A NEW HOME WITH GRANDFATHER
As 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 it was empty. She continued her
search but presently came back 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 the old man and said:
"I want to see what you have inside the house."
"Come then!" and the grandfather rose and went before her towards the
hut.
"Bring your bundle of clothes in with you," he bid her as she was
following.
"I 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 can do so if you like," said her grandfather, "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 hanging above it; and on the
further side was a large door in the wall--this was the cupboard. The
grandfather opened it; inside were his clothes. On a second shelf were
some plates and cups and glasses, and on a higher one still, a round
loaf, smoked meat, and cheese, for everything that Alm-Uncle needed
for his food and clothing was kept in this cupboard. Heidi 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 grandfather'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, while through a round window
in the wall she could see right down the valley.
"I shall sleep up 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.
"I 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; you want it to lie upon."
"All right," said the grandfather, and presently he went to the
cupboard, and after rummaging about inside 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 Heidi had already
made quite a nice bed. She had put an extra heap of hay at one end for
a pillow, and had so arranged it that, when 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."
They spread it over the bed, and where it was too long or too broad,
Heidi quickly tucked it in under the hay. It looked 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 coverlid; when you get into bed, you have to creep in between the
sheet and the coverlid."
"Oh, that's the way, is it? But suppose I have not got a coverlid?"
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 fetch another armful from the heap, when her grandfather
stopped her. "Wait a moment," he said, and he climbed down the ladder
again and went towards his bed. He returned to the loft with a large,
thick sack, made of flax, which he laid tidily over the bed.
"That is a splendid coverlid," said Heidi, "and the bed looks lovely
altogether! I wish it was night, so that I might get inside it at once."
"I think we had better go down and have something to eat first," said
the grandfather.
While the kettle was boiling the old man held a large piece of cheese
on a long iron fork over the fire, turning it round and round till it
was toasted a nice golden yellow color on each side. Heidi watched all
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.
[Illustration: HEIDI TENDERLY STROKED THE TWO GOATS IN TURN]
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.