Heidi

2 At Grandfather’s

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.

‘You’ve got a seat all right, but rather a low one, and even with my chair you would not be high enough to reach the table.’ So saying, the old man got up and pushed his chair in front of Heidi’s stool and put the mug filled with milk on it, and a plate on which was a slice of bread covered with the golden toasted cheese. ‘Now you have a table to yourself and can start to eat,’ he said. Then he perched himself on a corner of the big table and began his own meal.

Heidi took up the mug and drained it thirstly. After that she drew a deep breath — for she had been too busy drinking to breathe — and set the empty mug down.

‘Is the milk good?’ asked her grandfather.

‘The best I’ve ever drunk,’ replied Heidi.

‘You must have some more then,’ and he refilled her mug.

She ate her bread and cheese, which tasted delicious, and every now and then she took a drink. She looked as happy and contented as anyone could be.

After the meal her grandfather went to the goat‐stall and Heidi watched him sweep the floor with a broom and then put down fresh straw for the animals to sleep on. When that job was done he went into the shed, which was built on to the side of the hut, and sawed off several round sticks of wood. Then he bored holes to fit them in a strong flat piece of board, and when he had fitted them all together, the result was a high chair. Heidi watched him, silent in her amazement.

‘Do you know what this is?’ he asked, when he had finished.

‘It’s a chair specially for me,’ she said wonderingly. ‘And how quickly you made it!’

‘She’s got eyes in her head and knows how to use them,’ thought the old man. Next he busied himself with some small repairs in the hut, driving in a nail here and there, tightening a screw in the door and so on. Heidi followed at his heels, watching him with the closest attention, for everything was new and interesting to her.

Thus the afternoon passed. A strong wind sprang up again, whistling and rustling through the fir trees. The sound pleased Heidi so much that she began dancing and jumping about, and her grandfather stood watching her from the door of the shed. Suddenly there was a shrill whistle and Peter appeared in the midst of his herd of goats. Heidi gave a cry of delight and rushed to greet her friends of the morning. As the goats reached the hut they all stood still, except for two graceful animals, one brown and one white, which detached themselves from the others and went up to the old man. Then they began to lick his hands for he was holding a little salt in them, as he did every evening to welcome them home.

Peter went away with the rest of the herd, and Heidi ran to the two goats and began to pat them gently. ‘Are these ours, Grandfather?’ she asked. ‘Both of them? Do they go into the stall? Will they always be here with us?’ Her questions followed so closely on each other that her grandfather could hardly get an answer in edgeways. When the goats had finished the salt, the old man said, ‘Now go and fetch your mug and the bread.’ She obeyed and was back in a flash. Then he filled her mug with milk from the white goat and gave it to her with a slice of bread.

‘Eat that and then go to bed,’ he said. ‘If you want a nightdress or anything like that, you’ll find it in the bundle your aunt brought. Now I must see to the goats. Sleep well.’

‘Good night, Grandfather,’ she called, as he walked off with the animals. Then she ran after them to ask what the goats’ names were.

‘The white one is called Daisy and the brown Dusky,’ replied her grandfather.

‘Good night, Daisy, good night, Dusky,’ called Heidi after the goats, who had disappeared into their stall. She ate her supper on the bench outside the hut. The wind was so strong, it almost blew her away, so she finished her bread and milk quickly and went indoors and up to bed. There she was soon sleeping as soundly as if she was tucked up in the finest bed in the world.

Her grandfather also went to bed before it was dark, for he always got up with the sun, and that came over the mountain tops very early in the summer. During the night the wind blew so hard that it shook the whole hut and made its beams creak. It shrieked down the chimney and brought one or two of the old fir trees’ branches crashing down. So after a while the old man got up, thinking, ‘The child may be frightened.’

He climbed up the ladder and went over to her bed. Just then the moon, which had been covered by scudding clouds, shone straight through the hole in the wall on to Heidi’s face. She was fast asleep under her heavy coverlet, one rosy cheek resting on her chubby little arm, and with such a happy expression on her face that she must surely have been dreaming of pleasant things. He stood looking down at her till clouds covered the moon again, darkening the room. Then he went back to bed.