Heidi
that was going on with eager curiosity. Suddenly some new idea seemed
to come into her head, for she turned and ran to the cupboard, and then
began going busily backwards and forwards. Presently the grandfather
got up and came to the table with a jug and the cheese, and there he
saw it already tidily laid with the round loaf and two plates and two
knives each in its right place.
"Ah, that's right," said the grandfather, "I am glad to see that you
have some ideas of your own," and as he spoke he laid the toasted
cheese on a layer of bread, "but there is still something missing."
Heidi looked at the jug that was steaming away invitingly, and ran
quickly back to the cupboard. At first she could only see 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, and 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 herself down upon it.
The grandfather filled the bowl with milk, and pushed it in front
of Heidi. Then he brought her a large slice of bread and a piece of
the golden cheese, and told her to eat. Heidi lifted the bowl with
both hands and drank without pause till it was empty, for the thirst
of all her long, hot journey had returned upon her. Then she drew a
deep breath--in the eagerness of her thirst she had not stopped to
breathe--and put down the bowl.
"Was the milk nice?" he asked.
"I never drank any so good before," answered Heidi.
"Then you must have some more," and the old man filled her bowl again
to the brim and set it before the child, who was now hungrily beginning
her bread, having first spread it with the cheese, which after being
toasted was soft as butter. The meal being over, the grandfather went
outside to put the goat-shed in order, and 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, and there he 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 just like her grandfather's, only higher.
Heidi stood and looked at it, speechless with astonishment.
"What do you think that is?" asked her grandfather.
"It's my stool, I know, because it is such a high one; and it was made
all of 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.
And so the time passed happily on till evening. Then the wind began to
roar louder than ever through the old fir trees; Heidi listened with
delight to the sound, and it filled her heart so full of gladness that
she skipped and danced round the old trees, as if some unheard of joy
had come to her. The grandfather stood and watched her from the shed.
Suddenly a shrill whistle was heard. Down from the heights above, the
goats came springing one 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 friends of the morning.
As they neared the hut the goats stood still, and then two of their
number, two beautiful, slender animals, one white and one brown, ran
forward to where the grandfather was standing and began licking his
hands, for he was holding a little salt which he always had ready for
his goats on their return home. Peter went on down the mountain with
the remainder of his flock. Heidi tenderly stroked the two goats in
turn, jumping about in her glee at the pretty little animals. "Are they
ours, Grandfather? Are they both ours? Are you going to put them in the
shed? Will they always stay with us?"
Heidi's questions came tumbling out one after the other, so that her
grandfather had only time to answer each of them with "Yes, yes." When
the goats had finished licking up the salt her grandfather told her to
go and fetch her bowl and the bread.
Heidi obeyed and was soon back again. The grandfather milked the white
goat and filled her basin, and then breaking off a piece of bread, "Now
eat your supper," he said, "and then go up to bed. 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 out as she ran after his
retreating figure and the goats.
"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. Then she ate her supper and went indoors and
climbed up to her bed, where she was soon lying as sweetly and soundly
asleep as any young princess on her couch of silk.
CHAPTER III
LITTLE BEAR AND LITTLE SWAN
Heidi felt very happy next morning as she woke up in her new home and
remembered all the many things that she had seen the day before and
which she would see again that day, and above all she thought with
delight of the dear goats. She jumped quickly out of bed and a very few
minutes sufficed her to put on the clothes which she had taken off the
night before, for there were not many of them. Then she climbed down
the ladder and ran outside the hut. There stood Peter already with his
flock of goats, and 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.
"Do you want to go with them on to the mountain?" asked her
grandfather. Nothing could have pleased Heidi better, and she jumped
for joy in answer.
The grandfather went inside the hut, calling to Peter to follow him and
bring in his wallet. Peter obeyed with astonishment, and laid down the
little bag which held his meagre dinner.
"Open it," said the old man, and he put in 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 two portions which he had for his own
dinner.
"There, now there is only the little bowl to add," continued the
grandfather, "for the child cannot drink her milk as you do from the
goat; she is not accustomed to that. You must milk two bowlfuls for her
when she has her dinner, for she is going with you and will remain
with you till you return this evening; but take care she does not fall
over any of the rocks, do you hear?"
They started joyfully for the mountain. Heidi went running hither
and thither and shouting with delight, for here were whole patches
of delicate red primroses, and there the blue gleam of the lovely
gentian, while above them all laughed and nodded the tender-leaved
golden cistus. Enchanted with all this waving field of brightly-colored
flowers, Heidi forgot even Peter and the goats. She ran on in front
and then 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 all
the while she was plucking whole handfuls of the flowers which she put
into her little apron, for she wanted to take them all home and stick
them in the hay, so that she might make her bedroom look just like the
meadows outside. 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.
Finally they arrived at the spot where Peter generally halted for his
goats to pasture and where he took up his quarters for the day. It 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, and the grandfather had reason to warn Peter of danger. Having
climbed as far as the halting-place, Peter unslung his wallet 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 belonging
sent rolling down the mountain by a sudden gust. Then he threw himself
at full length on the warm ground, and soon fell asleep.
Heidi meanwhile had unfastened her apron and rolling it carefully round
the flowers laid it beside Peter's wallet inside the hollow; she then
sat down beside his outstretched figure and looked about her.
The goats were climbing about among the bushes overhead. She had never
felt so happy in her life before. She drank in the golden sunlight,
the fresh air, the sweet smell of the flowers, and wished for nothing
better than to remain there forever. Suddenly she heard a loud, harsh
cry overhead and lifting her eyes she saw a bird, larger than any she
had ever seen before, with great, spreading wings, wheeling 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 blue air till it disappeared
behind the grey mountain-tops.
"Where has it gone to?" asked Heidi, who had followed the bird's
movements with intense interest.
"Home to its nest," said Peter.
"Is 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.
"Let 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 ejaculation, "why, even the goats cannot
climb as high as that, besides didn't Uncle say that you were not to
fall over the rocks."
Peter now began suddenly whistling and calling in such a loud manner
that Heidi could not think what was happening; but the goats evidently
understood his voice, for one after the other they 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. Meanwhile Peter had taken the
wallet 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.
"Leave off jumping about, it is time for dinner," said Peter; "sit down
now and begin."
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 piebald one. But go on now with your dinner,"
said Peter, again reminding her it was time to eat. Heidi took up the
bowl and drank her milk, and as soon as she had put it down empty