Heidi

[Illustration: UP THE MOUNTAIN TO GRANDFATHER]

HEIDI

by

JOHANNA SPYRI

ILLUSTRATED BY
ALICE CARSEY

WHITMAN PUBLISHING CO.
RACINE · · CHICAGO

COPYRIGHT 1916 BY
WHITMAN PUBLISHING CO.
RACINE · · CHICAGO

INTRODUCTION

This book is a careful translation of "Heidi," one of the most popular works by the great Swiss author, Johanna Spyri. Not many details about her life are easy to find, but we do know this: Johanna Heusser was born in Zurich on June 12, 1827. She wrote nothing when she was young. She married a lawyer named Advocate Spyri and lived happily with him. Later, the Franco-Prussian War (a conflict between France and Prussia) inspired her to write a book to raise money for charity. That book was so successful that it set her on the path to becoming a full-time writer. She died at her home in Zurich in 1891. Today, her fame has spread across the world, and her books are loved not only by the children she wrote them for, but also by grown-ups who care about children.

"Heidi" itself has become a favorite wherever people love mountains, whether they've seen them in person or only read about them. It tells the simple story of a Swiss child's early life among the beautiful mountains she loved so deeply. Both young readers and thoughtful adults continue to treasure this book.

Johanna Spyri lived among the very mountains and villages she described so well in her writing. In all her stories, she tries to protect young readers from being misunderstood — and from a kind of "kindness" that actually gets in the way of children growing up happy and true to themselves.

Among her many other works are: "Arthur and His Squirrel," "On Sunday," "From the Swiss Mountains," "A Scion of the House of Lesa," "The Great and the Small All May Aid," "From Near and Far," "Cornelius," "Lost but Not Forgotten," "Gritli's Children" (2 volumes), "Without a Country," "What Shall Then Become of Her?," "Sina," "From Our Own Country," "Ten Stories" (2 volumes), "In Leuchtensa," "Uncle Titus," "A Golden Saying," "The Castle Wildenstein," "What Really Happened to Her," "In the Valley of the Tilonne," and "The Hauffer Mill."

M. H. M.

CONTENTS

I. Heidi's First Mountain Climb 13
II. A New Home with Grandfather 22
III. Little Bear and Little Swan 29
IV. Shooting Down the Mountain Side 40
V. A Railroad Journey 52
VI. Clara, the Patient Little Invalid 60
VII. The Unfriendly Housekeeper 67
VIII. Surprises for the Children 79
IX. Mr. Sesemann Takes Heidi's Part 87
X. Clara's Lovable Grandmother 91
XI. Home-Sickness 98
XII. "My House Is Haunted" 102
XIII. At Home Again on the Mountain 112
XIV. The Coat with the Silver Buttons 126
XV. A Great Disappointment 135
XVI. The Doctor Comes with Presents 140
XVII. Excursions Over the Mountains 149
XVIII. A New Home for the Winter 157
XIX. Heidi Teaches Obstinate Peter 167
XX. A Strange Looking Procession 176
XXI. Happy Days for the Little Visitor 191
XXII. Wicked Peter and the Unlucky Chair 199
XXIII. Good-Bye to the Beautiful Mountain 217

ILLUSTRATIONS

Up the Mountain to Grandfather (color) FRONTISPIECE
Heidi Tenderly Stroked the Two Goats in Turn 27
Heidi Drank in the Golden Sunlight, the Fresh Air and the Sweet Smell of the Flowers (color) 33
Heidi Now Began to Give a Lively Description of Her Life with the Grandfather (color) 48
"Why, There Is Nothing Outside but the Stony Streets" 72
Miss Rottermeyer Jumped Higher Than She Had for Many Long Years (color) 80
Grandmother's Kind Advice Brings Comfort to Heidi (color) 96
Heidi Learns to Make Doll Clothes 99
The Doctor Discovers Heidi's Home-Sickness 109
"Our Milk Tastes Nicer Than Anything Else in the World, Grandfather" 123
It Was Not Long Before the Fir Trees Began Their Old Song (color) 144
A Strange-Looking Procession Was Making Its Way Up the Mountain (color) 192
The Little Invalid Finds That She Is Able to Walk 208
"We Must Not Overdo It," He Said, Taking Clara Up in His Arms 212
Peter Went Rolling and Bumping Down the Slope 222
"Are You Really My Little Clara?" (color) 232

[Illustration: HEIDI]

CHAPTER I

HEIDI'S FIRST MOUNTAIN CLIMB

On a sunny June morning, two people — a tall girl and a small child — were climbing a narrow mountain path. The path wound up from the pretty village of Mayenfeld toward the high peaks of the Alm mountain. Even though the June sun was hot, the child was dressed as if she needed to bundle up against the coldest winter frost. She looked about five years old, but it was hard to tell what her real shape was, since she seemed to be wearing two dresses, one on top of the other, plus a thick red wool shawl over both. Her small feet were laced into heavy, nail-studded mountain boots.

When the travelers reached the little village of Doerfli, halfway up the mountain, people greeted them from every direction, since the older girl was back in her hometown. As they were leaving the village, a voice called out, "Wait a moment, Dete! If you're heading up the mountain, I'll come along too."

The girl called Dete stopped walking. The child immediately let go of her hand and sat down on the ground.

"Are you tired, Heidi?" Dete asked.

"No, I'm hot," the child answered.

"We'll reach the top soon," Dete said. "Just keep walking bravely a little longer, taking good long steps, and in another hour we'll be there."

A stout, cheerful-looking woman joined them, and she and Dete walked on ahead together.

"Where are you taking the child?" the woman asked. "I suppose she's the one your sister left behind?"

"Yes," Dete answered. "I'm bringing her up to Uncle's place. She has to stay there now."

"This child, staying up there with Alm-Uncle? Dete, you must be out of your mind! How could you even think of such a thing? That old man will send the two of you packing before the day is out!"

"He can't really do that," Dete said, "since he's her grandfather. He has to do something for her. I've taken care of her until now, and I'm not going to give up this wonderful new job I've found, just for her sake."

"That would be fine if he were like other people," said Barbel, "but you know what he's like. What is he going to do with a child, especially one so young? She can't possibly live with him. But where are you off to yourself?"

"To Frankfurt, where a really good job is waiting for me," Dete answered.

"I'm glad I'm not that child," Barbel said. "Nobody up there knows a thing about the old man. He won't have anything to do with anyone, and he never once sets foot in church, year after year. On the rare times he does come down, everybody clears out of his way. Just the sight of him — with his bushy gray eyebrows and huge beard — is enough to frighten anyone. People say all sorts of things about him. Surely you, Dete, must know a good deal about him from your sister."

"Yes, but I'm not going to repeat what I've heard. What if it got back to him? I'd be in nothing but trouble."

Barbel linked her arm through Dete's, as if sharing a secret, and said, "Just tell me what's wrong with the old man. Was he always avoided like this, always so bad-tempered? I promise I won't tell a soul."

"All right, I'll tell you — but wait a moment," Dete said, looking around for Heidi, who had quietly wandered off.

"There she is!" Barbel exclaimed, pointing to a spot far from the path. "Look, she's climbing up that slope with Peter and his goats. Now tell me about the old man. Did he ever own more than just his two goats and his hut?"

"Of course he did," Dete said eagerly. "He used to own one of the biggest farms in Domleschg, where my mother once lived. But he drank and gambled away everything he had. When his parents found out, they were so heartbroken that they died, one shortly after the other. With nothing left but a ruined reputation, Uncle disappeared, and word got around that he'd gone off to Naples to become a soldier. About twelve or fifteen years later, he came back to Domleschg, bringing a young son with him. He tried to place the boy with relatives, but every door was shut in his face — nobody wanted anything to do with him. Bitter about this treatment, he swore he would never set foot in Domleschg again. He then moved to Doerfli and lived there with his little boy. His wife, it seems, had died soon after the child was born. He must have saved up some money during his years away, because he was able to set his son Tobias up as an apprentice to a carpenter. Tobias turned out to be a steady, well-liked young man, welcomed by everyone in Doerfli. His father, though, was still looked at with suspicion, and some even whispered that he had killed a man in a fight back in Naples."

"But why does everyone call him 'Uncle'? Surely he's not really uncle to the whole village," Barbel asked.

"Our grandmothers were related to him, so we always called him Uncle," Dete explained. "And since my father had family ties to so many people in Doerfli, everyone else just got into the habit of calling him that too."

"And what became of Tobias?" Barbel asked, listening closely.

"Tobias learned his trade in Mels, and once he finished his apprenticeship, he came back to Doerfli and married my sister Adelaide. But their happiness didn't last. Just two years after the wedding, Tobias was killed in an accident. His wife was so overcome with grief that she came down with a fever and never recovered. She had always been somewhat frail, and she suffered from strange spells where no one could tell if she was awake or asleep. Two months after Tobias was buried, she followed him in death. Everyone for miles around talked about their sad fate, and most people said it was a punishment Uncle deserved for the wicked life he had once led. Our minister tried to reach his conscience, but the old man only grew angrier and more stubborn, and he stopped speaking to anyone at all. Then, suddenly, we heard he had moved up to the Alm mountain and didn't plan to come back down. Ever since, he's lived alone up there, and now everyone calls him Alm-Uncle. My mother and I took in Adelaide's baby, who was only a year old at the time. When my mother died last year and I went to work at the Baths, I paid old Ursel to look after the girl. So you see, I've done my part — now it's Uncle's turn. But where are you headed, Barbel? We're already halfway up the mountain."

"This is exactly where I needed to stop," Barbel answered. "I have to see Peter's mother — she's been doing some spinning for me. So goodbye, Dete, and good luck."

She turned toward a small, dark brown hut standing a little off the path, tucked into a hollow that sheltered it from the mountain wind.

This was the home of Peter, an eleven-year-old boy, along with his mother Brigitta and his blind grandmother, whom everyone in the area — young and old alike — simply called "Grandmother."

Every morning, Peter went down to Doerfli to gather a flock of goats and lead