Grandfathers -- Fiction; Mountain life -- Switzerland -- Fiction; Orphans -- Fiction; Switzerland -- History -- 19th century -- Fiction
The next afternoon Heidi was standing under the waving trees waiting
for her grandfather, who was going down with her to grandmother's, and
then on to Doerfli to fetch her trunk. She was longing to know how
grandmother had enjoyed her white bread and impatient to see and hear
her again. The grandfather came out, gave a look round, and then called
to her in a cheerful voice, "Well, now we can be off."
It was Saturday, a day when Alm-Uncle made everything clean and tidy
inside and outside the house; he had devoted the morning to this work
so as to be able to accompany Heidi in the afternoon, and the whole
place was now as spick and span as he liked to see it. They parted at
the grandmother's cottage and Heidi ran in. The grandmother had heard
her steps approaching and greeted her as she crossed the threshold, "Is
it you, child? have you come again?"
Then she took hold of Heidi's hand and held it fast in her own, for
she still seemed to fear that the child might be torn from her again.
She told Heidi how much she had enjoyed the white bread, and how much
stronger she felt already for having been able to eat it, and then
Peter's mother went on and said she was sure that if her mother could
eat like that for a week she would get back some of her strength.
"I know, Grandmother, what I will do," said Heidi eagerly, "I will
write to Clara, and she will send me as many rolls again, if not twice
as many as you have already, for I had ever such a large heap in the
wardrobe, and when they were all taken away she promised to give me as
many back, and she would do so I am sure."
"That is a good idea," said Brigitta; "but then, they would get hard
and stale. The baker in Doerfli makes the white rolls, and if we could
get some of those--but I can only just manage to pay for the black
bread."
A further bright thought came to Heidi, and with a look of joy, "Oh, I
have lots of money, Grandmother," she cried gleefully, skipping about
the room in her delight, "and I know now what I will do with it. You
must have a fresh white roll every day, and two on Sunday, and Peter
can bring them up from Doerfli."
"No, no, child!" answered the grandmother, "I cannot let you do that;
the money was not given to you for that purpose; you must give it to
your grandfather, and he will tell you how you are to spend it."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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