Heidi

One June morning, a young woman and a little girl are walking up a mountain in Switzerland. When they reach the village of Dorfli, an older woman calls to them.

"Dete! Where are you going? Is that the daughter of your late sister?"

"Yes, Barbel. I'm taking her to her grandfather".

"Please don't! He's very strange these days. He never visits the village, and he speaks to nobody".

"But I've got new work in Frankfurt. I can't take care of Heidi now".

Just then, Peter the young goatherd arrives. He takes Dete and Heidi up to the old man's hut.

"Here's your granddaughter - Heidi", says Dete when they arrive. "She must stay with you. I can't take care of her any more".

"What?", the old man cries. "Get out of here, Dete! And don't come back!"

"Goodbye, Heidi", Dete says. She goes quickly down the mountain. Peter goes back to his goats.

Heidi looks about her. "Oh, Grandfather, it's beautiful up here!", she says. The old man says nothing, but he takes her into the hut.

Heidi finds a wonderful room there: the hayloft! All that afternoon, Grandfather makes a little chair for Heidi. That evening she sits in it at dinner. She loves it!

That night, there is lots of wind. Grandfather goes up to the hayloft. Heidi is sleeping there. He smiles when he sees this and goes down to bed happily.

Early the next morning, Peter comes to the hut for Grandfather's goats.

"Can Heidi come up the mountain with me?", he asks the old man.

"Do you want to?", Grandfather asks Heidi.

"Yes!", she answers.

"Take good care of her!", Grandfather tells Peter.

Up on the mountain, the goats eat hungrily. Peter lies down and sleeps. Heidi doesn't sleep. She looks at all the beautiful blue and yellow flowers.

Later, Peter sits up. "Lunch time!", he says. Heidi gives some of her lunch to him because he hasn't got much.

Suddenly Peter gets up. One of the goats is near a cliff! Peter begins to run to it, but he falls down. Quickly, Heidi picks some flowers and calls the goat. It comes to her, and away from the cliff. Peter begins hitting it angrily.

"Stop!", Heidi cries.

"Can I have some of your lunch tomorrow?"

"Yes, and every day - but promise me one thing: never hit a goat again".

"All right", Peter laughs.

Back in Grandfather's hut, Heidi talks about her wonderful day. Not long after that, she is sleeping happily up in the hayloft.

Every day, Heidi goes up the mountain with Peter. But soon the days are colder. In winter Peter must leave the mountains and go to school in Dorfli. He doesn't like that!

One day, Peter comes up to the hut. "Can Heidi visit us? My grandmother wants to meet her", he says.

"Of course she can", Grandfather says.

Two days after that, Grandfather takes Heidi to Grandmother's little house.

"Hello! It's me, Heidi!", she calls at the door.

"Oh, Heidi! Come in. Peter talks about you a lot", the old woman says. "Brigitte!", she asks her daughter. "Can you look at Heidi and tell me all about her?"

"She's beautiful, Mother!"

"Grandmother, can't you see me?", Heidi asks.

"No, Heidi. My eyes don't work. I can't see a thing".

Heidi begins to cry at that, but the old woman says, "Don't cry. Tell me, do you like living with Grandfather?"

Suddenly, there is a loud noise in the house. "Listen to that! This old house is falling down, I tell you!", Grandmother says.

"Mother can't sleep at night because the house moves in the wind", says Brigitte.

Back home, Heidi asks Grandfather, "Can you fix Grandmother's house? Please!"

In the end, he says yes. After that, when Heidi visits Grandmother, Grandfather goes too and works on the house. Soon it is OK, and Grandmother can sleep well in her bed again.

These are happy times for Heidi. But, after two years, the village pastor visits Grandfather's hut one day. He looks at Heidi and Grandfather, and he doesn't smile.

"Why am I here?" he asks them. "Do you know?"

---

mountain a big hill

reach to arrive in a place after travelling for some time

late dead

strange not usual

take care of to do things for somebody when they need it

goatherd a boy who looks after goats

goat an animal that lives on the mountains

hut a little house

hayloft a room at the top of a country home where you put hay (dry grass)

wind air that moves

lie down to have all your body on the ground

lunch when you eat in the middle of the day

cliff a wall of rock on a mountain that you can fall down easily

fall to go down suddenly

pick to take things like flowers or apples from plants or trees

promise to say now that you can do something later; when you say that you can do something later

winter the three coldest months of the year

loud making a lot of noise, not quiet

fix to make OK again

pastor a person who works for the church