people where it belonged, and my grandmother told me I must stay with
such people and never go away, for I should learn nothing but good
from them.”
“Must you stay with us now, and never go away again?” asked little
Betti eagerly.
“Yes, I think so,” answered Sami. “Perhaps I can weed the garden.”
“That is right,” said Betti, delighted. “You see, Tina will not take me
in the carriage; she says I am too big. Will you take me every day in the
carriage to the meadow for ever so many hours?”
“Yes, indeed, I will do that gladly,” promised Sami, “and you shall have
all the flowers. Then I will take you besides to the trees where all the
birds sing ‘Only trust the dear Lord!’ and where the finch cries so loud
above them all: ‘Trust! Trust! Trust! Trust!’ Have you heard him too?”
At this description little Betti’s eyes grew bigger and brighter with
expectation.
“Come now, let’s go right away to the birds,” she exclaimed, jumped up
and ran in haste to the carriage.
Sami followed.
At this moment Tina, with a very red face, came running up from below.
Her looks did not portend anything good.
“So I have found you at last,” she cried angrily from a distance.
“Everybody is running around looking for you--your three brothers, the
servants, the coachman--everybody! I have run myself half dead for you.
Sit down in the carriage, you naughty little thing. The little tramp can
go where he likes. No, he must come back again; his bundle is lying in
the courtyard. So he can pull the carriage if he has to come with us.”
Little Betti did not seem very much frightened by this lively speech. She
climbed quickly into the carriage and said gaily: “Go ahead, Sami!”
He obeyed quite crushed, for now he could only return for his bundle;
then he would have to go away again, and he had so firmly believed this
was the place where he was to stay according to his grandmother’s advice,
and it had pleased him so much. He had started out in the morning full of
trust from the song of the birds, and now he was returning very
down-hearted the same way.
When the three on their way home came to the courtyard, a tall man was
standing there, looking out up and down the road; a lady was coming out
of the house and going in again very restlessly, and three young boys
were running first one way and then another, screaming at the top of
their voices:
“She is nowhere to be seen! She is nowhere to be seen!”
But there she was, drawn by Sami, just coming into the courtyard. Before
any question, reproach or accusation could be heard in regard to the
unlawful expedition, Betti had run straight to her Papa, and in his
delight that she was safely there again, he had taken her in his arms,
and with the greatest eagerness she said:
“He will take me every day in the carriage, Papa, the whole day long, if
I like, and bring all the flowers to me, because I must not go in the
high grass. And he must always stay with us, because his grandmother knew
about it, and, Papa, think, he knows birds that sing a whole song, and
the finch sings above them all: ‘Trust! Trust!’ We were going right to
see them when Tina came and we had to come home. But now we can go, can’t
we, Papa, right away? Sami will take me there again; he isn’t tired yet.
Only say yes, Papa.”
“Your story is wonderful,” said her Papa, laughing. “Where is the little
coachman whom you have engaged and who, according to his grandmother’s
advice, must stay with us?”
Meanwhile the three brothers had come running along and, together with
their mother, stood near their father under the gateway, so that Sami,
who with his bundle on his arm was trying to go out, could not pass
through, and had betaken himself very quietly to a corner of the
courtyard. The master of the house now placed his daughter on the ground
and looked towards the boy. But he was already surrounded, for during
their little sister’s story the three brothers had made their examination
and calculation and then had turned to the boy. Nine-year-old Edward had
decided with satisfaction that Sami was the one he had for a long time
needed, for since the donkey, which had been given to him at Christmas,
had overturned him and his little cart three times running, his father
had forbidden him to drive out again without the coachman, Johann. But
when Edward wanted to go out driving Johann was always occupied some
other way, and when Johann announced that he could go it didn’t suit
Edward at all. Now Sami was found, an attendant whom he could call
whenever he wanted him.
Eleven-year-old Karl was an enthusiastic archer, but to have to be always
running after his arrows after they were shot and to hunt for them was
very irksome to him. Suddenly someone was found whom he could make use of
to hunt for his arrows.
Fourteen-year-old Arthur had permission to sail in his boat on the lake,
but he needed some one to steer for him. Now here was a satisfactory boy,
on the spot, whom he could teach, and have to steer for him. So it
happened that there was a great uproar when their Papa drew near the
group in the corner of the courtyard.
“Keep him, Papa, I have enough work for him to do!” cried Arthur, while
Karl’s voice was heard above his screaming:
“Let him stay here, Papa, please, I need him so much!”
But Edward’s piercing voice was heard above the other two:
“Papa, he can drive the donkey, he must stay with us, then Johann won’t
need to come with me any longer!”
And in the midst of all sounded Betti’s high little voice, untiringly:
“Can we go to see the birds now, Papa? Can we go now to the birds?”
Then Papa turned away from the noisy group and said, laughing:
“My dear wife, what do you say to this whole story?”
The lady addressed had until now listened silently and watched Sami,
whose eyes grew brighter and brighter the louder the children begged for
him to stay. She looked at him kindly and said first of all she would
like to know from him where he came from, and what the story which Betti
told about his grandmother meant; he ought to tell where he had been
living hitherto, who his parents were and who his grandmother was.
The kind lady had inspired Sami with great confidence and he now told
from the beginning all that he knew about his life up to the present
moment, and also how he had come into the courtyard, on account of the
proverb, which led him to believe that here lived the people with whom he
should stay.
When Sami came to an end, the lady turned to her husband and said:
“It is the dear Lord who has led him here. We cannot send him away!”
The children all shouted together for joy.
“Can we go to the birds now, Papa? Right away?” repeated Betti with
irrepressible eagerness.
“By and by, by and by,” said her father, soothingly. “Sami is going with
me first up to Chailly, to show me where Herr Malon lives. I want to talk
with him. When we come back, we will see what to do first.”
The mother understood that her husband wanted to have Herr Malon’s
assurance that everything Sami had told was true, and held back the
children, who all four were anxious to explain immediately to Sami what
they desired of him.
“But bring him back again, Papa!” cried Betti following after them as
they started away.
Herr Malon was very much surprised to see Sami again, and moreover in
such company, for he recognized the master of the plane-tree estate at
once. After the first greeting Sami was sent out doors for a little, and
this delighted him very much, for now he could look at the garden again
and the crooked maple-tree, under which he had so often sat with his
grandmother.
Herr Malon assured his guest that all Sami’s words were correct and
besides gave a description of Old Mary Ann, her fidelity and
conscientiousness, so that the gentleman was very glad to have such good
news to carry to his wife.
A loud shout of delight welcomed them on their return, and still louder
was the applause, when their father announced that Sami was henceforth to
remain in the house and be the children’s playmate.
Sami did not know what to make of it. Since his grandmother’s death, no
one had shown the slightest pleasure in his presence; on the contrary
everywhere he had felt as if he were tolerated only out of pity, and now
he was received with loud rejoicing by the children of a house to which
he had been more attracted than anywhere else before, and where his
grandmother would be glad to see him; of that he was sure. His heart was
so overflowing with joy that he wanted to sing aloud and give praise and
thanksgiving evermore like the finch:
“Trust! Trust! Only trust the dear Lord!”
* * * * *
It is now ten years since Sami entered the plane-tree estate. Whoever
passes by there on a beautiful Spring day will surely stand still at the
high iron gateway and listen for a little, for there is seldom heard such
a merry song as sounds from the thick branches of the planetrees. Up in
the tree sits the young gardener pruning the branches. At the same time
he sings continually, like the merriest finch, and carols loudest the end
of his song, accompanied by all the birds:
“Only trust the dear Lord!”
The young gardener is Sami. At first he received a good knowledge of
reading, writing and arithmetic with the children of the house; later,
according to his great wish, he was trained as a gardener of the estate.
But he is now not only gardener, he has much more to oversee about the
estate than any one would imagine. Arthur, who has just finished his
studies, is still an ardent sailor. Without Sami, no trip is possible,
and Arthur is apt to say:
“Without God’s help and Sami’s assistance I should have been drowned
twenty times.”
When Karl comes from the university in his vacation, his first question
is, “Where is Sami?” and this he asks numberless times every day, for
without him he can never get ready. He alone knows where to find
everything Karl needs in vacation-time for his amusements, from his old
bow and quiver up to his riding whip and gun.
Edward has now given up his donkey cart and instead is interested in
strange animals, which have their dwelling-place in the back of the
courtyard and often make a great spectacle there. He owns two marmots,
two parrots and a monkey. No one could manage these and keep them in
order but Sami, and he does it so well and so successfully that Edward
often exclaims:
“Without Sami everything we have would go to ruin, animals and people,
the animals for want of proper care and the people from anger over it.”
But Betti still remains Sami’s greatest friend. She can call him at any
hour of the day she pleases, Sami is immediately on the spot, and Betti
knows he is more devoted than any one else and besides can keep secrets
like a stone. No one knows how many little notes he has to carry every
week to the neighbouring estates. Sami will not tell, for her brothers
would laugh at their sister Betti’s endless correspondence which she has
with numerous girl friends around on all the estates. Sami is her most
devoted friend, for he would run through fire and water for her without
hesitation. He never forgets what persuasive words in his behalf Betti
used with her father, when, broken-hearted, he was going to fetch his
bundle and go away again.
The youngest, Ella, with golden curls, who has taken over the donkey and
cart from her brother Edward, is entrusted to Sami’s especial care when
she desires to go for a drive. Whenever she brings out her white robe to
spread over her knees, Sami’s eyes sparkle with delight and thankfulness
as he remembers how the proverb led him to his good fortune, and still
more at the memory of his grandmother, who brought about all this good,
and whom he never forgets.
When, recently, a lady, owning one of the neighbouring estates, proposed
to Herr von K. to transfer his merry gardener to her, merely because the
servants in her house had sullen faces, he replied:
“You can have him, just as much as you can have one of my own children,
if you should try to entice one away. Sami is the most faithful,
trustworthy, conscientious person who has ever come in my way. I can
leave my whole house and go wherever I will, I know that everything will
be taken care of, as if I stood by. This is so because Sami has another
Master besides me, before whose eyes he performs all his work. The dear
Lord himself sent my glad-hearted Sami to me, and I esteem him. He
belongs to my house, and it shall remain his home!”
End of Project Gutenberg’s What Sami Sings with the Birds, by Johanna Spyri