Heidi, Johanna Spyri [reading e books .TXT] 📗

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little interchange of words it was finally agreed that the man

should take both the child and the box to Dorfli, and there find

some one who could be sent on with Heidi up the mountain.

 

“I 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 rolled

parcel, and a letter for her grandfather; the parcel, he told

her, was a present from Herr Sesemann, and she must put it at the

bottom of her basket under the rolls and be very careful not to

lose it, as Herr Sesemann would be very vexed if she did, and

never be the same to her again; so little miss was to think well

of what he said.

 

“I shall be sure not to lose it,” said Heidi confidently, and

she at once put the roll 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 on to the high seat and

shook hands with her; he then made signs to her to keep her eye

on the basket, for the driver was standing near and Sebastian

thought it better to be careful, especially as he knew that he

ought himself to have seen the child safely to her journey’s

end. The driver now swung himself up beside 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 and awaited the return train.

 

The driver of the car was the miller at Dorfli and was taking

home his sacks of flour. He had never seen Heidi, but like

everybody in Dorfli knew all about her. He had known her

parents, and 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?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“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 Herr Sesemann gave me leave, or else I should not

have come.”

 

“If 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, “It’s strange of her,

for she must know what it’s like.”

 

He began whistling and said no more, while Heidi looked around

her and began to tremble with excitement, for she knew every

tree along the way, and there overhead were the high jagged peaks

of the mountain looking down on her like old friends. And Heidi

nodded back to them, and grew every moment more wild with her

joy and longing, feeling as if she must jump down from the cart

and run with all her might till she reached the top. But she sat

quite still and did not move, although inwardly in such

agitation. The clock was striking five as they drove into

Dorfli. A crowd of women and children immediately surrounded the

cart, for the box and the child arriving with the miller had

excited the curiosity of everybody in the neighborhood,

inquisitive to know whence they came and whither they were going

and to whom they belonged. As the miller lifted Heidi down, she

said hastily, “Thank you, grandfather will send for the trunk,”

and was just 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. “You see,” they said to one another, “how

frightened she is, and no wonder,” and then they went on to talk

of Alm-Uncle, how much worse he had grown that last year, never

speaking a word and looking as if he would like to kill

everybody he met, and if the child had anywhere else to go to she

certainly would not run back to the old dragon’s den. But here

the miller interrupted them, saying he knew more about it than

they did, and began telling them how a kind gentleman had brought

her to Mayenfeld and seen her off, and had given him his fare

without any bargaining, and extra money for himself; what was

more, the child had assured him that she had had everything she

wanted where she had been, and that it was her own wish to return

to her grandfather. This information caused great surprise and

was soon repeated all over Dorfli, and that evening there was not

a house in the place in which the astounding news was not

discussed, of how Heidi had of her own accord given up a

luxurious home to return to her grandfather.

 

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 grandmother’s house in the hollow

of the mountain and her heart began to beat; she ran faster and

faster and her heart beat louder and louder—and now she had

reached the house, but she trembled so she could hardly open the

door—and then she was standing inside, unable in her

breathlessness to utter a sound.

 

“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?”

 

“It’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 that He has granted my prayer!” And tears

of joy fell from the blind eyes on to Heidi’s hand. “Is 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, and you won’t have any more hard bread to eat for some days,

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 the rolls. “But you yourself are the greatest blessing,

Heidi,” and again she touched the child’s hair and passed her

hand over her hot cheeks, and said, “Say something, child, that

I may hear your voice.”

 

Then Heidi told her how unhappy she had been, thinking that the

grandmother might die while she was away and would never have

her white rolls, and that then she would never, never see her

again.

 

Peter’s mother now came in and stood for a moment overcome with

astonishment. “Why, it’s Heidi,” she exclaimed, “and yet can it

be?”

 

Heidi stood up, and Brigitta now could not say enough in her

admiration of the child’s dress and appearance; she walked round

her, exclaiming all the while, “Grandmother, if you could only

see her, and see what a pretty frock she has on; you would

hardly know her again. And the hat with the feather in it is

yours too, I suppose? Put it on that I may see how you look in

it?”

 

“No, I would rather not,” replied Heidi firmly. “You can have it

if you like; I do not want it; I have my own still.” And Heidi

so saying undid her red bundle and took out her own old hat,

which had become a little more battered still during the journey.

But this was no trouble to Heidi; 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, and this was the reason she

had so anxiously preserved her old hat, for she had never ceased

to think about going home to her grandfather. But Brigitta told

her not to be so foolish as to give it away; she would not think

of taking such a beautiful hat; if Heidi did not want to wear it

she might sell it to the schoolmaster’s daughter in Dorfli and

get a good deal of money for it. But Heidi stuck to her

intention and hid the hat quietly in a corner behind the

grandmother’s chair. Then she took off her pretty dress and put

her red shawl on over her under-petticoat, which left her arms

bare; and now she clasped the old woman’s hand. “I must go home

to grandfather,” she said, “but tomorrow I shall come again. Good-night, grandmother.”

 

“Yes, come again, be sure you come again tomorrow,” 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 I am or else

perhaps he would not know me; you hardly did at first.”

 

Brigitta went with her to the door, and there said in rather a

mysterious voice, “You might have kept on your dress, he would

have known you all right; but you must be careful, for Peter

tells me that Alm-Uncle is always now in a bad temper and never

speaks.”

 

Heidi bid her good-night and continued her way up the mountain,

her basket on her arm. All around her the steep green slopes

shone bright in the evening sun, and soon the great gleaming snowfield up above came in sight. Heidi was obliged to keep on

pausing to look behind her, 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-

-for there the two high mountain peeks rose into the air like two

great flames, the whole snowfield 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

gazing around her at all this splendor the tears ran down her

cheeks for very delight and happiness, and impulsively 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 beautiful