Produced by Jason Isbell, Emma Morgan Isbell, Jeannie Howse
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
https://www.pgdp.net. This file is gratefully uploaded to
the PG collection in honor of Distributed Proofreaders
having posted over 10,000 ebooks.
* * * * *
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
| Transcriber's Note: |
| |
| This document reproduces the text for the Gift Edition of |
| Heidi, if you would like to see the illustrations, margin |
| art, and decorations, the html version is recommended. |
| |
| Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has |
| been preserved. |
| |
| Obvious typographical errors have been corrected in this |
| text. For a complete list, please see the end of this |
| document. |
| |
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
* * * * *
HEIDI
JOHANNA SPYRI
[Illustration: (Heidi)]
[Illustration: (Peter)]
HEIDI
GIFT EDITION
[Illustration: WAVING HER HAND AND LOOKING AFTER HER DEPARTING
FRIEND TILL HE SEEMED NO BIGGER THAN A LITTLE DOT
_Page 228_]
HEIDI
BY
JOHANNA SPYRI
TRANSLATED BY
ELISABETH P. STORK
_WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY_
CHARLES WHARTON STORK, A.M., PH.D.
_14 ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOR BY_
MARIA L. KIRK
GIFT EDITION
PHILADELPHIA AND LONDON
J.B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
1919
COPYRIGHT, 1915. BY J.B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS AND DECORATIONS
COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY J.B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
PRINTED BY J.B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
AT THE WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS
PHILADELPHIA, U.S.A.
INTRODUCTION
Unassuming in plot and style, "Heidi" may none the less lay claim to
rank as a world classic. In the first place, both background and
characters ring true. The air of the Alps is wafted to us in every
page; the house among the pines, the meadows, and the eagle poised
above the naked rocks form a picture that no one could willingly
forget. And the people, from the kindly towns-folk to the quaint and
touching peasant types, are as real as any representation of human
nature need be. Every goat even, has its personality. As for the
little heroine, she is a blessing not only to everyone in the story,
but to everyone who reads it. The narrative merits of the book are too
apparent to call for comment.
As to the author, Johanna Spyri, she has so entirely lost herself in
her creation that we may pass over her career rather rapidly. She was
born in Switzerland in 1829, came of a literary family, and devoted
all her talent to the writing of books for and about children.
Since "Heidi" has been so often translated into English it may well be
asked why there is any need for a new version. The answer lies partly
in the conventional character of the previous translations. Now, if
there is any quality in "Heidi" that gives it a particular charm, that
quality is freshness, absolute spontaneity. To be sure, the story is
so attractive that it could never be wholly spoiled; but has not the
reader the right to enjoy it in English at least very nearly as much
as he could in German? The two languages are so different in nature
that anything like a literal rendering of one into the other is sure
to result in awkwardness and indirectness. Such a book must be not
translated, but re-lived and re-created.
To perform such a feat the writer must, to begin with, be familiar
with the mountains, and able to appreciate with Wordsworth
The silence that is in the starry sky,
The sleep that is among the lonely hills.
The translator of the present version was born and reared in a region
closely similar to that of the story. Her home was originally in the
picturesque town of Salzburg, and her father, Franz von Pausinger, was
one of the greatest landscape painters of his country and generation.
Another equally important requisite is knowledge of children. It
happens that this translator has a daughter just the age of the
heroine, who moreover loves to dress in Tyrolese costume. To translate
"Heidi" was for her therefore a labor of love, which means that the
love contended with and overcame the labor.
The English style of the present version is, then, distinctive. It has
often been noticed that those who acquire a foreign language often
learn to speak it with unusual clearness and purity. For illustration
we need go no further than Joseph Conrad, a Pole, probably the
greatest master of narrative English writing to-day; or to our own
fellow-citizen Carl Schurz. In the present case, the writer has lived
seven years in America and has strengthened an excellent training with
a wide reading of the best English classics.
Many people say that they read without noticing the author's style.
This is seldom quite true; unconsciously every one is impressed in
some way or other by the style of every book, or by its lack of style.
Children are particularly sensitive in this respect and should,
therefore, as much as is practicable, read only the best. In the new
translation of "Heidi" here offered to the public I believe that most
readers will notice an especial flavor, that very quality of delight
in mountain scenes, in mountain people and in child life generally,
which is one of the chief merits of the German original. The phrasing
has also been carefully adapted to the purpose of reading aloud--a
thing that few translators think of. In conclusion, the author,
realising the difference between the two languages, has endeavored to
write the story afresh, as Johanna Spyri would have written it had
English been her native tongue. How successful the attempt has been
the reader will judge.
CHARLES WHARTON STORK
Assistant Professor of English at the
University of Pennsylvania
[Illustration]
CONTENTS
PART I
HEIDI'S YEARS OF LEARNING AND TRAVEL
CHAPTER PAGE
I. GOING UP TO THE ALM-UNCLE 17
II. WITH THE GRANDFATHER 38
III. ON THE PASTURE 50
IV. IN THE GRANDMOTHER'S HUT 67
V. TWO VISITORS 83
VI. A NEW CHAPTER WITH NEW THINGS 95
VII. MISS ROTTENMEIER HAS AN UNCOMFORTABLE DAY 104
VIII. GREAT DISTURBANCES IN THE SESEMANN HOUSE 119
IX. THE MASTER OF THE HOUSE HEARS OF STRANGE DOINGS 129
X. A GRANDMAMA 136
XI. HEIDI GAINS IN SOME RESPECTS AND LOSES IN OTHERS 146
XII. THE SESEMANN HOUSE IS HAUNTED 153
XIII. UP THE ALP ON A SUMMER EVENING 165
XIV. ON SUNDAY WHEN THE CHURCH BELLS RING 183