Heidi

by Johanna Spyri

  CHAPTER XVIII

  A NEW HOME FOR THE WINTER

  Alm-Uncle had kept his word and was not spending the winter in his oldhome. As soon as the first snow began to fall, he had shut up the hutand the outside buildings and gone down to Doerfli with Heidi and thegoats. Near the church was a straggling half-ruined building, which hadonce been the home of a distinguished soldier. It was rented to poorpeople, who paid but a small sum, and when any part of the buildingfell it was allowed to remain. As soon as the grandfather had made uphis mind to spend the winter in Doerfli, he rented the old place andworked during the autumn to get it sound and tight. In the middle ofOctober he and Heidi took up their residence there.

  On approaching the house from the back one came first into an openspace with a wall on either side, of which one was half in ruins. Abovethis rose the arch of an old window thickly overgrown with ivy, whichspread over the remains of a domed roof that had evidently been partof a chapel. A large hall came next, which lay open, without doors, tothe square outside. Here also walls and roof only partially remained,and indeed what was left of the roof looked as if it might fall atany minute had it not been for two stout pillars that supported it.Alm-Uncle had here put up a wooden partition and covered the floorwith straw, for this was to be the goats' house. Endless passages ledfrom this, through the rents of which the sky as well as the fieldsand the road outside could be seen at intervals; but at last one cameto a stout oak door that led into a room that still stood intact. Herethe walls and the dark wainscoting remained as good as ever, and inthe corner was an immense stove reaching nearly to the ceiling, onthe white tiles of which were painted large pictures in blue. Theserepresented old castles surrounded with trees, and huntsmen riding outwith their hounds; or else a quiet lake scene, with broad oak trees anda man fishing. A seat ran all round the stove so that one could sit atone's ease and study the pictures. These attracted Heidi's attentionat once, and she had no sooner arrived with her grandfather than sheran and seated herself and began to examine them. But when she hadgradually worked herself round to the back, something else divertedher attention. In the large space between the stove and the wall fourplanks had been put together as if to make a large receptacle forapples; there were no apples, however, inside, but something Heidi hadno difficulty in recognizing, for it was her very own bed, with its haymattress and sheets, and sack for a coverlid, just as she had it up atthe hut. Heidi clapped her hands for joy and exclaimed, "O Grandfather,this is my room, how nice! But where are you going to sleep?"

  "Your room must be near the stove or you will freeze," he replied, "butyou can come and see mine too."

  Heidi got down and skipped across the large room after her grandfather,who opened a door at the farther end leading into a smaller one whichwas to be his bed-room. Then came another door. Heidi pushed it openand stood amazed, for here was an immense room like a kitchen, largerthan anything of the kind that Heidi had seen before. There was stillplenty of work for the grandfather before this room could be finished,for there were holes and cracks in the walls through which the windwhistled, and yet he had already nailed up so many new planks thatit looked as if a lot of small cupboards had been set up round theroom. He had, however, made the large, old door safe with many screwsand nails, as a protection against the outside air, and this was verynecessary, for just beyond was a mass of ruined building overgrown withtall weeds, which made a dwelling-place for innumerable beetles andlizards.

  Heidi was very delighted with her new home, and by the morning aftertheir arrival she knew every nook and corner so thoroughly that shecould take Peter over it and show him all that was to be seen; indeedshe would not let him go till he had examined every single wonderfulthing contained in it.

  Heidi slept soundly in her corner by the stove; but every morning whenshe first awoke she still thought she was on the mountain, and that shemust run outside at once to see if the fir trees were so quiet becausetheir branches were weighed down with the thick snow. She had to lookabout her for some minutes before she felt quite sure where she was,and a certain sensation of trouble and oppression would come over heras she grew aware that she was not at home in the hut. But then shewould hear her grandfather's voice outside, attending to the goats, andthese would give one or two loud bleats, as if calling to her to makehaste and go to them, and then Heidi was happy again, for she knew shewas still at home, and she would jump gladly out of bed and run out tothe animals as quickly as she could. On the fourth morning, as soon asshe saw her grandfather, she said, "I must go up to see grandmothertoday; she ought not to be alone so long."

  But the grandfather would not agree to this. "Neither today nortomorrow can you go," he said, "the mountain is covered fathom-deep insnow, and the snow is still falling; the sturdy Peter can hardly getalong. A little creature like you would soon be smothered by it, and weshould not be able to find you again. Wait a bit till it freezes, thenyou will be able to walk over the hard snow."

  Heidi now went to school in Doerfli and eagerly set to work to learnall that was taught her. She hardly ever saw Peter there, for as a rulehe was absent. The teacher was an easy-going man who merely remarkednow and then, "Peter is not turning up today again, it seems, but thereis a lot of snow up on the mountain and I daresay he cannot get along."Peter, however, always seemed able to make his way through the snow inthe evening when school was over, and he then generally paid Heidi avisit.

  At last, after some days, when Peter climbed out of his window onemorning--the door was quite blocked by the snow outside--he was takenby surprise, for instead of sinking into the snow he fell on the hardground and went sliding some way down the mountain side like a sleigh,before he could stop himself. He picked himself up and tested thehardness of the ground by stamping on it and trying with all his mightto dig his heels into it, but even then he could not break off a singlelittle splinter of ice; the Alm was frozen hard as iron. This was justwhat Peter had been hoping for, as he knew now that Heidi would be ableto come up to see them. He quickly got back into the house, swallowedthe milk which his mother had ready for him, thrust a piece of bread inhis pocket, and said, "I must be off to school," and in another minutewas shooting down the mountain on his sled.

  He went like lightning, and when he reached Doerfli, which stood on thedirect road to Mayenfeld, he made up his mind to go on further. So downhe still went till he reached the level ground, where the sled came toa pause of its own accord, some little way beyond Mayenfeld. He knew itwas too late to get to school now, as lessons would already have begun,and it would take him a good hour to walk back to Doerfli. So he tookhis time about returning, and reached Doerfli just as Heidi had gothome from school and was sitting at dinner with her grandfather. Peterwalked in, exclaiming as he stood still in the middle of the room,"She's got it now."

  "Got it? what?" asked the Uncle. "Your words sound quite warlike,general."

  "The frost," explained Peter.

  "Oh! now I can go and see grandmother!" said Heidi joyfully, for shehad understood Peter's words at once. "But why were you not at schoolthen? You could have come down on the sled," she added reproachfully,for it did not agree with Heidi's ideas of good behavior to stay awaywhen it was possible to be there.

  "It carried me on too far and I was too late," Peter replied.

  "I call that being a deserter," said the Uncle, "and deserters gettheir ears pulled, as you know."

  Peter gave a tug to his cap in alarm, for there was no one of whom hestood in so much awe as Alm-Uncle.

  "And an army leader like yourself ought to be doubly ashamed of runningaway," continued Alm-Uncle. "What would you think of your goats if onewent off this way and another that, and refused to follow and do whatwas good for them? What would you do then?"

  "I should beat them," said Peter promptly.

  "And if a boy behaved like these unruly goats, and he got a beating forit, what would you say then?"

  "Serves him right," was the answer.

  "Good, then understand this: next time you let y
our sled carry you pastthe school when you ought to be inside at your lessons, come on to meafterwards and receive what you deserve."

  Peter understood the drift of the old man's questions and that he wasthe boy who behaved like the unruly goats, and he looked somewhatfearfully towards the corner to see if there happened to be a stickaround.

  But now the grandfather suddenly said in a cheerful voice, "Come andsit down and have something, and afterwards Heidi shall go with you.Bring her back this evening and you will find supper waiting for youhere."

  This unexpected turn of conversation set Peter grinning all over withdelight. He obeyed without hesitation and took his seat beside Heidi.But the child could not eat in her excitement at the thought of goingto see grandmother. She ran to the cupboard and brought out the warmcloak Clara had sent her; with this on and the hood drawn over herhead, she was all ready for her journey. She stood waiting besidePeter, and as soon as his last mouthful had disappeared she said, "Comealong now." As the two walked together Heidi had much to tell Peter ofher two goats that had been so unhappy the first day in their new stallthat they would not eat anything, but stood hanging their heads, noteven rousing themselves to bleat. And when she asked her grandfatherthe reason of this, he told her it was the same with the goats as withher in Frankfurt, for it was the first time in their lives they hadcome down from the mountain. "And you don't know what that is, Peter,unless you have felt it yourself," added Heidi.

  When they reached their destination they found Brigitta sitting aloneknitting, for the grandmother was not very well and had to stay in bedon account of the cold. Heidi had never before missed the old figure inher place in the corner, and she ran quickly into the next room. Therelay grandmother on her little, poorly covered bed, wrapped up in herwarm grey shawl.

  "Thank God," she exclaimed as Heidi came running in; the poor old womanhad had a secret fear at heart all through the autumn, especially ifHeidi was absent for any length of time, for Peter had told her of astrange gentleman who had come from Frankfurt, and who had gone outwith them and always talked to Heidi, and she had felt sure he had cometo take her away again. Even when she heard he had gone off alone, shestill had an idea that a messenger would be sent over from Frankfurt totake the child. Heidi went up to the side of the bed and said, "Are youvery ill, Grandmother?"

  "No, no, child," answered the old woman reassuringly, passing her handlovingly over the child's head, "it's only the frost that has got intomy bones a bit."

  "Shall you be quite well then directly it turns warm again?"

  "Yes, God willing, or even before that, for I want to get back to myspinning; I thought perhaps I should do a little today, but tomorrow Iam sure to be all right again."

  Heidi noticed that the grandmother was wrapped up in her nice shawl andexclaimed: "In Frankfurt everybody puts on a shawl to go out walking;did you think it was to be worn in bed, Grandmother?"

  "I put it on, dear child, to keep myself from freezing, and I am sopleased with it, for my bedclothes are not very thick," she answered.

  "But, Grandmother," continued Heidi, "your bed is not right, because itgoes downhill at your head instead of uphill."

  "I know it, child, I can feel it," and the grandmother put up her handto the thin, flat pillow, which was little more than a board under herhead, to make herself more comfortable; "the pillow was never verythick, and I have lain on it now for so many years that it has grownquite flat."

  "Oh, if only I had asked Clara to let me take away my Frankfurt bed,"said Heidi. "I had three large pillows, one above the other, so thatI could hardly sleep, and I used to slip down to try and find a flatplace, and then I had to pull myself up again, because it was proper tosleep there like that. Could you sleep like that, grandmother?"

  "Oh, yes! the pillows keep one warm, and it is easier to breathe whenthe head is high," answered the grandmother. "But we will not talkabout that, for I have so much that other old sick people are withoutfor which I thank God; there is the nice bread I get every day, andthis warm wrap, and your visits, Heidi. Will you read me somethingtoday?"

  Heidi ran into the next room to get the hymn book. Then she picked outthe favorite hymns one after another, for she knew them all by heartnow, and was as pleased as the grandmother to hear them again after somany days.

  The grandmother lay with folded hands, while a smile of peace stoleover the worn, troubled face, like one to whom good news has beenbrought.

  Suddenly Heidi paused. "Grandmother, are you feeling quite well againalready?"

  "Yes, child, I have grown better while listening to you; read it to theend."

  The child read on, and when she came to the last words:

  "As the eyes grow dim, and darkness Closes round, the soul grows clearer, Sees the goal to which it travels, Gladly feels its home is nearer."

  the grandmother repeated them once or twice to herself, with a lookof happy expectation on her face. And Heidi took equal pleasure inthem, for the picture of the beautiful, sunny day of her return homerose before her eyes, and she exclaimed joyfully, "Grandmother, I knowexactly what it is like to go home."

  A little later Heidi said, "It is growing dark and I must go; I am soglad to think that you are quite well again."

  She ran into the next room, and bid Peter come quickly, for it had nowgrown quite dark. But when they got outside they found the moon shiningdown on the white snow and everything as clear as in the daylight.Peter got his sled, put Heidi at the back, he himself sitting in frontto guide, and down the mountain they shot like two birds dartingthrough the air.

  When Heidi was lying that night on her high bed of hay she thought ofthe grandmother on her low pillow, and of all she had said about thelight and comfort that awoke in her when she heard the hymns, and shethought: if I could read to her every day, then I should go on makingher better. But she knew that it would be a week, if not two, beforeshe would be able to go up the mountain again. This was a thought ofgreat trouble to Heidi, and she tried hard to think of some way whichwould enable the grandmother to hear the words she loved every day.Suddenly an idea struck her, and she was so delighted with it thatshe could hardly bear to wait for morning, so eager was she to begincarrying out her plan. All at once she sat upright in her bed, for shehad been so busy with her thoughts that she had forgotten to say herprayers, and she never now finished her day without saying them.

  When she had prayed with all her heart for herself, her grandfather andgrandmother, she lay back again on the warm, soft hay and slept soundlyand peacefully till the morning broke.