Johanna Spyri - Heidi

The old man got up at her last words. She was quite frightened by the way he looked at her, and took a few steps backward.

‘Go back where you came from and don’t come here again in a hurry,’ he said angrily, raising his arm.

Detie didn’t wait to be told twice. ‘Goodbye, then,’ she said quickly. ‘Goodbye, Heidi,’ and she ran off down the mountain, not stopping till she came to Dörfli. Here even more people called out to her than before, wanting to know what she had done with the child, whom they all knew.

‘Where’s Heidi? What have you done with Heidi?’ they cried from their doorways and windows.

Detie replied, more reluctantly each time, ‘She’s up at Uncle Alp’s. Yes, that’s what I said. She’s with Uncle Alp.’ It made her uneasy to hear the women call back to her, from all sides, ‘How could you do it, Detie!’ ‘Poor little mite!’ ‘Fancy leaving that helpless little creature up there with that man!’ Detie was thankful when she was out of earshot. She did not want to think about what she had done, for when her mother was dying, she had made Detie promise to look after the child. She comforted herself with the thought that she would be better able to do so if she took this job where she could earn good money, and hurried away as fast as she could from all those people who would try to make her change her mind.

As soon as Detie had disappeared, the old man sat down again on the bench. He stared at the ground in silence, blowing great clouds of smoke from his pipe, while Heidi explored her new surroundings with delight. She went up to the goat‐stall which was built on to the side of the hut, but found it empty. Then she went round to the back and stood for a while listening to the noise the wind made whistling through the branches of the old fir trees. Presently it died down, and she came back to the front of the hut, where she found her grandfather still sitting in the same position. As she stood watching him, hands behind her back, he looked up and said, ‘What do you want to do now?’

‘I want to see what is inside the hut,’ she answered.

‘Come on, then,’ he said, and he got up and led the way indoors. ‘Bring the bundle of clothes in with you,’ he added.

‘I shan’t want them any more,’ she declared.

The old man turned and looked sharply at her, and saw her black eyes shining with anticipation.

‘She’s no fool,’ he muttered to himself, and added aloud, ‘Why’s that?’

‘I want to be able to run about like the goats do.’

‘Well, so you can,’ said her grandfather, ‘but bring the things inside all the same. They can go in the cupboard.’

Heidi picked up the bundle and followed the old man into a biggish room which was the whole extent of his living quarters. She saw a table and a chair, and his bed over in one corner. Opposite that was a stove, over which a big pot was hanging. There was a door in one wall which the old man opened, and she saw it was a large cupboard with his clothes hanging in it. There were shelves in it too. One held his shirts, socks, and handkerchiefs, another plates, cups, and glasses, while on the top one were a round loaf, some smoked meat, and some cheese. Here, in fact, were all the old man’s possessions. Heidi went inside the open cupboard and pushed her bundle right away to the back so that it would not easily be seen again.

‘Where shall I sleep, Grandfather?’ she asked next.

‘Where you like,’ he replied.

This answer pleased Heidi, and as she was looking round the room for a good place she noticed a ladder propped against the wall near her grandfather’s bed. She climbed up it at once and found herself in a hay loft. A pile of fresh, sweet‐smelling hay lay there, and there was a round hole in the wall of the loft, through which she could see right down the valley.

‘I shall sleep up here,’ she called down. ‘It’s a splendid place. Just come and see, Grandfather.’

‘I know it well,’ he called back. ‘I’m going to make my bed now,’ she went on, ‘but you’ll have to come up and bring me a sheet to lie on.’

‘All right,’ said her grandfather, and he went to the cupboard and searched among his belongings until he found a piece of coarse cloth, which he carried up to her. He found she had already made herself a sort of mattress and pillow of the hay, and had placed them so that she would be able to look through the hole in the wall when she was in bed.

‘That’s right,’ said the old man, ‘but it needs to be thicker than that,’ and he spread a lot more hay over hers so that she would not feel the hard floor through it. The thick cloth which he had brought for a sheet was so heavy that she could hardly lift it by herself, but its thickness made it a good protection against the prickly hay stalks. Together they spread it out, and Heidi tucked the ends under her ‘mattress’ to make it all neat and comfortable. Then she looked at her bed thoughtfully for a moment, and said, ‘We’ve forgotten something, Grandfather.’

‘What’s that?’ he asked.

‘A blanket to cover it, so that I can creep under it when I go to bed.’

‘That’s what you think, is it? Suppose I haven’t got one?’

‘Oh, well then, it doesn’t matter,’ said Heidi, ‘I can easily cover myself with hay,’ and she was just going to fetch some more when her grandfather stopped her. ‘Wait a bit,’ he said, and he went down the ladder, and took from his own bed a great sack made of heavy linen which he brought up to the loft.

‘There, isn’t that better than hay?’ he asked, as they put it over the bed. Heidi was delighted with the result.

‘That’s a wonderful blanket, and my whole bed’s lovely. I wish it was bedtime now so that I could get in it.’

‘I think we might have something to eat first, don’t you?’ said her grandfather. Heidi had forgotten everything else in her excitement over the bed, but at the mention of food, she realized how hungry she was, as she had eaten nothing all day except a piece of bread and a cup of weak coffee before setting out on her long journey. So she replied eagerly, ‘Oh, yes.’

‘Well then, if we are agreed, let us go and see about a meal,’ and he followed Heidi down the ladder. He went to the stove, lifted the big pot off the chain and put a smaller one in its place, then sat himself down on a three‐legged stool and blew up the fire with the bellows till it was red and glowing. As the pot began to sing, he put a large piece of cheese on a toasting fork and moved it to and fro in front of the fire until it became golden yellow all over. At first Heidi just stood and watched with great interest, then she thought of something else and ran to the cupboard. When her grandfather brought the steaming pot and the toasted cheese to the table, he found it was laid with two plates, two knives, and the round loaf. Heidi had noticed these things in the cupboard and knew they would be needed for the meal.

‘I’m glad to see you can think things out for yourself,’ he said, ‘but there is something missing.’

Heidi looked at the steaming pot and went back to the cupboard. She could see one mug there and two glasses, so she took the mug and one of the glasses and put them on the table.

‘That’s right. You know how to be helpful,’ said her grandfather. ‘Now where are you going to sit?’ He himself was in the only chair so Heidi fetched the three‐legged stool and sat down on that.