at her like old friends. Suddenly she
heard a loud, harsh cry overhead, and lifting her eyes
she saw a bird, larger than any she had ever seen be-
fore, with great, spreading wings, wheeling round and
round in wide circles, and uttering a piercing, croaking
kind of sound above her.
“Peter, Peter, wake up!” called out Heidi. ‘‘See,
the great bird is there—look, look!”
Peter got up on hearing her call, and together they
sat and watched the bird, which rose higher and higher
in the air till it disappeared behind the gray mountain
tops.
‘‘Where has it gone to?” asked Heidi.
“Home to its nest,” said Peter.
“Ts his home right up there? Oh, how nice to be
up so high! Why does he make that noise?”
‘“‘Because he can’t help it,’’ explained Peter.
“Tet us climb up there and see where his nest is,”’
proposed Heidi.
“Oh! Oh! Oh!’ exclaimed Peter, his disapproval of
Heidi’s suggestion becoming more’ marked with each
32 HEIDI

ejaculation. ‘Why, even the goats cannot climb so

high as that! Besides didn’t Uncle say that you were
not to fall over the rocks?”’
Peter now began suddenly whistling and calling,
and one after the other the goats came springing down
the rocks until they were all assembled on the green
plateau. :
Heidi jumped up and ran in and out among them,
for it was new to her to see the goats playing together
like this, and her delight was beyond words as she
joined in their frolics.
Meanwhile Peter had taken the bag out of the
hollow and placed the pieces of bread and cheese on
the ground in the shape of a square, the larger two on
Heidi’s side and the smaller on his own, for he knew
exactly which were hers and which his. Then he took
the little bowl and milked some delicious fresh milk
into it from the white goat, and afterwards set the
bowl in the middle of the square.
He called Heidi to come, but she was so excited
and amused at the capers and lively games of her
new playfellows that she saw and heard nothing else.
But Peter knew how to make himself heard. He shouted
till the very rocks above echoed his voice, and at last
Heidi appeared. When she saw the inviting lunch
spread out upon the ground she went skipping round
it for joy.
“Stop jumping about, it is time for dinner,” said
Peter. ‘Sit down now and begin.”
OUT WITH THE GOATS 33

Heidi sat down. “Is the milk for me?” she asked.
““Yes,’’ replied Peter, ‘‘and the two large pieces of
bread and cheese are yours also, and when you have
drunk up that milk, you are to have another bowlful
from the white goat, and then it will be my turn.”
“And which do you get your milk from?” inquired
Heidi.
“From my own goat, the spotted one. But go on
now with your dinner,” said Peter. Heidi now took
up the bowl and drank her milk, and as soon as she had
put it down empty Peter rose and filled it again for her.
Then, she broke off a piece of her bread and held out
the remainder, which was still larger than Peter’s own
piece, together with the whole big slice of cheese to her
companion, saying, ““Youmay have that, I have plenty.”
Peter looked at Heidi, unable to speak for astonish~
ment. He hesitated a moment for he could not be
lieve that Heidi was in earnest; but she kept on hold-
ing out the bread and cheese, and as Peter still did
not take it, she laid it down on his knees. He saw
then that she really meant it. He seized the food,
nodded his thanks and acceptance of her present, and
then made a more splendid meal than he had known
since he had become a goatherd. Heidi continued to
watch the goats.
“Tell me all their names,” ? she said.
Peter knew these by heart. He began, telling Heidi
the name of each goat in turn as he pointed it out to
her. Heidi listened with great attention, and it was
ey HEIDI
not long before she could herself distinguish the goats
from one another and could call each by name. There
was the Great Turk with his big horns, who was always
trying to butt the others, so that most of them ran
away when they saw him coming and would have
nothing to do with their rough companion. Only
Greenfinch, the slender, nimble little goat, was brave
enough to face him, and would make a rush at him,
three or four times in succession, so quickly and skil-
fully that the Great Turk often stood still quite as-
founded, not venturing to attack her again. Then
there was little White Snowflake, who bleated in such a
plaintive and beseeching manner that Heidi already
had several times run to it and taken its head in her
hands to comfort it.
Just at this moment the pleading cry was heard
again. Heidi ran to the little creature and, putting
her arms round its neck, asked in a sympathetic voice:
‘What is it, little Snowflake? Why do you call like
that as if in trouble?” The goat pressed closer to
Heidi in a confiding way and stopped bleating. Peter
called out from where he was sitting, “She cries like
that because the old goat is not with her. She was
sold at Mayenfeld the day before yesterday, and so
will not come up the mountain any more.”
“Who is the old goat?” called Heidi back.
“Why, her mother, of course,’’ was the answer.
“Where is the grandmother?” called Heidi again.
‘She has none.”
OUT WITH THE GOATS 35

‘And the grandfather?”

“She has none.”
“Oh, you poor Snowflake!” exclaimed Heidi, clasp-
ing the animal gently to her. “But do not cry like
that any more. See now, I shall come up here with
you every day, so that you will not be alone any more,
and if you want anything you have only to come to
me.”
The young animal rubbed its head contentedly
against Heidi’s shoulder, and no longer gave such
plaintive bleats. Heidi had by this time found out a
great many things about the goats. She had decided
that by far the handsomest and best-behaved of the
goats were undoubtedly the two belonging to her grand-
father; they carried themselves with a certain air of
distinction and generally went their own way. They
treated the Great Turk with indifference and contempt.
‘Peter,’ Heidi said, ‘‘the prettiest of all the goats
are Little Swan and Little Bear.”
“Yes, I know they are,’”’ was the answer. ‘“Alm-
Uncle brushes them down and washes them and gives
them salt, and he has the best shed for them.”
All of a sudden Peter leaped to his feet and ran
hastily after the goats. Heidi followed him as fast as
she could, for she was too eager to know what had
happened to stay behind. Peter dashed through the
middle of the flock toward that side of the mountain
where the rocks fell straight down to a great depth
below, and where any thoughtless goat, if it went too
36 HEIDI

near, might fall over and break all its legs. He had
caught sight of the inquisitive Greenfinch taking leaps
in that direction, and he was only just in time, for
the animal had already sprung to the edge of the abyss.
All Peter could do was to throw himself down and seize
one of her hind legs. Greenfinch, thus taken by sur-
prise, began bleating furiously, angry at being held so
fast and prevented from continuing her trip of dis-
covery. She struggled to get loose, and tried so
obstinately to leap forward that Peter shouted to
Heidi to come and help him, for he could not get
up and was afraid of pulling out the goat’s leg al-
together.
Heidi had already run up and she saw at once the
danger both Peter and the animal were in. She quickly
gathered a bunch of sweet-smelling leaves, and then,
holding them under Greenfinch’s nose, said coaxingly,
“Come, come, Greenfinch, you must not be naughty!
Look, you might fall down there and break your leg,
and that would give you dreadful pain!”
The young animal turned quickly and began con-
tentedly eating the leaves out of Heidi’s hand. Mean-
while Peter got on his feet again and with Heidi’s help
led the goat back to safety. Peter, now that his goat
was safe, lifted his stick in order to give her a good
beating as punishment, and Greenfinch, seeing what
was coming, shrank back in fear. But Heidi eried out,
“No, no, Peter, you must not strike her! See how
frightened she is!’
OUT WITH THE GOATS 37

“She deserves it,” growled Peter, and again lifted

his stick. Then Heidi flung herself against him and
eried indignantly, her dark eyes flashing, ‘“You have
no right to touch her, it will hurt her. Let her alone!’’
Peter looked with surprise at the commanding little
figure, and reluctantly he let his stick drop. ‘Well,
I will let her off if you will give me some more of your
cheese to-morrow,” he said, for he was determined to
have something to make up to him for his fright.
“You shall have it all, to-morrow and every day.
I do not want it,” replied Heidi, giving ready consent
to his demand. “And I will give you bread as well,
a large piece such as you had to-day. But then you
must promise never to beat Greenfinch, or Snowflake,
or any of the goats.”
“All right,” said Peter, “I don’t care,’”’ which meant
that he would agree to the bargain.
The day had crept on toward its close, and now
the sun was on the point of sinking out of sight behind
the high mountains. Heidi sat down again on the
groundand silently gazed at the blue bell-shaped flowers,
as they glistened in the evening sun, for a golden light
lay on the grass and flowers, and the rocks above Were
beginning to shine and glow. All at once she sprang
to her feet. ‘‘Peter! Peter! Everything is on fire!
All the rocks are burning, and the great snow moun-
tain and the sky! Oh, look, look! The high rock up
there is red with flame! Oh, the beautiful, fiery snow!
Stand up, Peter! See, the fire has reached the great
38 HEIDI

bird’s nest! Look at the rocks! Look at the fir trees!

Everything, everything is on fire!”
“Tt is always like that,’’ said Peter composedly,
continuing to peel his stick; ‘‘but it is not really fire.”
“What is it?” cried Heidi, as she ran back and
forth to look first one side and then the other, for
she felt, she could not have enough of such a beautiful
sight. ‘‘What is it, Peter, what is it?” she repeated.
“Tt gets like that of itself,” explained Peter.
“Look, look!’ cried Heidi in fresh excitement. ‘“Now
they have turned all rose color! Look at that one
covered with snow, and that with the high, pointed
rocks! What do you call them?”
“Mountains have no names,” he answered.
“Oh, how beautiful! Look at the crimson snow!
And up there on the rocks there are ever so many roses!
Oh! Now they are turning gray! Oh! Oh! Now all
the color has died away! It’s all gone, Peter.”” And
Heidi sat down on the ground looking as distressed
as if everything had really come to an end.
“Tt, will come again to-morrow,” said Peter. ‘Get
up, we must go home now.”’ He whistled to his goats
and together they all started on their homeward way.
“Is it like that every day? Shall we see it every
day when we bring the goats up here?” asked Heidi,
as she clambered down the mountain at Peter’s side.
“Tt is like that most days,” he replied.
“But will it be like that to-morrow for certain?”
Heidi persisted.
OUT WITH THE GOATS 39

“Yes, yes, to-morrow for certain,” Peter assured

her.
Heidi now felt quite happy again. Her little brain
was so full of new impressions and new thoughts that
she did not speak any more until they had reached the
hut. The grandfather was sitting on a bench under
the fir trees.
Heidi ran up to him followed by the white and brown
goats, for they knew their own master and stall. Peter
called out after her, ‘‘Come with me again to-morrow!
Good night!’ He was anxious for more than one
reason that Heidi should go with him the next day.
Heidi ran back quickly and gave Peter her hand,
promising to go with him, and then making her way
through the goats she once more clasped Snowflake
round the neck.
Heidi returned to the fir trees. ‘Oh, grandfather,”
she cried, even before she had come up to him, ‘“‘it was
so beautiful. The fire, and the roses on the rocks, and
the blue and yellow flowers, and look what I have
brought you!’ And opening the apron that held her
flowers she shook them all out at her grandfather’s
feet. But how changed the poor flowers were! Heidi
hardly knew them again. They looked like dried bits
of hay; not a single flower cup stood open.
“Oh, grandfather, what is the matter with them?”
exclaimed Heidi in shocked surprise. ‘‘They were
not like that this morning. Why do they look so
now?”
40 HEIDI

“They like to stand out there in the sun and not

to be shut up in an apron,” said her grandfather.
“Then I will never gather any more. But, grand-
father, why did the great bird go on croaking so?” she
asked. eagerly.
“Go along now and get into your bath while I go
and get some milk. When we are together at supper
I will tell you all about it.”
Heidi obeyed, and when she was sitting on her high
stool before her milk bowl with her grandfather beside
her, she repeated her question.
‘Ae is mocking at the people who live down below
in the villages, because they all go huddling and gossip-
ing together, and encourage one another in evil talking
and deeds. He calls out, ‘If you would separate and
each. go your own way and come up here and live on 2
height as I do, it would be better for you!’ ”’? There was
almost a wildness in the old man’s voice as he spoke
so that Heidi seemed to hear the croaking of the birc
again even more distinctly.
‘“‘Why haven’t the mountains any names?” Heid
went on.
“They have names,’ answered her grandfather
“and if you can describe them to me I will tell you
what they are called.”
Heidi described two of them to him and her grand
father named them both.
Then Heidi went on to give him an aecount of th
whole day, and of how delightful it had all been. Sh:
OUT WITH THE GOATS 41

particularly described the fire that had burst out every-

where in the evening.
The grandfather explained to her that it was the
sun that did it. ‘““When he says good night to the
mountains he throws his most beautiful colors over
them, so that they may not forget him before he comes
again the next day.”
Heidi was delighted with this explanation, and
could hardly wait for another day to come so that she
might once more climb up with the goats and see how
the sun bade good night to the mountains. But she
had to go to bed first. All night she slept soundly on
her bed of hay, dreaming of shining mountains with
red roses all over them, where happy little Snowflake
went leaping in and out-
 CHAPTER

4
EROKEEEEKECRECEECEES

The Visit to Grandmother

AY after day, almost as soon as the sun wasup,
D Peter appeared with the goats, and the two
children climbed up together to the high mead-
ows. Heidi, passing her life thus among the grass and
flowers, was burned brown with the sun, and grew
strong and healthy. Then the autumn came, and the
wind blew louder and stronger, and the grandfather
would say sometimes, ‘“To-day you must stay at home,
Heidi; a sudden gust of the wind would blow a little
thing like you over the rocks into the valley below, in
a moment.”
Whenever Peter heard that he must go alone he
looked very unhappy, for he saw nothing but mishaps
of all kinds ahead, and did not know how he should
bear the long, dull day without Heidi. Then, too,
there was the good meal he would miss, and besides
that the goats on these days were so naughty and ob-
stinate that he had twice the usual trouble with them.
They had grown so accustomed to Heidi’s presence
that they would run in every direction and refuse to
go on when she was not with them.
Heidi was never unhappy, for wherever she was
she found something to interest or amuse her. She
42
THE VISIT TO GRANDMOTHER 43

found her grandfather’s hammering and sawing and

carpentering very entertaining, and if it should chance
to be the day when the large, round, goat’s-milk cheese
was made she enjoyed beyond measure looking on at
this wonderful performance, and watching her grand-
father, as with sleeves rolled back, he stirred the great
cauldron. The thing which attracted her most, how-
ever, was the waving and roaring of the three old fir
trees on these windy days. She would run away re-
peatedly from whatever she might be doing, to listen
to them, for nothing seemed so strange and wonderful
to her as the deep, mysterious sound in the tops of
the trees. It was growing colder every day, so Heidi
went to the cupboard and got out her shoes and stock-
ings and dress.
- Then it grew very cold, and Peter would come up
in the morning blowing on his fingers to keep them
warm. But one night there was a heavy fall of snow
and the next morning the whole mountain was covered
with it. There was no Peter that day.
Heidi stood at the little window looking out in
wonderment, for the snow was beginning again, and
the thick flakes kept falling till the snow was up to
the window. Still they continued to fall, and the snow
grew higher, so that at last the window could not be
opened, and she and her grandfather were shut up
fast within the hut. Heidi thought this was great
fun and ran from one window to the other to see what
would happen next, and whether the snow was going
44 HEIDI

to cover up the whole hut, so that they would have to

light a lamp, although it was broad daylight. But
things did not get so bad as that. The next day,
when the snow had stopped, the grandfather went out
and shoveled away the snow from the doors and win-
dows.
As Heidi and her grandfather were sitting one
afternoon on their three-legged stools before the fire
there came a great thump at the door followed by several
others, and then the door opened. It was Peter, who
had made all that noise knocking the snow off his
shoes. He was still white all over with it, for he had
had to fight his way through deep snowdrifts, and large
lumps of snow that had frozen upon him still clung to
his clothes.
“Good evening,”’ he said as he came in. He went
and placed himself as near the fire as he could, without
saying another word, but his whole face was beaming
with pleasure at finding himself there. Heidi looked
on in astonishment, for Peter was beginning to thaw
all over with the warmth, so that he had the appear-
ance of a trickling waterfall.
“Well, General, and how goes it with you?” said
the grandfather. ‘Now that you have lost your army
you will have to turn to your pen and pencil.”
“Why must he turn to his pen and pencil?” asked
Heidi immediately, full of curiosity.
“During the winter he must go to school,” explained
her grandfather, ‘and learn how to read and write.
THE VISIT TO GRANDMOTHER 45

It’s a bit hard, although useful sometimes, afterwards.

Am I not right, General?”
“Yes, indeed,” assented Peter.
Heidi’s interest was now thoroughly awakened, and
she had a hundred questions to put to Peter. He
always had great difficulty in putting his thoughts into
words, and he found his share of the talk doubly difficult
to-day, for by the time he had an answer ready to one
of Heidi’s questions she had already put two or three
more to him.
The grandfather sat without speaking during this
conversation. Now and then a twitch of amusement
at the corners of his mouth showed that he was listen-
ing.
“Well, now, General, you have been under fire for
some time and must want some refreshment. Come
and join us,” he said at last, and as he spoke he rose
and went to get the supper out of the cupboard. As
soon as the pleasant meal was over Peter began to get
ready for returning home, for it was already growing
dark. He had said his ‘‘good night” and his thanks,
and was just going out, when he turned again and said,
“T shall come again next Sunday, this day week, and
grandmother sent word that she would like you to
come to see her some day.”
It was quite a new idea to Heidi that she should
go to pay anybody a visit, and she could not get
it out of her head. The first thing she said to her
grandfather the next day was, “I must go down to
46 HEIDI

see the grandmother to-day. She will be expecting

me.”
‘“‘The snow is too deep,”’ answered the grandfather.
On the fourth day the whole vast field of snow was
hard as ice. Heidi again begged her grandfather to
let her go.
The grandfather rose from the table where they
were eating dinner and climbed up to the hay loft
and brought down the thick sack that was Heidi’s
coverlet. ‘“Come along then!’ he said. ‘The child
skipped out gleefully after him into the glittering worid
of snow.
The old fir trees were standing now quite silent,
their branches covered with the white snow, and they
looked so beautiful as they glittered and sparkled in the
sunlight that Heidi jumped for joy at the sight and
kept on calling out, “(Come here, come here, grand-
father! The fir trees are all silver and gold!’ The
grandfather had gone into the shed and he now came
out dragging a large sled after him. When he had seen
the fir trees he sat down on the sled and lifted the child
on his lap. He wrapped her up in the sack, so
that she might keep warm and comfortable. They
shot down the mountain side with such rapidity that
Heidi thought they were flying through the air like
a bird, and shouted aloud with delight. Suddenly
they came to a standstill, and there they were at
Peter’s hut. Her grandfather lifted her out and un-
wrapped her. ‘There you are. Now go in, and when
THE VISIT TO GRANDMOTHER 47

it begins to grow dark you must start on your way

home again.” Then he left her and went up the moun-
tain, pulling his sled after him.
Heidi opened the door of the hut and found her-
self in a tiny, dark kitchen. She opened another door,
and walked into the next room. A table was close
to the door, and as Heidi stepped in she saw a woman
sitting there, putting a patch on a waistcoat which
Heidi recognized at once as Peter’s. In the corner sat
an old woman, bent with age, spinning. Heidi was
quite sure this was the grandmother, so she went up
to her and said, ‘‘Good day, grandmother, I have come
at last. Did you think I was a long time coming?”
The old woman raised her head and felt for the
hand that the child held out. When she had found it,
she passed her own over it thoughtfully for a few seconds,
and then said, ‘‘Are you the child who lives up with
Alm-Uncle? Are you Heidi?”
“Yes, yes,’ answered Heidi. “I have just come
down in the sled with grandfather.”
“Ts it possible! Why, your hands are quite warm!
Brigitta, did Alm-Uncle come himself with the child?”
Peter’s mother had left her work and risen from the
table and now stood looking at Heidi with curiosity,
scanning her from head to foot. “I do not know,
mother, whether Uncle came himself; it is hardly likely.
The child probably makes a mistake.”
But Heidi looked steadily at the woman, not at all
as if in any uncertainty, and said, “I know quite well
48 HEIDI

who wrapped me up in my bedcover and brought me

down in the sled: it was grandfather.”’
‘“‘There was some truth then perhaps in what Peter
used to tell us of Alm-Uncle during the summer, when
we thought he must be wrong,” said grandmother.
“But who would ever have believed that such a thing
was possible? I did not think the child would live
three weeks up there. What is she like, Brigitta?”’
Brigitta had so thoroughly examined Heidi on all]
sides that she was well able to describe her to her
mother.
“She has Adelheid’s slenderness of figure, but her
eyes are dark and her hair curly like her father’s and the
old man’s up there. She takes after both of them, I
think.”
Heidi meanwhile had not been idle; she had made
the round of the room and looked carefully at every-
thing there was to be seen. Suddenly she exclaimed,
“Grandmother, one of your shutters is flapping back
and forth. Grandfather would put a nail in and make
it all right in a minute. It will break one of the panes
some day. Look, look, how it keeps on banging!”
“Ah, dear child,” said the old woman, “I am not
able to see it, but I can hear that and many other
things besides the shutter. In the night I often lie
awake in fear and trembling, thinking that the whole
place will give way and fall and kill us. And there is
not a creature to mend anything for us, for Peter does
not understand such work.”
THE VISIT TO GRANDMOTHER 49

“But why cannot you see, grandmother, that the

shutter is loose? Look, there it goes again. See,
that one there!’ And Heidi pointed to the particular
shutter.
‘‘Alas, child, it is not only the shutter I cannot see.
I can see nothing, nothing,” said the grandmother in
a sad voice.
“But if I were to go outside and put back the shut-
ter so that you had more light, then you could see,
grandmother?”
“No, no, not even then. No one can make it
light for me again.” |
“But if you were to go outside among all the white
snow, then surely you would find it light. Just come
with me, grandmother, and I will show you.”’ Heidi
took hold of the old woman’s hand to lead her along,
for she was beginning to feel quite distressed at the
thought of her being without light.
“Let me be, dear child. It is always dark for me
now; whether in snow or sun, no light can penetrate
my eyes.”
“But surely it does in summer, grandmother,”
said Heidi, more and more anxious to find some way
out of the trouble. ‘‘When the hot sun is shining
down again, and he says good night to the mountains,
and they all turn on fire, and the yellow flowers shine
like gold, then you will see, it will be bright and beauti-
ful for you again.”
‘“Ah, child, I shall see the mountains on fire or the
30 HEIDI

yellow flowers no more. It will never be light for me

again on earth, never.”
At these words Heidi broke into loud crying. In
her distress she kept sobbing out, “Who can make it
light for you again? Can no one do it? Isn’t there
anyone who can do it?”
The grandmother now tried to comfort the child,
but it was not easy to quiet her. Heidi did not often
weep, but when she did she could not get over her trouble
for a long while. The grandmother tried all means
in her power to allay the child’s grief, for it went to her
heart to hear her sobbing so bitterly. At last she said,
“Come here, dear Heidi, come and let me tell you some-
thing. You cannot think what a pleasure it is to me
to listen to you while you talk. So come and sit be-
side me and tell me what you do up there, and how
grandfather occupies himself. I knew him very well
in old days, but for many years now I have heard
nothing of him, except through Peter, who never says
much.”
This was a new and happy idea to Heidi. She quickly
dried her tears and said in a comforting voice, ‘Wait,
grandmother, till I have told grandfather everything.
He will make it light for you again, I am sure, and will
do something so that the house will not fall. He will
put everything right for you.”
The grandmother was silent, and Heidi began to
give her a lively description of her life with the grand-
father.
THE VISIT TO GRANDMOTHER Py|

The conversation was all at once interrupted by a

heavy thump on the door, and in marched Peter, who
stood stock-still, opening his eyes with astonishment,
when he caught sight of Heidi. His face beamed with
smiles as she called out, ‘“‘Good evening, Peter.’’
“What, is the boy back from school already!’ ex-
claimed the grandmother in surprise. “I have not
known an afternoon to pass so quickly as this one for
years. How is the reading getting on, Peter?”
‘Just the same,” was Peter’s answer.
The old woman gave a little sigh. ‘‘Ah, well,’’ she
said, ‘I hoped you would have something different to
tell me by this time. You will be twelve years old this
February.”
‘What was it you hoped he would have to tell
you?” asked Heidi, interested in all the grandmother
said.
“T mean that he should have learned to read by
this time,” explained the grandmother. ‘Up there on
the shelf is an old prayer book, with beautiful songs in
it which I have not heard for a long time and cannot
now remember to repeat to myself. I hoped that
Peter would soon learn enough to be able to read one
of them to me sometimes, but he finds it too difficult.”
“T must get a light, it is getting too dark to see,”
said Peter’s mother, who was still busy mending his
waistcoat. ‘‘I feel, too, as if the afternoon had gone I
hardly know how.”
Heidi now jumped up from her low chair, and hold-
32 HEIDI

ing out her hand hastily to the grandmother, said,

“Good night, grandmother. If it is getting dark I
must go home at once,” and bidding good-by to Peter
and his mother she went toward the door. But the
grandmother called out in an anxious voice, “Wait,
wait, Heidi; you must not go alone like that, Peter
must go with you. Take care of the child, Peter, that
she does not fall, and don’t let her stand still for fear
she should get frozen, do you hear? Has she got
something warm to put round her throat?”
“T have not anything to put on,” called back
Heidi, ‘‘but I am sure I shall not be cold,” and with
that she ran outside and went off at such a pace that
Peter had difficulty in overtaking her. The grand-
mother, still in distress, called out to her daughter,
“Run after her, Brigitta. The child will be frozen to
death on such a night as this. Take my shawl. run
quickly!”
Brigitta ran out. But the children had taken but
a few steps before they saw the grandfather coming
down to meet them, and in another minute his long
strides had brought him to their side.
“That’s right, Heidi; you have kept your word,”
said the grandfather, and then wrapping the sack
firmly around her he lifted her in his arms and strode
off with her up the mountain. Brigitta was just in
time to see him do all this, and on her return to the
hut with Peter she expressed her astonishment to the
grandmother. The old woman was equally surprised,
Clara w A) ed ~ SSic) i ~*~~ ‘S)= wo ic) = ea 5 rm] Q, w 3 Aa8 iTv 9J.)
ww
THE VISIT TO GRANDMOTHER 53

and kept on saying, “‘God be thanked that he is good

to the child, God be thanked! Will he let her come
to me again, I wonder! The child has done me so much
good. What a loving little heart she has, and how
merrily she tells her tale!”
As soon as Heidi and her grandfather got inside
their hut the little girl exclaimed, ‘Grandfather, to-
morrow we must take the hammer and the long nails
and fasten grandmother’s shutter, and drive in a lot
more nails in other places, for her house shakes and
rattles all over.”
‘“‘We must, must we? Who told you that?” asked
her grandfather.
““Nobody told me, but I know it anyway,”’ replied
Heidi. ‘Everything is giving way, and when the grand-
mother cannot sleep, she lies trembling with fear at the
noise, for she thinks that every minute the house will
fall down on their heads. Everything now is dark for
grandmother and she does not think anyone can make
it light for her again, but you will be able to, I am sure,
grandfather. Think how dreadful it is for her to be
always in the dark, and then to be frightened at what
may happen. Nobody can help her but you. To-
morrow we must go and help her; we will, won’t we,
grandfather?”’
The child was clinging to the old man and looking
up at him in trustful confidence. The grandfather
looked down at Heidi for a while without speaking,
and then said, ‘‘Yes, Heidi, we will do something to
54 HEIDI

stop the rattling. At least we can do that. We will

go down about it to-morrow.”
The child went skipping round the room for joy,
crying out, ‘““‘We shall go to-morrow! We shall go to-
morrow!”’
The grandfather kept his promise. On the follow-
ing afternoon he brought the sled out again, and as
before, he set Heidi down at the door of the grand-
mother’s hut and said, ‘‘Go in now, and when it grows
dark, come out again.”” Then he put the sack in the
sled and went around the house.
Heidi had hardly opened the door and sprung
into the room when the grandmother, stopping her
spinning wheel, called out from her corner, ‘It’s the
child again! Here she comes!” Heidi ran to her,
and seating herself on the little stool close up to the
old woman began to talk to her. All at once there came
the sound of heavy blows against the wall of the hut
and the grandmother gave such a start of alarm that
she nearly upset the spinning wheel. ‘Ah, my God,
now it is coming, the house is going to fall upon us!’
she cried in a trembling voice.
But Heidi caught her by the arm, and said sooth-
ingly, ‘“No, no, grandmother, do not be frightened,
it is only grandfather with his hammer. He is mend-
ing up everything, so that you shan’t have such fear
and trouble.’
“Ts it possible! Is it really possible! So the dear
God has not forgotten us!’ exclaimed the grandmother.
THE VISIT TO GRANDMOTHER 55

“Go outside, Brigitta, and if it is Alm-Uncle, tell him

he must come inside a moment that I may thank him.”
Brigitta went outside and found Alm-Uncle in the
act of fastening some heavy pieces of new wood along
the wall. She stepped up to him and said, ‘Good
evening, Uncle. Mother and I want to thank you for
doing us such a kind service, and she would like to
tell you herself how grateful she is. I do not know
who else would have done it for us. We shall not for-
get your kindness, for I am sure—’
“That will do,” said the old man interrupting her.
“T know what you think of Alm-Uncle without your
telling me. Go indoors again, I can find out for myself
where the mending is wanted.”
Brigitta obeyed on the spot, for Uncle had a way
with him that made few people care to oppose his will.
He went on knocking with his hammer all round the
house, and then mounted the narrow steps to the
roof, and hammered away there, until he had used up
all the nails he had brought with him. Meanwhile
it had been growing dark, and he had hardly come
down from the roof and dragged the sled out from be-
hind the goat shed when Heidi appeared outside. The
grandfather wrapped her up and carried her up in his
arms as he had done the day before. He had to drag
the sled up the mountain after him, for he feared
that if the child sat in it alone her wrappings would
fall off and she would be nearly if not quite frozen.
So the winter went by. After many years of joyless
56 HEIDI

life, the blind grandmother had at last found something

to make her happy. She listened for the little tripping
footsteps as soon as day had come, and when she heard
the door open and knew the child was really there, she
would call out, ‘“God be thanked, she has come again!”
Heidi would sit by her and talk and tell her every-
thing she knew in so lively a manner that the grand-
mother never noticed how the time went by. She
never now as formerly asked Brigitta, ‘Isn’t the day
done yet?” but as the child shut the door behind her
on leaving grandmother would exclaim, “How short
the afternoon has seemed; don’t you think so, Brigitta?”
And her daughter would answer, “I do indeed; it seems
as if I had only just cleared away the midday meal.’
Heidi had also grown very fond of the old grand-
mother, and when at last she knew for certain that no
one could make it light for her again, she was overcome
with sorrow. The grandmother told her again that
she felt the darkness much less when Heidi was with
her, and so every fine winter’s day the child came travel-
ing down on her sled. The grandfather always took
her, and never raised any objection. Indeed he always
carried the hammer and other things down on the sled
with him, and many an afternoon he spent in making
the goatherd’s cottage sound and tight. It no longer
groaned and rattled the whole night through, and the
grandmother, who for many winters had not been able
to sleep in peace as she did now, said she should never
forget what the Uncle had done for her.
 CHAPTER

5
EEE

Two Visits and What Came of Them

UICKLY the winter passed, and still more quickly

the bright, glad summer. Another winter was
drawing to its close. Heidi looked forward
with more delight each day to the coming spring,
when the warm south wind would roar through the
fir trees and blow away the snow, and the warm sun
would entice the blue and yellow flowers to show their
heads, and the long days out on the mountain would
come again, which seemed to her the greatest joy that
the earth could give.
Heidi was now in her eighth year. She had learned
all kinds of useful things from her grandfather. She
knew how to look after the goats as well as anyone.
Little Swan and Little Bear followed her like two
faithful dogs. Twice during the course of this last
winter Peter had brought up a message from the
schoolmaster at Dorfli. He sent word to Alm-Unele
that he ought to send Heidi to school, but the old man
paid no attention to the message.
The March sun had melted the snow on the moun-
tain side and the snowdrops were peeping out all over
the valley, and the fir trees had shaken off their burden
of snow and were again merrily waving their branches
in the air.
57
58 HEIDI

As Heidi was running about one sunny morning,

and had just jumped over the water trough for the
tenth time at least, she nearly fell backwards into it
with fright, for there in front of her, looking gravely
at her, stood an old gentleman dressed in black. When
he saw how startled she was, he said in a kind voice,
‘Don’t be afraid of me, for I am very fond of children.
Shake hands! You must be the Heidi I have heard of.
Where is your grandfather?”’
“He is sitting by the table, making round wooden
spoons,’ Heidi informed him, as she opened the door.
The stranger was the old village pastor from D6rili
who had been a neighbor of Uncle’s when he lived
down there, and had known him well. He stepped
inside the hut, and going up to the old man, who was
bending over his work, said, ‘‘Good morning, neighbor.”
The grandfather looked up in surprise, and then
rising said, ‘“Good morning” in return. He pushed
his chair toward the visitor. ‘If you do not mind a
wooden seat there is one for you,” he said.
The pastor sat down. “It is a long time since I
have seen you, neighbor,” he said.
“Or I you,’ was the answer.
“T have come to-day to talk over something with
you,” continued the pastor. ‘I think you know al-
ready what it is that has brought me here,”’ and as he
spoke he looked toward the child who wasstanding at the
door, gazing with interest and surprise at the stranger.
“Heidi, go off to the goats,” said her grandfather.
TWO VISITS AND WHAT CAME OF THEM 59

“You may take them a little salt and stay with them
till I come.”
Heidi disappeared at once.
“The child ought to have been at school a year ago,
and most certainly this last winter,’”’ said the pastor.
“The schoolmaster sent you word about it, but you
gave him no answer. What are you thinking of doing
with the child, neighbor?”
“T am thinking of not sending her to school,”’ was
the answer.
The visitor, surprised, looked across at the old
man, who was sitting on his bench with his arms crossed
and a determined expression about his whole person.
“How are you going to let her grow up then?” he
asked.
“T am going to let her grow up and be happy among
the goats and birds; with them she is safe, and will
learn nothing evil.”
“But the child is not a goat or a bird, she is a human
being. If she learns no evil from these comrades of
hers, she will at the same time learn no good. She
ought not to grow up in ignorance, and it is time she
began her lessons. I have come now that you may
have leisure to think over it, and to arrange about it
during the summer. This is the last winter that she
must be allowed to run wild; next winter she must
come regularly to school every day.”
“She will do no such thing,” said the old man
with calm determination.
60 HEIDI

“Do you mean that by no persuasion can you be

brought to see reason, and that you intend to stick
obstinately to your decision?” said the pastor, grow-
ing somewhat angry. ‘‘You have been about the
world, and must have seen and learned much, and I
should have given you credit for more sense, neighbor.”
“Indeed,” replied the old man, and there was a
tone in his voice that betrayed a growing irritation
on his part too. ‘‘And does the worthy pastor really
mean that he would wish me next winter to send a
young child like that some miles down the mountain
on ice-cold mornings through storm and snow, and let
her return at night when the wind is raging, when even
one like ourselves would run a risk of being blown
down by it and buried in the snow? And perhaps he
may not have forgotten the child’s mother, Adelheid?
She was a sleep-walker, and had fainting spells. Might
not the child be attacked in the same way if obliged to
overexert herself? And some one thinks he can come
and force me to send her? I will go before all the courts
of justice in the country, and then we shall see who will
force me to do it!”
“You are quite right, neighbor,’ said the pastor
In a friendly tone of voice. “I understand that it
would have been impossible to send the child to school
from here. But I see that the child is dear to you. For
her sake do what you ought to have done long ago.
Come down into Dérfli and live again among your
fellow men. What sort of life is this you lead, alone,
TWO VISITS AND WHAT CAME OF THEM 61

and with bitter thoughts toward God and man? I

should think that you must be half frozen to death in
this hut in the winter, and I do not know how the
child lives through it!’’
“The child has young blood in her veins and a
good roof over her head, and let me further tell the
pastor, that I know where wood is to be found, and
when is the proper time to bring itin. The fire is never
out in my hut the whole winter through. I could not
go to live in Dorfli. The people despise me and I
them; it is therefore best for all of us that we live
apart.”
“No, no, it is not best for you,” said the pastor in
an earnest voice. ‘Believe me, neighbor, the people
down there do not dislike you so much as you think.
Seek to make your peace with God, pray for forgive~
ness where you need it, and then come and see how
differently people will look upon you, and how happy
you may yet be.”
The pastor had risen and stood holding out his
hand to the old man as he added with renewed earnest-
ness, ‘I will wager, neighbor, that next winter you will
be down among us again, and we shall be good neigh-
bors as of old.”
Alm-Uncle gave the pastor his hand and answered
him calmly and firmly, ‘“You mean well by me I know,
but I say now what I shall continue to say, that I will
not send the child to school nor come and live among
you. ”
62 HEIDI

“Then God help you!’ said the pastor, and he

turned sadly away and left the hut and went down the
mountain.
Alm-Uncle was out of humor. When Heidi said as
usual that afternoon, “‘Can we go down to grandmother
now?” he answered, ‘“‘Not to-day.’”’ He did not speak
again the whole of that day, and the following morning
when Heidi again asked the same question, he replied,
‘“‘We will see.”’” But before the dinner bowls had been
cleared away another visitor arrived, and this time it
was Aunt Dete. She had a fine, feathered hat on her
head, and a long, trailing skirt to her dress which swept
the floor.
The grandfather looked her up and down without
uttering a word. But Dete was prepared with an ex-
ceedingly pleasant speech and began at once to praise
the looks of the child. She told Uncle that she had
never lost sight of the idea of taking the child back
again, for she well understood that the little one must
be much in his way, but she had not been able to do it
at first. At last she had heard of something that would
be a lucky chance for Heidi. Some immensely wealthy
relatives of the people she was serving, who had one of
the most beautiful houses in Frankfurt, had an only
daughter, young and an invalid, who was always obliged
to go about in a wheeled chair. She was therefore
very much alone and had no one to share her lessons.
Her father had spoken to Dete’s mistress about find-
ing a companion for her.
TWO VISITS AND WHAT CAME OF THEM 63

The housekeeper had described the sort of child

they wanted, simple-minded and unspoiled, and not
like most of the children that one saw nowadays.
Dete had thought at once of Heidi and had gone off
without delay to see the housekeeper. After Dete had
given her a description of Heidi, she had immediately
agreed to take her. And no one could tell what good
fortune there might be in store for Heidi, if she was
once with these people and they took a fancy to her—
“Have you nearly finished what you had to say?”
broke in Alm-Uncle, who had allowed her to talk on
uninterruptedly so far.
“Ugh!” exclaimed Dete, throwing up her head in
disgust. ‘One would think I had been talking to
you about the most ordinary matter. Why, there
is not one person in all Prattigau who would not
thank God for such news.”
“You may take your news to anybody you like, I
will have nothing to do with it.”
But now Dete leaped up from her seat like a rocket
and cried: ‘‘If that is all you have to say about it, why
then I will give you a bit of my mind. The child is
now eight years old and knows nothing, and you will
not let her learn. You will not send her to church or
school, as I was told down in Dérfli. She is my own
sister’s child and I am responsible for what happens
to her. I have everybody in Déorfli on my side. I
advise you to think well before bringing it into court,
if that is your intention. There are certain things
64 HEID1

which might be brought up against you which you

would not care to hear.’
“Be silent!’ thundered the Uncle, and his eyes
flashed with anger. ‘‘Go and be done with you! Never
let me see you again with your hat and feather, and such
words on your tongue as you come with to-day!’ And
with that he strode out of the hut.
“You have made grandfather angry,” said Heidi,
and her dark eyes had anything but a friendly ex-
pression in them as she looked at Dete.
“He will soon be all right again. Come now,”
said Dete hurriedly, ‘‘and show me where your clothes
are.”
“T am not coming,” said Heidi.
‘“‘Nonsense,”’ exclaimed Dete. Then altering her
tone to one half-coaxing, half-cross, she said, ‘“Come
come, you do not understand any better than your
grandfather. You will have all sorts of good things
that you never dreamed of.’’ Then she went to the
cupboard and taking out Heidi’s things rolled them
up in a bundle. ‘‘Come along now. There’s your
hat; it is very shabby, but it will do for the present.
Put it on and let us hurry away.”
“T am not coming,” repeated Heidi.
“Don’t be so stupid and obstinate, like a goat.
Listen tome. Yousaw that your grandfather was angry
and you heard what he said, that he did not wish ever
to see us again. He wants you now to go away with
me and you must not make him angrier still. You
TWO VISITS AND WHAT CAME OF THEM 65

can’t think how nice it is at Frankfurt, and if you do

not like it you can come back again. Your grand-
father will be in a good temper again by that time.”
“Can I return at once and be back home again
here this evening?” asked Heidi. :
“What are you talking about! Come along now!
I tell you that you can come back here when you like.
To-day we shall go as far as Mayenfeld, and early
to-morrow we shall start in the train, and that will
bring you home again in no time when you wish it,
for it goes as fast as the wind.”
Dete put the bundle under her arm and took the
child by the hand, and so they went down the moun-
tain together.
On the way they met Peter, who had stolen a holi-
day from school that day. He thought it a far better
employment to wander about a bit and look for stout
sticks which might be wanted some day. He had evi-
dently been well rewarded that day for his labors, for
he was carrying an immense bundle of long, thick
hazel sticks on his shoulders. He stood still and
stared at the two approaching figures. As they came
up to him, he exclaimed, ‘‘Where are you going, Heidi?”’
“T am only just going over to Frankfurt for a little
visit with Dete,’’ she replied. “But I must first run in
to grandmother, she will be expecting me.”’
“No, no, you must not stop to talk; it is already too
late,” said Dete, holding fast to Heidi’s hand as she
struggled to get away. ‘You may go in when you
66 HEIDI

come back, you must come along now,” and she pulled
the child on with her, fearing that if she let her go in
the grandmother might detain her.
Peter ran into the hut and banged against the table
with his bundle of sticks with such violence that every-
thing in the room shook, and his grandmother leaped
up with a cry of alarm from her spinning wheel.
“What is the matter? What is the matter?” cried
the frightened old woman.
“She is taking Heidi away,” Peter said crossly.
“Who? Who? Where to, Peter, where to?” asked
the grandmother, growing still more agitated, but
even as she spoke she guessed what had happened, for
Brigitta had told her shortly before that she had seen
Dete going up to Alm-Uncle. The old woman rose
hastily and with trembling hands opened the window
and called out beseechingly, ‘“Dete, Dete, do not take
the child away from us! Do not take her away!”
When Heidi heard that she struggled to get free,
crying, ‘‘Grandmother is calling, I must go to her.”
But Dete had no intention of letting the child go.
She told her that when she wanted to return home she
could do so at once, and then she could take something
she liked back to grandmother. This was a new idea
to Heidi, and it pleased her so much that Dete had no
longer any difficulty in getting her along.
After a few minutes’ silence, Heidi asked, ‘What
could I take back to her?”
, ‘We must think of something nice,” answered Dete.
TWO VISITS AND WHAT CAME OF THEM 67

“She would enjoy a soft roll of white bread, for now

she is old she can hardly eat the hard, black bread.’’
“No, she always gives it back to Peter, telling him
it is too hard. I have seen her do it myself,’ agreed
Heidi. ‘Do let us make haste, for then perhaps we
can get back soon from Frankfurt, and I shall be able
to give her the white bread to-day.”
Heidi started running so fast that Dete with the
bundle under her arm could scarcely keep up with her.
But she was glad, nevertheless, to get along so quickly.
She went on straight ahead through Dorfli, holding
Heidi tightly by the hand, so that all the people might
see that it was on the child’s account she was hurrying
along at such a rate. To all their questions and re-
marks she made answer as she passed, ‘‘I can’t stop
now, as you see. I must make haste with the child
for we have yet some way to go.”
‘‘Are you taking her away?” ‘Is she running away
from Alm-Uncle?” ‘It’s a wonder she is still alive!”
“But what rosy cheeks she has!’ Such were the words
they heard on all sides.
From that day Alm-Uncle looked fiercer and more
forbidding than ever when he came down and passed
through Dérfli. He spoke to no one, and looked like
such an ogre with his thick, frowning eyebrows drawn
together as he came along with his pack of cheeses on
his back and his immense stick in his hand, that the
women would call to their little ones, “Take care!
Get out of Alm-Uncle’s way or he may hurt you!”
68 HEIDI

The old man took no notice of anybody as he strode

through the village on his way to the valley below,
where he sold his cheeses and bought what bread and
meat he wanted for himself. After he had passed, the
villagers all crowded together looking after him, and
each had something to say about him; how much
wilder he looked than usual and how now he would
not even respond to anybody’s greeting. They all
agreed that it was a great mercy the child had gotten
away from him. They had all noticed how the child
had hurried along as if afraid that her grandfather
might be following to take her back. Only the blind
grandmother would have nothing to say against him.
She told those who came to her to bring her work,
or take away what she had spun, how kind and thought-
ful he had been with the child, how good to her and
her daughter, and how many afternoons he had spent
mending the house which, but for his help, would
certainly by this time have fallen down over their
heads. All this was repeated down in Dérfli, but most
of the people did not believe it.
The days were sad again now for the old blind
woman, and not one passed but what she would mur-
mur complainingly: ‘‘Alas! All our happiness and
pleasure have gone with the child, and now the days
are so long and dreary! pray God that Heidi comes
again before I die!’’
 CHAPTER

EERE

A New Chapter About New Things

N her home at Frankfurt, Clara, the little daughter

| of Mr. Sesemann, was sitting in the rolling chair
in which she spent her whole day. She was wheeled
in it from room to room as she wished. Just now she
was in what was known as the study.
Clara’s little face was thin and pale. At this mo-
ment her soft, blue eyes were fixed on the clock, which
seemed to her to go very slowly this day. With a
slight accent of impatience, which was very rare
with her, she asked, ‘“‘Isn’t it time yet, Miss Rotten-
meier?”’
This lady was sitting up very straight at a small
work table, busy with her embroidery. She had on a
mysterious-looking, loose garment, with a large collar
or shoulder cape that gave to her appearance a certain
solemnity which was increased by a very high dome-
shaped headdress. For many years past, since the
mistress of the house had died, Miss Rottenmeier had
been the housekeeper. Mr. Sesemann was often away
from home, and he left her in sole charge. The only
condition he made was that his little daughter should
have a voice in all matters, and that goes should
be done against her wish.
69
"0 HEIDI

As Clara was putting her impatient question for

the second time, Dete and Heidi arrived at the front
door. Dete inquired of the coachman, who had just
descended from his box, if it was too late to see Miss
Rottenmeier.
“That’s not my business,” grumbled the coach-
man. ‘Ring the bell in the hall for Sebastian.”
Dete did so, and Sebastian came downstairs. He
looked astonished when he saw her, opening his eyes
till they were nearly as big as the large, round buttons
on his coat.
“Ts it too late for me to see Miss Rottenmeier?”
Dete asked again.
‘““That’s not my business,’’ answered the man. “‘Ring
that other bell for the maid Tinette.’’ Without trou-
bling himself any further Sebastian disappeared.
Dete rang again. This time Tinette appeared.
‘What is it?” she called from the top of the stairs.
Dete repeated her question. Tinette disappeared, but
soon came back and called down to Dete, “(Come up,
she is expecting you.”
Dete and Heidi went upstairs and into the study.
Dete remained standing politely near the door, still
holding Heidi tightly by the hand.
Miss Rottenmeier rose slowly and went up to the
new little companion for the daughter of the house.
She did not seem very pleased with the child’s ap-
pearance. Heidi was dressed in her plain little woolen
frock. and her hat was an old straw one bent out of
A NEW CHAPTER ABOUT NEW THINGS 71

shape. The child looked innocently out from under

it, gazing with unconcealed astonishment at the lady’s
towering headdress.
“What is your name?” asked Miss Rottenmeier.
“Heidi,” the child answered in a clear, ringing
voice.
“What? What? That’s no Christian name for a
child; you were not christened that. What name did
they give you when you were baptized?” demanded
Miss Rottenmeier.
“T do not remember,” replied Heidi.
“What a way to answer!” said the lady, shaking
her head. ‘‘Dete, is the child a simpleton or only
saucy?”
“Tf the lady will allow me, I will speak for the child
for she is very unaccustomed to strangers,” said Dete,
giving Heidi a poke for making such an unsuitable
answer. ‘This is the first time she has been in a gentle-
man’s house and she does not know good manners.
I hope the lady will excuse her. She was christened
‘Adelheid’ after her mother, my sister, who is now
dead.”
“Well, that’s a name that one can pronounce,”
remarked Miss Rottenmeier. ‘But I must tell you,
Dete, that I am astonished to see so young a child.
I told you that I wanted a companion of the same age as
the young lady of the house, one who could share her
lessons, and all her other occupations. Miss Clara
is now over twelve; what age is this child?”
72 HEIDI

“T am sorry,” said Dete, “but I myself had lost count

of her exact age. I cannot say precisely, but I think
she is about ten.”
“Grandfather told me I was eight,” put in Heidi.
Dete gave her another poke, but the child had not the
least idea why and was not at all confused.
“What—only eight!’ cried Miss Rottenmeier
angrily. ‘Four years too young! Of what use is such
a child! And what have you learned? What books
did you have to learn from?”
“None,” said Heidi.
“How? What? How then did you learn to read?”
demanded the lady.
“T have never learned to read, or Peter either,”
Heidi informed her.
“Mercy upon us! You do not know how to read!
Is it really so?”’ exclaimed Miss Rottenmeier, greatly
horrified. “Is it possible—not able to read? What
have you learned then?’
“Nothing,” said Heidi with unflinching truthful-
ness.
“Young woman,” said the lady to Dete, when she
had paused for a minute or two to recover from her
shock, ‘this is not at all the sort of companion you
led me to expect. How could you think of bringing
me a child like this?”
But Dete was not to be put down so easily, and
answered warmly, “I am sorry, but the child is exactly
what I thought you wanted. You said you wished a
A NEW CHAPTER ABOUT NEW THINGS 73

child unlike all other children, and I thought this

child seemed as if made for the place. But I must
go now, for my mistress will be waiting for me. I will
come again soon and see how the child is getting on.”
And with a bow Dete quickly left the room and ran
downstairs.
Miss Rottenmeier ran after her. If the child was
to stay she had many things yet to ask about her.
Heidi remained by the door where she had been
standing since she first came in. Clara had looked
on during the interview without speaking. Now she
beckoned to Heidi and said, ‘Come here!”
Heidi went up to her.
“Would you rather be called ‘Heidi’ or ‘Adelheid’?”’
asked Clara.
“T am never called anything but ‘Heidi,’”’ was the
child’s prompt answer.
“Then I shall always call you by that name,” said
Clara. ‘It suits you. I have never heard it before, but
neither have I ever seen a child like you before. Have
you always had that short, curly hair?’
“Yes, I think so,” said Heidi.
‘“‘Are you pleased to come to Frankfurt?’ went on
Clara.
“No, but I shall go home again to-morrow and take
grandmother a white loaf,’”’ explained Heidi.
“Well, you are a funny child!” exclaimed Clara.
“You were expressly sent for to come stay with me
and share my lessons. There will be some fun about
74 HEIDI

them now, since you cannot read. Often they are

dreadfully dull, and I think the morning will never
pass away. You know my tutor comes every morning
at about ten o’clock, and then we go on with lessons
till two, and it does seem such a long time. I
often want to yawn, but I am obliged to stop myself,
for if Miss Rottenmeier sees me yawning she runs off
at once and gets the cod-liver oil and says I must have
a dose, because I am getting weak again. The cod-
liver oil is horrible, so I do my best not to yawn. But
now it will be much more amusing, for I shall be able
to lie and listen while you learn to read.”
Heidi shook her head doubtfully when she heard
of learning to read.
“Oh, nonsense, Heidi, of course you must learn to
read. Everybody must, and my tutor is very kind,
and never cross, and he will explain everything to you.”
Miss Rottenmeier now came back into the room.
She had not been able to overtake Dete, and was evi-
dently very much put out. She felt responsible for
Heidi’s coming and she did not know how to undo
the mischief.
Presently Sebastian flung open the folding doors
leading into the dining room. He then went up to
Clara’s chair to wheel her into the next room. Heidi
stood staring at him. Seeing her eyes fixed upon him,
he suddenly growled out, ‘“Well, what is there in me to
stare at like that?”
“You look so like Peter,’’ answered Heidi.
A NEW CHAPTER ABOUT NEW THINGS 75

Sebastian wheeled Clara into the dining room and

helped her to her place. Miss Rottenmeier took the
seat beside her and made a sign to Heidi to take the
one opposite. They were the only three at table, and
as they sat far apart there was plenty of room for
Sebastian to hand his dishes. Beside Heidi’s plate
lay a white roll, and her eyes lighted up with pleas-
ure as she saw it. The resemblance which Heidi had
noticed had evidently awakened in her a feeling of cor-
fidence toward Sebastian, for she sat as still as a mouse
and without moving until he came up to her side and
handed her the dish of fish. Then she looked at the
roll and asked, ‘‘May I have it?”
Sebastian nodded, throwing a side glance at Miss
Rottenmeier to see what effect this request would have
upon her. Heidi immediately seized the roll and put it
in her pocket. Sebastian’s face became convulsed. He
was overcome with inward laughter, but he knew his
place too well to laugh aloud. Heidi looked wonderingly
at him for a minute or two, and then said, “‘Am I to eat
some of that, too?” Sebastian nodded again. ‘Give
me some then,” she said, looking calmly at her
plate. At this Sebastian’s command of his counte-
nance became doubtful, and the dish began to tremble
suspiciously in his hands.
“You may put the dish on the table and come back
presently,” said Miss Rottenmeier with a severe ex-
pression on her face. Sebastian disappeared im-
mediately. ‘As for you, Adelheid, I see I shall have to
76 HEIDI

teach you the first rules of behavior,” continued the

housekeeper with a sigh. ‘I will begin by explaining
to you how you are to conduct yourself at table,” and
she went on to give Heidi minute instructions as to all
she was to do. ‘‘And now,” she continued, “I must
make you particularly understand that you are not
to speak to Sebastian at table, or at any other time,
unless you have an order to give him, or a necessary
question to put to him. Then you are not to address
him as if he were a relative. Never let me hear you
speak to him in that way again! It is the same with
Tinette, and for myself you are to address me as you
hear others doing. Clara must decide herself what
you are to call her.”
“Why, ‘Clara,’ of course,” said that little girl at
once. The housekeeper went on with a long list of
rules as to general behavior, getting up and going
to bed, going in and out of the room, shutting the
doors, keeping everything neat. As she talked Heidi’s
eyes gradually closed, for she had been up before five
o'clock that morning and had had a long journey.
She leaned back in her chair and fell fast asleep. When
Miss Rottenmeier had at last come to the end of her
sermonizing she said, ‘Now remember what I have
said, Adelheid! Have you understood it all?”
“Heidi has been asleep for ever so long,” said
Clara, her face rippling all over with amusement. She
had not had such an entertaining dinner for a long
time. .
A NEW CHAPTER ABOUT NEW THINGS 77

“Tt is really unendurable what one has to go through

with this child,” exclaimed Miss Rottenmeier, in great
indignation, and she rang the bell so violently that
Tinette and Sebastian both came running in, nearly
tumbling over one another. But no noise was suffi-
cient to wake Heidi, and it was with difficulty they
could rouse her sufficiently to get her to her bedroom.
 CHAPTER

/
EEE

Miss Rottenmeier Spends an Uncomfortable Day

HEN Heidi awakened on her first morning in

Frankfurt she could not think where she was.
She rubbed her eyes and looked about her.
She was sitting up in a high, white bed, on one side of
a large, wide room, into which the light was falling
through very, very long white curtains. All at once
she remembered that she was in Frankfurt. Every-
thing that had happened the day before came back to
her. Hastily she jumped out of bed.
When she was dressed she ran first to one window
and then another. She wanted to see the sky and
country outside. She felt like a bird in a cage behind
those great curtains. They were too heavy for her to
put aside, so she crept underneath them to get to the
window. But the windows were so high that she could
just get her head above the sill to peer out. Even then
she could not see what she longed for. Heidi felt
quite frightened. She ran back and forth trying to
open first one and then the other of the windows.
She felt she could not bear to see nothing but walls and
windows. Somewhere outside there must be the green
grass, and the last unmelted snows on the mountain
78
AN UNCOMFORTABLE DAY 79

slopes, which Heidi so longed to see. But the windows

remained immovable, try as she would to open them.
She tried to push her little fingers under them to lift
them up, but it was all no use.
At that moment a knock came on the door, and
Tinette put her head inside and said, ‘Breakfast is
ready.” Heidi had no idea what an invitation so worded
meant, and Tinette’s face did not encourage any ques-
tioning on Heidi’s part. She drew the little stool out
from under the table, put it in the corner and sat down
upon it, and there silently awaited what would happen
next. In a few minutes Miss Rottenmeier appeared.
She seemed very much put out again.
“What is the matter with you, Adelheid?” she said
severely. ‘‘Don’t you understand what breakfast is?
Come along at once!’
Heidi had no difficulty in understanding now, and
followed at once. Clara had been some time at the
breakfast table and she gave Heidi a kindly greeting.
Her face was considerably more cheerful than usual,
for she expected all kinds of new things to happen
again that day. After breakfast the two children went
into the study.
As soon as they were alone, Heidi asked, “‘How can
you see out from here, and look right down on the
ground?”
“You must open the window and look out,” re-
plied Clara, amused.
“But the windows won’t open,” said Heidi sadly.
30 HEIDI

“Yes, they will,” Clara assured her. “You cannot:

open them, nor I either, but when you see Sebastian
you can ask him to open one.”
It was a great relief to Heidi to know that the win-
dows could be opened and that one could look out, for
she still felt as if she were shut up in prison. Clara be-
gan to ask her questions about her home, and Heidi
was delighted to tell her all about the mountain and
the goats, and the flowery meadows which were so
dear to her.
Meanwhile the tutor had arrived. Miss Rotten-
meier, however, did not bring him straight into the
study, but drew him first aside into the dining room,
where she poured forth her troubles and explained to
him the awkward position in which she was placed.
She wanted him to help her get rid of Heidi, but the
tutor was an extremely cautious man and would not
say much.
When Miss Rottenmeier saw that he was not ready
to support her, and evidently quite ready to undertake
teaching Heidi the alphabet, she opened the study door
and quickly shut it again as soon as he had gone
through. She walked up and down the dining room,
thinking over in her own mind how the servants were
to be told to address Adelheid. Suddenly the sound
of a frightful crash was heard in the study, followed by
frantic cries for Sebastian. She rushed into the room.
There on the floor in a confused heap lay books, ex-
ercise books, inkstand, and other articles with the
AN UNCOMFORTABLE DAY 81

table cloth on the top. From beneath the pile a dark

stream of ink was flowing across the floor. Heidi had
disappeared.
“Here’s a state of things!’ exclaimed Miss Rotten-
meier, wringing her hands. ‘Table cloth, books, work
basket, everything, lying in the ink! It was that un-
fortunate ehild I suppose!”
The tutor was standing looking down at the havoc
in distress. Clara appeared to find pleasure in such an
unusual event and in watching the results.
“Yes, Heidi did it,” she explained, “but quite by
accident. She must on no account be punished. She
jumped up in such violent haste to get away that she
dragged the table cloth along with her, and so every-
thing went over. There were a number of carriages
passing; that is why she rushed off like that. Perhaps
she has never seen a carriage.”
“Ts it not asI said? She has not the smallest notion
about anything! Not the slightest idea that she ought
to sit still and listen while her lessons are going on.
But where is the child who has caused all this trouble?
Surely she has not run away! What would Mr. Sese-
mann say to me?” She ran out of the room and down
the stairs. There, at the bottom, standing in the open
doorway, was Heidi, looking in amazement up and down
the street.
“What are you doing? What are you thinking of
to run away like that?” called Miss Rottenmeier.
“T heard the sound of the fir trees, but I cannot see
82 HEID{£

where they are, and now I cannot hear them any more,”
answered Heidi, looking disappointedly up the street.
The noise of the passing carriages had sounded to her
like the blowing of the south wind in the trees, and in
great joy she had rushed out to look at them.
“FHir trees! Do you suppose we are in a wood?
What ridiculous ideas are these? Come upstairs and
see the mischief you have done!’
Heidi turned and followed Miss Rottenmeier up-
stairs. She was quite astonished to see the disaster
she had caused, for in her joy and haste to get to the
fir trees she had been unaware of having dragged every-
thing after her.
“T excuse you for doing this because it is the first
time, but do not let me hear of your doing it a second
time,”’ said Miss Rottenmeier pointing to the floor.
“During your lesson time you are to sit still and listen.
If you cannot do this I shall have to tie you to your
chair. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” replied Heidi, ‘‘but I will certainly not move
again.”
When the servants had straightened the room it
was too late for any more lessons. There had been no
time for yawning this morning.
In the afternoon while Clara was resting, Heidi
was left to her own devices. She took her stand in
the hall in front of the dining-room door in order to
stop Sebastian when he came up from the kitchen
with the silver. As he reached the top stair Heidi
7
AN UNCOMFORTABLE DAY 83

went up to him. “I want to ask you something,” she

said.
“What was it little miss wished to ask?” said
Sebastian as he went on into the dining room to put
away his silver.
“How can a window be opened?”
“Why, like that!’ and Sebastian flung up one of
the large windows.
Heidi ran to it, but she was not tall enough to see
out, for her head only reached the sill.
“There, now miss can look out and see what is
going on below,” said Sebastian as he brought her a
high wooden stool to stand on.
Heidi climbed up, and at last, as she thought, was
going to see what she had been longing for. But she
drew back her head with a look of great disappoint-
ment on her face.
“Why, there is nothing outside but the stony
streets,’ she said mournfully. ‘If I went right around
to the other side of the house what should I see there,
Sebastian?”
“Nothing but what you see here,’’ he told her.
‘“‘Then where can I go to see away over the whole
valley?”’
“You would have to climb to the top of a high
tower, a church tower, like that one over there with
the gold ball above it. From there you can see away
aver so far.”’
Heidi climbed down quickly from her stool, ran to
Heidi Climbed Up to See What She Had Been Longing For.
AN UNCOMFORTABLE DAY 85

the door, down the steps, and out into the street.
She could no longer see the tower, however. She
hurried along street after street, but still she did not
come to the tower. At one of the street corners she saw
a boy standing, carrying a hand organ on his back and
a funny-looking animal on his arm. Heidi ran up to
him and said, ““Where is the tower with the gold ball
on the top?”
“T don’t know,” the boy answered.
‘“‘Whom can I ask to show me?”’ she asked again.
“T don’t know.”
“Do you know any other church with a high tower?”
Yes, I know one.”
“Come then and show it to me.”
“Show me first what you will give me for it,” and
the boy held out his hand as he spoke. Heidi had
nothing but a card with a garland of beautiful red roses
painted on it. Clara had only that morning made her
a present of it—but then, to look down into the valley
and see all the lovely green slopes!
The boy refused it, however, when she offered it to
him.
“What would you like then?” asked Heidi, not
sorry to put the card back in her pocket.
“Money.”
“T have none, but Clara has. How much do you
want?”
“Five cents.”
“Come along then.”
86 HEIDI
They started off together along the street, and on
the way Heidi asked her companion what he was
carrying on his back. It was a hand organ, he told
her, which played beautiful music when he turned the
handle. All at once they found themselves in front oi
an old church with a high tower. The boy stood still,
and said, ‘“There it is.”
Heidi caught sight of a bell and immediately pulled
it with all her might. The boy promised to wait and
show her the way home, for another five cents.
They heard the key turning inside, and then some
one pulled open the heavy, creaking door. An old man
came out and at first looked in surprise and then in
anger at the children. ‘“‘What do you mean by ring-
ing me down like this?”’ he scolded. ‘“‘Can’t you read
what is written over the bell. ‘For those who wish to
go up to the tower’?”’
The boy said nothing, but pointed his finger at
Heidi. She said, ‘‘But I do want to go up the tower.”’
“What do you want up there?” said the old man.
“Has somebody sent you?”
“No,” replied Heidi, “I only wanted to go up that
I might look down.”
“Get along home with you and don’t try this trick
on me again, or you may not come off so easily a second
time.”” He turned and was about to shut the door,
but Heidi took hold of his coat and said beseechingly,
“Let me go up, just once.”
He looked round, and his mood changed as he saw
AN UNCOMFORTABLE DAY 87

her pleading eyes. He took hold of her hand and said

kindly, ‘‘Well, if you really wish it so much, I will take
you.”
They climbed up many steps, which became smaller
and smaller as they neared the top, and at last they
came to One very narrow one, and there they were at
the end of their climb. The old man lifted Heidi up
so that she might look out of the open window.
“There, now you can look down,” he said.
Heidi saw beneath her a sea of roofs, towers, and
chimneys. She quickly drew back her head and said
in a sad, disappointed voice, “It is not at all what I
thought.”
‘““You see now, a child like you does not understand
anything about a view! Come along down and don’t
go ringing at my bell again!”
He lifted her down and went on before her down the
narrow stairway. Near the tower keeper’s room sat a
big, gray cat guarding a basket. To Heidi’s delight
the old man opened the basket and showed her the
kittens that were playing about in it.
“Oh, the sweet little things! The darling kittens!”
Heidi exclaimed, as she jumped from side to side of
the basket.
“Would you like to have one?” said the old man,
who enjoyed watching the child’s pleasure.
‘For myself, to keep?” said Heidi excitedly, who
could hardly believe such happiness was to be hers.
“Yes, of course, more than one if you like. You
88 HEIDI

may take away the whole lot if you have room for
them.’”’ The old man was only too glad to think he
could get rid of his kittens without more trouble.
Heidi could hardly contain herself for joy. There
would be plenty of room for them in the large house,
and how astonished and delighted Clara would be
when she saw the sweet little kittens.
“But how can I take them with me?” asked Heidi.
“T will take them for you, if you tell me where,”
said the old man.
“To Mr. Sesemann’s, the big house where there is
a gold dog’s head on the door, with a ring in its mouth,”’
explained Heidi.
“T know the house,” the old man said. ‘‘When
shall I bring them, and whom shall I ask for? You
are not one of the family, I am sure.”
“No, but Clara will be so delighted when I take her
the kittens.”
Heidi could hardly tear herself away from the kit-
tens, so the man let her take two with her, one in each
pocket.
When she got downstairs she found se boy still
sitting outside on the steps.
‘‘Which is the way to Mr. Sesemann’s house?” she
asked.
“T don’t know,” was the answer.
Heidi began a description of the front door and the
steps and the windows, but the boy only shook his
head, and was not any the wiser. :
AN UNCOMFORTABLE DAY 89

“Well, look here,” said Heidi. ‘From one window

you can see a very, very large, gray house, and the
roof runs like this.”” She drew a zigzag line in the air
with her forefinger.
The boy was evidently in the habit of guiding
himself by similar landmarks. He jumped up at once
and ran off with Heidi after him. In a very short time
they had reached the door with the large dog’s head for
a knocker. Heidi rang the bell. Sebastian opened the
door almost at once. ‘‘Make haste! Make haste,”
he cried in a hurried voice, when he saw Heidi.
Heidi ran in hastily and Sebastian shut the door
after her, leaving the boy, whom he had not noticed,
standing in wonder on the steps.
“Make haste, little miss,’’ said Sebastian again.
“Go straight into the dining room. They are already
at table. Miss Rottenmeier looks like a loaded cannon.
What could make the little miss run off like that?”
Heidi walked into the room. The housekeeper did
not look up and Clara did not speak. There was an
uncomfortable silence. Sebastian pushed Heidi’s chair
up for her. When she was seated Miss Rottenmeier,
with a severe countenance, sternly and solemnly ad-
dressed _her.
“T will speak with you afterwards, Adelheid. I
will only say now that you behaved in a most un-
mannerly and wrong way by running out of the house
as you did, without asking permission, without any-
one’s knowing a word about it. And then to go wander-
90 HEIDI

ing about till this hour! I never heard of such behavior

before.”
‘‘Miaow!”’ came the answer back.
This was too much for the lady’s temper. Raising
her voice she exclaimed, ‘‘You dare, Adelheid, after
your bad behavior, to answer me as if it were a joke?”
“T did not—” began Heidi. ‘‘Miaow! Miaow!’
Sebastian almost dropped his dish and rushed out
of the room.
“That will do,’”’ Miss Rottenmeier tried to say,
but her voice was half stifled with anger. ‘Get up
and leave the room.”
Heidi stood up, frightened, and again made an at-
tempt to explain. “I really did not—” ‘‘Miaow!
Miaow! Maiaow!”
“But, Heidi,” now put in ‘Glace ‘“‘when you see that
it makes Miss Rottagihelen angry, why do you keep on
saying ‘Miaow’?”’
“Tt isn’t I, it’s the kittens,’”’ Heidi was at last given
time to say.
“How! What! Kittens!’ shrieked Miss Rotten-
meler. ‘Sebastian! Tinette! Find the horrid little
things! Take them away!’ And she rose and fled
into the study and locked the door, to make sure that
she was safe from the kittens, which to her were the
most horrible things in the world.
Sebastian was obliged to wait a few minutes out-
side the door to get over his laughter before he went
into the room again. He had, while serving Heidi,
AN UNCOMFORTABLE DAY 91

caught sight of a little kitten’s head peeping out of

her pocket, and guessing the scene that would follow,
had been overcome with amusement at the first
“Miaows.”” Miss Rottenmeier’s distressed cries for
help had ceased before he had sufficiently regained
his composure to go back into the dining room. He
found Clara with the kittens on her lap, and Heidi
kneeling beside her. They were laughing and playing
with the tiny, graceful little animals.
Sebastian promised to make a bed in a basket for
the kittens and to take care of them.
It was almost bedtime before Miss Rottenmeier
ventured to open the door a crack and call through,
“Have you taken those dreadful little animals away,
Sebastian?”
Sebastian quickly and quietly caught up the kittens
from Clara’s lap. Assuring the housekeeper that they
were gone, he disappeared with them.
The scolding which Miss Rottenmeier had intended
to give Heidi was put off till the following day. She
felt too exhausted now after all the emotions she had
gone through of irritation, anger, and fright, of which
Heidi had unintentionally been the cause. She re-
tired without speaking. Clara and Heidi followed,
happy at knowing that the kittens were lying in a
comfortable bed.
 CHAPTER

8
KEE KECK

There Is Great Commotion in the Large House

EBASTIAN had just shown the tutor into the

study on the following morning when there came
such a very loud ring at the bell that Sebastian
thought it was Mr. Sesemann. He pulled open the
door. There in front of him stood a ragged little boy
carrying a hand organ on his back.
‘“What’s the meaning of this?” said Sebastian an-
grily. “‘I’ll teach you to ring bells like that! What do
you want here?”’
“T want to see Clara,” the boy answered.
“You dirty, good-for-nothing little rascal, can’t
you be polite enough to say ‘Miss Clara’? What do
you want with her?’ demanded Sebastian roughly.
‘“‘She owes me ten cents,’’ explained the boy.
“You must be out of your mind! And how do you
know that any young lady of that name lives here?’,
“She owes me five cents for showing her the way
there, and five cents for showing her the way back.”
“What a pack of lies you are telling! The young
lady never goes out. She cannot even walk. Be off
and get back to where you came from, before I have
to help you along.”
92
 GREAT COMMOTION 93

But the boy was not to be frightened away. He

stood still, and said in a determined voice, “But I
saw her in the street. I can describe her to you. She
has short, curly black hair, black eyes, and wears a
brown dress, and does not talk quite as we do.”
“Oho!” thought Sebastian, laughing to himself,
“the little miss has evidently been up to more mis-
chief.” Then, drawing the boy inside he said aloud,
“T understand now. Come with me and wait outside
the door till I tell you to go in. Be sure you begin
playing your organ the instant you get inside the room;
the lady is very fond of music.”
Sebastian knocked at the study door, and a voice
said, ‘‘Come in.”
“There is a boy outside who says he must speak to
Miss Clara herself,’ Sebastian announced.
Clara was delighted at such an extraordinary and
unexpected message.
“Let him come in at once,” replied Clara. ‘He
must come in, must he not,” she added, turning to
her tutor, “if he wishes so particularly to see me.”’
The boy was already inside the room, and according
to Sebastian’s directions immediately began to play his
organ. Miss Rottenmeier was in the next room when
she heard the music. She rushed into the study and
stopped aghast at sight of the boy with his organ.
“Stop! Stop at once!’ she screamed. But her voice
was drowned by the music. She was making a dash
- for the boy, when she saw something on the ground
94 HEIDI

crawling toward her feet—a dreadful, dark object—

a tortoise! At this sight she jumped higher than she
had for many long years, shrieking with all her might,
“Sebastian! Sebastian!”
The organ player suddenly stopped, for this time
her voice had risen louder than the music. Sebastian
was standing outside bent double with laughter, for
he had been peeping to see what was going on. By the
time he entered the room Miss Rottenmeier had sunk
into a chair.
“Take them all out, boy and animal! Get them
away at once!” she commanded him.
Sebastian pulled the boy away, and when they were
outside he put something into his hand. ‘There is
ten cents from Miss Clara, and another ten cents for
the music. You did it all quite right!’ With that he
shut the front door upon him.
Quietness reigned again in the study, and lessons
began once more. Miss Rottenmeier now took up
her station there in order to prevent anything further
happening.
But soon another knock came on the door, and
Sebastian again stepped in, this time with a large,
covered basket for Miss Clara.
“T think the lessons had better be finished first be-
fore the basket is unpacked,” said Miss Rottenmeier.
Clara could not imagine what was in it, and cast
longing glances toward it. In the middle of one of her
declensions she suddenly broke off and said to the
GREAT COMMOTION 95

tutor, ‘“Mayn’t I give just one peep inside to see what

Is in it before I go on?”
“On some considerations I am for it, on others
against it,” he began in answer; ‘‘for it, on the ground
that if your whole attention is directed to the basket—”’
But the speech remained unfinished. The cover of
the basket was loose, and at this moment one, two,
three, and then two more, and, again more kittens
came suddenly tumbling out on the floor. They raced
about the room in every direction, and with such
indescribable rapidity that it seemed as if the whole
room were full of them. They jumped over the tutor’s
boots, bit at his trousers, climbed up Miss Rotten-
meier’s dress, rolled about her feet, sprang up on
Clara’s chair, scratching, scrambling, and miaowing.
It was a sad scene of confusion.
Clara, pleased with their gambols, kept on exclaim-
ing, ‘Oh, the dear little things! How pretty they
are! Look, Heidi, at this one. Look, look, at that one
over there!’ And Heidi in her delight kept running
after them first into one corner and then into another.
The tutor stood up by the table not knowing what to
do, lifting first his right foot and then his left to get
away from the scrambling, scratching kittens. Miss
Rottenmeier was unable at first to speak at all, so over-
come was shewith horror. She did not dare risefrom her
chair for fear that all the dreadful little animals should
jump upon her at once. At last she found voice to call
loudly, ‘‘Tinette! Tinette! Sebastian! Sebastian!”
96 HEIDI

They came in answer to her summons and gathered

up the kittens. By degrees they got them all inside
the basket again and then carried them off to put
with the other two.
To-day again there had been no opportunity for
yawning.
Miss Rottenmeier soon discovered that Heidi was
responsible for the morning’s happenings.
‘“‘Adelheid,”’ she said, severely, ‘‘I know of only one
punishment for you. I shall put you in a dark cellar
with the rats and black beetles.”
Heidi listened in silence and surprise. She had
never seen a cellar such as Miss Rottenmeier described.
The place known at her grandfather’s as the cellar,
where the fresh-made cheeses and the new milk were
kept, was a pleasant and inviting place. Neither did
she know at all what rats and black beetles were like.
But Clara cried out in great distress. ‘No, no,
Miss Rottenmeier, you must wait till papa comes. He
has written to say that he will soon be home, and then I
will tell him everything, and he will say what is to be
done with Heidi.”
Miss Rottenmeier could not do anything against
the superior authority. She answered with some dis-
pleasure, ‘‘As you will, Clara, but I too shall have
something to say to Mr. Sesemann.”’
Two days now went by without further disturb-
ance. Clara had grown much more cheerful since
Heidi had come. She no longer found time hanging
GREAT COMMOTION 97

heavy during the lesson hours, for Heidi was continu-

ally making a diversion of some kind or other. She
jumbled all her letters up together and seemed quite
unable to learn them.
In the late afternoon Heidi always sat with Clara.
She entertained the little invalid with long descriptions
of the mountain and of her life upon it, and the burn-
ing longing to return would become so overpowering
that she always finished with the words, ‘‘Now I must
go home! To-morrow I must really go!”
But Clara would try to quiet her, and Heidi gave
in each time because of a secret delight she had in the
thought that every day added two more white rolls
to the number she was collecting for grandmother.
After dinner Heidi had to sit alone in her room for
a couple of hours. So she had plenty of time to picture
how everything at home was now turning green, and
how the yellow flowers were shining in the sun. At
times her longing to be back home was almost more
than she could bear. Dete had told her that she could
go home whenever she liked, so one day she decided to
leave. In haste she tied all the rolls up in her red shawl,
put on her straw hat, and went downstairs. But just
as she reached the hall door she met Miss Rottenmeier
returning from a walk. The housekeeper stared at her
in amazement. |
‘What do you mean by this?” she demanded.
“Have I not strictly forbidden you to go running
about in the streets? You look lke a beggar.”’
98 HEIDI

“T was not going to run about, I was going home,”’

said Heidi, frightened.
‘What are you talking about! You want to go
home?”’ exclaimed Miss Rottenmeier, her anger rising.
“What would Mr. Sesemann say if he knew! And what
is the matter with his house, I should like to know!
Have you not been treated better than you deserved?
Have you wanted for a thing? Have you ever in your
life before had such a house to live in, such a table, or
so many to wait upon you? Have you?”
“No,” replied Heidi.
“T should think not indeed!” exclaimed the exas-
perated lady. ‘‘You have everything you can possibly
want here. and you are an ungrateful little thing.”
Then Heidi’s feelings got the better of her, and she
poured forth her trouble. ‘Indeed, I only want to go
home, for if I stay so long away Snowflake will begin
crying again, and grandmother is waiting for me, and
Greenfinch will get beaten, because I am not there to
give Peter any cheese, and I can never see how the
sun says good night to the mountains. If the great
bird were to fly over Frankfurt he would croak louder
than ever about people huddling all together and
teaching each other bad things, and not going to live
ap on the rocks, where it is so much better.”
‘‘Heaven have mercy on us, the child is out of her
mind!” cried Miss Rottenmeier, and she turned in
terror and went quickly up the steps, running vio-
lently against Sebastian in her hurry. ‘Go and bring
$
GREAT COMMOTION 99

that unhappy little creature in at once,’”’ she ordered

him, putting her hand to her forehead which she had
bumped against his.
Sebastian did as he was told, rubbing his own head
as he went, for he had received a still harder blow.
Heidi had not moved. She was trembling all over
and her eyes were blazing.
“What, got into trouble again?” said Sebastian in
a cheerful voice. When he looked more closely at
Heidi, and saw that she did not move, he put his hand
kindly on her shoulder and said, trying to comfort her,
“There, there, don’t take it to heart so much. Keep
up your spirits, that is the great thing!’ Then seeing
that Heidi still did not stir, ‘‘We must go; she ordered
me to take you in.”
Heidi now began mounting the stairs, but with a
slow, crawling step, very unlike her usual manner.
Sebastian felt quite sad as he watched her, and as he
followed her up he kept trying to encourage her. ‘Don’t
you give in! Don’t let her make you unhappy! You
keep up your courage! The kittens are enjoying them-
selves very much up in their home. Later we will go
up and see them, when Miss Rottenmeier is out of
the way, shall we?”
Heidi gave a little nod of assent, but in such a joy-
less manner that it went to Sebastian’s heart. He fol-
lowed her with sympathetic eyes as she crept away to
her room.
At supper that evening Miss Rottenmeier did not
100 HEIDI

speak, but she kept watching Heidi as if she expected

her at any minute to break out in some extraordinary
way. Heidi sat without moving or eating. However
she did not forget to hide her roll in her pocket.
The next day Miss Rottenmeier made up her mind
to add to Heidi’s clothing with some garments from
Clara’s wardrobe, so as to give her a decent appearance
when Mr. Sesemann returned. Clara was delighted
with the idea, so the housekeeper went upstairs to over-
haul Heidi’s belongings. She returned, however, in
the course of a few minutes with an expression of hor-
ror upon her face.
“What is this, Adelheid, that I find in your ward-
robe!” she exclaimed. ‘‘A heap of rolls! Will you
believe it, Clara, bread in a wardrobe!’ She called to
Tinette to go up and throw away the rolls and the old
straw hat.
“No, no,” screamed Heidi. ‘I must keep the hat,
and the rolls are for grandmother,”’ and she was rush-
ing to stop Tinette when Miss Rottenmeier took
hold of her. ‘You shall stay here, and all that bread
and rubbish shall be taken away,” she said in a de
termined tone.
Then Heidi in despair flung herself down on Clara’s
chair and broke into a wild fit of weeping. She kept
sobbing out at intervals: ‘““Now grandmother’s bread
is all gone! They were all for grandmother, and now
they are taken away, and grandmother won’t have
one.
GREAT COMMOTION 101

Clara was distressed and alarmed at the child’s

crying. “Heidi, Heidi,’ she said imploringly, ‘please
do not cry so! Listen to me; don’t be so unhappy.
Look now, I promise you that you shall have just as
many rolls, or more, all fresh and new to take to grand-
mother when you go home. Yours would have been
hard and stale by then. Come, Heidi, do not cry any
more!”’
Heidi could not stop crying for a long time. She
would not have been able to stop when she did if it
had not been for Clara’s promise, which comforted her.
Heidi appeared at supper with her eyes red with
weeping, and when she saw her roll she could not sup-
press a sob. Whenever Sebastian could catch her
eye he made all sorts of strange signs, pointing to his
own head and then to hers.
When Heidi was going to get into bed that night
she found her old straw hat lying under the counter-
pane. Sebastian had been trying to tell her that he
had saved it for her. She snatched it up with delight,
and after she had wrapped a handkerchief around it, |
she stuck it in a corner of the cupboard as far back as
she could. |
 CHAPTER

9
KEKE KES

Mr. Sesemann Hears of Things Which Are New to Him

FEW days after these events there was great

commotion and much running up and down
stairs in Mr. Sesemann’s house. The master
had just returned, and Sebastian and Tinette were
busy carrying up one package after another from the
carriage. Mr. Sesemann always brought back a lot
of pretty things for his home. He himself had not
waited to do anything before going in to see his daugh-
ter. Father and daughter greeted each other with
warm affection. Then Mr. Sesemann held out his
hand to Heidi, who had stolen away into the corner,
and said kindly to her: “‘And this is our little Swiss
girl! Come and shake hands with me! That’s right!
Now, tell me, are Clara and you good friends with
one another, or do you get angry and quarrel, and
then cry and make it up, and then start quarreling
again on the next occasion?”
“No, Clara is always kind to me,’’ answered Heidi.
“And Heidi,’ put in Clara quickly, ‘‘has not once
tried to quarrel.’
“That’s all right, I am glad to hear it,’”’ said her
father, as he rose from his chair. ‘But you must ex-
102
MR. SESEMANN HEARS NEW THINGS 103

cuse me, Clara, for Iwant my dinner. I have had noth-

ing to eat all day. Afterwards I will show you all
the things I have brought home with me.”
He found Miss Rottenmeier in the dining room
superintending the preparation for his meal, and when
he had taken his place she sat down opposite to him,
looking the picture of bad news. ‘‘What am I to ex-
pect, Miss Rottenmeier?”’ he asked. ‘‘You greet me
with an expression that quite frightens me. What is
the matter? Clara seems cheerful enough.”
“Mr. Sesemann,” began the lady in a solemn voice,
‘i¢ is a matter which concerns Clara; we have been
frightfully imposed upon.”
“Indeed, in what way?” asked Mr. Sesemann as
he went on calmly drinking his coffee.
‘‘We had decided, as you remember, to get a com-
panion for Clara, and as I knew how anxious you were
to have only those who were well-behaved and nicely
brought up about her, I thought I would look for a
little Swiss girl. I hoped to find one such as I have
often read about, who, born as it were of the,mountain
air, lives and moves without touching the earth.”
“Still, I think even’a Swiss child would have to touch
the earth if she wanted to go anywhere,” remarked Mr.
Sesemann. “Otherwise she would have been given
wings instead of feet.”’
“Ah, Mr. Sesemann, you know what I mean,”
exclaimed Miss Rottenmeier. ‘I have been disgrace.
fully imposed upon.
104 HEIDI

‘Tf you only knew the kind of people and animals

she has brought into the house during your absence!
The tutor can tell you more about that.”
“Animals? What am I to understand by animals,
Miss Rottenmeier?”’
“Tt is past understanding; the whole behavior of
the child would be past understanding, if it were
not that at times she is evidently not in her right
min d.”

Mr. Sesemann had attached very little importance

to what was told him up till now, but this was more
serious. It might be harmful to his own child. He
looked very narrowly at the lady opposite to assure
himself that the mental weakness was not on her side.
At that moment the door opened and the tutor was
announced.
‘“‘Ah! Here is some one,” exclaimed Mr. Sesemann,
“who will help to clear up matters for me. Take a
seat,” he continued, as he held out his hand to the tutor.
“You will drink a cup of coffee with me. And now tell
me, what is the matter with this child that has come
to be a companion to my daughter?”
_ The tutor began in his usual roundabout way, and
after several efforts to get a simple statement from
him, Mr. Sesemann gave up in despair.
“Excuse me, my dear sir, do not disturb yourself,
but I must—I think my daughter will be wanting
me,” he said, and quickly left the room and took care
not to return. He sat down beside his daughter in
MR. SESEMANN HEARS NEW THINGS 105

the study, and turned to Heidi, who had risen, “Little

one, will you bring me a glass of water?” he said.
“Fresh water?” asked Heidi.
‘““Yes—yes—as fresh as you can get it,”’ he answered.
Heidi promptly disappeared.
“And now, my dear little Clara,” he said, drawing
his chair nearer and taking her hand in his, “try to
answer my questions clearly. What kind of animals
has your little companion brought into the house, and
why does Miss Rottenmeier think that she is not al-
ways in her right mind?”
Clara told her father everything about the tortoise
and the kittens, and explained to him what Heidi had
said the day Miss Rottenmeier had been put in such
a fright. Mr. Sesemann laughed heartily at her recital.
‘So you do not want me to send the child home again?”
he asked. ‘‘You are not tired of having her here?”’
“Oh, no, no,” Clara exclaimed. ‘Please do not send
her away. ‘Time has passed much more quickly since
Heidi has been here, for something new happens every
day. It used to be so dull!”
“That’s all right then—and here comes your little
friend. Have you brought me some good, fresh water?”
he asked as Heidi handed him a glass.
‘“‘Yes, fresh from the pump,’ answered Heidi.
“You did not go yourself to the pump?” said Clara,
‘Yes, I did. I had to go a long way. There were
such a lot of people at the first pump, that I went
farther down the street, but there were just as many
106 HEIDI

at the second pump. I was able to get some water at

the one in the next street, and the gentleman with
the white hair asked me to give his kind regards to Mr.
Sesemann.”’
“You have had quite a successful expedition,’’ said
Mr. Sesemann laughing. ‘‘And who was the gentle-
man?”
‘‘Hle was passing, and when he saw me he stood
still and said, ‘As you have a glass will you give me a
drink? To whom are you taking the water?’ When I
said, ‘To Mr. Sesemann,’ he laughed very much, and
then he gave me that message for you, and also said
he hoped you would enjoy the water.”
‘“‘T wonder who it was that sent me such good wishes.
Tell me what he was like,”’ said Mr. Sesemann.
“We was kind and laughed, and he had a thick
gold chain and a gold thing hanging from it with a
large red stone, and a horse’s head at the top of his
stick.”’
“Tt’s the doctor,’ exclaimed Clara and her father
at the same moment.
That evening Mr. Sesemann told Miss Rotten-
meler that he intended to keep Heidi. He found the
child in a perfectly right state of mind, he said, and
his daughter liked her as a companion. “I want the
child to be treated kindly in every way,” he continued,
“and I do not want her peculiarities to be looked upon
as crimes. If you find her too much for you alone, I
can hold out a prospect of help, for I am shortly ex-
MR. SESEMANN HEARS NEW THINGS 107

pecting my mother here on a long visit. As you know.

she can get along with anybody.”
“Oh, yes, I know,” replied Miss Rottenmeier, but
there was no tone of relief in her voice as she thought
of the coming help.
Mr. Sesemann was home for only a short time. He
left for Paris again before two weeks were up. He
had just gone when a letter came from his mother
announcing her arrival on the following day. Clara
was overjoyed, and talked so much about her grand-
mother that evening, that Heidi, too, began to calJ
her ‘‘grandmamma.”
 CHAPTER

LO
KOK

Another Grandmother

HERE was much expectation and preparation

about the house on the following evening.
Tinette had a new white cap on her head. Sebas-
tian collected all the footstools he could find and placed
them in convenient spots. Miss Rottenmeier, very
straight and dignified, went about inspecting everything.
When the carriage drove up to the door, Tinette
and Sebastian ran down the steps, followed with a
slower and more stately step by Miss Rottenmeier.
Heidi had been sent up to her room and ordered to
remain there until she was called. She had not long to
wait before Tinette put her head in and said abruptly,
“Go downstairs into the study.”
- As Heidi opened the study door she heard a kind
voice say: ‘‘Ah, here comes the child! Come along and
let me have a good look at you.”
Heidi walked up to her and said very distinctly
in her clear voice, ‘“Good evening.”’
The grandmother patted Heidi’s cheeks and smiled
at her and the child looked back at her with steady,
serious eyes. Everything about the grandmother at-
tracted her, so that she could not turn her eyes away.
She had such beautiful white hair, and two long lace
108
ANOTHER GRANDMOTHER 109

ends hung down from the cap on her head and waved
gently about her face every time she moved, as if a
soft breeze were blowing round her. That gave Heidi
a peculiar feeling of pleasure.
‘“‘And what is your name, child?” the grandmother
now asked.
“T am always called ‘Heidi’; but as T am now to
be called ‘Adelheid,’ I will try to take care—”
“Mrs. Sesemann will no doubt agree with me,”
Miss Rottenmeier interrupted, ‘‘that it was necessary
to choose a name that could be pronounced easily, if
only for the sake of the servants.”
“My good Rottenmeier,”’ replied Mrs. Sesemann,
‘Sf a person is called ‘Heidi’ and has grown accustomed
to that name, I call her ‘Heidi.’ ”’
Miss Rottenmeier was always very much annoyed
that the old lady continually addressed her by her sur-
name only; but it did no good to object for the grand-
mother always went her own way.
The next afternoon while Clara was resting, the
grandmother went up to Miss Rottenmeier’s room
and gave a loud knock at the door. After a few minutes
Miss Rottenmeier opened the door and drew back in
surprise at this unexpected visit.
‘Where is the child, and what is she doing all this
time?” asked Mrs. Sesemann.
“She is sitting in her room, where she could well
employ herself if she had the least idea of making her-
self useful; but you have no idea. Mrs. Sesemann, of
110 HEIDI

the out-of-the-way things this child imagines and does,

things which I could hardly repeat in good society.”
“T should do the same if I had to sit in there like
that child, I can tell you. I doubt if you would then
like to repeat in good society what I did! Go and get
the child and bring her to my room. I have some
pretty books with me that I should like to give her.”
“That is just the misfortune,” said Miss Rotten-
meier with a despairing gesture. ‘‘What use are books
to her? She has not been able to learn even her A B C,
all the long time she has been here. If the tutor had not
the patience of an angel he would have given up teach-
ing her long ago.”
“That is very strange,” said Mrs. Sesemann. ‘‘She
does not look to me like a child who would be unable
to learn her alphabet. However, bring her to me now.
She can at least amuse herself with the pictures in the
books.”
Heidi soon appeared. She gazed with open-eyed
delight and wonder at the beautiful, colored pictures
in the books which the grandmother gave her to look
at. All of a sudden, as she turned a page to a fresh
picture, the child gave a cry. For a moment or two
she looked at it with brightening eyes, then the tears
began to fall, and at last she burst into sobs. The
grandmother looked at the picture. It represented a
green pasture, full of young animals, some grazing and
others nibbling at the shrubs. In the middle was a
shepherd leaning upon his staff and looking on at his
ANOTHER GRANDMOTHER Ill

happy flock. The whole scene was bathed in golden

light, for the sun was just sinking below the horizon.
The grandmother laid her hand kindly on Heidi’s.
“Don’t cry, dear child, don’t cry,” she said. ‘The
picture has perhaps reminded you of something. But
see, there is a beautiful story to the picture which I
will tell you this evening. And there are other stories
of all kinds to read and to tell again. But now we must
have a little talk together, so dry your tears and come
and stand in front of me, so that I may see you well.
There, now we are happy again.”
But it was some little time before Heidi could over-
come her sobs. The grandmother gave her time to
recover herself, saying cheering words to her now and
then, ‘“There, it’s all right now, and we are quite happy
again.”
When at last she saw that Heidi was growing
calmer, she said: ‘“‘Now I want you to tell me something.
How are you getting on in your school work? Do you
like your lessons, and have you learned a great deal?”
“Oh, no!” replied Heidi, sighing. ‘‘But I knew be-
forehand that it was not possible to learn.”
“What is it you think impossible to learn?”
‘Why, to read. It is too hard.”
‘““You don’t say so! And who told you that?”
“Peter told me, and he knew all about it, for he
had tried and tried and could not learn it.”
‘Peter must be a very odd boy then! But listen,
Heidi, we must not always go by what Peter says, we
112 | HEIDI

must try for ourselves. I am certain that you did not

give all your attention to the tutor when he was trying
to teach you your letters.”
“Tt’s of no use,” said Heidi in the tone of one who
was ready to endure what could not be cured.
“Tisten to what I have to say,’ commanded the
grandmother. ‘You have not been able to learn your
alphabet because you believed what Peter said. Now
you must believe what I tell you, and I tell you that
you can learn to read in a very little while, as many
children do, who are made like you and not like Peter.
You see that picture with the shepherd and the ani-
mals? Well, as soon as you are able to read you shall
have that book for your own, and then you will know
all about the sheep and the goats, and what the shep-
herd did, and the wonderful things that happened to
him. You will like that, won’t you?”
Heidi had listened with eager attention to the grand-
mother’s words and now with a sigh exclaimed, “Oh, if
only I could read now!’
“Tt won’t take you long now to learn, I can see.
Now we must go down to Clara. Bring the books
with you.’”’ And hand in hand the two went over
to the study.
Since the day when Heidi had tried to go home,
a change had come over her. She had at last under-
stood that she could not go home when she wished as
Dete had told her, but that she would have to stay on
in Frankfurt for a long, long time, perhaps forever.
ANOTHER GRANDMOTHER 113

She had also understood that Mr. Sesemann would

think it ungrateful of her if she wished to leave, and
she believed that the grandmother and Clara would
think the same.
But the weight of trouble on the little heart grew
heavier and heavier. She could no longer eat her
food, and every day she grew a little paler. She lay
awake for long hours at night, for as soon as she was
alone and everything was still around her, the picture
of the mountain with its sunshine and flowers rose
vividly before her eyes. When at last she fell asleep
it was to dream of the rocks and the snow field turning
crimson in the evening light. When she awoke in the
morning she would think herself back at the hut and
prepare to run joyfully out into the sun—and then—
here was her large bed, and here she was in Frankfurt
far, far away from home. And Heidi would often
weep for a long time, with her face buried in the pillow
so that no one would hear her.
Heidi’s unhappiness did not escape the grand-
mother’s notice. She let some days go by to see if the
child grew brighter and lost her downcast appearance.
But as matters did not mend, and she saw that many
mornings Heidi had evidently been crying before she
came downstairs, she took her again into her room one
day, and drawing the child to her, said, ‘“‘Now tell me,
Heidi, what is the matter? Are you in trouble?”
But Heidi was afraid if she told the truth that the
grandmother would think her ungrateful, and would
114 HEIDI

stop being so kind to her, so she answered, “T can’t

tell you.”
“Well, could you tell Clara about it?”
“Oh, no, I cannot tell anyone,” said Heidi in so
positive a tone, and with a look of such trouble on her
face, that the grandmother felt full of pity for the
child.
“Then, dear child, let me tell you what to do. You
know that when we are in great trouble, and cannot
speak about it to anybody, we must turn to God and
pray Him to help, for He can deliver us from every-
thing that worries us. You understand that, do you
not? You say your prayers every evening to the dear
God in Heaven, and thank Him for all He has done
for you, and pray Him to keep you from all evil, do
you not?”
“No, I never say any prayers,’’ answered Heidi.
‘“‘Have you never been taught to pray, Heidi? Do
you not even know what it means?”
“T used to say prayers with the first grandmother,
but that is a long time ago, and I have forgotten them.”
‘That is the reason, Heidi, that you are so unhappy,
because you know no one who can help you. Think
what a comfort it is when we feel sad to be able at any
moment to go and tell everything to God. He can
help us and give us everything that will make us happy
again.”
A sudden gleam of joy came into Heidi’s eyes.
“May I tell Him everything, everything?”
9
ANOTHER GRANDMOTHER 115

“Yes, everything, Heidi, everything.”

Heidi drew her hand away, which the grandmother
was holding affectionately between her own, and said
quickly, ‘“May I go?”
“Yes, of course,” was the answer, and Heidi ran out
of the room and into her own. Sitting down on a stool,
she folded her hands together and told God about
everything that was making her so sad and unhappy,
and begged Him earnestly to help her and to let her go
home to her grandfather.
It was about a week after this that the tutor asked
Mrs. Sesemann’s permission for an interview with her.
He told her that Heidi had at last learned to read,
and, unlike most beginners, had read correctly from
the first.
Mrs. Sesemann was delighted. When the tutor
had gone, she went down to the study to make sure of
the good news. Heidi was sitting beside Clara, reading
aloud to her. She was growing more and more delighted
with the new world that was open to her as the black
letters grew alive and turned into men and things and
exciting stories. That same evening Heidi found the
large book with the beautiful pictures lying on her
plate when she took her place at the table. When she
looked questioningly at the grandmother, Mrs. Sese-
mann nodded kindly to her and said, ‘Yes, it’s yours
now.”
‘Mine, to keep always? Even when I go home?”
said Heidi, blushing with pleasure.
116 HEIDI

‘‘Yes, of course, yours forever,” the grandmother as-

sured her. ‘“To-morrow we will begin to read it.”
“But you are not going home yet, Heidi, not for
years,” put in Clara. “When grandmother goes away,
I shall want you to stay on with me.”
When Heidi went to her room that night she had
another look at her book before she went to bed. From
that day forth her chief pleasure was to read the tales
which belonged to the beautiful pictures over and over
again. If the grandmother said, as they were sitting
together in the evening, ““Now Heidi will read aloud
to us,” Heidi was delighted, for reading was no trouble
to her now. When she read the tales aloud the scenes
seemed to grow more beautiful and distinct, and then
grandmother would explain and tell her more about
them still.
 CHAPTER

shigill
ECE KCRG

Heidi Gains in One Way and Loses in Another

VERY afternoon, while Clara was resting, the

erandmother took Heidi into her room. She
had a lot of pretty dolls, and she showed Heidi
how to make dresses for them. Then grandmother
liked to hear Heidi read aloud, and the oftener she
read her tales, the fonder she grew of them. Still
Heidi never looked really happy, and her eyes were no
longer bright. In the last week of the grandmother’s
visit, she called Heidi into her room as usual one day
after dinner. The child came with her book under her
arm. The grandmother called her to come close, and
then laying the book aside, said, ‘‘Now, child, tell me
why you arenot happy. Have you still the same trouble
at heart?”
Heidi nodded in reply.
“Have you told God about it?”
"Ving?

“And do you pray every day that He will make

things right and that you may be happy again?”
“No, I have stopped praying.”
“T)o not tell me that, Heidi! Why have you stopped
praying?”
1117
118 HEIDI

“Tt is of no use, God does not listen,” Heidi said in

a trembling voice. “I can understand that when there
are so many, many people in Frankfurt praying to Him
every evening He cannot answer all the prayers. He
certainly has not heard what I said to Him.”
‘And why are you so sure of that, Heidi?”
‘“‘Because I have prayed for the same thing every
day for a long time, and yet God has not done what I
asked.”
“You are wrong, Heidi. You must not think of
Him like that. God is a good Father to us all, and
knows better than we do what is good for us. If we
ask Him for something that is not good for us, He does
not give it, but he does give something better still, if
only we will continue to pray earnestly and. do not
run away and lose our trust in Him. God did not
think what you have been praying for was good for
you just now; but be sure He heard you, for He can
hear and see everyone at the same time, because He
is God and not a human being like you and me. And
because He thought it was better for you not to have
at once what you wanted, He said to Himself: ‘Yes,
Heidi shall have what she asks for, but not until the
right time comes, so that she may be quite happy.
If I do what she wants now, and then one day she sees
that it would have been better for her not to have had
her own way, she will cry and say, “If only God had not
given me what I asked for! It is not so good as I ex-
pected!’’’ And while God is watching over you, and
HEIDI GAINS AND LOSES 119

looking to see if you will trust Him and go on praying

to Him every day, and turn to Him for everything
you want, you run away and stop saying your prayers,
and forget all about Him. You would not like to
grieve God, would you, Heidi, when He wants only
to be kind to you? So will you not go and ask Him
to forgive you, and continue to pray and to trust Him?
You may be sure that He will make everything right
and happy for you, and then you will be glad and light-
hearted again.”
Heidi had perfect confidence in the grandmother,
and every word she said sank into her heart.
“YT will go at once and ask God to forgive me,
and I will never forget Him again,” she replied re-
pentantly.
“That is right, dear child.”’ Anxious to cheer her,
the grandmother added, ‘‘Don’t be unhappy, for He
will do everything you wish in good time.”
Heidi ran away and prayed that she might always
remember God, and that He would go on thinking
about her.
The day came for grandmother’s departure—a sad
day for Clara and Heidi. But the grandmother was
determined to make it as much like a holiday as pos-
sible and not to let them mope, and she kept them sc
lively and amused that they had no time to think
about their sorrow at her going until she really drove
away. ‘Then the house seemed so silent and empty
that Heidi and Clara did not know what to do with
120 HEIDI

themselves, and sat during the remainder of the day

like two lost children.
The next day, when the hour came for the children
to be together, Heidi walked in with her book and pro-
posed that she should go on reading aloud every after-
noon to Clara. Clara agreed, so Heidi began with
her usual enthusiasm. But the reading did not last
long, for Heidi had hardly begun a tale about a dying
grandmother before she cried out, ‘Oh! then grand-
mother is dead!’ and burst into tears. Everything
she read was so real to her that she quite thought it
was the grandmother at home who had died, and she
kept on exclaiming as her sobs increased, “‘She is dead,
and I shall never see her again, and she never had one
of the white rolls!”
Clara did all she could to explain to Heidi that the
story was about quite a different grandmother. Even
when at last she had been able to convince Heidi of
this, the little girl continued to weep inconsolably, for
now she had awakened to the thought that perhaps the
grandmother, and even the grandfather also, might die
while she was so far away. She thought if she did not
go home for a long time she would find everything
there all silent and dead. She would be all alone, and
,would never be able to see the dear ones she loved any
more.
Miss Rottenmeier had meanwhile come into the
room, and Clara explained to her what had happened.
As Heidi continued her weeping, the lady, who was
HEIDI GAINS AND LOSES 121

evidently getting impatient with her, went up to her

and said with decision, ‘“‘Now, Adelheid, that is enough
of all this causeless Jamentation. I tell you once for
all, if there are any more scenes like this while you are
reading, I shall take the book away from you and shal}
not let you have it again.”
Her words had immediate effect on Heidi, who
turned pale with fear. The book was her one great
treasure. She quickly dried her tears and swallowed
her sobs as best she could, so that no further sound of
them should be heard. The threat did its work, for
Heidi never cried aloud again whatever she might be
reading, but she had often to struggle hard to keep
back her tears, so that Clara would look at her and
say, ‘‘What faces you are making, Heidi, I never saw
anything like it!” But the faces made no noise and
did not offend Miss Rottenmeier.
Heidi lost al] her appetite, and looked so pale and
thin that Sebastian was quite unhappy when he looked
at her, and could not bear to see her refusing all the
good dishes he handed her. She hardly ate anything
at all, and as soon as she laid her head down at night
the picture of home would rise before her eyes, and she
would weep, burying her face in the pillow so that her
erying might not be heard.
And so many weeks passed away. Heidi’s longing
for the old, familiar, beautiful things grew daily stronger,
so that now only to read a word that recalled them to
her brought her to the verge of tears, which she kept
122 HEIDI

back with difficulty. So the autumn and winter passed,

and again the sun came shining down on the white
walls of the opposite houses. Heidi would think to
herself that now the time had come for Peter to go
out again with the goats, to where the golden rock-
roses were glowing in the sunlight, and all the rocks
around turned to fire at sunset. She would go and sit
in a corner of her lonely room and put her hands over
her eyes that she might not see the sun shining on the
opposite wall. There she would remain without mov-
ing, battling silently with her terrible homesickness,
until Clara sent for her again.
 CHAPTER

ey

A Ghost in the House

OR some days past Miss Rottenmeier had gone

about rather silently, as if lost in thought. As
twilight fell, and she passed from room to room,
or through the long corridors, she looked cautiously
behind her, as if she thought some one was coming
up silently behind her. If she visited the upper floor
where the grand guest chambers were, or had to go
down into the large, mysterious council chamber, where
every footstep echoed, she regularly called Tinette to
accompany her, in case, as she said, there might be
something to carry up or down. Tinette on her side
did exactly the same. If she had business upstairs or
down, she called Sebastian to accompany her. More
curious still, Sebastian also, if sent into one of the
more distant rooms, always called John, the coach-
man, to go with him. John readily obeyed, for he did
not know how soon he might want to ask Sebastian to
do the same service for him. And while these things
were going on upstairs, the cook, who had been in the
house for years, would shake her head over her pots
and kettles and sigh, ‘“That ever I should live to
know such a thing!’
For something very strange and mysterious was
going on in Mr. Sesemann’s house. Every morning,
123
WA HEIDI
when the servants went downstairs, they found the
front door wide open. The first morning they thought
the house must have been robbed, but nothing was
missing. The door was doubly locked at night, and
for further security the wooden bar was fastened across
it, but all this did no good.
At last, Sebastian and John plucked up courage
and agreed to sit up one night to watch. At first they
talked, but soon they grew drowsy and at last fell
asleep. When one o’clock struck they roused them-
selves and with a great show of courage went out into
the hall.
Just as they did so a sudden gust of air blew through
the open front door and put out the ight which John
held in his hand. He started back, almost overturning
Sebastian. Without speaking, he clutched the sur-
prised Sebastian and pulled him back into the room.
Shutting the door quickly he turned the key as far as
he could make it go. Then he pulled out his matches
and lighted his candle again. Sebastian, in the sudden-
ness of the affair, did not know exactly what had
happened, for he had not seen the open door nor felt
the breeze. But now, as he saw the coachman in the
light, he gave a cry of alarm, for John was trembling
all over and was as white as a ghost. ‘‘What’s the
matter? What did you see outside?” asked Sebastian
sympathetically.
“The door partly open,” gasped John, “and
a white figure standing at the top of the steps.
A GHOST IN THE HOUSE 125

There it stood, and then all in a minute it dis-

appeared.”
Sebastian felt his blood run cold. The two sat
down close to one another and did not dare move again
till the morning broke and the streets began to be
alive again. Then they left the room together, shut
the front door, and went upstairs to tell Miss Rotten-
meier of their experience. She was quite ready to re-
ceive them, for she had not been able to sleep at all in
her anxiety to hear their report. As soon as they had
given her details of the night’s experience she sat down
and wrote to Mr. Sesemann. She could hardly write,
she told him, for her fingers were stiff with fear. He
must please arrange to come back at once, for dread-
ful and unaccountable things were taking place at
home. ‘Then she entered into particulars of all that
had happened.
Mr. Sesemann answered that it was quite impos-
sible for him to arrange to leave his business. He told
Miss Rottenmeier to write to his mother and ask her
to come. He was sure she would soon find a way to
deal with the ghost. Miss Rottenmeier was not pleased
with the tone of this letter; she did not think the matter
was treated seriously enough. She wrote off without
delay to Mrs. Sesemann, but got no more satisfactory
reply from that quarter.
As soon as the housekeeper had received Mrs.
Sesemann’s letter she walked straight into the study,
and there in a low, mysterious voice told the two
126 HEIDI

children everything that had taken place. Clara im-

mediately screamed out that she could not remain
another minute alone, her father must come home,
and Miss Rottenmeier must sleep in her room at
night, and Heidi too must not be left by herself, for
the ghost might do something to her. Heidi, however,
was unmoved by the story, for she had never heard
of ghosts before.
As soon as Miss Rottenmeier had succeeded in
quieting Clara, she sat down to write another letter to
Mr. Sesemann. She told him that these unaccount-
able things that were going on in the house had so af-
fected his daughter’s delicate constitution that the
worst consequences might be expected.
The letter was successful, and two days later Mr.
Sesemann reached home. He went up without a mo-
ment’s delay into his daughter’s room. Clara greeted
him with a cry of joy. When he saw her so lively and
apparently as well as ever, his face cleared.
‘“‘And how is the ghost getting on?” he asked, turn-
ing to Miss Rottenmeier, with a twinkle of amusement
in his eye.
“It is no joke, I assure you,” replied that lady.
“You will not laugh yourself to-morrow morning, Mr.
Sesemann. What is going on in the house points to
some terrible thing that has taken place in the past
and been concealed.”
‘Well, I know nothing about that,” said the master
ef the house, “but I must beg you not to bring sus-
A GHOST IN THE HOUSE 127
picion on my worthy ancestors. And now will you
kindly call Sebastian into the dining room. I wish
to speak to him alone.”
Mr. Sesemann had been quite aware that Sebastian
and Miss Rottenmeier were not on the best of terms,
and he had his ideas about this scare.
“Come here, lad,’’ he said as Sebastian appeared,
“and tell me frankly. Have you been playing at ghosts —
to amuse yourself at Miss Rottenmeier’s expense?”’
“No, on my honor, sir. Pray, do not think it. I
am very uncomfortable about the matter myself,”
answered Sebastian with unmistakable truthfulness.
“Well, if that is so, I will show you and John to-
morrow morning how ghosts look in the daylight. You
ought to be ashamed of yourself, Sebastian, a great,
strong lad like you, to run away from a ghost! But
now go and take a message to my old friend the doctor.
Give him my kind regards, and ask if he will come to
me to-night at nine o’clock without fail. Tell him I
have come by express from Paris to consult him. It
is such a bad case I shall want him to spend the night
here. You understand?”
“Yes, sir,” replied Sebastian, “I will see to the
matter as you wish.”
Mr. Sesemann returned to Clara, and begged her
to have no more fear, for he would soon find out alJ
about the ghost and put an end to it.
Punctually at nine o’clock the doctor arrived. He
was a gray-haired man with a fresh face, and bright,
128 HEIDI
kindly eyes. He looked anxious as he walked in, but,
on catching sight of his patient burst out laughing
and clapped him on the shoulder.
“Well,” he said, ‘you look pretty bad for a person
that I am to sit up with all night.”
“Patience, friend,’’ answered Mr. Sesemann., ‘The
one you have to sit up for will look a good deal worse
when we have once caught him.”
“So there is a sick person in the house, and one that
has first to be caught?”
“Much worse than that, doctor; a ghost in the house!
My house is haunted!”
The doctor laughed aloud.
“‘That’s a nice way of showing sympathy, doctor!’
exclaimed Mr. Sesemann. “It’s a pity my friend Rot-
tenmeier cannot hear you. She is firmly convinced
that some old member of the family is wandering about
the house doing penance for some awful crime he com-
mitted.”
“How did she become acquainted with him?” asked
the doctor, still very much amused.
Mr. Sesemann told him the story of the open front
door.
The two took up their quarters for the night in the
same room in which Sebastian and John had kept
watch. Two loaded revolvers lay on the table. Two
good-sized lamps had also been lighted, for Mr. Sese-
mann was determined not to wait for ghosts in any
half light.
A GHOST IN THE HOUSE 129

The door was shut close to prevent the lights

shining into the hall outside and frightening away the
ghost. The two gentlemen sat comfortably back in
the armchairs and began talking of all sorts of things.
So twelve o’clock struck before they were aware.
“The ghost has got scent of us and is keeping away
to-night,” said the doctor.
“Wait a bit, it does not generally appear before
one o’clock,”’ answered his friend.
They started talking again. One o’clock struck.
There was not a sound about the house, nor in the
street outside. Suddenly the doctor lifted his finger.
“Hush! Sesemann, don’t you hear something?”
They both listened, and they distinctly heard the
bar on the front door softly pushed aside and then the
key turned in the lock and the door opened. Mr. Sese-
man put out his hand for his revolver. 7
‘You are not afraid, are you?” said the doctor as
he stood up.
“Tt is better to take precautions,’’ whispered Mr.
Sesemann, and seizing one of the lights in his other
hand, he followed the doctor, who, likewise armed with
a light and a revolver, went quietly on ahead. They
stepped into the hall. The moonlight was shining in
through the open door and fell on a white figure stand-
ing motionless in the doorway.
‘“‘Who is there?”’ thundered the doctor in a voice
that echoed through the hall, as the two men advanced
with lights and weapons toward the figure.
130 HEIDI

It turned and gave a low cry. There in her little

white nightgown stood Heidi, staring with wild eyes
at the lights and the revolvers, and trembling from
head to foot like a leafin the wind. The two men looked
at one another in surprise.
“Why, I believe it is your little water carrier, Sese-
mann,” said the doctor.
“Child, what does this mean?” said Mr. Sesemann.
“What did you want? Why did you come down here?”’
White with terror, and hardly able to make her
voice heard, Heidi answered, “I don’t know.”
But now the doctor stepped forward. ‘This is a
matter for me to see to, Sesemann. Go back to your
chair. I must take the child upstairs to her bed.”
And with that he put down his revolver and gently
taking the child by the hand led her upstairs. ‘Don’t
be frightened,’ he said as they went up side by side.
“Tt’s nothing to be frightened about. It’s all right,
only just go quietly.”
When they reached Heidi’s room the doctor put
the little girl in bed and covered her up carefully.
Sitting down beside her he waited until she had grown
quieter and no longer trembled so violently. Then he
took her hand and said in a kind, soothing voice,
“There, now you feel better. Tell me where you wanted
to go.”
“T did not want to go anywhere,” said Heidi. ‘I
did not know I went downstairs, but all at once I was
there.”
A GHOST IN THE HOUSE 131

“T see, and had you been dreaming, so that you

seemed to see and hear something very distinctly?”
“Yes, I dream every night, and always about the
same things. I think I am back with grandfather, and
I hear the sound in the fir trees outside, and I see the
stars shining so brightly, and then I open the door
quickly and run out, and it is all so beautiful! But
when I wake I am still in Frankfurt.” And Heidi
struggled as she spoke to keep back the sobs which
seemed to choke her. .
‘‘And have you no pain anywhere? No pain in
your head or back?”
“No, only a feeling as if there were a great stone
weighing on me.”
‘As if you had eaten something that would not go
down.”
“No, not like that; something heavy, as if I wanted
to cry hard.”
“T see, and then do you have a good cry?”’
“Oh, no, I mustn’t. Miss Rottenmeier forbade me
to cry.”
“So you swallow it all down, I suppose? Are you
happy here in Frankfurt?”
“Yes,” was the low answer, but it sounded more
like ‘“No.”’
‘‘And where did you live with your grandfather?”’
“Up on the mountain.”’
“That wasn’t very amusing; rather dull at times,
eh?” ‘
132 HEIDI

‘No, no, it was beautiful, beautiful!’ Heidi could

go no further. The remembrance of the past, the ex-
citement she had just gone through, the long-sup-
pressed weeping, were too much for the child’s strength.
The tears began to fall fast, and she broke into vio-
lent weeping.
The doctor stood up. ‘“There, there, go on cry-
ing,” he said kindly. ‘It will do you good. Then go
to sleep. It will be all right to-morrow.”
He left the room and went downstairs to Mr.
Sesemann. When he was once more sitting in the arm-
chair opposite his friend, ‘‘Sesemann,”’ he said, “‘let me
first tell you that your little charge is a sleepwalker.
She is the ghost who has nightly opened the front door
and put your household into this fever of alarm.
Secondly, the child is consumed with homesickness, to
such an extent that she is nearly a skeleton already,
and soon will be quite one. Something must be done
at once. For the first trouble, due to her overexcited
nerves, there is but one remedy, to send her back to
her native mountain air. For the second trouble there
is also but one cure, and that is the same. So to-
morrow the child must start for home. There you
have my prescription.”’
Mr. Sesemann had risen and now paced up and down
the room in concern.
“What!” he exclaimed. ‘The child a sleepwalker
and ill! Homesick, and grown emaciated in my house!
All this has taken place in my house and no one has
A GHOST IN THE HOUSE 133

seen or known anything about it. And you mean,

doctor, that the child who came here happy and healthy
I am to send back to her grandfather a miserable little
skeleton? I can’t do it; you cannot dream of my doing
such a thing! Take the child in hand, do with her what
you will, and make her whole and sound, and then she
shall go home; but you must do something first.”’
“Sesemann,”’ replied the doctor, “consider what you
are doing! This illness of the child’s is not one to be
cured with pills and powders. She has not a tough
constitution, but if you send her back at once she may
recover in the mountain air, if not—you would rather
she went back ill than not at all?”
Mr. Sesemann stood still; the doctor’s words were
a shock to him.
“Tf you put it so, doctor, there is assuredly only
one way—and the thing must be seen to at once.”’ They
walked up and down for a while arranging what to do,
and then the doctor left. The night had passed and as
the master opened the hall door the morning light
shone into the house.
 CHAPTER

ee.
_A Summer Evening on the Mountain

R. SESEMANN, a good deal annoyed and ex-

cited, went quickly upstairs and knocked on
Miss Rottenmeier’s door. ‘Please make haste
and come down to me in the dining room!” he called.
‘“‘We must make ready for a journey at once.’’ Miss
Rottenmeier looked at her clock: it was just four-
thirty. She had never risen so early before in her life.
What could have happened? She was so filled with
curiosity and excitement that she took hold of every-
thing the wrong way. In her haste she kept on search-
ing everywhere for garments which she had already
put on.
Meanwhile Mr. Sesemann had rung the bells in
turn which communicated with the several servants’
rooms, causing frightened figures to leap out of bed,
convinced that the ghost had attacked the master
and that he was calling for help. One by one they
made their appearance in the dining room, each with
a more terrified face than the last, and were astonished
to see their master walking up and down, looking
perfectly well, and with no appearance of having had
an encounter with a ghost. John was sent off without
delay to get the horses and carriage ready; Tinette was
134
SUMMER EVENING ON THE MOUNTAIN 135

ordered to wake Heidi and get her dressed for a journey;

Sebastian was hurried off to the house where Dete was
in service to bring her around. Miss Rottenmeier
was directed to pack a trunk at once for Heidi. She
was disappointed, for she had hoped to have the mys-
tery explained. But Mr. Sesemann had no thought
or time for explanations and left her standing there
while he went to speak to Clara.
He sat down beside his little daughter and told
her everything that had occurred during the past
night. He repeated the doctor’s verdict and told
Clara that he had decided to send Heidi home at
once.
Clara was very much distressed, and at first made
all kinds of suggestions for keeping Heidi with her.
Her father was firm, however, and promised her, if
she would be reasonable and make no further fuss,
that he would take her to Switzerland next summer.
So Clara made no further objection. She insisted
that Heidi’s trunk be brought into her room to be
packed, so that she might add whatever she liked,
and her father was only too pleased to let her provide
a good outfit for the child.
- Meanwhile Dete had arrived. When Mr. Sesemann
asked her to take Heidi home she at once began to make
excuses. She was afraid to go for she well remembered
Uncle’s angry words. Mr. Sesemann dismissed her
and sent for Sebastian. He told the butler he was to
travel with the child as far as Basle that day, and the
136 HEIDI

next day take her home. He would give him a letter

to carry to the grandfather, which would explain every-
thing.
“But there is one thing in particular which I wish
you to look after,’ said Mr. Sesemann in conclusion,
‘“‘and be sure you listen well to what I say. I know the
people of the hotel in Basle where I want you to go.
When you get there, go at once into the child’s room and
see that the windows are all firmly fastened so that
they cannot be easily opened. After she is in bed, lock
the door of her room on the outside, for she walks in
her sleep and might run into danger in a strange house
if she went wandering downstairs and tried to open the
front door. Do you understand?”
“Oh! Then that was it?” exclaimed Sebastian, for
now a light was thrown on the ghostly visitations.
“Yes, that was it! You are a coward, and you may
tell John he is the same, and the whole household a
pack of idiots.”” And with this Mr. Sesemann went off
to his study to write a letter to Alm-Uncle.
When the letter was finished, Mr. Sesemann went
into the ding room. Breakfast was now ready, and
he asked, ‘‘Where is the child?”
Heidi was broughtiin,and as she walked up to him
to say, “Good morning,” he looked inquiringly into
her face and said, ‘Well, what do you say to as
little one?”’
Heidi looked at him in perplexity.
“Why, you don’t know anything about it, I see,”
SUMMER EVENING ON THE MOUNTAIN 137

laughed Mr. Sesemann. ‘You are going home to-day,

going at once.”
“Home?” murmured Heidi in a low voice, turning
pale. She was so overcome that for a moment or two
she could hardly breathe.
“Don’t you want to hear more about it?”
““Oh, yes, yes!” exclaimed Heidi, her face now rosy
with delight.
“All right, then,” said Mr. Sesemann as he sat
down and motioned her to take her place. “Eat a good
breakfast, and then off you go in the carriage.”
But Heidi could not swallow a morsel though she
tried to. She was in such a state of excitement that
she hardly knew whether she was awake or dreaming.
‘Run up to Clara and stay with her till the carriage
comes around,” Mr. Sesemann said kindly.
Heidi had been longing for this, and ran quickly
upstairs. An immense trunk was standing open in the
middle of the room.
“Come along, Heidi,”’ cried Clara, as she entered.
‘See all the things I have had put in for you. Aren’t
you pleased?”’
And she ran over a list of things, dresses and aprons
and handkerchiefs, and all kinds of working materials.
‘“‘And look here,’”’ she added, as she triumphantly held
up a basket. Heidi peeped in and jumped for joy, for
inside it were twelve beautiful, round, white rolls, all
for grandmother. In their delight the children forgot
that the time had come for them to separate, and when
138 HEIDI

some one called out, ‘““The carriage is here,” there was

no time for grieving.
Heidi ran to her room to get her darling book.
This was put in the basket with the rolls. Then she
opened her wardrobe to look for another treasure,
which no one would have thought of packing—the old
red scarf. Heidi wrapped it around something else
which she laid on the top of the basket, so that the red
package was quite conspicious. Then she put on her
pretty hat and left the room.
The children could not spend much time over their
farewells, for Mr. Sesemann was waiting to put Heidi
in the carriage. Miss Rottenmeier stood at the top
of the stairs to say good-by to her. When she caught
sight of the strange little red bundle, she took it out
of the basket and threw it on the ground.
‘“‘No, no, Adelheid,’’ she exclaimed, “you oan
leave the Hoe with Pint thing. What can you possibly
want with it!” And then she said good-by to the child.
Heidi did not dare take up her little bundle, but
she gave the master of the house an imploring look, as
if her greatest treasure had been taken from her.
“No, no,” said Mr. Sesemann in a very decided
voice, ‘‘the child shall take home with her whatever
she likes, kittens and tortoises, if it pleases her. We
need not put ourselves out about that, Miss Rotten-
meler.”’
Heidi quickly picked up her bundle, with a look of
joy and gratitude. As she stood by the carriage door,
SUMMER EVENING ON THE MOUNTAIN 139

Mr. Sesemann gave her his hand and said he hoped she
would remember him and Clara. He wished her a
happy journey, and Heidi thanked him for all his
kindness, and added, “‘And please say good-by to the
doctor for me and give him many, many thanks.”
She had not forgotten that he had said to her the
night before, ‘It will be all right to-morrow,” and she
rightly guessed that he had helped to make it so for
her. Heidi was now lifted into the carriage, and then
the basket and the provisions were put in, and finally
Sebastian took his place. Then Mr. Sesemann called
out once more, “A pleasant journey to you,” and the
carriage rolled away.
Heidi was soon sitting in the railway carriage,
holding her basket carefully on her lap. She would not
let it out of her hands for a moment, for it contained
the delicious rolls for grandmother. For many hours
she sat as still as a mouse. She was just beginning to
realize that she was going home to the grandfather, the
mountain, the grandmother, and Peter. Pictures of
all she was going to see again rose one by one before
her eyes. Her only fear was that the grandmother
was dead.
After a while Heidi fell asleep, and after her dis-
turbed night and early rising she slept so soundly that
she did not wake till Sebastian shook her by the arm
and called to her, ‘“‘Wake up, wake up! We shall have
to get out in a minute. We are just in Basle!”
There was a further railway journey of many hours
140 HEIDI

the next day. All of a sudden, before Heidi expected

it, a voice called out, ““Mayenfeld.” In another minute
they were standing on the platform with Heidi’s trunk
beside them, and the train was steaming away down
the valley. Sebastian looked after it regretfully, for
he preferred the easier mode of traveling to a weari-
some climb on foot, especially as there was no doubt
danger as well as fatigue in a country like this.
Just outside the station he saw a shabby-looking
little cart which a broad-shouldered man was loading
with heavy sacks. Sebastian went up to him and asked
how a trunk could be taken up to Dorfli. It was finally
agreed that the man should take both the child and
the trunk to Dorfli, and there find some one who could
be sent on with Heidi up the mountain.
“T can go by myself, I know the way well from
Dorfli,” put in Heidi, who had been listening attentively
to the conversation. Sebastian was greatly relieved at
not having to do any mountain climbing. He drew
Heidi aside and gave her a thick package and a letter
for her grandfather. The package, he told her, con-
tained money for her from Mr. Sesemann, and she
must put it at the bottom of her basket under the rolls
and be very careful not to lose it.
Heidi at once put the package and the letter at the
bottom of her basket. The trunk, meanwhile, had
been hoisted into the cart, and now Sebastian lifted
Heidi and her basket up on the high seat and shook
hands with her. The driver swung himself up beside
SUMMER EVENING ON THE MOUNTAIN 141

Heidi, and the cart rolled away in the direction of the

mountains, while Sebastian, glad of having no tiring
and dangerous journey on foot before him, sat down
in the station to await the return train.
The driver of the cart was the miller at Dorfli and
was taking home his sacks of flour. He had never
seen Heidi, but, like everybody in Dérfli, he knew all
about her. He felt sure at once that this was the child
of whom he had heard so much. He began to wonder
why she had come back, and as they drove along he
entered into conversation with her. “You are the
child who lived with your grandfather, Alm-Uncle, are
you not?”
Van

“Didn’t they treat you well down there, that you

have come back so soon?”
“Yes, it was not that. Everything in Frankfurt
is as nice as it could be.”
“Then why are you running home again?”’
“Only because Mr. Sesemann gave me leave, or else
I should not have come.”
“Tf they were willing to let you stay, why did you
not remain where you were better off than at home?”’
“Because I would a thousand times rather be with
grandfather on the mountain than anywhere else in
the world.”
“You will think differently perhaps when you get
back there,” grumbled the miller; and then to himself,
“Tt’s strange of her, for she must know what it’s like.”
142 HEIDI

He began whistling and said no more, and Heidi

looked around her. She was beginning to tremble with
excitement. She felt as if she must jump down from the
cart and run with all her might till she reached the top.
The clock was striking five as they drove into Dorfli.
A crowd of women and children immediately surrounded
the cart, for the arrival of the child and her trunk ex-
cited the curiosity of everybody in the neighborhood.
As the miller lifted Heidi down, she said hastily, ““Thank
you, grandfather will send for the trunk.” She was
going to run off, when first one and then another of
the bystanders caught hold of her, each one having a
different question to put to her. But Heidi pushed
her way through them with such an expression of
distress on her face that they were forced to let her go.
Heidi climbed up the steep path from Dorfli as
quickly as she could. She was obliged, however, to
pause now and again to take breath, for the basket
she carried was rather heavy, and the way got steeper
as she drew nearer the top. One thought alone filled
Heidi’s mind. Would she find the grandmother sitting
in her usual corner by the spinning wheel? Was she
still alive? At last Heidi caught sight of the grand-
mother’s house in the hollow of the mountain and her
heart began to beat more quickly. She ran faster
and faster and her heart beat louder and louder. Then
She had reached the house, but she trembled so she
could hardly open the door. Then she was standing
inside, unable in her breathlessness to utter a sound.
SUMMER EVENING ON THE MOUNTAIN 143

“Ah, my God!” cried a voice from the corner.

“That was how Heidi used to run in. If only I could
have her with me once again! Who is there?”
“Tt’s I, I, grandmother,” cried Heidi as she ran
and flung herself on her knees beside the old woman,
and seizing her hands, clung to her, unable to speak
for joy. And the grandmother herself could not say a
word for some time, so unexpected was this happiness.
But at last she put out her hand and stroked Heidi’s
curly hair, and said, ‘‘Yes, yes, that is her hair, and her
voice. Thank God He has granted my prayer!’ And
tears of joy fell from the blind eyes upon Heidi’s hand.
“Ts it really you, Heidi? Have you really come back
to me?”
“Yes, grandmother, I am really here,” answered
Heidi in a reassuring voice. ‘Do not cry, for I have
really come back and I am never going away again,
and I shall come every day to see you. You won’t
have any more hard bread to eat for a while, for look,
look!”
And Heidi took the rolls from the basket, and piled
the whole twelve up on grandmother’s lap.
“Ah, child! Child! What a blessing you bring
with you!’ the old woman exclaimed, as she felt and
seemed never to come to the end of therolls. “But you
yourself are the greatest blessing, Heidi,” and again
she touched the child’s hair and passed her hand over
her hot cheeks. ‘Say something, child, that I may hear
your voice,” she begged.
144 HEIDI
While Heidi was talking Peter’s mother came in
and stood for a moment overcome with astonish-
ment. ‘‘Why, it’s Heidi!’ she exclaimed, ‘‘and yet
can it be?”
Heidi stood up, and Brigitta could not say
enough in admiration of the child’s dress and ap-
pearance.
“Vou may have my hat if you like,” said Heidi.
“T do not want it, I have my own still.’”’ She opened
her red bundle and took out her own old hat, which
had become a little more battered during the journey.
She had not forgotten how her grandfather had called
out to Dete that he never wished to see her and her
hat and feathers again. That was why she had so
anxiously kept her old hat, for she had never ceased
to think about going home to her grandfather. Brigitta
would not take the beautiful new hat, but Heidi quietly
hid it in a corner behind the grandmother’s chair.
Then she took off her pretty dress and put her red
shawl on over her petticoat.
“IT must go home to grandfather,” she said, “but
to-morrow I shall come again. Good night, grand-
mother.”
“Yes, come again, be sure you come again to-
morrow,’ begged the grandmother, as she pressed
Heidi’s hands in hers, unwilling to let her go.
“Why have you taken off that pretty dress?” asked
Brigitta.
“Because I would rather go home to grandfather as
21
SUMMER EVENING ON THE MOUNTAIN 145

I am, or else perhaps he would not know me. You

hardly did at first.”
Heidi bade Brigitta good night and continued her
way up the mountain. All around her the steep
green slopes shone bright in the evening sun, and
soon the great, gleaming snow field up above came in
sight. Heidi kept pausing to look around, for the
higher peaks were behind her as she climbed. Suddenly
a warm red glow fell on the grass at her feet. She looked
back again; she had not remembered how splendid it
was, nor seen anything to compare to it in her dreams.
There the two high mountain peaks rose into the air
like two great flames, the whole snow field had turned
crimson, and rosy-colored clouds floated in the sky
above. The grass upon the mountain sides had turned
to gold, the rocks were all aglow, and the whole valley
was bathed in golden mist. And as Heidi stood gaz-
ing around her at all this splendor the tears ran down
her cheeks for very delight and happiness, and im-
pulsively she put her hands together, and lifting her
eyes to heaven, thanked God aloud for having brought
her home, thanked Him that everything was as beaut:
ful as ever, more beautiful even than she had thought,
and that it was all hers again once more. And she
was so overflowing with joy and thankfulness that
she could not find words to thank Him enough.
Not until the glory began to fade could she tear her-
self away.
Then she ran on so quickly that in a very little
146 HEIDI

while she caught sight of the tops of the fir trees above
the hut roof, then the roof itself, and at last the whole
hut. There was grandfather sitting as in old days
smoking his pipe, and she could see the fir trees waving
in the wind. Quicker and quicker went her little feet,
and before Alm-Uncle had time to see who was coming
Heidi had rushed up to him, thrown down her basket
and flung her arms around his neck, unable in the ex-
citement of seeing him again to say more than ‘‘Grand-
father! Grandfather! Grandfather!’ over and over
again.
And the old man himself said nothing. For the
first time in many years his eyes were wet, and he had
to pass his hand across them. ‘Then he unloosed
Heidi’s arms, put her on his knee, and after looking
at her for a moment, said, ‘‘So you have come back to
me, Heidi. How is that? You don’t look much of
a grand lady. Did they send you away?”
“Oh, no, grandfather,’ said Heidi eagerly, ‘you
must not think that. They were all so kind—Clara,
and grandmamma, and Mr. Sesemann. But you see,
grandfather, I did not know how to contain myself
till I got home again to you. I used to think I should
die, for I felt as if I could not breathe, but I never
said anything because it would have been ungrate-
ful. And then suddenly one morning quite early Mr.
Sesemann said to me—but I think it was partly the
doctor’s doing—but perhaps it’s all in the letter—”
and Heidi jumped down and brought the package
SUMMER EVENING ON THE MOUNTAIN 147

and the letter and handed them both to her grand-

father.
“That belongs to you,” said the latter, laying the
package down on the bench beside him. Then he opened
the letter, read it through, and without a word put it
in his pocket.
“Do you think you can still drink milk with me,
Heidi?” he asked, taking the child by the hand. ‘Bring
your money with you; you can buy a bed and bed-
clothes and dresses for a couple of years with it.”
“Tt am sure I do not want it,” replied Heidi. “TI
have got a bed already, and Clara has put such a lot
of clothes in my box that I shall never want any more.”
“Take it and put it in the cupboard: you will want
it some day I have no doubt.”’
Heidi took up her money and skipped happily after
her grandfather into the house. She ran into all the
corners, delighted to see everything again, and then
went up the ladder. There she came to a pause and
called down in a tone of surprise and distress, ‘Oh,
grandfather, my bed’s gone.”
“We can soon make it up again,’”’ he answered her
from below. “I did not know that you were coming
back. Come along now and have your milk.”
Heidi came down, climbed on her high stool in the
old place, and then taking up her bowl drank her milk
eagerly, as if she had never come across anything so
delicious. As she put down her bowl, she exclaimed,
“Our milk tastes better than anything else in the
world, grandfather.”
148 HEIDI

A shrill whistle was heard outside. Heidi darted

out like a flash of lightning. There were the goats
leaping and springing down the rocks, with Peter in
their midst. When he caught sight of Heidi he stood
still with astonishment and gazed speechlessly at her.
Heidi called out, ‘‘Good evening, Peter,”’ and then ran
in among the goats. ‘Little Swan! Little Bear! Do
you know me again?”
The animals evidently recognized her voice at once,
for they began rubbing their heads against her and
bleating loudly as if for joy, and as she called the other
goats by name one after the other, they all came scamper-
ing toward her helter-skelter and crowding round her.
The impatient Greenfinch sprang into the air and over
two of her companions in order to get nearer, and even
the shy little Snowflake butted the Great Turk out of
her way in quite a determined manner.
Heidi was almost out of her mind with delight at
being among her old friends again. She flung her arms
round the pretty little Snowflake, stroked the mis-
chievous Greenfinch, while she herself was thrust at
from all sides by the affectionate goats. So at last
she came near to where Peter was still standing, not
yet over his surprise.
“Come down, Peter,” cried Heidi, ‘and say good
evening to me.”
“So you are back again?” he found words to say at
last. He ran down and took Heidi’s hand which she
was holding out in greeting, and immediately put the
SUMMER EVENING ON THE MOUNTAIN 149

same question to her which he had been in the habit of

asking in the old days when they returned home in the
evening, ‘Will you come out with me to-morrow?”
“Not to-morrow, but the day after perhaps, for to-
morrow I must go down to grandmother.”’
“IT am glad you are back,’ said Peter, while his
whole face beamed with pleasure. He prepared to go
on with his goats, but he never had had so much trouble
with them before. When at last, by coaxing and threats
he had them all together, and Heidi had gone off with
an arm around each of her grandfather’s two, the whole
flock suddenly turned and ran after her. Heidi had to
go inside the stall with her two and shut the door or
Peter would never have reached home that night.
When Heidi went indoors she found her bed al-
ready made up for her. The hay had been piled high
for it and smelled delicious. The grandfather had
carefully spread and tucked in the clean sheets. It
was with a happy heart that Heidi lay down in it
that night, and her sleep was sounder than it had
been for a whole year past. The grandfather got up at
least ten times during the night and mounted the ladder
to see if Heidi was all right and showing no signs of
restlessness. But Heidi did not stir; she had no need
now to wander about, for the great burning longing of
her heart was satisfied. She had seen the high moun-
tains-and rocks alight in the evening glow and she had
heard the wind in the fir trees. She was at home again
on the mountain.
 CHAPTER

mat
Sunday Bells

EIDI was standing under the waving fir trees

waiting for her grandfather, who was going
down with her to grandmother’s, and then on
to Dorfli to bring up her trunk. It was Saturday, a
day when Alm-Uncle made everything clean and neat
inside and outside the house. He had devoted the
morning to this work so as to be able to accompany
Heidi in the afternoon, and the whole place was now
as spick and span as he liked to see it. ‘‘Well, now we
can be off,”’ he called cheerfully as he came out. They
parted at the grandmother’s cottage, and Heidi ran
in. The grandmother had heard her steps approaching
and greeted her as she crossed the threshold, ‘‘Is it you;
child? Have you come again?”
Then she took hold of Heidi’s hand and held it fast
in her own, for she still seemed to fear that the child
might be torn from her again. She had to tell Heidi
right away how much she had enjoyed the white bread,
and how much stronger it had made her feel already.
Brigitta said that she was sure if her mother could
eat like that for a week she would get back some
of her strength, but she was so afraid of coming to the
end of the rolls that she had eaten only one as yet.
150
SUNDAY BELLS 151

Heidi listened to all Brigitta said, and sat thinking for

a while. Then she suddenly thought of a way.
“T know, grandmother, what I will do,” she said
eagerly. ‘I will write to Clara, and she will send me as
many rolls again, if not twice as many, as you have
now. I had ever such a large heap in the wardrobe,
and when they were all taken away she promised to
give me as many back, and she would do so I am
sure.”
“That is a good idea,” said Brigitta, “but then,
they would get hard and stale. The baker in Dorfli
makes the white rolls, but I can only just manage to
pay for the black bread.”
A further bright thought came to Heidi, and her
little face lighted up with joy. ‘Oh, I have lots of
money, grandmother,” she cried gleefully, skipping
about the room in her delight, ‘‘and I know now what
I will do with it. You must have a fresh white roll every
day, and two on Sunday. Peter can bring them up
from Dorfli.”
“No, no, child!’ answered the grandmother. “I
cannot let you do that. The money was not given to
you for that purpose. You must give it to your grand-
father, and he will tell you how you are to spend it.”
But Heidi would not listen. She continued to jump
about, saying joyously over and over, ‘Now, grand-
mother can have a roll every day and will grow quite
strong again. Oh, grandmother” she suddenly ex-
claimed, still more happily, ‘“‘if you get strong maybe
152 HEIDI

everything will grow light again for you; perhaps

it’s only because you are weak that it is dark.”
The grandmother said nothing, for she did not wish
to spoil the child’s pleasure. As Heidi went jumping
about, she suddenly caught sight of the grandmother’s
song book, and another happy ideastruck her. “Grand-
mother, I can read now. Would you like me to read
you one of your hymns from your old book?”’
“Oh, yes,” said the grandmother, surprised and
delighted. ‘Can you really read, child, really?”
Heidi had climbed up on a chair and had already
lifted down the book, bringing a cloud of dust with it,
for it had lain untouched on the shelf for a long time.
Heidi wiped it, sat down on a stool beside the old
woman, and asked her which hymn she should read.
“What you lke, child, what you like.” The grand.
mother pushed her spinning wheel aside and sat eagerly
waiting for Heidi to begin. Heidi turned over the leaves
and read a line out softly to herself here and there.
At last she said, ‘Here is one about the sun, grand.
mother. I will read you that.”
The grandmother sat with folded hands and a look
of indescribable joy on her face, such as Heidi had never
seen there before, although at the same time the tear:
were running down her cheeks. As Heidi finished, thi
grandmother begged, “‘Read it once again, child, just
once again.”
So Heidi, as pleased as the grandmother, read th
hymn again.
SUNDAY BELLS 153

“Ah, Heidi, that brings light to the heart! What

comfort you have brought me!”
The old woman kept on repeating the glad words,
while Heidi beamed with happiness. She could not
take her eyes from the grandmother’s face, for it had
never looked like that before. It had no longer the old
troubled expression, but was alight with peace and
joy as if she were already Jooking with new, clear eyes
into the garden of Paradise.
Some one now knocked at the window and Heidi
looked up and saw her grandfather beckoning her to
come home with him. As she was going out Brigitta
ran to her with the frock and hat she had left. Heidi
put the dress over her arm, but she refused to take
back the hat.
Heidi could hardly wait to tell her grandfather of
her plan to buy rolls for the grandmother. ‘The
money is yours,” he said. ‘‘Do what you like with it.
You can buy bread for grandmother for years to come
with it.”
Heidi shouted for joy at the thought that grand-
mother would never need to eat hard, black bread
again. ‘Oh, grandfather!” she said. ‘Everything is
happier now than it has ever been in our lives before!
If God had let me come at once, as I prayed, then
everything would have been different. I should have
had only a little bread to bring to grandmother, and
I should not have been able to read, which is such a
comfort to her. God has arranged it all so much better
154 HEIDI

than I knew how to. Everything has happened just

as the other grandmother said it would. And now I
shall always pray to God as she told me, and always
thank Him, and when He does not do anything I ask
for I shall think to myself, ‘It’s just as it was in Frank-
furt. God, I am sure, is going to do something better
still.’ So we will pray every day, won’t we, grandfather,
and never forget-Him again?”
‘“‘And suppose we do forget Him?” said the grand-
father in a low voice.
“Then everything goes wrong, for God lets us then
go where we like. When we get poor and miserable and
begin to cry about it no one pities us, but everyone
says, ‘You ran away from God, and so God, who could
have helped you, left you to yourself!’ ”’
“That is true, Heidi, but where did you learn it?”
“From grandmamma. She explained it all to me.”
The grandfather walked on for a little while without
speaking, then he said, as if following his own train of
thought: “And if it is so once, it is so always. No one
can go back, and he whom God has forgotten, is for-
gotten forever.’
“Oh, no, grandfather, we can go back, for grand-
mamma, told me so, and so it was in the beautiful tale
in‘my book. You have not heard that yet, but I will
read it to you as soon as we get home.”
When they reached the hut the old man sat down on
the bench. Heidi soon came running out with her
book under her arm. In a second she was beside him
 SUNDAY BELLS 155

and had her book open at the story she wanted. In a

sympathetic voice Heidi began to read of the prodigal
son when he was happily at home, and went out into
the fields with his father’s flocks. The picture showed
him dressed in a fine cloak, watching the sunset.
But then all at once he wanted to have his own
goods and money and to be his own master, and so he
asked his father to give him his share, and he left his
home and went and wasted all his money. And when
he had nothing left he hired himself out to a master
who had no flocks and fields such as his father had,
but only swine to keep. So the young man was obliged
to watch these, and he had only rags to wear and a few
husks to eat such as the swine fed upon.
Then he thought of his old happy life at home and
how kindly his father had treated him and how un-
grateful he had been, and he wept for sorrow and long-
ing. And he thought to himself, ‘I will arise and go
to my father, and will say to him, ‘Father, I am not
worthy to be called thy son; make me as one of thy
hired servants.’’’ And when he was yet a great way
off his father saw him .
Here Heidi paused in Ree reading. ‘“‘What do you
think happens now, grandfather?” she said. ‘Do you
think the father is angry and will say to him, ‘I told you
so’? Well, listen now to what comes next.
“‘<FTis father saw him, and had compassion, and ran,
and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said
to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in
156 HEIDI

thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.”

But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring forth the
best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his |
hand and shoes on his feet; and bring hither the fatted
calf and kill it; and let us eat and be merry, for this my
son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is
found.” And they began to be merry.’
“Tsn’t that a beautiful story grandfather?” asked
Heidi as the old man sat without speaking. She was
surprised that he had not expressed pleasure and as-
tonishment.
“You are right, Heidi; it is a beautiful story,” he
replied, but he looked so grave as he said it that Heidi
grew silent herself and sat looking quietly at her pictures.
A few hours later, as Heidi lay fast asleep in her bed,
the grandfather went up the ladder and put his lamp
down near her bed, so that the light fell on the sleeping
child. Her hands were still folded as if she had fallen
asleep saying her prayers and an expression of peace
and trust lay on the little face. The grandfather
stood for a long time gazing down at her.
At last he too folded his hands, and with bowed
head said in a low voice, ‘‘Father, I have sinned against
heaven and before thee and am not worthy to be called
thy son.’’ And two large tears rolled down the old
man’s cheeks.
Karly the next morning he stood in front of his hut
and gazed around him. The fresh, bright, morning
sun lay on mountain and valley. The sound of a few
SUNDAY BELLS 157

early bells floated up from the valley, and the birds

were singing their morning song in the fir trees. He
stepped back into the hut and called up, “‘Come along,
Heidi! The sun is up! Put on your best frock, for we
are going to church together!”
Heidi was not long getting ready. It was such an
unusual summons from her grandfather that she had
to hurry. She put on her smart Frankfurt dress and
soon went down, but when she saw her grandfather she
stood still, gazing at him in astonishment. ‘Why,
grandfather!’ she exclaimed. “I never saw you look
like that before! I never saw that coat with the silver
buttons! Oh, you do look fine in your Sunday coat!”
The old man smiled and replied, ‘‘So do you look
fine. Now come along!” He took Heidi’s hand in
his and together they walked down the mountain side.
The bells were ringing in every direction now, sounding
louder and fuller as they neared the valley, and Heidi
listened to them with delight. ‘Listen to them, grand-
father! It’s like a great festival.’
The congregation had already assembled and the
singing had begun when Heidi and her grandfather
entered the church at Dorfli and sat down at the back.
But before the hymn was over everyone was nudging
his neighbor and whispering, ‘Do you see? Alm-
Uncle is in church!”
At the close of the service Alm-Uncle took Heidi
by the hand, and together they went toward the pastor’s
house. The rest of the congregation looked curiously
158 | HEIDI

after them. Some even followed until they saw them go

inside the pastor’s house. Then they collected in groups
and talked over this strange event.
Meanwhile Alm-Uncle had gone into the pastor’s
house and knocked at the study door. The pastor
shook hands warmly with him, and Alm-Uncle was un-
able at first to speak, for he had not expected such a
friendly reception.
At last he collected himself and said: ‘I have
come to ask you, pastor, to forget the words I spoke
to you when you called on me, and to beg you not to
feel any ill will toward me for having been so stubbornly
set against your well-meant advice. You were right,
and I was wrong, but I have now made up my mind
to follow your advice. I am going to find a place for
myself at Dorfli for the winter, for the child is not
strong enough to stand the bitter cold up on the moun-
tain. And if the people down here look askance at
me, as at a person not to be trusted, I know it is my
own fault, and you will, I am sure, not do so.”
The pastor’s kindly eyes shone with pleasure. He
pressed the old man’s hand in his, and said with
emotion, “Neighbor, I am very glad. You will not be
sorry, I am sure, that you decided to come live with us
again. You will always be welcome here as a dear
friend and neighbor, and I look forward to our spend-
ing many a pleasant winter evening together. We will
find some friends, too, for the little one.”’ And the pastor
laid his hand kindly on the child’s curly head, and took
SUNDAY BELLS 159

her by the hand as he walked to the door with the old

man. He did not say good-by to him till they were
outside, so that all the people standing about saw
him shake hands as if he were parting reluctantly
from his best friend.
The door had hardly shut behind him before the
whole congregation came forward to greet Alm-Uncle.
Everyone was trying to be the first to shake hands with
him, and so many hands were held out that Alm-
Uncle did not know which to grasp first. One said,
‘“‘We are so pleased to see you among us again,” and
another, ‘I have long been wishing we could have a
talk together again,” and greetings of all kinds echoed
from every side. When Alm-Uncle told them he was
thinking of returning to his old quarters in Dorfli
for the winter, there was such a general chorus of pleasure
that anyone would have thought he was the most be-
loved person in all Dorfli, and that they had hardly
known how to live without him.
Most of his friends accompanied him and Heidi
some way up the mountain, and each as they bade
him good-by made him promise that when he next
came down he would without fail come and call. As
the old man at last stood alone with the child, watching
their retreating figures, there was a light upon his face
as if reflected from some inner sunshine of heart.
Heidi looked up at him with her clear, steady eyes
and said, ‘‘Grandfather, you look happier and happier
to-day. I never saw you quite like that before.”
160 HEIDI

‘Do you think so?”’ he said with a smile. ‘Well,

yes, Heidi, I am happier to-day than I deserve, happier
than I had thought possible. It is good to be at peace
with God and man! God was good to me when he
sent you to my hut.”
When they reached Peter’s home the grandfather
opened the door and walked straight in. ‘Good morn-
ing, grandmother,” he said. ‘I think we shall have to
do some more patching up before the autumn winds
come.”
“Dear God, if it is not Uncle!’ cried the grand-
mother in pleased surprise. ‘“That I should live to
see such a thing! And now I can thank you for all that
you have done for me. May God reward you! May
God reward you!” She stretched out a trembling
hand to him, and when the grandfather shook it
warmly, she went on, still holding his, ‘‘And I have
something on my heart I want to say, a prayer to make
to you! IfI have injured you in any way, do not punish
me by sending the child away again before I lie under
the grass. Oh, you do not know what that child is to
me!’ And she clasped the child to her, for Heidi had
already taken her usual stand close to the grandmother.
‘Have no fear, grandmother,” said Uncle in a re-
assuring voice, “I shall not punish either you or my-
self by doing so. We are all together now, and pray
God we may continue so for long.”
Brigitta now drew the Uncle aside toward a corner
of the room and showed him the hat with the feathers,
12
SUNDAY BELLS 161

explaining to him how it came there, and adding that

of course she could not take such a thing from the
child.
But the grandfather looked at Heidi without any
displeasure and said, “The hat is hers, and if she does
not wish to wear it any more she has a right to say so
and to give it to you. So take it, pray.”
Brigitta was highly delighted.
At this moment Peter rushed in. He had a letter
for Heidi which had been delivered at the post office
in Dorfli.
They all sat down round the table to hear what
was in it, for Heidi opened it at once and read it with-
out hesitation. The letter was from Clara. She wrote
that the house had been so dull since Heidi left that
she did not know how to endure it. She had at last
persuaded her father to take her to the baths at Ragatz
in the coming autumn. Grandmamma, had arranged
to join them there, and they both were looking for-
ward to paying her and her grandfather a visit. And
grandmamma sent a further message to Heidi that
she had done quite right to take the rolls to the grand-
mother, and so that she might not have to eat them
dry, she was sending some coffee. Grandmamma hoped
when she came to the Alm in the autumn that Heidi
would take her to see her old friend.
There were exclamations of pleasure and astonish-
ment on hearing all this news, and so much to talk
and ask about that the minutes flew. All ton soon it
162 HEIDI

was time for the grandfather and Heidi to start up the

mountain.
‘You will come soon again, Uncle, and you, child,
to-morrow?” begged the grandmother.
The old man and Heidi promised her faithfully
to do so. As they had been greeted with bells when
they made their journey down in the morning, so now
they were accompanied by the peaceful evening chimes
as they climbed to the hut.
 CHAPTER

3)
Preparations for a Journey

kind doctor who had given the order that

Heidi was to be sent home was walking along
one of the broad streets toward Mr. Sesemann’s
_ house. It was a sunny September morning, so full of
light and sweetness that it seemed as if everybody must
rejoice. But the doctor walked with his eyes on the
ground and did not once lift them to the blue sky above
him. There was an expression of sadness on his face,
formerly so cheerful, and his hair had grown grayer since
the spring. The doctor had had an only daughter, who,
after his wife’s death, had been his constant companion.
She had died only a few months before and he had never
been able to look bright and cheery since.
“T am glad you have come, doctor,’ exclaimed Mr.
Sesemann as his friend entered. ‘‘We must really have
another talk about this Swiss journey. Do you still
stick to your decision, even though Clara is decidedly
improving in health?”
“My dear Sesemann, I never knew such a man as
you!”’ said the doctor as he sat down beside his friend.
“T really wish your mother were here. Everything
would be clear and straightforward then and she would
soon have things straightened out. You sent for me
163
164 HEIDI

three times yesterday only to ask me the same question,

though you know what I think.”
‘Yes, I know it’s enough to make you out of patience
with me; but you must understand, dear friend’’—
and Mr. Sesemann laid his hand imploringly on the
doctor’s shoulder—‘“‘that I feel I have not the courage
to refuse the child what I have been promising her all
along. For months now she has been living on the
thought of it day and night. She bore this last bad at-
tack so patiently because she was buoyed up with the
hope that she should soon start on her Swiss journey,
and see her friend Heidi again. Now must I tell the
poor child, who has to give up so many pleasures, that
this visit she has so long looked forward to must also
be canceled? I really have not the courage to do it.”
“You must make up your mind to it, Sesemann,”
said the doctor with authority. As his friend sat
silent and dejected he went on after a pause, “‘Consider
yourself how the matter stands. Clara has not had
such a bad summer as this last one for years. Only
the worst results would follow from the fatigue of such
a journey, and it is out of the question for her. Then
we are already in September, and although it may still
be warm and fine up there, it may just as likely be very
cold. The days, too, are growing short, and since Clara
cannot spend the night up there she would have only
a two hours’ visit at the outside. The journey from
Ragatz would take hours, for she would have to be
carried up the mountain in a chair. In short, Sese-
PREPARATIONS FOR A JOURNEY 165

mann, it is impossible. But I will go in with you and

talk to Clara. She is a reasonable child, and I will
tell her what my plans are. Next May she shall be
taken to the baths and stay there for the cure until it
is quite hot weather. Then she can be carried up the
mountain from time to time, and when she is stronger
she will enjoy these excursions far more than she would
now. Understand, Sesemann, that if we want to give
the child a chance of recovery we must use the utmost
care and watchfulness.”’
Mr. Sesemann, who had listened to the doctor in
sad and submissive silence, now suddenly jumped up.
“Doctor,” he said, “tell me truly. Have you really
any hope of her final recovery?”
The doctor shrugged his shoulders. ‘Very little,”
he replied quietly. ‘But, friend, think of my trouble.
You have still a beloved child to look for you and greet
you on your return home. You do not come back to
an empty house and sit down to a solitary meal. And
the child is happy and comfortable at home, too. If
there is much that she has to give up, she has, on the
other hand, many advantages. No, Sesemann, you are
not so greatly to be pitied—you still have the happiness
of being together. Think of my lonely house!”
Mr. Sesemann was now striding up and down the
room as was his habit when he was deeply engaged in
thought. Suddenly he came to a pause beside his
friend and laid his hand on his shoulder. ‘Doctor, I
have an idea. I cannot bear to see you look as you do;
166 HEIDI

you are no longer the same man. You must be taken

out of yourself for a while. I propose that you take the
journey and go and pay Heidi a visit in our name.”
The doctor was taken aback at this sudden pro-
posal and wanted to make objections, but his friend
gave him no time to say anything. He was so delighted
with his idea that he seized the doctor by the arm and
drew him into Clara’s room. The kind doctor was al-
ways a welcome visitor to Clara, for he generally had
something amusing to tell her. Lately, it is true, he
had been graver, but Clara knew why and would have
given much to see him his old lively self again.
She held out her hand to him as he came up to her
and took a seat beside her. Her father also drew up
his chair, and taking Clara’s hand in his began to
talk to her of the Swiss journey and how he himself
had looked forward to it. He passed as quickly as he
could over the main point that it was now impossible
for her to undertake it, for he dreaded the tears that
would follow. Without pause he went on to tell her
of his new plan. He emphasized the great benefit it
would be to the doctor if he could be persuaded to take
this holiday. |
The tears were indeed swimming in the blue eyes,
although Clara struggled to keep them down for her
father’s sake. She knew that he would never refuse
her a thing unless he was certain that it would be harm-
ful for her. So she swallowed her tears as well as she
could and taking the doctor’s hand she said pleadingly:
PREPARATIONS FOR A JOURNEY 167

“Dear doctor, you will go and see Heidi, won’t

you? Then you can come and tell me all about it,
what it is like up there, and what Heidi and the grand-
father, and Peter and the goats do all day. I know
them all so well! And then you can take what I want to
send to Heidi. Do go, dear doctor, and I will take as
much cod-liver oil as you like.”
Whether this promise finally decided the doctor it
is impossible to say, but it is certain that he smiled and
said: ‘“Then I must certainly go, Clara, for if you do
that you will get as plump and strong as your father
and I wish to see you. And have you decided when I
am to start?”
‘‘To-morrow morning—early if possible,’’ replied
Clara.
“Yes, she is right,’ put in Mr. Sesemann. “The
sun is shining and the sky is blue, and there is no time
to be lost. It is a pity to miss a single one of these days
on the mountain.”
The doctor could not help laughing. ‘‘You will be
reproaching me next for not being there already! Well,
I must go and make arrangements for getting off.”
But Clara would not let him go until she had given
him endless messages for Heidi. Her presents she would
send round later, when Miss Rottenmeier had packed
them.
At the street door the doctor met with a sudden
obstacle. Miss Rottenmeier was returning from a walk
and reached the door just as he did. The white shawl
168 HEIDI

she wore was so blown out by the wind that she looked
like a ship in full sail. The doctor drew back, but Miss
Rottenmeier had always shown peculiar appreciation
and respect for this man, and she also drew back with
exaggerated politeness to let him pass.
The two stood for a few seconds, each anxious to
make way for the other, but a sudden gust of wind sent
Miss Rottenmeier flying with all her sails almost into
the doctor’s arms, and she had to pause and recover
herself before she could shake hands with the doctor
with becoming decorum. She was annoyed because
she had been forced to enter in so undignified a manner,
but the doctor had away of smoothing people’s ruffled
feathers, and she was soon listening with her usual
composure while he informed her of his intended journey.
He begged her in his most agreeable manner to pack up
the parcels for Heidi as she alone knew how to pack.
And then he took his leave.
Clara quite expected to have a long tussle with Miss
Rottenmeier before the housekeeper would consent to
send all the things that she had collected as presents
for Heidi. But this time she was mistaken, for Miss
Rottenmeier was in an unusually good temper. She
cleared the large table so that all the things for Heidi
could be spread out upon it and packed under Clara’s
own eyes. It was no light job, for the presents were of
all shapes and sizes. First there was a little warm
cloak with a hood, which had been designed by Clara
herself, in order that Heidi during the coming winter
PREPARATIONS FOR A JOURNEY 169

might be able to go and see grandmother when she

liked. Then came a thick, warm shawl for the grand-
mother, in which she could wrap herself up well and not
feel Fae cold when the wind came sweeping In such
terrible gusts round the house.
The next object was a large box full of cakes. These
were also for the grandmother, that she might have
something to eat with her coffee besides bread. An
immense sausage for Peter’s mother was the next article.
A packet of tobacco was a present for grandfather,
who was so fond of his pipe as he sat resting in the even-
ing. Finally there were a whole lot of mysterious little
bags and parcels and boxes which Clara had had es-
pecial pleasure in collecting, for each was to be a joy-
ful surprise for Heidi as she opened it. The work came
to an end at last, and an imposing-looking package
lay ready on the floor. Clara eyed it with pleasure,
picturing Heidi’s exclamations and jumps of joy and
surprise when the huge parcel arrived at the hut.
Sebastian came in, and lifting the package up on
his shoulder, carried it off to be forwarded at once to
the doctor’s house.
 CHAPTER

16
EAE

A Visitor

HE early light of morning lay rosy red upon the

mountains, and a fresh breeze rustled through
the fir trees and set their ancient branches wav-
ing to and fro. The sound awoke Heidi and she opened
her eyes. The roaring in the trees always stirred a strong
emotion within her and seemed to draw her irresistibly —
to them. So she jumped out of bed and dressed as
quickly as she could.
When she went down the ladder she found that her
grandfather had already left the hut. He was standing
outside looking at the sky and examining the landscape
as he did every morning, to see what sort of weather it
was going to be.
Little pink clouds were floating over the sky, that
was growing brighter and bluer with every minute.
The heights and the meadow lands were turning gold
under the rising sun, which was just appearing above
the topmost peaks.
“O how beautiful! How beautiful! Good morning,
grandfather!” cried Heidi, running out.
“What, you are awake already, are you?” he an-
swered, giving her a morning greeting.
Then Heidi ran round to the fir trees to enjoy the
sound she loved so well, and with every fresh gust of
176
Peter Now Gave a Last Tremendous Whistle.
172 HEIDI

wind which came roaring through their branches she

gave a fresh jump and cry of delight.
Meanwhile the grandfather had gone to milk Little
Swan. This done, he brushed and washed the goats,
ready for their mountain excursion, and brought them
out of their shed. As soon as Heidi caught sight of
her two friends she ran and embraced them. They
bleated in return, and vied with each other in showing
their affection by poking their heads against her and
trying to see which could get nearest her, so that she
was almost crushed between them.
And now Peter’s whistle was heard and all the goats
came along, leaping and springing. Heidi soon found
herself surrounded by the whole flock, pushed this way
and that by their rough greetings, but at last she
managed to get through them to where Snowflake was
standing, for the young goat had tried in vain to reach
her.
Peter now gave a last tremendous whistle, in order
to startle the goats and drive them off, for he himself
wanted to get near to say something to Heidi. The
goats sprang aside and he came up to her.
“Can you come out with me to-day?” he asked,
evidently unwilling to hear her refuse.
“IT am afraid I cannot, Peter,” she answered. ‘I
am. expecting the folks every minute from Frankfurt,
and I must be at home when they come.”
“You have said the same thing for days now,”
grumbled Peter.
A VISITOR 173

“T must keep on saying it till they come,’’ replied

Heidi. “How can you think, Peter, that I would be
away when they came? As if I could do such a thing!”
“They would find Uncle at home,’”’ he answered
crossly.
But at this moment the grandfather’s deep voice
was heard. ‘Why is the army not marching forward?
Is it the field marshal who is missing or some of the
troops?”
Peter immediately turned and went off, swinging
his stick around so that it whistled through the air.
The goats understood the signal and started at full
trot for their mountain pasture.
Since Heidi had been back with her grandfather
she thought of things that had never occurred to her
before. With great exertion, she put her bed in order
every morning, patting and stroking it till she had got
it perfectly smooth and flat. Then she went about the
room downstairs, put each chair back in its place,
and if she found anything lying about she put it in
the cupboard. After that she brought a duster, climbed
on a chair, and rubbed the table till it shone again.
When the grandfather came in later he would look
round well pleased and say to himself: ““We look like
Sunday every day now. Heidi did not go away for
nothing.”’
This morning, after Peter had departed and Heidi
and her grandfather had breakfasted, the little girl
began her daily work as usual, but she did not get on
174 HEIDI

with it very fast. It was so lovely out of doors that she

felt, she could not stay inside. The sunlight lay spark-
ling on everything around the hut and on all the moun-
tains and far away along the valley, and the grass slope
looked so golden and inviting that she was obliged to
sit down for a few minutes and look about her.
Then she remembered her unfinished duties and
jumped up and ran inside. But it was not long before
the fir trees began their old song, and Heidi was off to
play and leap to the tune of the waving branches.
The grandfather, who was busy in his work shed,
stepped out from time to time, smiling to watch her
at her play. He had just gone back to his work on one
ofthese occasions when Heidi called out, ‘““Grandfather!
Grandfather! Come! Come!’
He stepped quickly out, almost afraid something
had happened to the child, but he saw her running
down the path, crying, ‘““They are coming! They are
coming! And the doctor is in front of them!’
When Heidi reached her old friend she clung to
his outstretched arm, and exclaimed in the joy of her
heart, “‘Good morning, doctor, and thank you ever
so many times.”
“God bless you, child! What have you to thank
me for?’ asked the doctor, smiling.
“For being at home again with grandfather,” the
child explained.
The doctor’s face brightened as if a sudden ray of
sunshine had passed across it. He had not expected
A VISITOR 175

such a reception as this. He had quite thought that

Heidi would have forgotten him; she had seen so little
of him. He had felt, too, rather like one bearing a
message of disappointment, coming as he did without
the expected friends. But here was Heidi, her eyes
dancing for joy, clinging affectionately to his arm and
pouring out her thanks to him.
He took her by the hand with fatherly tenderness.
“Take me now to your grandfather, Heidi, and show
me where you live.”
But Heidi still remained standing looking down the
path with questioning gaze. ‘‘Where are Clara and
grandmother?” she asked.
‘“‘Ah, now I have to tell you something which you
will be as sorry about as I am,” answered the doctor.
“You see, Heidi, I have come alone. Clara was very ill
and could not travel, and so the grandmother stayed
behind, too. But next spring, when the days grow
warm and long again, they are coming here for certain.”
Heidi was sorely disappointed. She could not at
first bring herself to believe that what she had for so
long been picturing to herself was not going to happen
after all. She stood motionless for a second or two,
overcome by the unexpected disappointment. Then
she suddenly remembered that the doctor had really
come. She lifted her eyes and saw the sad expression
in his as he looked down at her. She had never seen
him with that look on his face when she was in Frank-
furt. It went to Heidi’s heart. She could not bear
13
176 HEIDI

to see anybody unhappy, especially her dear doctor.

No doubt it was because Clara and grandmother could
not come, and so she began to think how best she might
console him.
“Oh, it won’t be very long to wait for spring, and
then they will be sure to come,” she said in a reassuring
voice. ‘Time passes very quickly with us, and then
they will be able to stay longer when they are here, and
Clara will be pleased at that. Now let us go and find
grandfather.”
Hand in hand with her friend she climbed up to the
hut. She was so anxious to make the doctor happy
again that she began once more assuring him that the
winter passed so quickly on the mountain that it was
hardly to be taken account of, and that summer would
be back again before they knew it. She became so
convinced of the truth of her own words that she called
out quite cheerfully to her grandfather as they ap-
proached, ‘“They have not come to-day, but they will
be here in a very short time.”
The doctor was no stranger to the grandfather, for
the child had talked to him so much about her friend.
The old man held out his hand to his guest in friendly
greeting. Then they all three sat down in front of the
hut. The doctor whispered to Heidi that there was
something being brought up the mountain which had
traveled with him from Frankfurt, and which would
give her even more pleasure than seeing the old doctor.
Heidi got into a great state of excitement on hearing
this, wondering what it could be.
A VISITOR 177
The old man urged the doctor to spend as many of
the beautiful autumn days on the mountain as he
could. He advised him not to go back to Ragatz,
but to stay at Dorfli, where there was a clean, neat,
little inn. Then he could come up every morning,
and, if he liked, the grandfather would act as his guide
to any part of the mountains he would like to see.
The doctor was delighted with this proposal.
It was now noon. The wind had sunk and the fir
trees stood motionless. The air was still wonderfully
warm and mild for that height, while a delicious fresh-
ness was mingled with the warmth of the sun.
Alm-Uncle rose and went indoors, returning in a
few minutes with a table which he placed in front of
the seat.
“There, Heidi, now run in and bring us what we
want for the table,” he said. “The doctor must take
us as he finds us. If the food is plain, he will acknowl-
edge that the dining room is pleasant.”
“T should think so, indeed,’’ replied the doctor as
he looked down over the sun-lit valley. ‘Everything
must taste good up here.”
Heidi ran back and forth, delighted that she could
help to entertain the doctor. The grandfather now
appeared with a steaming jug of milk and golden-
brown toasted cheese and some thin slices of meat
he had cured in the pure air. The doctor enjoyed his
dinner better than he had for a whole year past.
“Our Clara must certainly come up here,”’ he said.
178 HEIDI

‘It would make her quite a different person, and if

she ate for any length of time as I have to-day, she
would grow plumper than anyone has ever known her
before.”’
As he spoke a man was seen coming up the path,
carrying a large package on his back. When he reached
the top he threw his load on the ground and drew in
two or three good breaths of the mountain air.
“Ah, here’s what traveled with me from Frankfurt,”
said the doctor, rising, and he went up to the package
and began undoing it. Heidi looked on in great ex-
pectation. After he had released it from its heavy
outer covering, ““There, child,” he said, “now you can
go on unpacking your treasures yourself.’
Heidi opened her presents one by one until they were
all displayed. She could not speak for wonder and de-
light. Not till the doctor went up to her again and
opened the large box to show Heidi the cakes that were
for the grandmother to eat with her coffee, did she at
last give a cry of joy, exclaiming, ‘“Now grandmother
will have nice things to eat!’ She wanted to pack
everything up again and start at once to give them to
her. But the grandfather said he would walk down
with the doctor that evening and she could go with
them then and take the things.
Heidi now found the packet of tobacco which she
ran and gave to her grandfather. He was so pleased
with it that he immediately filled his pipe with some,
and the two men sat together, the smoke curling up
A VISITOR 179

from their pipes as they talked of all kinds of things.

Heidi continued to examine first one and then another
of her presents. Suddenly she ran up to the men, and
standing in front of the doctor waited till there was a
pause in the conversation, and then said, “‘No, the
other thing has not given me more pleasure than see-
ing you, doctor.”
The two men could not help laughing, and the doctor
answered that he should never have thought it possible.
As the sun began to sink behind the mountains the
doctor rose, thinking it time to return to Dorfli and
hunt for lodgings. The grandfather carried the cakes
and the shawl and the large sausage, and the doctor
took Heidi’s hand and they all three started down the
mountain. When they reached Peter’s home Heidi
bade the others good-by. She was to wait at grand-
mother’s till her grandfather, who was going on toe
Dorfli with his guest, returned for her. As the doctor
shook hands with her she asked, ‘“‘Would you like to
come out with the goats to-morrow morning?” for she
could think of no greater treat to offer him.
‘“‘Aoreed!? answered the doctor. ‘‘We will go to
gether.”
The grandfather put the presents down by the door,
and with some effort Heidi managed to carry in the
box of cakes. Then she ran out again and brought
in the sausage. The third time she brought the shawl.
She placed them as close as she could to the grand-
mother, so that the old woman might be able to feel
180 HEIDI

them and understand what was there. The shawl

she laid over the grandmother’s knees.
“They are all from Frankfurt, from Clara and
grandmamma,’’ she explained to the astonished grand-
mother and Brigitta.
‘And you are very pleased with the cakes, aren’t
you, grandmother? ‘Taste how soft they are!’ said
Heidi over and over again, to which the grandmother
continued to answer, ‘Yes, yes, Heidi, I should think
so! What kind people they must be!’ She passed her
hand over the warm, thick shawl and added: ‘This
will be beautiful for the cold weather! I never thought
I should have a such splendid thing as this to put on.”
Heidi could not help feeling some surprise that the
grandmother seemed to take more pleasure in the shawl
than in the cakes.
Peter came tumbling in at this minute. ‘Uncle is
just behind me, he is coming—” he began, and then
stopped short, for he had caught sight of the sausage,
and he was too much taken aback to say more. But
Heidi understood that her grandfather was near and
so said good-by to grandmother. The old man now
never passed the door without going in to wish the
grandmother good day, but it was late this evening so
he only called good-night through the open door and
together he and Heidi climbed under the starlit sky
back to their peaceful home.
There Was Grandfather Sitting as in Old Dave. (See page 146.)
oe wes
 CHAPTER

say
A Compensation

HE next morning the doctor climbed up from

Dorfli with Peter and the goats. The kindly
gentleman tried now and then to enter into con-
versation with the boy, but his attempts failed, for he
could hardly get a word out of Peter in answer to his
questions. At the hut they found Heidi waiting with
her two goats.
The grandfather now came out with the dinner
bag, and after bidding good day to the doctor he went
up to Peter and slung it over his neck. It was heavier
than usual, for Alm-Uncle had added some meat to-
day.
As they started, the goats came thronging around
Heidi, but by degrees she managed to make her way
out from among them and joined the doctor, who took
her by the hand. Heidi had a great deal to say about
the goats and their peculiarities, and about the flowers
and the rocks and the birds. So they clambered on
and reached their resting place before they knew it.
Peter had sent a good many unfriendly glances toward
the doctor on the way up.
- Heidi now led her friend to her favorite spot. Over
the heights and over the far green valley hung the
golden glory of the autumn day. Overhead the great
181
182 HEIDI

bird was flying round and round in wide circles, but

to-day he made no sound. The doctor sat thought-
fully gazing around him.
“Heidi,” he said slowly, “it is beautiful here, but
tell me—if we bring sad hearts up here, how may they
be healed so that we can rejoice in all this beauty?”’
“Oh, but,’’ exclaimed Heidi, “‘no one is sad up here,
only in Frankfurt.”’
The doctor smiled, and then growing serious again
he continued, ‘‘But supposing we are not able to leave
all the sadness behind at Frankfurt. Can you tell me
anything that will help then?”
‘‘When we do not know what more to do we must
go and tell everything to God,” answered Heidi with
decision.
“Ah, that is a good thought of yours, Heidi,’’ said
the doctor. ‘But if it is God Himself who has sent the
trouble, what can we say to Him then?”
Heidi sat thinking for a while.
“Then we must wait,” she said, “and keep on say-
ing to ourselves, “God certainly knows of some happi-
ness for us which he is going to bring out of the trouble,
only we must have patience and not run away.’ And
then all at once something happens and we see clearly
ourselves that God has had some good thought in
His mind all along; but because we cannot see things
beforehand, and only know how dreadfully miserable
we are, we think it is always going to be so.”
“That is a beautiful faith, child. and be sure you
A COMPENSATION 183

hold it fast,” replied the doctor. Then he sat on a

while in silence, looking at the great overshadowing
mountains and the green, sunlit valley below before he
spoke again.
“Can you understand, Heidi, that a man may sit
here with such a shadow over his eyes that he cannot
feel and enjoy the beauty around him, while the heart
grows doubly sad knowing how beautiful it could be?
Can you understand that?”
A pain shot through the child’s young, happy heart.
The shadow over the eyes brought to her remembrance
the grandmother, who would never again be able to
see the sunlight and the beauty up here. This was
Heidi’s great sorrow, which reawoke each time she
thought about the darkness. She did not speak for a
few minutes, for her happiness was interrupted by this
sudden pang.
Then in a grave voice she said: ‘‘Yes, I can under-
stand it. And I know this, that then one must say
one of grandmother’s hymns. They bring the light
back a little, and often make it so bright for her that
she is quite happy again. Grandmother herself told
me this.”
‘Which hymns are they, Heidi?’’ asked the doctor.
“T know only the one about the sun and the beauti-
ful garden, and some of the verses of the long one.
They are favorites with her, and she always likes me to
read them to her two or three times over,’’ replied
Heidi.
184 HEIDI

‘Well, say the verses to me then, I should like to

hear them, too,” said the doctor.
Heidi began to recite the comforting verses.
Suddenly she paused. She was not sure that the
doctor was still listening. He was sitting motionless
with his hand before his eyes. She thought he had
fallen asleep, and sat very quiet. The doctor sat in
silence, but he certainly was not asleep. His thoughts
had carried him back to a long-past time. He saw
himself as a little boy standing by his dear mother’s
chair. She had her arm around his neck and was say-
ing the very verses to him that Heidi had just recited.
He could hear his mother’s voice and see her loving
eyes resting upon him. When at last he roused him-
self he met Heidi’s eyes looking wonderingly at him.
“Heidi,” he said, taking the child’s hand in his,
“that was a beautiful hymn of yours,” and there was a
happier ring in his voice as he spoke. ‘‘We will come out
here together another day, and you will let me hear it
again.”’
Peter was very angry. It was now some days since
Heidi had been out with him, and when at last she did
come, there she sat the whole time beside the old gentle-
man, and Peter could not get a word with her. He
worked himself into a terrible temper.
Meanwhile the sun had risen to the height which
Peter knew pointed to the dinner hour. All of a sudden
he called at the top of his voice, “It’s dinner time.”
The doctor and Heidi decided they wanted only
A COMPENSATION 185

milk. Peter seemed hardly to understand. ‘Who is

going to eat what is in the bag, then?” he asked.
“You may have it,’’ Heidi answered. ‘Only first
make haste and get the milk.”
Peter had seldom performed any task more promptly,
for he thought of the bag and its contents, which now
belonged to him. As soon as the other two were sitting
quietly drinking their milk, he opened the bag. He
quite trembled for joy at the sight of the meat, for he
was not used to that delicacy.
Heidi and the doctor climbed and talked for a
long while, until the doctor said it was time for him
to be going back. He wanted Heidi to stay there, but
she would not hear to this, for then the doctor would
have to go the whole way down the mountain alone.
She insisted on going with him as far as the grand-
father’s hut, or even a little further. She kept hold
of her friend’s hand all the time, and the whole way
she entertained him with accounts of this thing and
that, showing him the spots where the goats liked best
to feed, and other places where in summer the flowers
of all colors grew in greatest abundance.
At last the doctor insisted on her going back.
They bade each other good night and the doctor
continued his descent, turning now and again to look
back. Each time he saw Heidi standing on the same
spot and waving her hand to him. Even so in the old
days had his own dear little daughter watched him
when he went from home.
186 HEIDI

It was a bright, sunny, autumn month. The doctor

came up to the hut every morning, and from there
made excursions with Alm-Uncle over the mountain.
They climbed up to the ancient, storm-beaten fir trees
and often disturbed the great bird, which rose startled
from its nest, with a whirr of wings and croakings,
very near their heads. Alm-Uncle knew the uses of all
the plants. He was as well versed also in the ways of
the animals, great and small, and had many amusing
anecdotes to tell of these dwellers in caves and holes
and in the tops of the fir trees. And so the time
passed pleasantly and quickly for the doctor. He
seldom said good-by to the old man at the end of the
day without adding, “I never leave you, friend, without
having learned something new from you.”’
On some of the very finest days, however, the doctor
would wander out again with Heidi, and then the two
would sit together as on the first day, and the child
would repeat her hymns and talk to the doctor.
September had drawn to its close, and now one
morning the doctor appeared, looking less cheerful
than usual. It was his last day, he said, for he must
return to Frankfurt. He was grieved at having to say
good-by to the mountain, which had begun to feel
quite like home. Alm-Uncle, on his side, greatly re-
gretted the departure of his guest, and Heidi had been
now accustomed for so long to seeing her good friend
every day that she could hardly believe the time had
suddenly come to separate.
A COMPENSATION 187

He bade farewell to the old man and asked that

Heidi might go with him part of the return way.
Heidi took his hand and went down the mountain
with him, still unable to grasp the idea that he was
going for good. After some distance the doctor stood
still, and passing his hand over the child’s curly head
said, ‘““Now, Heidi, you must go back, and I must say
good-by! If only I could take you with me to Frank-
furt and keep you there!”
The picture of Frankfurt rose before the child’s
eyes, its rows of endless houses, its hard streets, and
even the vision of Miss Rottenmeier and Tinette, and
she answered hesitatingly, ‘I would rather that you
came back to us.”
“Yes, you are right, that would be better. But
now good-by, Heidi.” The child put her hand in his
and looked up at him; the kind eyes looking down on
her had tears in them. Then the doctor tore himself
away and quickly continued his descent.
Heidi remained standing perfectly still. The sight
of the friendly eyes with the tears in them had gone
to her heart. All at once she burst into tears and
started running as fast as she could after the departing
figure, calling out in broken tones: ‘Doctor! Doctor!’’
He turned and waited till the child reached him.
The tears were streaming down her face and she sobbed
out, “I will come to Frankfurt with you, now at once,
and I will stay with you as long as you like, only I must
just run back and tell grandfather.”’
188 HEIDI

The doctor laid his hand on her head and tried to

calm her excitement. ‘‘No, no, dear child,” he said
kindly, ‘not now. You must stay for the present under
the fir trees, or I should have you ill again. But if I
am ever ill and alone, will you come then and stay with
me? May I know that there would then be some one
to look after me and care for me?’’
“Yes, yes, I will come the very day you send for me,
and I love you nearly as much as grandfather,”’ replied
Heidi, who had not yet got over her distress.
And so the doctor again bade her good-by and
started on his way, while Heidi remained looking after
him and waving her hand as long as she could see him.
As the doctor turned for the last time and looked back
at the waving Heidi and the sunny mountain, he said
to himself, “It is good to be up there, good for body
and soul. There a man might learn how to be happy
once more.”
 CHAPTER

18
Winter in Dorfli

HE snow was lying so high around the hut that

the windows looked level with the ground, and
the door had entirely disappeared from view. If
Alm-Uncle had been up there he would have had to do
what Peter did daily, for fresh snow fell every night.
Peter had to get out of the window of the sitting room
every morning. If the frost had not been very hard
during the night, he immediately sank up to his
shoulders in the snow and had to struggle with hands,
feet, and head to free himself. Then his mother handed
him the large broom, and with this he worked hard to
make a way to the door. He had to be careful to dig the
snow well away, or else as soon as the door was opened
the whole soft mass would fall inside. If Peter had
not cleared away the snow each day a severe frost would
have made such a wall of ice in front of the house that
no one could have gone in or out, for the window was
only big enough for Peter to creep through.
Alm-Uncle had kept his word and was not spend-
ing the winter in his old home. As soon as the first
snow began to fall he had shut up the hut and the out-
side buildings and gone down to Dérfli with Heidi and
the goats. Near the church was a straggling, half-
189
190 HEIDI

ruined building, which had once been the house of a

person of consequence. One of the men of Déorfli bad
gone to fight in Spain and had there performed many
brave deeds and gathered much treasure. When he
returned to Dorfli he spent part of his money in build-
ing a fine house, with the intention of living in it. But
ne had been too long accustomed to the noise and bustle
of arms and the world to care for a quiet country life,
and he soon went off again, and this time did not re-
turn.
When after many long years it seerned certain that
he was dead, a distant relative took possession of the
house, but it was already badly in need of repair, and
he had no wish to rebuild it. Soit was let to poor people,
who paid but a small rent, and when any part of the
building fell it was not rebuilt. As long ago as when
his son Tobias was a child Alm-Uncle had rented the
tumble-down old place. Since then it had stood empty,
for no one could stay in it who had not some idea how
to stop up the holes and gaps and make it comfort-
able. Otherwise the wind and rain and snow blew
into the rooms, so that it was impossible even to keep
a candle lighted. Anyone who had tried to live there
would have been frozen to death during the long, cold
winters.
Alm-Uncle, however, knew how to fix things up.
Assoon as he had made up his mind to spend the
winter in Dorfli, he rented the old place and worked
during the autumn to get it sound and tight. In
WINTER IN DORFLI 191
the middle of October he and Heidi moved down
there.
In the back of the house in what had been a large
hall Uncle had put up a wooden partition and covered
the floor with straw. This was to be the goat’s house.
Endless passages led from this. Through the holes in
the walls of these passages the sky and the fields and
the road outside could be seen at intervals. At last
one came to a stout oak door leading into a room that
still stood intact. Here the walls and the dark wain-
scoting remained as good as ever. In the corner was an
immense stove reaching nearly to the ceiling. It was
covered with white tiles on which were painted large
pictures in blue. There was a seat around the stove
so that one could sit at one’s ease and study the
pictures.
These attracted Heidi’s attention as soon as she
and her grandfather arrived and she ran and seated
herself and began to examine them. But when she
had gradually worked herself round to the back, some-
thing else attracted her attention. In the large space
between the stove and the wall four planks had been
put together as if to make a large box for apples. There
were no apples, inside, however, but something Heidi
had no difficulty in recognizing, for it was her very
own bed, with its hay mattress and its sheets, and
the sack for a coverlet, just as she had it up at the
hut.
Heidi clapped her hands for joy and exclaimed.
14
192 HEIDI

“Oh, grandfather, this is my room. How nice! But

where are you going to sleep?”
“Your bed must be near the stove or you will
freeze,” he replied. ‘You may come see my room if
you want to.”
Heidi got down and skipped across the large room
after her grandfather. He opened a door at the farther
end leading into a smaller room which was to be his
bedroom. Then came another door. Heidi pushed it
open and stood amazed, for here was an immense
room like a kitchen, larger than anything of the kind
that Heidi had seen before. There was still plenty of
work for the grandfather before this room could be
finished, for there were holes and cracks in the walls
through which the wind whistled. Yet he had already
nailed up so many new planks that it looked as if a
lot of small cupboards had been set up round the
room.
Heidi was delighted with her new home. She slept
soundly in her corner by the stove, but every morn-
ing when she first awoke she thought she was still on
the mountain. Her first impulse was to run outside
at once to see if the fir trees were so quiet because their
branches were weighed down with the thick snow. She
had to look about her for some minutes before she felt
quite sure where she was, and a certain sensation of
trouble and oppression would come over her as she
realized that she was not at home in-the hut. But as
soon as she heard her grandfather’s voice outside she
WINTER IN DORFLI 193

remembered everything and jumped happily out of

bed.
On the fourth morning, as soon as she saw her grand-
father she said, ‘‘I must go up to see grandmother to-
day; she ought not to be alone so long.”
But the grandfather would not agree to this.
“Neither to-day nor to-morrow ean you go,” he said.
‘“The mountain is covered fathom-deep in snow, and
the snow is still falling; the sturdy Peter can hardly
get along. A little girl like you would soon be smothered
by it, and we should not be able to find you again.
Wait a bit till it freezes, then you will be able to walk
over the hard snow.”
Heidi did not like the thought of having to wait,
but the days were so busy that she hardly knew how
they went by.
Heidi now went to school in Dorfli every morning
and afternoon, and eagerly set to work to learn all
that was taught her. She hardly ever saw Peter there,
for, as a rule, he was absent.
The teacher was an easy-going man, who merely
remarked now and then, ‘‘Peter is not turning up to-
day again, it seems, but there is a lot of snow up on the
mountain and I daresay he cannot get along.”’
Peter, however, always seemed able to make his way
through the snow in the evening when school was over,
for he generally paid Heldi a visit then.
One morning the whole mountain glistened and
sparkled like a huge crystal. When Peter got out of
194 HEIDI

his window as usual, he was taken by surprise, for

instead of sinking into the soft snow he fell on the hard
ground and went sliding some way down the moun-
tain side before he could stop himself. He picked him-
self up and tested the hardness of the ground by
stamping on it and trying with all his might to dig
his heels into it, but even then he could not break off
a single little splinter of ice. The Alm was frozen hard
asiron. This was just what Peter had been hoping for.
He knew that now Heidi would be able to come up
tothem. He quickly got back into the house, swallowed
the milk which his mother had ready for him, thrust a
piece of bread in his pocket, and said, ‘‘I must be off
to school.”
“That’s right, go and learn all you can,” said the
grandmother encouragingly.
The door was quite blocked by the frozen snow out-
side, so Peter crept through the window again, pulling
his little sled after him, and in another minute was
shooting down the mountain.
He went like lightning, and when he reached Dorfli,
which stood on the direct road to Mayenfeld, he made
up his mind to go on farther, for he was sure he could
not stop his rapid descent without hurting himself
and the sled too. So down he went till he reached the
level ground, where the sled came to a pause of its own
accord. Then he got out and looked around. The im-
petus with which he had made his journey down had
carried him some little way beyond Mayenfeld. He
WINTER IN DORFLI 195
thought that it was too late to get to school now,
since lessons would already have begun, and it would
take him a good hour to walk back to Dérfli. So he
took his time about returning and reached Dorfli
just as Heidi had got home from school and was
sitting at dinner with her grandfather.
Peter walked in, and since on this occasion he had
something particular to tell them, he began without
a pause, exclaiming as he stood still in the middle of
the room, ‘“‘She’s got it now.”
“Got it? What?” asked the Uncle. ‘Your words
sound quite warlike, general.”
“The frost,’’ explained Peter.
“Oh! Then now I can go and see grandmother!”
said Heidi joyfully, for she had understood Peter’s
words at once. “But why were you not at school
then? You could have come down on the sled,’ she
added reproachfully, for it did not agree with Heidi’s
ideas of good behavior to stay away when it was pos-
sible to be there.
“Tt carried me on too far and I was too late,’’ Peter
replied.
“T call that being a deserter,’’ said the Uncle, ‘‘and
deserters get their ears pulled, as you know.”
Peter gave a tug to his cap in alarm, for there was
no one of whom he stood so much in awe as Alm-
Uncle.
“And an army leader like yourself ought to be
doubly ashamed of running away,’’ continued Alm-
196 HEIDI

Unele. ‘What would you think of your goats if one

went off this way and another that, and refused to
follow and do what was good for them? What would
you do then?”
“T should beat them,”’ said Peter promptly.
“And if a boy behaved like these unruly goats, and
he got a beating for it, what would you say then?”
“Serve him right,’’ was the answer.
“Good! Then understand this: next time you let
your sled carry you past the school when you ought to
be inside at your lessons, come to me afterwards and
receive what you deserve.”
Peter now understood the drift of the old man’s
questions and that he was the boy who behaved like
the unruly goats. He looked somewhat fearfully
toward the corner to see if anything happened to be
there such as he used himself on such occasions for
the punishment of his animals.
But now the grandfather suddenly said in a cheerful
voice, ‘“Come and sit down and have something to eat,
and afterwards Heidi shall go with you. Bring her
back this evening and you will find supper waiting for
you here.”
This unexpected turn of conversation made Peter
grin with delight. He obeyed without hesitation and
took his seat beside Heidi. But the little girl could
not eat any more in her excitement at the thought of
going to see grandmother. While Peter was eating,
Heidi ran to put on the warm cloak Clara had sent her.
WINTER IN DORFLI 197

As the two walked together Heidi had much to tell

Peter. The children had nearly reached their destina-
tion before Peter opened his mouth. He appeared to be
so sunk in thought that he hardly heard what was said
to him. As they neared home, however, he stood still
and said in a somewhat sullen voice, “I had rather go
to school even than get what Uncle threatened.”
Heidi was of the same mind, and encouraged him
in his good intention. They found Brigitta sitting
alone knitting, for the grandmother was not very well
and had to stay in bed on account of the cold. Heidi
had never before missed the old figure in her place in
the corner, and she ran quickly into the next room.
There lay grandmother on her little, poorly covered
bed, wrapped up in her warm, gray shawl.
“Thank God,”’ she exclaimed as Heidi came run-
ning in. The poor old woman had had a secret fear at
heart all through the autumn, especially if Heidi was
absent for any length of time. Peter had told her of a
strange gentleman who had come from Frankfurt, and
who had gone out with them and always talked to
Heidi, and she had felt sure he had come to take her
away again. Even when she heard he had gone off
alone, she still had an idea that a messenger would be
sent over from Frankfurt to get the child. :
Heidi went up to the side of the bed and said, “‘Are
you very ill, grandmother?”’ |
“No, no, child,’’ answered the old woman reas-
suringly, passing her hand lovingly over the child’s
198

head. “It’s only the frost that has got into my bones
a bit.”
“Shall you be quite well then as soon as it turns
warm again?”
“Yes, God willing, or even before that, for I want to
get back to my spinning. I thought perhaps I should
do a little to-day, but to-morrow I am sure to be all
right again.” The old woman had detected that Heidi
was frightened and was anxious to set her mind at
ease.
Her words comforted Heidi, who had in truth been
greatly distressed, for she had never before seen the
grandmother ill in bed. She now looked at the old
woman seriously for a minute or two, and then said,
“fn Frankfurt everybody puts on a shawl to go out
walking. Did you think it was to be worn in bed,
grandmother?”’
“T put it on, dear child, to keep myself from freez-
ing, and I am so pleased with it, for my bedclothes are
not very thick,’’ she answered.
“But, grandmother,” exclaimed Heidi, ‘‘your bed
is not right, because it goes downhill at your head in-
stead of uphill.”
“T know it, child, I can feel it,”’ and the grandmother
put up her hand to the thin, flat pillow, which was
little more than a board under her head. ‘The pillow
was never very thick, and I have lain on it now for so
many years that it has grown quite flat.’
“Oh, if only [ had asked Clara to let me take away
WINTER IN DORFLI 198
my Frankfurt bed!” said Heidi. “I had three large
pillows, one above the other, so that I could hardly
sleep. Could you sleep like that, grandmother?”
“Oh, yes! The pillows keep one warm, and it is
easier to breathe when the head is high,” answered
the grandmother, wearily raising her head as she spoke
as if trying to find a higher resting place. ‘But we will
not talk about that, for I have so much that other old,
sick people are without, for which I thank God. There
is the nice bread I get every day, and this warm wrap,
and your visits, Heidi. Will you read me something
to-day?”
Heidi ran into the next room to get the hymn book.
Then she picked out the favorite hymns one after
another, for she knew now just which ones the grand-
mother liked best. She was as pleased as the grand-
mother to hear them again after so many days.
The grandmother lay with folded hands, while a
smile of peace stole over the worn, troubled face. She
looked like one to whom good news had been brought.
Suddenly Heidi paused. ‘Grandmother, are you
feeling quite well again already?”
‘Yes, child, I have grown better while listening to
you; read it to the end.”
The child read on, and when she came to the last
words
“As the eyes grow dim, and darkness
Closes round, the soul grows clearer,
Sees the goal to which it travels,
Gladly feels its home is nearer,’ ”
200 HEIDI

the grandmother repeated them once or twice to her-

self, with a look of happy expectation on her face.
And Heidi took equal pleasure in them, for the picture
of the beautiful sunny day of her return home rose be-
fore her eyes, and she exclaimed joyfully, ‘“Grand-
mother, I know exactly what it is like to go home.’
A little later Heidi said, “It is growing dark and I
must go. I am so glad to think that you are quite
well again.”
The grandmother took the child’s hand in hers and
held it closely. ‘Yes,’ she said, “I feel quite happy
again. Even ifI have to go on lying here, I am content.
No one knows what it is to lie here alone day after day,
in silence and darkness, without hearing a new voice
or seeing a ray of light. Sad thoughts come over me,
and I feel sometimes as if I could not bear it any longer
and as if it could never be light again. But when you
come and read those words to me, then I am com-
forted and my heart rejoices once more.”
Then she let the child go, and Heidi ran into the
next room, and bade Peter come quickly, for it had now
grown quite dark. But when they got outside they
found the moon shining down on the white snow and
everything as clear as in the daylight. Peter got his
sled, put Heidi at the back, he himself sitting in front
to guide, and down the mountain they shot like two
birds darting through the air.
When Heidi was lying that night on her high bed
of hay she thought of the grandmother on her low pillow,
WINTER IN DORFLI 201

and of all she had said about the light and comfort that
awoke in her when she heard the hymns. She thought:
“Tf I could read to her every day, then I should go on
making her better.””’ But she knew that it would be a
week, if not two, before she would be able to go up the
mountain again. This was a thought of great trouble
to Heidi, and she tried hard to think of some way
which would enable the grandmother to hear the words
she loved every day. Suddenly an idea struck her, and
she was so delighted with it that she could hardly bear
to wait for morning, so eager was she to begin carrying
out her plan.
All at once she sat upright in her bed, for she had
been so busy with her thoughts that she had forgotten
to say her prayers, and she never now finished her day
without saying them.
When she had prayed with all her heart for herself,
her grandfather, and the grandmother, she lay back
again on the warm, soft hay and slept soundly and
peacefully till the morning broke.
 CHAPTER

no
The Winter Continues

N Peter walked into the large room at

Uncle’s the next afternoon, Heidi immediately
rushed forward and took hold of him. “I’ve
thought of something Peter,” she said quickly.
“What is it?” he asked.
“You must learn to read,” she informed him.
“T have learned,” was the answer.
“Yes, yes, but I mean so that you can really make
use of it,’’ explained Heidi eagerly.
“T never shall,’”’ said Peter promptly.
“Nobody believes that you cannot learn, nor I
either now,’”’ said Heidi in a very decided tone of voice.
“Grandmamma in Frankfurt said long ago that it
was not true, and she told me not to believe it.”
Peter looked rather taken aback at this piece of
news.
“T will soon teach you to read, tor I know how,”
Heidi went on. ‘You must learn at once, and then
you can read one or two hymns every day to grand-
mother.”
“Oh, I don’t care about that,’ he grumbled.
This hard-hearted way of refusing to agree to what
was right and kind, and to what Heidi had so much at
202
THE WINTER CONTINUES 203

heart, aroused her anger. With flashing eyes she stood

facing the boy and said threateningly: “If you won’t
learn as I want you to, I will tell you what will happen.
You know your mother has often spoken of sending
you to Frankfurt, that you may learn a lot of things.
I know where the boys there have to go to school;
Clara pointed out the great house to me when we were
driving together. And they don’t go only when they
are boys, but have more lessons still when they are
grown men. I have seen them myself, and you mustn’t
think they have only one kind teacher like ours.
There are ever so many of them, all in the school at the
same time, and they are all dressed in black, as if they
were going to church, and have black hats on their
heads as high as that—” and Heidi held out her hand
to show their height from the floor.
Peter felt a cold shiver run down his back.
‘And you will have to go in among all those gentle-
men,’ continued Heidi with increasing animation, ‘‘and
when it comes to your turn you won’t be able to read
and will make mistakes in your spelling. Then you'll
see how they’ll make fun of you!”
“Well, Pll learn then,” said Peter, half sorrow-
fully and half angrily.
“That’s right! We'll begin at once,” Heidi said
cheerfully. She dragged Peter to the table and brought
her books.
Among other presents Clara had sent Heidi a beok
which the little girl had decided would serve very well
204 oe: HEIDI
for teaching Peter. It was an A BC book with rhyming
lines.
Peter had such trouble reading the first sentence
that Heidi took pity on him and read it for him.
““¢A BC must be learned to-day
Or the judge will call you up to pay.’”

“T shan’t go,” said Peter obstinately.

‘“‘Go where?” asked Heidi.
“Before the judge,” he answered.
“Well, then, make haste and learn these three
letters, So you won’t have to go.”’
Peter went at his task again and repeated the three
letters so many times and with such determination
that she said at last,
“You must know those three now.”
Seeing what an effect the first two lines of verse had
had upon him, she thought she would prepare the
ground a little for the following lessons, and she began
to read aloud.
““T) EK F G must run with ease
Or something will follow that does not please.

“Should H I K be now forgot

Disgrace is yours upon the spot.

“And then L M must follow at once

Or punished you'll be for a sorry dunce,

“Tf you knew what next awaited you

You’d haste to learn N O P Q.

““Now RS T be quick about

Or worse will follow there’s little doubt.’ ”
THE WINTER CONTINUES 205

Heidi paused, for Peter was so quiet that she

looked up to see what he was doing. These many
secret threats and hints of dreadful punishments had
so affected him that he sat as if petrified and stared at
Heidi with horror-stricken eyes. Her kind heart was
moved at once, and she said, wishing to reassure him,
“You need not be afraid, Peter. Come here to me
every evening, and if you learn as you have to-day you
will at last know all your letters, and the other things
won’t come. But you must come regularly, not only
now and then as you do to school. Even if it snows it
won't hurt you.”
Peter obeyed Heidi’s instructions punctually, and
every evening went diligently to work to learn the
letters, taking the sentences thoroughly to heart. The
grandfather was frequently in the room smoking his
pipe comfortably while the lesson was going on, and
his face twitched occasionally as if he was overtaken
with a sudden fit of merriment. Peter was often in-
vited to stay to supper after the great éxertion he had
gone through. That richly compensated him for the
anguish of mind he had suffered with the sentence for
the day.
So the winter went by, and Peter really made prog-
ress with his letters, but he went through a terrible
fight each day with the sentences.
He got at last to U. Heidi read out:
“And if you put the U for V,
You’ll go where you would not like to be.’ ”
206 HEIDI

Peter growled, “Yes, but I shan’t go!’ But he was

very diligent that day, as if under the impression that
some one would seize him suddenly by the collar and
drag him where he would rather not go.
The next evening Heidi read:
“(Tf you falter at W, worst of all,
Look at the stick against the wall.’ ”

Peter looked at the wall and said scornfully, ‘“There

isn’t one.”
‘Yes, but do you know what grandfather has in his
box?” asked Heidi. ‘‘A stick as thick almost as your
arm, and if he took that out, you might well say, ‘look
at the stick against the wall.’ ”’
Peter knew that thick hazel stick, and immediately
bent his head over the W and struggled to master it.
Another day the lines ran:
“Then comes the X for you to say
Or be sure you'll get no food to-day.”

Peter looked toward the cupboard where the bread

and cheese were kept, and said crossly, ‘‘I never said
that I should forget the XX.”
“That’s all right. If you don’t forget it we can go
on to learn the next, and then you will have only one
more,” replied Heidi, anxious to encourage him.
Peter did not quite understand, but Heidi went on
and read:
“‘And should you make a stop at Y
They'll point at you and cry, Fie, fie.’ ”
15
THE WINTER CONTINUES 207

All the gentlemen in Frankfurt with tall, black hats on

their heads, and scorn and mockery in their faces, rose
up before his mind’s eye, and he threw himself with
energy on the Y, not letting it go till at last he knew it
so thoroughly that he could see what it was like even
when he shut his eyes.
He arrived on the following day in a somewhat lofty
frame of mind, for there was now only one letter to
struggle over, and when Heidi began the lesson with
reading aloud:
“ ‘Make haste with Z, if you’re too slow
Off to the Hottentots you'll go.’ ”

Peter remarked scornfully, ‘I dare say, when no one

knows even where such people live.”’
“Ym sure grandfather knows all about them,”
said Heidi. ‘‘Wait a second and I will run and ask
him, for he is only over the way with the pastor.”
She rose and ran to the door to put the words into
action, but Peter cried out in a voice of agony,
“Stop!” He already saw himself being carried off
by Alm-Uncle and the pastor and sent straight away
to the Hottentots, since as yet he did not know his last
letter. His cry of fear brought Heidi back.
“What is the matter?” she asked in astonishment.
“Nothing! Come back! I am going to learn my
letter,” he said, stammering with fear. Heidi, however,
herself wished to know where the Hottentots lived and
persisted that she should ask her grandfather, but she
208 HEIDI

gave in at last to Peter’s despairing entreaties. She

insisted, however, on his doing something in return,
and so not only had he to repeat his Z until it was so
fixed in his memory that he could never forget it
again, but she began teaching him to spell, and Peter
really made a good start that evening. So it went on
from day to day.
The frost had gone and the snow was soft again, and
moreover fresh snow continually fell, so that it was
quite three weeks before Heidi could go to the grand-
mother again. She threw herself into her teaching
even more eagerly so that Peter might make up for
her absence by reading hymus to the old woman.
One evening he walked in home after leaving Heidi,
and as he entered he said, “‘I can do it now.”
“Do what, Peter?” asked his mother.
“Read,” he answered.
“Do you really mean it? Did you hear that, grand-
mother?” she called out.
The grandmother had heard, and was already
wondering how such a thing could have come to pass.
“T must read one of the hymns now; Heidi told me
to,” he went on to inform them. His mother hastily
brought the book, and the grandmother waited in
joyful expectation, for it was a long time since she had
heard the good words. Peter sat down to the table and
began to read. His mother sat beside him listening
with surprise and exclaiming at the close of each verse,
“Who would have thought it possible!”
THE WINTER CONTINUES 209

The grandmother did not speak, though she followed

the words he read with strained attention.
It happened on the day following this that there
was a reading lesson in Peter’s class. When it came
his turn, the teacher said,
“We must pass over Peter as usual, or will you try
once more—I will not say to read, but to stammer
through a sentence?”
Peter took the book and read off three lines without
the slightest hesitation.
The teacher put down his book and stared at Peter
as at some out-of-the-way and marvelous thing unseen
before. At last he spoke.
‘““Peter, some miracle has been performed upon you!
Here have I been striving with unheard-of patience to
teach you, and you have not hitherto been able even
to say your letters. And now, just as I had made up
my mind not to waste any more trouble upon you, you
suddenly are able to read a sentence properly and dis-
tinctly. How has such a miracle come to pass in our
days?”
“Tt was Heidi,’ answered Peter.
The teacher looked in astonishment toward Heidi.
“T have noticed a change in you altogether, Peter,”
he went on. ‘Formerly you often missed coming to
school for a week, or even weeks at a time, but lately
you have not stayed away a single day. Who has
wrought this change for good in you?”
“Tt, was Uncle,’ answered Peter.
210 HEIDI

With increasing surprise the teacher looked from

Peter to Heidi and back again at Peter.
Every evening Peter read one hymn aloud; so far
he obeyed Heidi. Nothing would induce hmm to read
a second, and indeed the grandmother never asked for
it. His mother, Brigitta, could not get over her sur-
prise at her son’s attainment, and when the reader
was in bed would often express her pleasure at it.
On one of these occasions the grandmother answered,
‘Yes, it is good for him to have learned something, but
I shall indeed be thankful when spring is here again
and Heidi can come. The hymns are not the same
when Peter reads them. So many words seem missing,
and I try to think what they ought to be and then I
lose the sense. The hymns do not come home to my
heart as they do when Heidi reads them.”
The truth was that Peter arranged to make his
reading as little trouble for himself as possible. When
he came upon a word that he thought was too long or
difficult he left it out, for he decided that a word or
two less in a verse, where there were so many words,
could make no difference to his grandmother. And
so it came about that most of the principal words
were missing in the hymns that Peter read aloud.
 CHAPTER

ZO

News from Distant Friends

T was the month of May. The clear, warm sun-

shine lay upon the mountain, which had turned
green again. The last snows had disappeared and
the sun had already coaxed many of the flowers to show
their bright heads above the grass. Up above, the gay
young wind of spring was singing through the fir trees,
and shaking down the old, dark needles to make room
for the new, bright-green ones that were soon to deck
out the trees in their spring finery. Higher up still
the great birds went circling ’round as of old, while the
golden sunshine lighted up the grandfather’s hut.
Heidi was at home again on the mountain, run-
ning back and forth in her accustomed way, not know-
ing which spot was most delightful. Now she stood
still to listen to the deep, mysterious voice of the wind,
as it blew down to her from the mountain summits.
It came nearer and nearer and gathered strength as it
came, till it broke with force against the fir trees, bend-
ing and shaking them, and seeming to shout for joy,
so that she, too, though blown about like a feather,
felt she must join in the chorus of exulting sounds.
Then she would run around again to the sunny space
in front of the hut, and seating herself on the ground
211
21 2 a HEIbi

would peer closely into the short grass to see how

many little flower cups were open or thinking of
opening.
From the shed at the back came the sound of saw-
ing and chopping, and Heidi listened to it with pleas-
ure, for it was the old familiar sound she had known
from the beginning of her life up here. Suddenly she
jumped up and ran around, for she must know what
her grandfather was doing. In front of the shed door
already stood a finished new chair, and a second was
in course of construction under the grandfather’s skil-
ful hand.
“Oh, I know what these are for,” exclaimed Heidi
in great glee. ‘This one is for grandmamma, and the
one you are now making is for Clara, and then—then
there will, I suppose, have to be another,’”’ continued
Heidi with more hesitation in her voice. ‘Or do you
think, grandfather, that perhaps Miss Rottenmeier
will not come with them?”
“Well, I cannot say just yet,’ replied her grand-
father, ‘“‘but it will be safer to make one so that we can
offer her a seat if she does.”
Heidi looked thoughtfully at the plain wooden
chair without arms as if trying to imagine how Miss
Rottenmeier and a chair of this sort would suit one
another. After a few minutes’ contemplation, “(Grand-
father,” she said, shaking her head doubtfully, “I
don’t think she would be able to sit on that.”
“Then we will invite her to sit on the beautiful
 i * an

=
‘ : — ‘
Vell
“\ara
et on, ad 4
Lm) 3
os

a ae y x
nd a -
Clara Began to Hold Out the Leaves One by One to Snowflake. (See page 242.)
NEWS FROM DISTANT FRIENDS 213
green couch of grass,’ was her grandfather’s quiet
rejoinder.
While Heidi was pausing to consider what this
might be there sounded from above a whistling, call-
ing, and other sounds which Heidi immediately recog-
nized. She ran out and found herself surrounded by
her four-footed friends. They were apparently as pleased
as she was to be among the heights again, for they
leaped about and bleated for joy, pushing Heidi this
way and that, each anxious to express his delight with
some sign of affection. But Peter sent them flying to
right and left, for he had something to give to Heidi.
When he at last got up to her he handed her a letter.
‘““There!’’ he exclaimed, leaving the further explana-~
tion of the matter to Heidi herself.
“Did some one give you this while you were out
with the goats?” she asked in surprise.
“No,” answered Peter, briefly.
“Where did you get it from then?”
“T found it in the dinner bag.”
That was true to a certain extent. The letter to
Heidi had been given him the evening before by the
postman at Dorfli, and Peter had put it into his empty
bag. That morning he had stuffed his bread and cheese
on top of it, and had forgotten it when he stopped to
get Alm-Uncle’s two goats. When he had finished his —
bread and cheese at midday and was searching in the
bag for last crumbs he had found the letter which lay
at the bottom.
214 HEIDI

Heidi read the address carefully. Then she ran back

to the shed holding out her letter to her grandfather in
high glee. “From Frankfurt! From Clara! Would
you like to hear it?”
The grandfather was ready and pleased to do so,
and so was Peter, who had followed Heidi into the
shed.

“Dearest Heidi,—Everything is packed and we shall

start now in two or three days, as soon as papa him-
self is ready to leave. He is not coming with us for he
has to go to Paris first. The doctor comes every day,
and as soon as he is inside the door, he cries, ‘Off now as
quickly as you can, off to the mountain.’ He is most
impatient about our going. You cannot think how
much he enjoyed himself when he was with you! He
has called nearly every day this winter, and each time
he has come into my room and said he must tell me
about everything again. And then he sits down and
describes all he did with you and the grandfather, and
talks of the mountains and the flowers and of the great
silence up there far above all towns and villages, and
of the fresh delicious air, and often adds, ‘No one can
help getting well up there.’ He himself is quite a dif-
ferent man since his visit, and looks quite young
again and happy, which he had not been for a long
time before. Oh, how I am looking forward to seeing
everything and to being with you on the mountain, and
to making the acquaintance of Peter and the goats!
NEWS FROM DISTANT FRIENDS 215

“T shall first have to go through a six weeks’ cure

at Ragatz, and then we shall move up to Dorfli, and
every fine day I shall be carried up the mountain in
my chair and spend the day with you. Grandmamma
is traveling with me and will remain with me; she
also is delighted at the thought of paying you a visit.
But, just imagine, Miss Rottenmeier refuses to come
with us. Almost every day grandmamma says to
her: ‘Well, how about this Swiss journey, my worthy
Rottenmeier? Pray say if you really would like to
come with us.’ But she always thanks grandmamma
very politely and says she has quite made up her mind.
I think I know what has done it. Sebastian gave such
a frightful description of the mountain, of how the
rocks were so overhanging and dangerous that at any
minute you might fall into a crevasse, and how it was
such steep climbing that you feared at every step to
go slipping to the bottom, and that goats alone could
make their way up without fear of being killed. She
shuddered when she heard him tell of all this, and since
then she has not been so enthusiastic about Switzer-
land as she was before. Tinette is afraid, too, and she
also refuses to come. So grandmamma and I will be
alone; Sebastian will go with us as far as Ragatz and
then return here.
“T can hardly wait till I see you again. Good-
by, dearest Heidi; grandmamma sends you her best
love and all good wishes.—Your affectionate friend,
“CLARA.”
216 HEIDI

Peter, as soon as the conclusion of the letter had

been reached, rushed out, twirling his stick in the air
in such a reckless fashion that the frightened goats
fled down the mountain before him with higher and
wider leaps than usual. Peter followed at full speed,
his stick still raised in the air in a menacing manner as
if he was longing to vent his fury on some invisible foe.
This foe was indeed the prospect of the arrival of the
Frankfurt visitors, the thought of whom filled him
with exasperation.
The next afternoon Heidi ran down to tell grand-
mother her good news.
The grandmother sat in her corner at her spinning
wheel. There was an expression on her face of mournful
anxiety. Peter had come in the evening before brim-
ful of anger and had told about the large party that
was coming up from Frankfurt, and the old woman
was troubled by the thought of Heidi’s being taken
from her.
Heidi began eagerly pouring out all her news, grow-
ing more excited with her pleasure as she went on.
But all of a sudden she stopped short and said anxiously,
“What is the matter, grandmother? Aren’t you a bit
pleased with what I am telling you?”
“Yes, yes, of course, child, since it gives you so
much pleasure,’ the old woman answered, trying to
look more cheerful.
“But I can see all the same that something troubles
you. Is it because you think after all that Miss Rot-
NEWS FROM DISTANT FRIENDS 217

tenmeier may come?” asked Heidi, beginning to feel

anxious herself.
“No, no! It is nothing, child,” said the grand-
mother, wishing to reassure her. “Just give me your
hand that I may feel sure you are there. No doubt
it would be the best thing for you, although I feel I
could scarcely survive it.”
“I do not want anything of the best if you could
scarcely survive it,’’ said Heidi, in a determined tone
of voice. But the grandmother was not comforted.
She felt sure the people from Frankfurt were coming to
take Heidi back with them, since she was well again.
But she was anxious to hide her trouble from Heidi if
possible.
“Heidi,” she said, ‘“‘there is something that would
comfort me and calm my thoughts. Read me the
hymn beginning: ‘All things will work for good.’ ”
Heidi found the place at once and read out in her
clear young voice:

‘All things will work for good

To those who trust in Me;
I come with healing on my wings,
To save and set thee free.’ ”’

“Yes, yes, that is just what I wanted to hear,” said

the grandmother, and the deep expression of trouble
passed from her face.
When the evening came, Heidi returned home up
the mountain. The stars came out overhead one by
218 HEIDI

one, so bright and sparkling that each seemed to send

a fresh ray of joy into her heart. She was obliged to
pause continually to look up, and as the whole sky at
last grew spangled with them she spoke aloud, ‘‘Yes,
I understand now why we feel so happy, and are not
afraid about anything, because God knows what is
good and beautiful for us.”’ And the stars with their
glistening eyes continued to nod to her till she reached
home, where she found her grandfather also standing
and looking up at them, for they had seldom been
more glorious than they were this night.
May passed, with everything growing greener and
greener, and then came the month of June, with a
hotter sun and long, light days, that brought the
flowers out all over the mountain so that every spot
was bright with them and the air full of their sweet
scents. This month, too, was drawing to its close
when one day Heidi, having finished her household
duties, came running out of the hut. Suddenly she
gave such a loud cry that her grandfather hurried out
of the shed to see what had happened.
“Grandfather, grandfather!” she cried, beside her-
self with excitement. ‘‘Come here! Look! Look!”
A strange-looking procession was making its way
up the mountain. In front were two men carrying a
sedan-chair, in which sat a girl well wrapped up in
shawls. Then followed a horse, mounted by a stately
lady who was looking about her with great interest
and talking to the guide who walked beside her.
NEWS FROM DISTANT FRIENDS 219

Then came a rolling chair, which was being pushed

up by another man. Last in the procession came a
porter, with such a bundle of cloaks, shawls, and furs
on his back that it rose well above his head.
‘Here they come! Here they come!’’ shouted Heidi,
jumping with joy. Soon the party reached the top.
The men in front put down their burden, Heidi rushed
forward, and the two children embraced each other
delightedly. Grandmamma dismounted and gave
Heidi an affectionate greeting, before turning to the
grandfather, who had meanwhile come up to welcome
his guests. There was no constraint about the meet-
ing, for they knew each other perfectly well from
hearsay and felt like old acquaintances.
After the first words of greeting had been exchanged
erandmamma broke out into lively expressions of ad-
miration. ‘“‘What a magnificent place you have to
live in, Uncle! I could hardly have believed it was so
beautiful! A king might well envy it! And how well
my little Heidi looks—like a wild rose!’’ she continued,
drawing the child toward her and stroking her fresh,
pink cheeks. ‘I don’t know which way to look first,
it is all so lovely! What do you say to it, Clara, what
do you say?”
Clara was gazing round entranced. She had never
imagined, much less seen, anything so beautiful. She
gave vent to her delight in cries of joy. “O grand-
mamma,” she said, “I should like to remain here for-
ever.”
220 HEIDI

The grandfather had meanwhile drawn up the in-

valid chair and spread some of the wraps over it. He
now went up to Clara.
“Suppose we carry the little daughter to her ac-
customed chair. I think she will be more comfortable,
for the traveling sedan is rather hard,” he said, and with-
out waiting for anyone to help him he lifted the child
in his strong arms and laid her gently down in her own
chair. He then covered her over carefully and arranged
her feet on the soft cushion, as if he had never done any-
thing all his life but wait on cripples. The grandmamma
looked on with surprise.
“My dear Uncle,”’ she exclaimed, ‘af I knew where
you had learned to nurse I would at once send all the
nurses I know to the same place that they might handle
their patients as you do.”
Uncle smiled. ‘‘I know more from experience than
training,” he answered.
The sky spread blue and cloudless over the hut and
the fir trees and far above over the high rocks, the gray
summits of which glistened in the sun. Clara could
not feast her eyes enough on all the beauty around her.
“O Heidi, if only I could walk about with you,” she
said longingly. “If I could only go and look at the
fir trees! I want to see everything you have told me
about.”
Heidi in response put out all her strength, and after
a slight effort, managed to wheel Clara’s chair quite
easily around the hut to the fir trees. There they paused.
NEWS FROM DISTANT FRIENDS 221

Clara had never seen such trees before, with their tall,
straight stems, and long, thick branches growing thicker
and thicker till they touched the ground. Even the
grandmamma, who had followed the children, was as-
tonished at the sight of them.
Heidi had now wheeled Clara on to the goat shed,
and had flung open the door, so that Clara might have
a full view of all that was inside. There was not much
to see just now since the goats were absent. Clara
lamented to her grandmother that they would have
to leave early before the goats came home.
“T should so like to see Peter and his whole
flock,” she said regretfully.
“Dear child, let us enjoy all the beautiful things
that we can see, and not think about those that we
cannot,” grandmamma replied as she followed the
chair which Heidi was pushing farther on.
“Oh, the flowers!’ exclaimed Clara. ‘Look at the
bushes of red flowers, and all the nodding blue bells!
Oh, if I could but get out and pick some!’
Heidi ran off at once and picked her a large bunch
of them.
“But these are nothing, Clara,” she said, laying the
flowers on her lap. “If you could come up higher to
where the goats are feeding, then you would indeed see
something! Bushes on bushes of the red centaury, and
ever so many more of the blue bell-flowers; and then the
bright yellow rock-roses, that gleam like pure gold, and
all crowding together in the one spot. And then there
16
222 HEIDI

are others with the large leaves that grandfather calls

Bright Eyes, and the brown ones with little round heads
that smell so delicious. Oh, it is beautiful up there,
and if you sit down among them you never want to
get up again, everything looks and smells so lovely!”
Heidi’s eyes sparkled with the remembrance of what
she was describing. She was longing herself to see it
all again, and Clara caught her enthusiasm and looked
back at ber with equal longing in her soft, blue eyes.
“Grandmamma, do you think I could get up there?
Is it possible for me to go?” she asked eagerly. “If
only I could walk, climb about everywhere with you,
Heidi!”
“T am sure I could push you up, the chair goes so
easily,”’ said Heidi, and in proof of her words, she sent
the chair at such a pace round the corner that if grand-
mamma had not been near to stop it it might have
gone flying down the mountain side.
The grandfather, meantime, had not been idle.
He had by this time put the table and extra chairs in
front of the seat, so that they might all sit out here and
eat the dinner that was preparing inside. The milk
and the cheese were soon ready, and then the company
sat down in high spirits to their midday meal.
Grandmamma was enchanted, as the doctor had
been, with their dining room, from which one could
see far along the valley, and far over the mountains to
the distant stretch of blue sky. A light wind blew re-
freshingly over them as they sat at table, and the rus-
NEWS FROM DISTANT FRIENDS 223

tling of the fir trees made a festive accompaniment to

the meal.
“I never enjoyed anything as much as this. It is
really superb!’ cried grandmamma, two or three times
over. Suddenly she exclaimed in a tone of surprise,
“Do I really see you taking a second piece of toasted
cheese, Clara?”
There, sure enough, was a second golden-colored
slice of cheese on Clara’s plate.
“Oh, it does taste so good, grandmamma—better
than all the dishes we have at Ragatz,” replied Clara,
as she continued eating with appetite.
“That’s right, eat what you can!”’ exclaimed Uncle.
“It’s the mountain air, which makes up for the de-
ficiencies of the kitchen.”
And so the meal went on. Grandmamma and Alm-
Uncle got on very well together, and their conversation
became more and more lively. They were so thoroughly
agreed in their opinions of men and things and the
world in general that they might have been taken for
old cronies.
The time passed merrily, and then grandmamma
looked toward the west and said, ‘“‘We must soon get
ready to go, Clara. The sun is a good way down.
The men will be here presently with the horse and
sedan.”
Clara’s face fell, and she said beseechingly: “Oh,
just another hour, grandmamma, or two hours. We
haven’t seen inside the hut yet, or Heidi’s bed, or any
224 HEIDI

of the other things. If only the day were ten hours

long!’
“Well, that is not possible,” said grandmamma,
but she herself was anxious to see inside the hut, so
they all rose from the table and Uncle wheeled Clara’s
chair to the door. There they came to a standstill,
for the chair was much too broad to pass through the
door. Uncle, however, soon settled the difficulty by lift-
ing Clara in his strong arms and carrying her inside.
Grandmamma, went all round and examined the
household arrangements, and was very much amused
and pleased at their orderliness and the cosy appearance
of everything. ‘‘And this is your bedroom up here,
Heidi, is it not?” she asked, as without hesitation she
mounted the ladder to the hay loft. ‘‘Oh, it does smell
sweet. What a healthful place to sleep in!’ She went
up to the round window and looked out. Grandfather
followed with Clara in his arms, Heidi springing up
after them. Then they all stood and examined Heidi’s
wonderful hay bed, and grandmamma looked thought-
fully at it and drew in from time to time fragrant
drafts of the hay perfumed air. Clara was charmed
beyond words with Heidi’s sleeping apartment.
“It is delightful for you up here, Heidi! You can
look from your bed straight into the sky, and there is
such a delicious smell all round you. And outside the
fir trees are waving and rustling. I have never seen
such a pleasant, cheerful bedroom before.’
Uncle looked across at grandmamma. “I have
NEWS FROM DISTANT FRIENDS 225

been thinking,”’ he said to her, ‘that if you were willing

to agree to it, your little granddaughter might remain
up here, and I am sure she would grow stronger. You
have brought up all kinds of shawls and covers with
you, and we could make up a soft bed out of them.
You need have no fear about Clara. I will be glad to
look after her.”’
Clara and Heidi were overjoyed at these words,
and grandmamma’s face beamed with satisfaction.
“You are indeed kind, my dear Uncle,” she ex-
claimed. ‘‘You give words to the thought that was in
my own mind. I[ was only asking myself whether a stay
up here might not be the very thing she wanted. But
then the trouble, the inconvenience to yourself! And
you speak of nursing and looking after her as if it was
a mere nothing! I thank you sincerely, I thank you
from my whole heart, Uncle.”
Uncle carried Clara back to her chair outside and
Heidi followed, not knowing how to jump high enough
into the air to express her contentment.
Together Uncle and grandmamma made up a soft
bed for Clara, close beside Heidi’s. When the children
were told that Clara was to stay for a month they
clapped their hands for joy, for they had not expected
to be together for so long a time.
The bearers and the horse and guide were now seen
approaching, and grandmamma prepared to mount
for her return journey.
“It’s not saying good-by, grandmamma,”’ Clara
226 HEIDI

called out, “for you will come up now and then and see
how we are getting on, and we shall so look forward to
your Visits, shan’t we, Heidi?”’
Heidi, who felt that life this day had been crowded
with pleasures, could only respond to Clara with an-
other jump of joy.
Grandmamma was now seated on her sturdy ani-
mal, and Uncle took the bridle to lead her down the
steep mountain path. She begged him not to come far
with her, but he insisted on seeing her safely as far as
Dorfli, for the way was steep and not without danger
for the rider, he said.
Grandmamma did not care to stay alone in Dorfli,
and therefore decided to return to Ragatz, and from
there to make excursions up the mountain from time
to time.
Peter came down with his goats before Uncle had
returned. As soon as the animals caught sight of
Heidi they all came flocking toward her, and she and
Clara on her chair were soon surrounded by the goats.
They pushed and poked their heads one over the other,
while Heidi introduced each in turn by its name to her
friend.
Peter meanwhile stood looking on, and casting
somewhat unfriendly glances toward Clara.
When the two children called out, “Good evening,
Peter,’ he made no answer, but swung up his stick
angrily, as if he wanted to cut the air in two, and then
ran off with his goats after him.
NEWS FROM DISTANT FRIENDS 227

The climax to all the beautiful things that Clara

had already seen upon the mountain came at the close
of the day.
As she lay on the large, soft bed in the hay loft,
with Heidi near her, she looked out through the round,
open window right into the middle of the shining
clusters of stars.
“Heidi,” she exclaimed in delight, “it’s just as if
we were in a high carriage and were going to drive
straight into heaven.”
“Yes, and do you know why the stars are so happy
and look down and nod to us like that?” asked Heidi.
“No, why is it?” Clara asked in return.
‘““Because they live up in heaven, and know how well
God arranges everything for us, so that we need have
no more fear or trouble and may be quite sure that all
things will come right in the end. That’s why they are
so happy, and they nod to us because they want us to
be happy, too. But then we must never forget to pray,
and to ask God to remember us when He is arranging
things, so that we, too, may feel safe and not be afraid
about what is going to happen.”’
The two children now sat up and said their prayers,
and then Heidi put her head down on her little, round
arm and fell off to sleep at once, but Clara lay awake
some time. She could not get over the wonder of this
new experience of being in bed up here among the stars.
She had indeed seldom seen a star, for she never went
outside the house at night, and the curtains at home
228 HEIDI

were always drawn before the stars came out. Each

time she closed her eyes she felt she must open them
again to see if the two very large stars were still looking
in and nodding to her as Heidi said they did. There
they were, always in the same place. Clara felt she
could not look long enough into their bright, spark-
ling faces, until at last her eyes closed of their own ac-
cord, and it was only in her dreams that she still saw
the two large, friendly stars shining down upon her.
 CHAPTER

ZIT
KEKE
EERE KEE

How Life Went on at Grandfather’s

HE sun had just risen above the mountains and

was shedding its first golden rays over the hut
and the valley below. Alm-Uncle, as was his
custom, had been standing in a quiet and devout at-
titude for some little while, watching the light mists
gradually lifting, and the heights and valley emerging
from their twilight shadows and awakening to another
day.
The light morning clouds overhead grew brighter
and brighter, till at last the sun shone out in its full
glory, and rock and wood and hill lay bathed in golden
light.
Uncle now stepped back into the hut and went
softly up the ladder. Clara had just opened her eyes
and was looking with wonder at the bright sunlight
that shone through the round window and danced
and sparkled about her bed. She could not at first
think what she was looking at or where she was. Then
she caught sight of Heidi sleeping beside her, and
heard the grandfather’s cheery voice asking her if she
had slept well and was feeling rested. She assured
him she was not tired, and that when she had once fallep
asleep she had not opened her eyes again all night.
229
230 HEIDI

The grandfather was satisfied at this and immediately

began to wait upon her with so much gentleness and
understanding that it seemed as if his chief calling had
been to look after sick children.
Heidi now awoke and was surprised to see Clara
dressed, and already in the grandfather’s arms ready
to be carried down. She jumped up and went through
her toilet with lightning-like speed. She ran down the
ladder and out of the hut to where Clara was sitting
in the sun.
The fresh morning breeze blew round the children’s
faces, and every fresh puff brought a waft of fragrance
from the fir trees. Clara drew it in with delight and lay
back in her chair with an unaccustomed feeling of
health and comfort.
It was the first time in her life that she had been
out in the open country at this early hour and felt
the fresh morning breeze. The pure mountain air
was so cool and refreshing that every breath she drew
was a pleasure. And then the bright, sweet sun was
not hot and sultry up here, but lay soft and warm on
her hands and on the grass at her feet. Clara had not
imagined that it would be like this on the mountain.
“O Heidi, if only I could stay up here forever with
you,” she exclaimed happily.
“Now you see that it is just what I told you,” re-
plied Heidi delightedly. “It is the most beautiful
thing in the world to be up here with grandfather.”
Uncle at that moment came from the goat shed.
LIFE AT GRANDFATHER’S 231

He brought two small, foaming bowls of snow-white

milk—one for Clara oat one for Heidi.
“That will do the little daughter good,” he said,
nodding to Clara. “It is from Little Swan and will
make you strong. To your health, child! Drink it
up.”

Clara had never tasted goat’s milk before. She

hesitated and smelled it before putting it to her lips.
Then, seeing how Heidi drank hers up without hesi-
tating, and how much she seemed to like it, Clara
followed her example, and drank till there was not a
drop left, for she, too, found it delicious. It tasted just
as if sugar and cinnamon had been mixed with it.
“To-morrow we will drink two,” said the grand-
father, who had looked on with satisfaction.
Peter now arrived with the goats, and Heidi re
ceived ber usual crowded morning’s greeting.
When Peter marched off, the goats carried Heidi
along with them a little way, which was what Peter
wanted. ‘‘Aren’t you coming, too?” he called to her.
“T cannot,” Heidi called back from the midst of
her friends, “‘and I shall not be able to come for a long,
long time—not as long as Clara is with me. Grand-
father, however, has promised to go up the mountain
with both of us some day.”
Heidi freed herself from the goats and ran back to
Clara. As Peter went on he doubled his fists and made
threatening gestures toward the invalid in her chair.
The children had promised to write to grandmainma
232 , HEIDI

every day and Heidi suggested that they do that first.

She ran in and brought out her school book and writ-
ing things and her own little stool. She put her read-
ing book and copy book on Clara’s knees, to make a
desk for her to write upon, and she herself took her
seat on the stool and used the bench for a desk.
Clara paused after every sentence to look about
her. The breeze had sunk a little, and now only gently
fanned her face and whispered lightly through the fir
trees. Little winged insects hummed and danced around
her in the clear air, and a great stillness lay over the far,
wide, sunny pasture lands. Lofty and silent rose the
high mountain peaks above her, and below lay the
whole broad valley full of quiet peace. Only now and
again the call of some shepherd boy rang out through
the air, and echo answered softly from the rocks.
The morning passed, the children hardly knew
how, and grandfather came with the midday bowls
of steaming milk. The little guest, he said, was to re-
main out as long as there was a gleam of sun in the sky.
They spent the afternoon in the cool shade of the fir
trees. Clara had much to tell Heidi about the various
people who composed the Sesemann household, and
who were all so well known to Heidi.
So the hours flew by and all at once, as it seemed,
the evening had come with the returning Peter, who
still scowled and looked angry. He did not even
answer their friendly greetings.
As Clara saw the grandfather leading away Little
LIFE AT GRANDFATHER’S 233

Swan to milk her, she was suddenly taken with a long-

ing for another bowlful of the fragrant milk, and waited
impatiently for it.
“Isn’t it curious, Heidi?” she said, astonished at
herself. ‘‘As long as I can remember I have eaten only
oecause I was obliged to, and everything used to seem
to taste of cod-liver oil. I was always wishing there
was no need to eat or drink. And now I am longing.
for grandfather to bring me the milk!”
“Yes, I know what it feels like,’”’ replied Heidi, who
remembered the many days in Frankfurt when all her
‘ood used to seem to stick in her throat.
When grandfather at last brought the evening milk,
Clara drank hers up so quickly that she had emptied
1er bowl before Heidi and then she asked for a little
more. The grandfather went inside with both the chil-
Jren’s bowls, and when he brought them out again full
1e had something else to add to their supper. He had
walked over that afternoon to a herdsman’s house where
she sweet-tasting butter was made, and had brought
1ome a large pat, some of which he had now spread
hickly on two good slices of bread. He stood and
vatched with pleasure while Clara and Heidi ate their
ippetizing meal with childish hunger and enjoyment.
That night, when Clara lay down in her bed and pre-
yared to watch the stars, her eyes would not keep open.
she fell asleep as soon as Heidi and slept soundly all
ight—a thing she never remembered having done
efore.
234 HEIDI

The following day and the day after passed in the

same pleasant fashion, and the third day there came a
surprise for the children. Two strong porters came up
the mountain, each carrying a bed on his shoulders
with bedding of all kinds and two beautiful, new, white
coverlets. The men also had a letter with them from
grandmamma, in which she said that the beds were
for Clara and Heidi. Heidi in the future was always
to sleep in a proper bed, and when she went down to
Dorfli in the winter she was to take one with her and
leave the other at the hut, so that Clara might always
know there was a bed ready for her when she paid a
visit to the mountain. Grandmamma went on to
thank the children for their long letters and encouraged
them to continue writing daily, so that she might be
able to picture all they were doing.
The beds were set up for the children just where
they had slept before, close beside the window.
Meanwhile grandmamma down at Ragatz was re-
joicing at the excellent news of the invalid which reached
her daily from the mountain. Clara found the life
more pleasant each day. She could not say enough of
the kindness and care which the grandfather lavished
upon her, nor of Heidi’s lively and amusing companion-
ship, for her little friend was even more entertaining
than she had been in Frankfurt. Clara’s first thought
when she woke each morning was, “Oh, how glad I
am to be here still!”
Since grandmamma had news each day that all
LIFE AT GRANDFATHER’S 235
was going well with Clara, she thought she might
put off her visit to the children a little longer, for the
steep ride up and down was tiring to her.
Clara had now been on the mountain for three
weeks. For some days past the grandfather, each
morning after carrying her down, had said, “‘Won’t
the little daughter try to stand for a minute or two?”
And Clara, to please him, had tried, but she had clung
to him as soon as her feet touched the ground, exclaim-
ing that it hurt her so. He let her try a little longer
each day, however.
It was many years since they had had such a splendid
summer among the mountains. Day after day there
were the same cloudless sky and brilliant sun. The
flowers opened wide their fragrant blossoms, and every-
where the eye was greeted with a glow of color. When
the evening came the crimson light fell on mountain
peaks and on the great snow fields, till at last the sun
sank in a sea of golden flame.
Heidi never tired of telling Clara of all this,
for the little visitor had never been up high enough
to see the full glory of the colors. She was describing
the flowers as she sat with Clara under the fir trees
one evening. She had been telling her again of the
wonderful light from the evening sun, when such
longing came over her to see it all once more that
she jumped- up and ran to her grandfather, who was
in the shed.
“Grandfather,” she called out, almost before she
236 HEIDI
was inside, ‘“‘will you take us out with the goats to-
morrow? Oh, it is so lovely up there now!”
‘Very well,” he answered, “but if I do, the little
daughter must do something to please me. She must
try her best again this evening to stand on her feet.”’
Heidi ran back with the good news to Clara. The
little invalid promised to try her very best to do as the
grandfather wished, for she looked forward immensely
to the next day’s excursion. Heidi was so pleased and
excited that she called out to Peter as soon as she caught
sight of him that evening,
“Peter, Peter, we are all coming out with you to-
morrow and are going to stay up there the whole day.”
Peter, cross as a bear, grumbled some reply, and
lifted his stick to give Greenfinch a blow for no reason
in particular, but Greenfinch saw the movement, and
with a leap over Snowflake’s back got out of the way,
and the stick hit only the air.
Clara and Heidi slipped into their two fine beds
that night full of their plans for the next day. They
agreed to keep awake all night and talk until it was
time to get up. But their heads had no sooner touched
their soft pillows than the conversation suddenly ceased.
Clara fell into a dream of an immense field, so thickly
covered with blue bell-shaped flowers that it was the
color of the sky, and Heidi heard the great bird of prey
calling to her from the heights above, “Come! Come!
Come!”
 CHAPTER

PaPT

Something Unexpected Happens

HE next day was bright and sunny. When Peter

came up the mountain the grandfather was still
inside with the children. Peter was a very cross-
looking boy. For weeks now he had not had Heidi all
to himself. When he came up in the morning the in-
valid child was always already in her chair and Heidi
fully occupied with her. It was the same thing over
again when he came down in the evening. Heidi had
not come out with the goats once this summer, and
now to-day she was bringing Clara with her, and would
stick by her friend’s side the whole time. It was the
thought of this which was making him particularly
cross this morning. There stood the chair on its high
wheels, Peter seemed to see something proud and dis-
dainful about it, and he glared at it as at an enemy
that had done him harm and was likely to do him
more still to-day. He glanced around—there was no
sound anywhere, no one to see him. He sprang for-
ward like a wild creature, caught hold of the chair
and gave it a violent and angry push in the direction
of the slope. The chair rolled swiftly forward and in
another minute had disappeared.
Peter now sped up the mountain as if on wings,
not pausing till he was well in the shelter of a large
i 287
238 HEIDI

blackberry bush. He had no wish to be seen by Uncle.

But he was anxious to see what had become of the chair,
and his bush was well placed for that. He could
watch what happened below and see what Uncle did
without being discovered himself. So he looked, and
there he saw his enemy running faster and faster down
hill, then turning head over heels several times, and
finally, after one great bound, rolling over and over
to its complete destruction. The pieces flew in every
direction—feet, arms, and torn fragments of the padded
seat and bolster.
Peter was so delighted at the sight that he leaped
in the air, laughing aloud, and stamping for joy.
Now Heidi’s friend would be obliged to go away, for
she would have no means of going about, and when
Heidi was alone again she would come out with him
as in the old days, and everything would go on in the
proper way again. But Peter did not consider, or did
not know, that when we do a wrong thing trouble is
sure to follow.
Heidi now came running out of the hut and around
to the shed. Grandfather was behind with Clara in
his arms. The shed stood wide open and it was quite
light inside. Heidi looked into every corner and ran
from one end to the other, and then stood still wonder-
ing what could have happened to the chair. Grand-
father now came up.
“How is this? Have you wheeled the chair away,
Heidi?”
SOMETHING UNEXPECTED HAPPENS 239

“T have been looking everywhere for it, grandfather;

you said it was standing ready outside,” she answered.
At that moment the wind, which had risen suddenly,
blew open the shed door and sent it banging back
against the wall.
“It must have been the wind, grandfather,” ex-
claimed Heidi and her eyes grew anxious at the thought.
“Oh, if it has blown the chair all the way down to Dor-
fli we shall not get it back in time, and shall not be
able to go.”
“Tf it has rolled as far as that it will never come
back, for it is in a hundred pieces by now,” said the
grandfather, going round the corner and looking down.
“But it’s a curious thing to have happened!’ he added
as he thought over the matter. ‘The chair would
have had to turn a corner before starting downhill.”
“Oh, I am sorry,” lamented Clara, “for we shall
not be able to go to-day, or perhaps any other day.
I shall have to go home, I suppose, if I have no chair.
Oh, I am so sorry, I am so sorry!”
But Heidi looked at her grandfather with her usual
expression of confidence.
“Grandfather, you will be able to do something,
won’t you, so that Clara won’t have to go home?” she
asked.
‘Well, for the present we will go up the mountain
as we had arranged, and then later on we will see what
ean be done,” he answered, much to the children’s de-
light.
240 HEIDI
He brought out a pile of shawls, and put them in
the sunniest spot he could find for Clara. Then he
brought the children’s morning milk and let out his
two goats.
When the children had finished their breakfast
the grandfather took Clara up on one arm, and the
shawls on the other.
‘‘Now: then we will start,” he said. ‘I don’t know
why Peter isn’t here yet, but the goats can come with
us.”’

Heidi was pleased at this and walked after her

grandfather with an arm over the neck of each
goat. The animals were so overjoyed to have her
again that they nearly squeezed her flat between
them out of sheer affection. When they reached
the spot where the goats usually pastured they were
surprised to find the flock already feeding there.
Peter lay at full length on the ground near
them.
“Tl teach you another time to go by like that,
you lazy rascal! What do you mean by it?” Uncle
called to him.
Peter, recognizing the voice, jumped up like a shot.
“‘No one was up,” he answered.
‘Have you seen anything of the chair?” asked the
grandfather.
“Of what chair?” called Peter back in answer in a
surly tone of voice.
Uncle said no more. He spread the shawls on the
SOMETHING UNEXPECTED HAPPENS 241

sunny slope, and seating Clara upon them asked if

she was comfortable.
“As comfortable as in my chair,” she said, thank-
ing him. “This seems the most beautiful spot. O
Heidi, it is lovely, it is lovely!” she cried, looking round
her with delight.
The grandfather prepared to leave them. He would
come back for them toward evening. He was going
now to see what had become of the chair.
The sky was dark blue, and not a single cloud was
to be seen from one horizon to the other. The great
snow field above sparkled as if set with thousands and
thousands of gold and silver stars. The two gray
mountain peaks lifted their lofty heads against the
sky and looked solemnly down upon the valley; the
great bird was poised aloft in the clear, blue air, the
mountain wind came over the heights and blew re-
freshingly around the children as they sat on the
sunlit slope. It was all indescribably enjoyable to
Clara and Heidi.
Some hours went by, and Heidi began to think
that she might just go over to the spot where all the
flowers grew to see if they were all out and looked as
lovely as the year before. Clara could not go until
grandfather came back that evening, and then the
flowers probably would be already closed. The long-
ing to go became stronger and stronger, till she felt
she could not resist it.
‘Would you think me unkind, Clara,” she said
242 HEIDI

rather hesitatingly, “if I left you for a few minutes?

I should run there and back very quickly. 1 want to
see how the flowers are looking—but wait—’ An
idea had come into Heidi’s head. She ran and picked
a bunch or two of green leaves, and then took hold of
Snowflake and led her up to Clara.
“There, now you will not be alone,” said Heidi,
giving the goat a little push to show her she was to
tie down near Clara. Heidi threw the leaves into Clara’s
lap and ran off. Clara began to hold out the leaves
one by one to Snowflake. The goat snuggled up to
her new friend in a confiding manner and slowly ate
the leaves from her hand. It was easy to see that
Snowflake enjoyed this peaceful and sheltered way of
feeding, for when she was with the other goats she was
persecuted by the larger and stronger ones of the
flock.
Heidi had meanwhile reached her field of flowers,
and as she caught sight of it she uttered a cry of joy.
The whole ground in front of her was a mass of shim-
mering gold, where the rock-roses spread their yellow
blossoms. Above them waved whole bushes of the
deep blue bell-flowers. From the whole sunlit ex-
panse there rose a fragrance like rarest balsam. The
scent came from the small brown flowers which rose
modestly here and there among the yellow blossoms.
Heidi stood and gazed and drew in the delicious air.
Suddenly she turned and ran until she reached Clara’s
side, out of breath with running and excitement.
 SOMETHING UNEXPECTED HAPPENS 243

“Oh, you must come,” she called out as soon as

she came in sight. “It is more beautiful than you
can imagine, and perhaps this evening it may not be so
lovely. I believe I could carry you. Don’t you think
I could?”
Clara looked at her and shook her head. ‘Why,
Heidi, what can you be thinking of! You are smaller
than Iam. Oh, if only I could walk!”
Heidi looked around as if in search of something.
Peter was sitting up above looking down on the two
children. He had been sitting and staring before him
in the same way for hours, as if he could not make
out what he saw. He had destroyed the chair so that
Clara might not be able to move anywhere and would
go home. Then a little while after that she had
appeared right up here under his very nose with Heidi
beside her. He thought his eyes must deceive him, and
yet there she was and no mistake about it.
Heidi now looked up to where he was sitting and
called out in a peremptory voice, ‘Peter, come down
here!”’
“T don’t wish to come,” he called in reply.
“But you must! I cannot do it alone, and you must
come here and help me. Make haste and come down,”
she commanded.
“T ghall do nothing of the kind,” was the answer.
Heidi ran part of the way up the slope toward him,
and then pausing called again, her eyes ablaze with
anger: “If you don’t come at once, Peter, I will do
244 HEIDI

something to you that you won’t like. I mean what I

sa Be

eh great fear seized Peter when he heard that. He

had done something wicked which he wanted no one
to know about, and so far he had thought himself
safe. But now Heidi spoke exactly as if she knew
everything, and whatever she did know she would
tell her grandfather. There was no one Peter feared
so much as Uncle. Supposing he were to suspect
what had happened about the chair! Peter’s anguish
of mind grew more acute. He stood up and went
down to where Heidi was awaiting him.
“T am coming, and you won’t do what you said.”
Peter appeared now so submissive with fear that
Heidi felt quite sorry for him and answered assuringly,
“No, no, of course not. Come along with me, there is
nothing to be afraid of in what I want you to do.”
As soon as they got to Clara, Heidi gave her orders.
Peter was to take hold of her under the arm on one
side and she on the other, and together they were to
lift her up. This first movement was successfully car-
ried through, but then came the difficulty. Since
Clara could not even stand, how were they to support
her and get her along? Heidi was too small for her
arm to serve Clara to lean upon.
“You must put one arm well round my neck—so,
and put the other through Peter’s and lean firmly
upon it. Then we shall be able to carry you.”
Peter, however, had never given his arm to anyone
SOMETHING UNEXPECTED HAPPENS 245

in his life. Clara put hers in his, but he kept his own
hanging down straight beside him like a stick.
“That’s not the way, Peter,’ said Heidi in an
authoritative voice. “You must put your arm out in
the shape of a ring, and Clara must put hers through
it and lean her weight upon you. Whatever you do,
don’t let your arm give way! Like that I am sure we
shall be able to manage.”’
Peter did as he was told, but still they did not get
on very well. Clara was not a light weight, and the
team did not match very well in size. It was up one
side and down the other, so that the supports were
rather wobbly.
Clara tried to use her own feet a little, but each
time drew them quickly back.
“Put your foot down firmly once,’ suggested Heidi.
“T am sure it will hurt you less after that.”
“To you think so?” said Clara hesitatingly, but she
followed Heidi’s advice and ventured one firm step on
the ground and then another. She cried out a little
as she did it, but she lifted her foot again and went on.
“Oh, that was less painful already!” she exclaimed
oyfully.
“Try again,” said Heidi encouragingly.
And Clara went on putting one foot down after the
ther until all at once she called out: “I can do it,
Heidi! Look! Look! I can make proper steps!”
And Heidi cried out with even greater delight,
‘Can you really make steps, can you really walk?
246 HEIDI

Really walk by yourself? Oh, if only grandfather were

here!’ She continued gleefully to exclaim, ‘“‘You can
walk now, Clara, you can walk!”
Clara still held on firmly to her supports, but with
every step she felt safer on her feet, and Heidi was be-
side herself with joy.
‘“‘Now we shall be able to come up here together
every day, and go just where we like. You will be
able all your life to walk about as I do, and not
have to be pushed in a chair, and you will get quite
strong and well. It is the greatest happiness we could
have had!’
And Clara heartily agreed, for she could think of
no greater joy in the world than to be strong and able
to go about like other people, and no longer to have
to lie from day to day in her invalid chair.
They had not far to go to reach the field of flowers,
and could already catch sight of the rock-roses glowing
gold in the sun. When they came to the bushes of
the blue bell-flowers, with sunny, inviting patches of
warm ground between them, they sat down in the midst
of the flowers. It was the first time Clara had sat
on the dry, warm mountain grass, and she found it
indescribably delightful. Around them were the blue
flowers softly waving to and fro, and beyond the gleam-
ing patches of the yellow rock-roses and the red centaury,
while the sweet scent of the brown blossoms and of the
fragrant prunella enveloped them. Clara sat silent,
overcome with the enchantment of all that her eye
SOMETHING UNEXPECTED HAPPENS 247

rested upon, and with the anticipation of all the happi-

ness that was now before her.
Peter lay among the flowers without moving or
speaking, for he was fast asleep. The breeze came
blowing softly and caressingly from behind the shelter-
yng rocks, and passed whisperingly through the bushes
overhead.
It was long past noon when a small troop of goats
advanced solemnly towards the plain of flowers. It
was not a feeding place of theirs, for they did not care to
graze on flowers. They looked like an embassy arriving,
with Greenfinch as their leader. They had evidently
come in search of their companions who had left them
in the lurch, and who had, contrary to all custom, re-
mained away so long, for the goats could tell the time
without mistake. As soon as Greenfinch caught sight
of the three missing friends amid the flowers she set
up an extra loud bleat, whereupon all the others
joined in a chorus of bleats, and the whole company
came trotting toward the children.
Peter woke up, rubbing his eyes, for he had been
dreaming that he saw the chair again with its beauti-
ful red padding standing whole and uninjured before
the grandfather’s door. Just as he awoke he thought
he was looking at the brass-headed nails that studded
it all around, but it was only the bright, yellow flowers
beside him. He experienced again the dreadful fear of
mind that he had lost in this dream of the uninjured
chair. Even though Heidi had promised not to do
248 HEIDI

anything, there still remained the lively dread that his

deed might be found out in some other way.
When all three had got back to their former place
Heidi ran and brought forward the bag, and pro-
ceeded to keep her promise, for her threat of the morn-
ing had been concerned with Peter’s dinner. She had
seen her grandfather putting in all sorts of good things,
and had been pleased to think of Peter’s having a large
share of them. She had meant him to understand when
he refused at first to help her that he would get noth-
ing for his dinner, but Peter’s conscience had put
another interpretation upon her words. Heidi took
the food out of the bag and divided it into three por-
tions, and each was of such a goodly size that she
thought to herself, ‘“There will be plenty of ours left
for him to have more still.”
She gave the other two their dinners and sat down
with her own beside Clara, and they all three ate with
a good appetite after their great exertions.
They were so late at their dinner that they had not
long to wait after they had finished before grandfather
came up for them. Heidi rushed forward to meet
him as soon as he appeared, for she wanted to be the
first to tell him the good news. She was so excited that
she could hardly get her words out, but he soon under-
stood, and a look of extreme pleasure came into his
face. He hastened up to where Clara was sitting and
said with a cheerful smile, “(So we’ve made the effort,
have we, and won the day!’’
SOMETHING UNEXPECTED HAPPENS 249

Then he lifted her up, and putting his left arm

around her and giving her his right to lean upon, made
her walk a little way.
Heidi skipped along beside her in triumphant glee,
and the grandfather, too, looked very happy. But
soon he took Clara up in his arms. “We must not
overdo it,”’ he said, ‘‘and it is high time we went home.”’
He hurried down the mountain path, for he was anx-
ious to get Clara indoors so that she might rest after
her unusual fatigue.
When Peter got to Dorfli that evening he found a
large group of people collected around a certain spot,
pushing one another and looking over one another’s
shoulders in their eagerness to catch sight of something
lying on the ground. Peter thought he should like to
see too, and poked and elbowed till he made his way
through.
Scattered about the grass were the remains of Clara’s
chair, part of the back and the middle bit, and enough of
the red padding and the bright nails to show how mag-
nificient the chair had been when it was entire.
“T was here when the men passed carrying it up,”
said the baker, who was standing near Peter. “T’ll
bet anyone that it was worth one hundred twenty
dollars at least. I cannot think how such an accident
could have happened.”’
“Uncle said the wind might perhaps have done it,”
remarked one of the women, who could not sufficiently
admire the red upholstery.
250 HEIDI

“Tt’s a good job that no one but the wind did it,”
said the baker again, “‘or he might smart for it! No
doubt the gentleman in Frankfurt when he hears what
has happened will make all inquiries about it. I am
glad for myself that I have not been seen up the moun-
tain for a good two years, for suspicion is likely to fall
on anyone who was up there at the time.”
Many more opinions were passed on the matter, but
Peter had heard enough. He crept quietly away out
of the crowd and then took to his heels and ran up
home as fast as he could, as if he thought some one was
after him. The baker’s words had filled him with fear.
He was sure now that any day a constable might come
over from Frankfurt and inquire about the destruc-
tion of the chair, and then everything would come out,
and he would be seized and carried off to Frankfurt and
there put in prison. His hair stood on end with terror.
He reached home in this disturbed state of mind.
He would not open his mouth in reply to anything
that was said to him. He would not eat his potatoes.
All he did was to creep off to bed as quickly as possible
and hide under the bedclothes and groan.
“Peter has been eating sorrel again, and is evidently
in pain by the way he is groaning,”’ said Brigitta.
“You must give him a little more bread to take with
him; give him a bit of mine to-morrow,” said the grand-
mother sympathizingly.
As the little girls lay that night in bed looking out
at the stars Heidi said, “I have been thinking all day
SOMETHING UNEXPECTED HAPPENS 251
what a happy thing it is that God does not give us
what we ask for, even when we pray and pray and pray,
if he knows there is something better for us. Have
you felt like that?”
“Why do you ask me that to-night all of a sudden?”
asked Clara.
“Because I prayed so hard when I was in Frankfurt
that I might go home at once, and when I was not
allowed to I thought God had forgotten me. And now
you see, if I had come away at first when I wanted to,
you would never have come here, and would never
have got well.”
Clara had in her turn become thoughtful. ‘But,
Heidi,” she said, ‘‘in that case we ought never to pray
for anything, for God always intends something better
for us than we know or wish for.”
“You must not think it is like that, Clara,” replied
Heidi eagerly. ‘“‘We must go on praying for every-
thing, so that God may know we do not forget that
it all comes from Him. If we forget God, then He lets
us go our own way and we get into trouble; grand-
mamma told me so. And if He does not give us what
we ask for we must not think that He has not heard
us and stop praying, but we must still pray and say,
‘I am sure, dear God, that Thou art keeping something
better for me, and I will not be unhappy, for I know
that Thou wilt make everything right in the end.’”
‘How did you learn all that?’ asked Clara.
“Grandmamma explained it to me first of all, and
252 HEIDI

then when it all happened just as she said, I knew it

myself, and I think, Clara,” she went on, as she sat up
in bed, ‘“we ought certainly to thank God to-night that
you can walk now, and that He has made us so happy.”
‘Yes, Heidi, I am sure you are right, and I am glad
you reminded me. I almost forgot my prayers for very
joy.”

Both children said their prayers, and each thanked

God in her own way for the blessing he had bestowed
on Clara, who had for so long Jain weak and ill.
The next morning the grandfather suggested that
they should now write to the grandmamma and ask her
if she would not come and pay them a visit, since they
had something new to show her. But the children had
another plan in their heads, for they wanted to prepare
a great surprise for grandmamma. Clara was first to
have more practice in walking so that she might be
able to go a little way by herself. Above all things
grandmamma was not to have a hint of it. They asked
the grandfather how long he thought this would take,
and when he told them about a week or less, they im-
mediately sat down and wrote a pressing invitation
to grandmamma, asking her to come soon, but no
word was said about there being anything new to see.
The following days were some of the most joyous
that Clara had spent on the mountain. She awoke
each morning with a happy voice within her crying,
“T am well now! I am well now! I shan’t have to go
about in a chair, I can walk by myself like other people.”
SOMETHING UNEXPECTED HAPPENS 253

Then came the walking, and every day she found it

easier and was able to go a longer distance. The ex-
ercise gave her such an appetite that the grandfather
cut his bread and butter a little thicker each day, and
was well pleased to see it disappear. He now brought
out with it a large jugful of the foaming milk and filled
her little bowl over and over again. And so another
week went by and the day came which was to bring
grandmamma up the mountain for her second visit.
13
 CHAPTER

rue
““Good-by Till We Meet Again”’

Cyc DFATHER and the children were already

outside with the goats when Peter came up with
his flock one morning. He brought with him
a letter from grandmamma. As he neared the group
his steps slackened. The instant he haa handed the
letter to Uncle he turned quickly away as if frightened,
and as he went he gave a hasty glance behind him, and
then with a leap he ran off up the mountain.
“Grandfather,’’ said Heidi, who had been watching
him with astonished eyes, “‘why does Peter always be-
have now like the Great Turk when he thinks some-
body is after him with a stick?”
“Perhaps Peter fancies he sees the stick which he
so well deserves coming after him,’’ answered grand-
father.
When Peter was well out of sight he stood still and
looked suspiciously about him. Suddenly he gave a
jump and looked behind him with a terrified expression,
for he expected every minute that the police constable
from Frankfurt would leap out upon him from behind
some bush or hedge.
Mrs. Sesemann had written to say she would be up
that very day. Heidi immediately set about straighten-
254
“GOOD-BY TILL WE MEET AGAIN” 255

ing up the hut, for grandmamma must find every-

thing clean and in good order when she arrived.
So the morning soon went by, and grandmamma
might now be expected at any minute. The children
dressed themselves and went and sat outside on the
seat ready to receive her.
Grandfather came to show them the splendid bunch
of blue gentians which he had been up the mountain
to gather, and the children exclaimed with delight at
the beauty of the flowers as they shone in the morning
sun.
Heidi jumped up from time to time to see if there
was any sign of grandmamma’s approach. At last
she saw the procession winding up the mountain just
in the order she had expected. First there was the
guide, then the white horse with grandmamma mounted
upon it, and last of all the porter with a heavy bundle
on his back, for grandmamma would not think of going
up the mountain without a full supply of wraps and
rugs.
Nearer and nearer wound the procession. At last it
reached the top and grandmamma was there looking
down on the children from her horse. She no sooner
saw them, however, sitting side by side, than she began
quickly dismounting, as she cried out in a shocked tone
of voice, “Why is this? Why are you not lying in your
chair, Clara? What are you all thinking about?” But
even before she had got close to them she threw up her
hands in astonishment, exclaiming further, ‘‘Is it really
256 HEIDi

you, dear child? Why, your cheeks have grown quite

round and rosy! I should hardly have known you!”
She was hastening forward to embrace her grand-
daughter, when the two children slipped down from
the seat and began walking toward her quite coolly
and naturally. Laughing and crying grandmamma
ran to them and embraced first Clara and then Heidi,
and then Clara again, unable to speak for joy. All
at once she caught sight of Uncle looking on smilingly
at the meeting. She took Clara’s arm in hers, over-
joyed at the fact that the child could now really walk
about with her and went up to the old man. Letting
go Clara’s arm she seized his hands.
“My dear Uncle! My dear Uncle! How much we
have to thank you for! It is all your doing! It is your
care and nursing ay
“And God’s good sun and mountain air,” he inter-
rupted her, smiling.
“Yes, and don’t forget the beautiful milk I have,”
put in Clara. ‘“‘Grandmamma, you can’t think what
a quantity of goat’s milk I drink, and how good it is!”
“T can see that by your cheeks, child,’’ answered
grandmamma. “TI really should not have known you.
You have grown quite strong and plump, and taller,
too. I never hoped or expected to see you look like
that. I cannot take my eyes off you, for I can hardly
yet believe it. But now I must telegraph without de-
lay to your father in Paris, and tell him he must come
here at once. It will be the greatest happiness he has
“GOOD-BY TILL WE MEET AGAIN” 257
ever known! My dear Uncle, how can I send a telc-
gram? Have you dismissed the men yet?”
“They have gone,” he answered, “‘but if you are in
a hurry I will call Peter, and he can take it for you.”
Uncle went aside a little way and blew such a re-
sounding whistle through his fingers that he woke a
responsive echo among the rocks far overhead. He
did not have to wait many minutes before Peter came
running down, looking as white as a ghost, for he
quite thought Uncle was sending for him to give him
up. But Uncle simply gave him a paper with instruc-
tions to take it down at once to the post office at
Dorfli.
Peter went off with the paper in his hand, feeling
some relief of mind for the present.
Meanwhile Mr. Sesemann, who had finished his
business in Paris, had also been preparing a surprise.
Without writing to his mother he got into the
train one sunny morning and traveled that day to
Basle. The next morning he continued his journey,
for a great longing had seized him to see his little
daughter from whom he had been separated the whole
summer. He arrived at Ragatz a few hours after his
mother had left. When he heard that she had that
very day started for the mountain, he immediately
hired a carriage and drove to Dorfli.
The climb up the mountain from Dortli proved
long and fatiguing to Mr. Sesemann. He went on
and on, but still no hut came in sight, and yet he
258 HEIDI

knew there was one where Peter lived, halfway up, for
the path had been described to him over and over
again.
There were traces of climbers to be seen on all
sides. The narrow footpaths seemed to run in every
direction, and Mr. Sesemann began to wonder if he was
on the right one, and whether the hut lay perhaps on
the other side of the mountain. He looked around to
see if there was anyone in sight of whom he could ask
the way, but there was not a soul to be seen.
Mr. Sesemann stood still for a while to let the cool
Alpine wind blow on his hot face. Soon some one
came running down the mountain side. It was Peter
with the telegram in his hand. He ran straight down
the steep slope, not following the path on which Mr.
Sesemann was standing. As soon as the gentleman
caught sight of him he beckoned to him. Peter ad-
vanced toward him slowly and timidly, with a sort of
sidelong movement, as if he could move only one leg
properly and had to drag the other after him.
“Hurry up, lad,” called Mr. Sesemann, and when
Peter was near enough, ‘“Tell me,” he said, “is this the
way to the hut where the old man and the child Heidi
live, and where the visitors from Frankfurt are stay-
ing?”
A low sound of fear was the only answer he received,
and Peter turned and ran in such haste that he fell
head over heels several times, and went rolling and
bumping down the slope, just as the chair had done,
“GOOD-BY TILL WE MEET AGAIN” 259
but Peter fortunately did not fall to pieces. Only the
telegram came to grief, and that was torn into frag-
ments and blown away.
“How extraordinarily timid these mountain dwellers
are!’ thought Mr. Sesemann to himself.
After watching Peter’s violent descent toward the
valley for a few minutes he continued his journey.
Peter, meanwhile, with all his efforts, could not
stop himself, but went rolling on, and still tumbling
head over heels at intervals in a most remarkable
manner.
But this was not the most terrible part of his suf-
ferings at the moment, for far worse was the fear and
horror that possessed him. He felt sure that the
policeman had really come over for him from Frank-
furt. He had no doubt at all that the stranger who
had asked him the way was the very man himself.
Just as he had rolled to the edge of the last high slope
above Dorfli he was caught in a bush, and at last able
to keep himself from falling any farther. He lay still
for a second or two to recover himself, and to think
over matters.
“Well done!’ said a voice close to Peter. ‘‘And
which of you is the wind going to send rolling down
to-morrow like a sack of potatoes?”’ It was the baker,
who stood there, laughing. He had been strolling out
to refresh himself after his hot day’s work, and had
watched with amusement as he saw Peter come rolling
over and over in much the same way as the chair.
260 HEIDI

Peter was on his feet in a moment. He had re-

ceived a fresh shock. Without once looking behind
him he began hurrying up the slope again. He would
have liked best to go home and creep into bed, to hide
himself, for he felt safest there. But he had left the
goats up above, and Uncle had given him strict orders
to hurry back so that they might not be leit too long
alone. There was no help for it, he had to go back, and
Peter went on groaning and limping. Hecould run no
more, for the anguish of mind he had been through, and
the bumping and shaking he had received, were be-
ginning to tell upon him.
Shortly after he had met Peter, Mr. Sesemann passed
the first hut, and so was satisfied that he was on the
right path. He continued his climb with renewed
courage, and at last, after a long and exhausting walk,
he came in sight of his goal. There, only a little dis-
tance farther up, stood the grandfather’s home, with
the dark tops of the fir trees waving above its roof.
Mr. Sesemann was delighted to have come to the
last steep bit of his journey. In another minute or
two he would be with his little daughter, and he was
happy at the thought of her surprise. But the com-
pany above had seen him approaching and had rec-
ognized him, and they were preparing something he
little expected as a surprise on their part.
As he stepped up on the space in front of the
hut two girls came toward him. One was tall, with
fair hair and pink cheeks. She leaned on Heidi,
“GOOD-BY TILL WE MEET AGAIN” 261

whose dark eyes were dancing with joy. Mr. Sesemann

suddenly stopped, staring at the two children, and all
at once the tears started to his eyes. What memories
arose in his heart! Just so had Clara’s mother looked,
with her fair hair and delicate pink-and-white com-
plexion. Mr. Sesemann did not know whether he was
awake or dreaming.
“Don’t you know me, papa?” called Clara to him,
her face beaming with happiness. ‘‘Am I so changed
since you saw me?”
Then Mr. Sesemann ran to his child and clasped her
in his arms.
“Yes, you are indeed changed! How is it possible?
Is what I see true?” And the delighted father stepped
back to look at her again, and to make sure that the
picture would not vanish before his eyes.
“Are you my little Clara, really my little Clara?”
he kept on saying, as he clasped her in his arms again,
and again put her away from him that he might look
and make sure it was she who stood before him.
And now grandmamma came up, anxious for a
sight of her son’s happy face.
‘Well, what do you say now, dear son?” she ex-
claimed. ‘You have given us a pleasant surprise, but
it is nothing in comparison to what we have prepared
for you, you must confess.”’ She gave her son an af-
fectionate kiss as she spoke. ‘But now,’ she went on,
“you must come and pay your respects to Uncle, who
is our chief benefactor.”
262 HEIDI

“Yes indeed, and to the little inmate of our

own house, our little Heidi, too,” said Mr. Sese-
mann, shaking Heidi by the hand. “Well? Are
you still well and happy in your mountain home?
But I need not ask. No Alpine rose could look
more blooming. I am glad, child. It is a pleasure
to me to see you so.”
And Heidi looked up with equal pleasure into Mr.
Sesemann’s kind face. How good he had always been
to her! And that he should find such happiness await-
ing him up here on the mountain made her heart beat
fast with gladness.
Grandmamma now introduced her son to Uncle.
While the two men were shaking hands and Mr.
Sesemann was expressing his heartfelt thanks and
boundless astonishment to the old man, grand-
mamma wandered round to the back to see the old
fir trees again.
Here another unexpected sight met her gaze, for
there, under the trees where the long branches had
left a clear space on the ground, stood a great bush of
the most wonderful dark-blue gentians, as fresh and
shining as if they were growing on the spot. She clasped
her hands, enraptured with their beauty.
“How exquisite! What a lovely sight!’ she ex-
claimed. ‘Heidi, dearest child, come here! Is it you
who have prepared this pleasure for me? It is perfectly
wonderful!’’
The children ran up.
““GOOD-BY TILL WE MEET AGAIN” 263

“No, no, I did not put them there,” said Heidi,

“but I know who did.”
“They grow just like that on the mountain, grand-
mamma, only if anything they look more beautiful
still,’ Clara put in. ‘But guess who brought those
down to-day.”
At this moment a slight rustling was heard behind
the fir trees. It was Peter, who had just arrived. He
had seen from a distance who it was standing beside
Uncle in front of the hut, and he was trying to slip
by unobserved. But grandmamma had seen and rec-
ognized him, and suddenly the thought struck her that
it might be Peter who had brought the flowers and that
he was now trying to get away unseen, feeling shy
about it.
“Come along, my boy. Come here, do not be afraid,”
she called to him.
Peter stood still, petrified with fear. After all he
had gone through that day he felt he had no longer any
power of resistance left. All he could think was, “It’s
all up with me now.” Every hair of his head stood on
end, and he stepped forth from behind the fir trees,
his face pale and distorted with terror.
~ “Don’t be afraid, my boy,’ said grandmamma in
an effort to put him at his ease. ‘Tell me now straight
out without hesitation, was it you who did it?”
Peter did not lift his eyes and therefore did not see
at what grandmamma was pointing. But he knew
that Uncle was standing at the corner of the hut, fixing
264 HEIDI

him with his gray eyes, while beside him stood the most
terrible person that Peter could think of—the police
constable from Frankfurt. Quaking in every limb, and
with trembling lips he muttered a low “‘Yes.”
‘Well, and what is there dreadful about that?”
said grandmamma,
““Because—because—it is all broken to pieces and
no one can put it together again.” Peter brought
out his words with difficulty, and his knees knocked
together so that he could hardly stand. |
Grandmamma went up to Uncle. ‘Is that poor
boy a little out of his mind?” she asked sympathizingly.
‘“‘Not in the least,’’ Uncle assured her. “It is only
that he was the wind that sent the chair rolling down
the slope, and he is expecting his well-deserved punish-
ment.”
Uncle was simply giving expression to the suspicion
that he had had from the moment the accident hap-
pened. The angry looks which Peter had from the
beginning cast at Clara, and the other signs of his dis-
like for what had been taking place on the mountain,
had not escaped Uncle’s eye. Putting two and two to-
gether he had come to the right conclusion as to the
cause of the disaster, and he therefore spoke without
hesitation when he accused Peter.
“No, no, dear Uncle,’ grandmamma protested,
“we will not punish the poor boy any further. We
must be fair to him. Here are all these strangers from
Frankfurt who come and carry away Heidi, his one
*““GOOD-BY TILL WE MEET AGAIN” 265
possession, and a possession well worth having too,
and he is left to sit alone day after day for Take
with nothing to do but brood over his wrongs. No,
no, let us be fair to him. His anger got the upper a
bad drove him to an act of revenge—a foolish one, I
own, but then we all behave foolishly when we are
angry.” And saying this she went back to Peter, who
still stood frightened and trembling. She sat down on
the seat under the fir trees and called him to her kindly.
“Come here, my boy, and stand in front of me, for
I have something to say to you. Stop shaking and
trembling, for I want you to listentome. You sent the
chair rolling down the mountain so that it was broken
to pieces. That was avery wrong thing to do, as you
yourself knew very well at the time. You also knew
that you deserved to be punished for it, and in order
to escape this you have been doing all you can to hide
the truth from everybody. But be sure of this, Peter.
Those who do wrong make a mistake when they think
no one knows anything about it. For God sees and
hears everything, and when the wicked doer tries to
hide what he has done, then God wakes up the little
watchman that he places inside us all when we are
born and who sleeps on quietly till we do something
wrong. And the little watchman has a small goad
in his hand, and when he wakes up he keeps on prick-
ing us with it, so that we have not a moment’s peace.
And the watchman torments us still further, for he
keeps on calling out, ‘Now you will be found out
266 HEIDI
Now they will drag you off to punishment!’ And so
we pass our life in fear and trouble, and never know a
moment’s happiness or peace. Have you not felt some-
thing like that lately, Peter?”
Peter gave a contrite nod of the head, for grand-
mamma had described his own feelings exactly.
‘And you calculated wrongly also in another way,”
continued grandmamma, “for you see the harm you in-
tended has turned out for the best for those you wished
to hurt. Since Clara had no chair to go in and yet
wanted so much to see the flowers, she made the effort
to walk, and every day since she has been walking better
and better. If she remains up here she will in time be
able to go up the mountain every day, much oftener
than she would have done in her chair. So you see,
Peter, God brought good out of evil for those whom
you meant to injure, and you who did the evil were
left to suffer the unhappy consequences of it. Do you
thoroughly understand all I have said to you, Peter?
If so, do not forget my words, and whenever you feel
inclined to do anything wrong, think of the little watch-
man inside you with his goad and his disagreeable
voice. Will you remember all this?”
“Yes, I will,”’ answered Peter, still very subdued. He
did not yet know how the matter was going to end, for
the police constable was still standing with the Uncle.
“That’s right, and now the thing is over and done
for,” said grandmamma. “But I should like you to
have something for a pleasant reminder of the visitors
““GOOD-BY TILL WE MEET AGAIN” 267

from Frankfurt. Can you tell me anything that you

have wished very much to have? What would you like
best.as a present?”
Peter lifted his head at this, and stared open-eyed
at grandmamma. Up to the last minute he had been
expecting something dreadful to happen, and now, in-
stead, he might have anything that he wanted. His
mind seemed all in a whirl.
“T mean what I say,” grandmamma assured him.
“You shall choose what you would like to have as a
remembrance from the Frankfurt visitors, and as a
token that they will not think any more of the wrong
thing you did. Now do you understand me, boy?”
The fact began at last to dawn upon Peter’s mind
that he had no further punishment to fear, and that
the kind lady sitting in front of him had delivered him
from the police constable. He suddenly felt as if the
weight of a mountain had fallen off him. He had also
by this time awakened to the further conviction that it
was better to make a full confession at once of anything
he had done wrong or had left undone, and so he said,
‘And I lost the paper, too.”
Grandmamma had to consider a moment what he
meant, but soon recalled his connection with her tele-
gram.
“You are a good boy to tell me!” she said kindly.
‘“‘Never conceal anything you have done wrong, and
then all will come right again. And now what would
you like me to give you?”
268 HEIDI

Peter grew almost giddy with the thought that he

could have anything in the world that he wished for.
He had a vision of the yearly fair at Mayenfeld with
the glittering stalls and all the lovely things that he
had stood gazing at for hours, without a hope of ever
possessing one of them. Peter’s purse never held more
than a cent, and all these fascinating objects cost
more than double that amount.
Peter stood lost in thought. He was trying to
think whether he would rather have a red whistle or
a knife. Then a bright thought occurred to him.
If he had the money he would be able to think over the
matter between now and next year’s fair.
““A nickel,” he answered, no longer in doubt.
Grandmamma could not help laughing. ‘That is
not an extravagant request. Come here, then!’ and
she pulled out her purse and put five bright, round
half dollars in his hand and then laid a dime on the
top. “We will settle our accounts at once,’’ she said,
“and I will explain them to you. I have given you as
many nickels as there are weeks in the year, and so
every Monday throughout the year you can have a
nickel to spend.”
‘‘As long as I live?” asked Peter quite innocently.
Grandmamma laughed still more at this, and the
men, hearing her, paused in their talk to listen to what
was going on.
“Yes, my boy, you shall have it all your life—-I will
put it down in my will. Do you hear, my son? You
“GOOD-BY TILL WE MEET AGAIN” 269
are to put it down in yours as well: a nickel a week to
Peter as long as he lives.
Mr. Sesemann nodded his assent and joined in the
laughter.
Peter looked again at the present in his hand to make
sure he was not dreaming, and then said, ‘“‘Thank God!’
And he went off running and leaping with even more
than his usual agility, and this time managed to keep
his feet, for it was not fear, but joy such as he had never
known before in his life, that now sent him flying up
the mountain. All trouble had disappeared, and he
was to have a nickel every week for life.
After dinner, when the party were sitting together
chatting, Clara drew her father a little aside, and said
with an eagerness that had been unknown to the little
tired invalid: ‘‘O papa, if you only knew all that
grandfather has done for me from day to day! I
cannot count his kindnesses, but I shall never forget
them as long as I live! And I keep on wondering what
I could do for him, or what present I could make him
that would give him half as much pleasure as he has
given me.”
“That is just what I want to do myself, Clara,”
replied her father, whose face grew happier each time
he looked at his little daughter. “I have also been
wondering how we can best show our gratitude to our
good benefactor.”
Mr. Sesemann now went over to where Uncle and
grandmamma were engaged in lively conversation.
19
270 HEIDI

Taking Uncle by the hand he said: “Dear friend,

you will believe me when I tell you that I have
known no real happiness for years past. What were
money and property worth to me when they could
not make my poor child well and happy? With the
help of God you have made her whole and strong,
and you have given new life not only to her but to me.
Tell me now, in what way can I show my gratitude to
you? I can never repay all you have done, but what-
ever is in my power to do is at your service. Speak,
friend, and tell me what I can do.”
Uncle had listened to him quietly, with a smile of
pleasure on his face as he looked at the happy father.
“Mr. Sesemann,”’ he replied in his dignified way,
“believe me that I too have my share in the joy of your
daughter’s recovery, and my trouble is well repaid by ~
it. I thank you heartily for all you have said, but I
have need of nothing. I have enough for myself and the
child as long as I live. One wish alone I have, and if
that could be satisfied I should have no further care
in life.’
“Speak, dear friend, and tell me what it is,” begged
Mr. Sesemann.
“T am growing old,’”’ Uncle said, “and shall not
be here much longer. I have nothing to leave the child
when I die, and she has no relatives, except one person
who will always like to make what profit out of her she
can. If you could promise me that Heidi would never
have to go and earn her living among strangers, then
““GOOD-BY TILL WE MEET AGAIN” 271

you would richly reward me for all I have done for your
child.”
“There could never be any question of such a thing
as that, my dear friend,” said Mr. Sesemann quickly.
“T look upon the child as our own. Ask my mother,
my daughter; you may be sure that they will never
allow the child to be left in anyone else’s care! But if
it will make you happier I give you my hand upon
it. I promise you: Heidi shall never have to go and
earn her living among strangers; I will make provision
against this both during my life and after. But now I
have something else to say. The child is totally un-
fitted to live a life away from home. We found that
out when she was with us. But she has made friends,
and among them I know one who is at this moment
in Frankfurt. He is winding up his affairs there, that
he may be free to go where he likes and take his rest.
I am speaking of my friend, the doctor, who came over
here in the autumn and who intends to settle in this
neighborhood. So you see the child will from now on
have two protectors near her—and may they both
live long to share the task!’
“God grant indeed it may be so!” added grand-
mamma, shaking Uncle’s hand warmly as she spoke.
Then putting her arm around Heidi she drew the child
to her.
‘And I have a question to ask you too, dear
Heidi. ‘Tell me if there is anything you particularly
wish for.”
272 HEIDI

‘Yes, there is,’ answered Heidi promptly, looking

up delightedly at grandmamma.
“Then tell me at once, dear, what it is.”’
“T want to have the bed I slept in at Frankfurt with
the high pillows and the thick coverlet, and then grand-
mother will not have to lie with her head downhill,
hardly able to breathe, and she will be warm enough
under the coverlet not to have to wear her shawl in bed
to prevent her freezing to death.”
In her eagerness to obtain what she had set her
heart upon Heidi hardly gave herself time to get out
all she had to say, and did not pause for breath till
she reached the end of her sentence.
“Dearest child,’ answered grandmamma, moved
by Heidi’s speech, “‘what is this you tell me of grand-
mother! You are right to remind me. In the midst
of our own happiness we forget too often that which
we ought to remember before all things. When God
has shown us some special mercy we should think at
once of those who are denied so many things. I will
telegraph to Frankfurt at once! Miss Rottenmeier
shall pack up the bed this very day, and it will be here
in two days’ time. God willing, grandmother shall
soon be sleeping comfortably upon it.”’
Heidi skipped around grandmamma in her glee,
and then stopping all of a sudden she said quickly,
“T must hurry down and tell grandmother!’’
They all decided to go down to see the grandmother,
but before they started Mr. Sesemann told them his
*“GOOD-BY TILL WE MEET AGAIN” 273
plans. He had been arranging that he and his mother
should make a little tour in Switzerland, taking Clara
with them as far as she was able to go. But now that
he could take his little daughter all the way, he wanted
to start at once. And so he proposed that he and his
mother should spend the night in Dorfli and that
the next day he should come and get Clara. Then
they would all three go down to Ragatz and make
that their starting point.
Clara was rather upset at first at the thought of
saying good-by like this to her friends on the mountain.
She could not help being pleased, however, at the pros-
pect of the journey.
Grandmamma took Heidi by the hand, and they
led the way down the mountain. Uncle came next
with Clara in his arms, for she could not yet walk that
far. Mr. Sesemann brought up the rear.
Brigitta saw the company approaching and rushed
indoors.
“The whole party of them are just going past,
mother, evidently all returning home again,” she in-
formed the old woman. ‘Uncle is with them, carrying
the sick child.”
‘‘Alas, is it really to be so then?” sighed the grand-
mother. ‘And you saw Heidi with them? Then they
are taking her away. If only she could come and put
her hand in mine again! If I could but hear her voice
once more!”
At this moment the door flew open and Heidi
a4 HEIDI
sprang across to the corner and threw her arms around
grandmother.
“Grandmother! Grandmother! My bed is to be
sent from Frankfurt with all the three pillows and the
thick coverlet. Grandmamma says it will be here in
two days.” Heidi could not get out her words quickly
enough, for she was impatient to see grandmother’s
ereat joy at the news.
The old woman smiled, but she said a little sadly,
“She must indeed be a good, kind lady, and I ought
to be glad to think she is taking you with her, but I
shall not outlive it long.”
“What is this I hear? Who has been telling my
good grandmother such tales?” exclaimed a kindly
voice, and grandmother felt her hand taken and warmly
pressed. Grandmamma had followed Heidi in and
heard all that was said. ‘“‘No, no, there is no thought
of such a thing! Heidi is going to stay with you and
make you happy. We want to see her again, but we
shall come to her. We hope to pay a visit to the Alm
every year, for we have good cause to offer up especial
thanks to God upon this spot where so great a miracle
has been wrought upon our child.”
And now grandmother’s face was lighted up with
genuine happiness, and she pressed Mrs. Sesemann’s
hand over and over again, unable to speak her thanks,
while two large tears of joy rolled down her aged cheeks.
“How many, many other good things God has
sent me,” said the grandmother, deeply moved. “I
“GOOD-BY TILL WE MEET AGAIN” 275
did not think it possible that there were so many kind
people, ready to trouble themselves about a poor old
woman and to doso much for her. Nothing strengthens
our belief in a kind heavenly Father who never forgets
even the least of His creatures so much as to know that
there are such people, full of goodness and pity for a
poor, useless creature such as I am.”’
“My good grandmother,” said Mrs. Sesemann,
interrupting her, ‘‘we are all equally poor and helpless
in the eyes of God, and we all have equal need that He
should not forget us. But now we must say good-by,
but only till we meet again, for when we pay our next
year’s visit to the Alm you will be the first person we
shall come and see. Meanwhile we shall not forget
you.” And Mrs. Sesemann took grandmother’s hand
again in farewell.
Mr. Sesemann and his mother continued their
journey down, while Uncle carried Clara back home,
Heidi ran along beside him, so full of joy of what was
coming for grandmother that every step was a Jump.
But there were many tears shed the following morn-
ing by the departing Clara, who wept to say good-by
to her friends and the beautiful mountain home where
she had been happier than ever in her life before. Heidi
did her best to comfort her.
“Summer will be here again in no time,” she said,
‘end then you will come again, and it will be nicer
still, for you will be able to walk about from the be-
ginning. We can go out every day with the goats up
276 HEIDI

to where the flowers grow, and enjoy ourselves from the

moment you arrive.”
Mr. Sesemann arrived to take his little daughter
away, and Clara, somewhat consoled by Heidi’s words,
turned to her little friend.
“Be sure you say good-by for me to Peter and the
goats, and especially to Little Swan. I wish I could
give Little Swan a present, for she has helped so much
to make me strong.”
“Well, you can if you like,” replied Heidi. ‘Send
her a little salt. You know how she likes to lick some
out of grandfather’s hand when she comes home at
night.”
Clara was delighted at this idea. ‘Oh, then I shall
send a hundred pounds of salt from Frankfurt, for I
want her to have something as a remembrance of me.”
Mr. Sesemann now beckoned to the children that
it was time to be off. Grandmamma’s white horse
had been brought up for Clara, and the little girl
proudly rode off beside her father.
Heidi ran to the far edge of the slope and continued
to wave her hand to Clara until horse and rider disap-
peared.
* * * * * *

And now the bed has arrived, and grandmother is

sleeping so soundly all night that she is sure to grow
stronger.
Grandmamma, moreover, has not forgotten how
cold the winter is on the mountain. She has sent a
“GOOD-BY TILL WE MEET AGAIN” 277

large package of warm clothing of every description, so

that grandmother can wrap herself round and round,
and will certainly not shiver with cold now as she sits
in her corner.
There is a great deal of building going on at Dorfli.
The doctor has arrived, and, for the present, is occupy-
ing his old quarters. He has bought the old house
that Uncle and Heidi live in during the winter. The
doctor is having part of the old house rebuilt for him-
self, and the other part repaired for Uncle and Heidi.
The doctor knows that Uncle is a man of independent
spirit, who likes to have a house to himself. Quite at
the back a warm and well-walled stall is being put up
for the two goats, and there they will pass their winter
in comfort.
The doctor and Uncle are becoming better friends
every day. As they walk about the new buildings
to see how they are getting on, their thoughts con-
tinually turn to Heidi, for the chief pleasure to each
in connection with the house is that they will have the
light-hearted little child with them there.
“Tear friend,’ said the doctor on one of these oc-
casions as they were standing together, “‘you will see
this matter as I do, I am sure. I share your happi-
ness in the child as if, next to you, I was the one to
whom she most closely belonged. I wish also to share
all responsibilities concerning her and to do my best
for the child. I shall then feel I have my rights in her,
and shall look forward to her being with me and car-
278 HEIDI

ing for me in my old age, which is the one great wish

of my heart. She will have the same claims upon me as
if she were my own child, and I shall provide for her as
such, and so we shall be able to leave her without
anxiety when the day comes that you and I must go.”
Uncle did not speak, but he clasped the doctor’s
hand in his, and his good friend could read in the old
man’s eyes how greatly moved he was and how glad
and grateful he felt.
Heidi and Peter were at this moment sitting with
grandmother. Heidi had so much to tell, and the
others to listen to, that they all three got closer and
closer to one another, hardly able to breathe in their
eagerness not to miss a word.
It was difficult to say which of the three looked the
happiest at being together again, and at the recollec-
tion of all the wonderful things that had happened.
Then at last the grandmother spoke. ‘Heidi, read
me one of the hymns!” she said. “I feel I can do nothing
for the remainder of my life but thank the Father in
Heaven for all the mercies He has shown us!”
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