Grandfathers -- Fiction; Mountain life -- Switzerland -- Fiction; Orphans -- Fiction; Switzerland -- History -- 19th century -- Fiction
"There, now you will not be alone," said Heidi, giving the goat a
little push to show her she was to lie down near Clara, which the
animal quite understood. Heidi threw the leaves into Clara's lap,
and the latter told her friend to go at once to look at the flowers
as she was quite happy to be left with the goat; she liked this new
experience. Heidi ran off, and Clara began to hold out the leaves one
by one to Snowflake, who snuggled up to her new friend in a confiding
manner and slowly ate the leaves from her hand. She found a strange
new pleasure in sitting all alone like this on the mountain side, her
only companion a little goat that looked to her for protection. She
suddenly felt a great desire to be her own mistress and to be able to
help others, instead of herself being always dependent as she was now.
Many thoughts, unknown to her before, came crowding into her mind, and
a longing to go on living in the sunshine, and to be doing something
that would bring happiness to another, as now she was helping to make
the goat happy. An unaccustomed feeling of joy took possession of her,
as if everything she had ever known or felt became all at once more
beautiful, and she seemed to see all things in a new light, and so
strong was the sense of this new beauty and happiness that she threw
her arms round the little goat's neck, and exclaimed, "O Snowflake, how
delightful it is up here! if only I could stay on for ever with you
beside me!"
Heidi had meanwhile reached her field of flowers, and as she caught
sight of it she uttered a cry of joy. The whole ground in front of her
was a mass of shimmering gold, where the cistus flowers spread their
yellow blossoms. Above them waved whole bushes of the deep blue-bell
flowers. Heidi stood and gazed and drew in the delicious air. Suddenly
she turned round and reached Clara's side out of breath with running
and excitement. "Oh, you must come," she called out as soon as she came
in sight, "it is more beautiful than you can imagine, and perhaps this
evening it may not be so lovely. I believe I could carry you, don't you
think I could?"
Clara looked at her and shook her head. "Why, Heidi, what can you be
thinking of! you are smaller than I am. Oh, if only I could walk!"
Heidi looked round as if in search of something, some new idea had
evidently come into her head. Peter was sitting up above looking down
on the two children. He had been sitting and staring before him in
the same way for hours, as if he could not make out what he saw. He
had destroyed the chair so that the friend might not be able to move
anywhere and that her visit might come to an end, and then a little
while after she had appeared right up here under his very nose with
Heidi beside her. He thought his eyes must deceive him, and yet there
she was and no mistake about it.
Heidi looked up to where he was sitting and called out in a commanding
voice, "Peter, come down here!"
"I don't wish to come," he called in reply.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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