Heidi (29 page)

The sky spread blue and cloudless over the hut and the fir trees
and far above over the high rocks, the grey summits of which
glistened in the sun. Clara could not feast her eyes enough on
all the beauty around her.

"O Heidi, if only I could walk about with you," she said
longingly, "if I could but go and look at the fir trees and at
everything I know so well from your description, although I have
never been here before."

Heidi in response put out all her strength, and after a slight
effort, managed to wheel Clara's chair quite easily round the
hut to the fir trees. There they paused. Clara had never seen
such trees before, with their tall, straight stems, and long
thick branches growing thicker and thicker till they touched the
ground. Even the grandmamma, who had followed the children, was
astonished at the sight of them. She hardly knew what to admire
most in these ancient trees: the lofty tops rising in their full
green splendor towards the sky, or the pillar-like stems, with
their straight and gigantic boughs, that spoke of such antiquity
of age, of such long years during which they had looked down
upon the valley below, where men came and went, and all things
were continually changing, while they stood undisturbed and
changeless.

Heidi had now wheeled Clara on to the goat shed, and had flung
open the door, so that Clara might have a full view of all that
was inside. There was not much to see just now as its indwellers
were absent. Clara lamented to her grandmother that they would
have to leave early before the goats came home. "I should so
like to have seen Peter and his whole flock."

"Dear child, let us enjoy all the beautiful things that we can
see, and not think about those that we cannot," grandmamma
replied as she followed the chair which Heidi was pushing
further on.

"Oh, the flowers!" exclaimed Clara. "Look at the bushes of red
flowers, and all the nodding blue bells! Oh, if I could but get
up and pick some!"

Heidi ran off at once and picked her a large nosegay of them.

"But these are nothing, Clara," she said, laying the flowers on
her lap. "If you could come up higher to where the goats are
feeding, then you would indeed see something! Bushes on bushes
of the red centaury, and ever so many more of the blue bell-
flowers; and then the bright yellow rock roses, that gleam like
pure gold, and all crowding together in the one spot. And then
there are others with the large leaves that grandfather calls
Bright Eyes, and the brown ones with little round heads that
smell so delicious. Oh, it is beautiful up there, and if you sit
down among them you never want to get up again, everything looks
and smells so lovely!"

Heidi's eyes sparkled with the remembrance of what she was
describing; she was longing herself to see it all again, and
Clara caught her enthusiasm and looked back at her with equal
longing in her soft blue eyes.

"Grandmamma, do you think I could get up there? Is it possible
for me to go?" she asked eagerly. "If only I could walk, climb
about everywhere with you, Heidi!"

"I am sure I could push you up, the chair goes so easily," said
Heidi, and in proof of her words, she sent the chair at such a
pace round the corner that it nearly went flying down the
mountain-side. Grandmamma being at hand, however, stopped it in
time.

The grandfather, meantime, had not been idle. He had by this
time put the table and extra chairs in front of the seat, so that
they might all sit out here and eat the dinner that was preparing
inside. The milk and the cheese were soon ready, and then the
company sat down in high spirits to their mid-day meal.

Grandmamma was enchanted, as the doctor had been, with their
dining-room, whence one could see far along the valley, and far
over the mountains to the farthest stretch of blue sky. A light
wind blew refreshingly over them as they sat at table, and the
rustling of the fir trees made a festive accompaniment to the
repast.

"I never enjoyed anything as much as this. It is really superb!"
cried grandmamma two or three times over; and then suddenly in a
tone of surprise,

"Do I really see you taking a second piece of toasted cheese,
Clara!"

There, sure enough, was a second golden-colored slice of cheese
on Clara's plate.

"Oh, it does taste so nice, grandmamma—better than all the
dishes we have at Ragatz," replied Clara, as she continued
eating with appetite.

"That's right, eat what you can!" exclaimed Uncle. "It's the
mountain air which makes up for the deficiencies of the
kitchen."

And so the meal went on. Grandmamma and Alm-Uncle got on very
well together, and their conversation became more and more
lively. They were so thoroughly agreed in their opinions of men
and things and the world in general that they might have been
taken for old cronies. The time passed merrily, and then
grandmamma looked towards the west and said,—

"We must soon get ready to go, Clara, the sun is a good way
down; the men will be here directly with the horse and sedan."

Clara's face fell and she said beseechingly, "Oh, just another
hour, grandmamma, or two hours. We haven't seen inside the hut
yet, or Heidi's bed, or any of the other things. If only the day
was ten hours long!"

"Well, that is not possible," said grandmamma, but she herself
was anxious to see inside the hut, so they all rose from the
table and Uncle wheeled Clara's chair to the door. But there
they came to a standstill, for the chair was much too broad to
pass through the door. Uncle, however, soon settled the
difficulty by lifting Clara in his strong arms and carrying her
inside.

Grandmamma went all round and examined the household
arrangements, and was very much amused and pleased at their
orderliness and the cozy appearance of everything. "And this is
your bedroom up here, Heidi, is it not?" she asked, as without
trepidation she mounted the ladder to the hay loft. "Oh, it does
smell sweet, what a healthy place to sleep in." She went up to
the round window and looked out, and grandfather followed up
with Clara in his arms, Heidi springing up after them. Then they
all stood and examined Heidi's wonderful hay-bed, and grandmamma
looked thoughtfully at it and drew in from time to time fragrant
draughts of the hay-perfumed air, while Clara was charmed beyond
words with Heidi's sleeping apartment.

"It is delightful for you up here, Heidi! You can look from your
bed straight into the sky, and then such a delicious smell all
round you! and outside the fir trees waving and rustling! I have
never seen such a pleasant, cheerful bedroom before."

Uncle looked across at the grandmamma. "I have been thinking,"
he said to her, "that if you were willing to agree to it, your
little granddaughter might remain up here, and I am sure she
would grow stronger. You have brought up all kinds of shawls and
covers with you, and we could make up a soft bed out of them,
and as to the general looking after the child, you need have no
fear, for I will see to that." Clara and Heidi were as overjoyed
at these words as if they were two birds let out of their cages,
and grandmamma's face beamed with satisfaction.

"You are indeed kind, my dear Uncle," she exclaimed; "you give
words to the thought that was in my own mind. I was only asking
myself whether a stay up here might not be the very thing she
wanted. But then the trouble, the inconvenience to yourself! And
you speak of nursing and looking after her as if it was a mere
nothing! I thank you sincerely, I thank you from my whole heart,
Uncle." And she took his hand and gave it a long and grateful
shake, which he returned with a pleased expression of
countenance.

Uncle immediately set to work to get things ready. He carried
Clara back to her chair outside, Heidi following, not knowing
how to jump high enough into the air to express her contentment.
Then he gathered up a whole pile of shawls and furs and said,
smiling, "It is a good thing that grandmamma came up well
provided for a winter's campaign; we shall be able to make good
use of these."

"Foresight is a virtue," responded the lady, amused, "and
prevents many misfortunes. If we have made the journey over your
mountains without meeting with storms, winds and cloud-bursts,
we can only be thankful, which we are, and my provision against
these disasters now comes in usefully, as you say."

The two had meanwhile ascended to the hay-loft and begun to
prepare a bed; there were so many articles piled one over the
other that when finished it looked like a regular little
fortress. Grandmamma passed her hand carefully over it to make
sure there were no bits of hay sticking out. "If there's a bit
that can come through it will," she said. The soft mattress,
however, was so smooth and thick that nothing could penetrate
it. Then they went down again, well satisfied, and found the
children laughing and talking together and arranging all they
were going to do from morning till evening as long as Clara
stayed. The next question was how long she was to remain, and
first grandmamma was asked, but she referred them to the
grandfather, who gave it as his opinion that she ought to make
the trial of the mountain air for at least a month. The children
clapped their hands for joy, for they had not expected to be
together for so long a time.

The bearers and the horse and guide were now seen approaching;
the former were sent back at once, and grandmamma prepared to
mount for her return journey.

"It's not saying good-bye, grandmamma," Clara called out, "for
you will come up now and then and see how we are getting on, and
we shall so look forward to your visits, shan't we, Heidi?"

Heidi, who felt that life this day had been crowded with
pleasures, could only respond to Clara with another jump of joy.

Grandmamma being now seated on her sturdy animal, Uncle took the
bridle to lead her down the steep mountain path; she begged him
not to come far with her, but he insisted on seeing her safely
as far as Dorfli, for the way was precipitous and not without
danger for the rider, he said.

Grandmamma did not care to stay alone in Dorfli, and therefore
decided to return to Ragatz, and thence to make excursions up
the mountain from time to time.

Peter came down with his goats before Uncle had returned. As
soon as the animals caught sight of Heidi they all came flocking
towards her, and she, as well as Clara on her couch, were soon
surrounded by the goats, pushing and poking their heads one over
the other, while Heidi introduced each in turn by its name to
her friend Clara.

It was not long before the latter had made the long-wished-for
acquaintance of little Snowflake, the lively Greenfinch, and the
well-behaved goats belonging to grandfather, as well as of the
many others, including the Grand Turk. Peter meanwhile stood
apart looking on, and casting somewhat unfriendly glances
towards Clara.

When the two children called out, "Good-evening, Peter," he made
no answer, but swung up his stick angrily, as if wanting to cut
the air in two, and then ran off with his goats after him.

The climax to all the beautiful things that Clara had already
seen upon the mountain came at the close of the day.

As she lay on the large soft bed in the hay loft, with Heidi
near her, she looked out through the round open window right into
the middle of the shining clusters of stars, and she exclaimed in
delight,—

"Heidi, it's just as if we were in a high carriage and were
going to drive straight into heaven."

"Yes, and do you know why the stars are so happy and look down
and nod to us like that?" asked Heidi.

"No, why is it?" Clara asked in return.

"Because they live up in heaven, and know how well God arranges
everything for us, so that we need have no more fear or trouble
and may be quite sure that all things will come right in the
end. That's why they are so happy, and they nod to us because
they want us to be happy too. But then we must never forget to
pray, and to ask God to remember us when He is arranging things,
so that we too may feel safe and have no anxiety about what is
going to happen."

The two children now sat up and said their prayers, and then
Heidi put her head down on her little round arm and fell off to
sleep at once, but Clara lay awake some time, for she could not
get over the wonder of this new experience of being in bed up
here among the stars. She had indeed seldom seen a star, for she
never went outside the house at night, and the curtains at home
were always drawn before the stars came out. Each time she
closed her eyes she felt she must open them again to see if the
two very large stars were still looking in, and nodding to her as
Heidi said they did. There they were, always in the same place,
and Clara felt she could not look long enough into their bright
sparkling faces, until at last her eyes closed of their own
accord, and it was only in her dreams that she still saw the two
large friendly stars shining down upon her.

The sun had just risen above the mountains and was shedding its
first golden rays over the hut and the valley below. Alm-Uncle,
as was his custom, had been standing in a quiet and, devout
attitude for some little while, watching the light mists
gradually lifting, and the heights and valley emerging from
their twilight shadows and awakening to another day.

The light morning clouds overhead grew brighter and brighter,
till at last the sun shone out in its full glory, and rock and
wood and hill lay bathed in golden light.

Uncle now stepped back into the hut and went softly up the
ladder. Clara had just opened her eyes and was looking with
wonder at the bright sunlight that shone through the round
window and danced and sparkled about her bed. She could not at
first think what she was looking at or where she was. Then she
caught sight of Heidi sleeping beside her, and now she heard the
grandfather's cheery voice asking her if she had slept well and
was feeling rested. She assured him she was not tired, and that
when she had once fallen asleep she had not opened her eyes
again all night. The grandfather was satisfied at this and
immediately began to attend upon her with so much gentleness and
understanding that it seemed as if his chief calling had been to
look after sick children.