Life with the Grandfather

Chapter-2

Detie was no more in the sight. As soon as Detie disappeared, the old man rested on his chair and started smoking his pipe again and making large clouds of smoke. He looked towards the girl.
Heidi was looking towards the hut. She was exploring her new house with delight. She was happy to be there. She took one complete round of the perimeter of the hut. She went to the back of the hut and stood listening to the wind whistling through the old fir trees.
She went to the goat shed but found it empty and it smelled too bad that she quickly came out of it.
A few minutes later, she went back to the place where her grandfather was sitting smoking his pipe. She noticed that he was sitting exactly in the same position as he was when she left. She went and stood in front of the old man putting her hands behind her back and kept gazing at him.
He noticed her standing and asked, “Now, what do you wish from me?”
“I want to see my new home from inside,” she replied in a low voice but she was very much excited about her new home.
The grandfather stood from his chair and started walking towards the door of the hut and Heidi followed him quietly carrying her belongings herself.
The old man opened the door and Heidi stepped inside after him. It was a good—sized room and was the only room on the ground floor of the hut. There was only a table and a single chair that included the furniture. There was a small bed in one corner. In the other corner, there was a hearth with a large kettle hanging above it. On the farther side, there was a large cupboard in the wall. The grandfather opened it and it had a large pile of a man’s clothes inside it. The grandfather asked Heidi to place her clothes in the cupboard wherever she found the place to do so.
Heidi kept looking around the house for a while and finally broke her silence, “Where will I sleep grandfather?”

“You can sleep wherever you wish,” replied Uncle Alp.
Heidi was delighted to hear these words. Soon, she started looking around all the corners of the house to find a suitable place where she could lay her bed. Finally, she saw a ladder resting to the wall next to the grandfather’s bed. She quickly climbed up the ladder and smiled with joy. She had found one of the most perfect places in the hut to sleep. There was a pile of hay lying there. There was a small hole in the wall through which she could see as far as she wished down the valley.
“I like this place and I will sleep here,” she said to the old man.
The old man agreed and went towards the cupboard. He took out a piece of cloth and a small pillow. He returned back to Heidi and gave the blanket and the pillow to her. Heidi adjusted the hay to form a bed and then covered it with the blanket. She neatly tucked the blanket under the hay.
Heidi was too eager to sleep on her new bed but the old grandfather stopped her and asked her to have something to eat before sleeping.
After being mentioned about the food, Heidi realized that she was really hungry and didn’t have anything since morning. She quickly came downstairs and sat on the chair.
Uncle Alp offered her some goat milk, toasted cheese and some bread to eat. She ate it all and felt contended as anyone could be. The grandfather started some of his own work. He started repairing some of the cracks in the walls of the hut and nailing them with the new pieces of wood. He also tightened the screw of the cupboard door. Then, he went to the goat-shed and swept fresh hay for the cattle. Heidi kept watching her grandfather and felt happy to be there in her soft bed. Everything was new and interesting to her.
Heidi slept the whole afternoon. The whistling and rustling of the leaves due to the strong wind in the evening woke her. She quickly went out of the house and was pleased with those sounds. She started dancing on her own music. The grandfather was standing near the front door of the shed and kept watching the little kid’s joy.
Suddenly, she heard the sound of the shrill whistle. She turned around to see that it was Peter in the midst of his herd of goats. Peter approached the hut with all the several goats. As he reached the hut, all other goats stood still except for two little graceful goats which quickly ran towards Uncle Alp.
Uncle Alp used to hold salt in his hand every evening when the goats used to return. They licked his hands. This was a daily tradition. Soon, Peter left from the place and Heidi kept watching Peter leave.
She, then, ran towards Uncle Alp to see his cute little goats. They were named Daisy and Dusky respectively. Heidi sat down and patted them gently with her soft hands. Uncle Alp escorted the two goats inside the shed. He went inside and brought a mug and filled it with milk from Daisy. He boiled it and gave it to Heidi with a loaf of bread and asked her to go to bed when she had finished with it.
“Good night, Grandfather,” she said. She picked up the mug and carried it inside the hut obediently. The grandfather locked up the animals and followed her.
And before she realized, she fell asleep in her bed.
Next morning, she woke up by a shrill whistle. She was a bit surprised at first to see herself lying in a new place. But soon the voice of her grandfather made her realize where she was. It brought back all her yesterday’s excitement. She quickly dressed herself with fresh clothes and went out hurriedly. She saw Peter standing there with his herd and the Grandfather was unlocking the shed door to let Daisy and Dusky out and join the herd with Peter.
“Go and wash your face. You need to go along with Peter to the pasture,” shouted Uncle Alp to Heidi.
Heidi got excited and ran inside to do as she was told. Her grandfather gave a lunch having a few slices of bread and cheese to Peter which he kept in his knapsack. He also gave Peter a mug and asked him to give Heidi milk during lunch time.
Heidi came out rubbing her cheeks with some sort of a red gloss she had.
“You should leave now,” Uncle Alp said kissing Heidi’s head. “Take care of her and keep her away from the ravine,” he said looking at Peter.
It was a beautiful morning and the mountain looked beautiful because of the morning sunlight. The sunlight made the green meadows and the flowers bloom. The fragrance of the flowers made the atmosphere pleasant. Heidi was fascinated seeing the beauty of the place. She started running in all directions and gathering the most beautiful of the flowers and collecting them in her apron.
It was getting hard for Peter to look after Heidi as he needed eyes all around his head to look after the goats and Heidi simultaneously. Heidi was collecting flowers to stick them among his hay in her bedroom. On the other hand, Peter had to whistle again and again to keep the wandering animals stuck together. So, it was easier for him to look after Heidi.
The pasture was at the foot of the rocky mountain. It took them about an hour to reach there because of Heidi’s unlimited fun. After reaching there, he took out Heidi’s lunch and neatly kept it on the ground and served her. But Heidi was too busy handling her flowers that she refused to have it. So, Peter packed it again and lay down on the ground besides Heidi.

A big shadow encircling over them caught Heidi’s attention. She first looked at Peter who was asleep and then gathered courage to look up in the sky to see a enormous bird circling overhead with outstretched wings and croaking harshly.
“Peter! Wake up!” she shouted loudly shaking Peter. “Here’s a hawk.”
Peter woke up rubbing his eyes and saw the bird flying away from them.
“Where is it going?” asked Heidi.
“It flew towards its nest,” replied Peter.
“Can we go and find out where it lives?” Heidi asked softly.
“No, we can’t. We can’t climb up that high and also we should not leave the goats alone,” said Peter.
Peter whistled. Within no time all the goats gathered around him from all the directions. Peter asked Heidi if she was hungry. To his surprise, she agreed. He took out the bread and applied cheese to it. Also, he filled the mug with Daisy’s milk. Heidi only drank the milk and left the cheese toast untouched. She offered Peter to have the toast. Peter was amazed to see this as he had never been offered food with so much affection. When he was sure that Heidi was interested in having the bread, he picked up the toast and started enjoying it. Heidi was busy again taking care of her flowers.
It was evening. Heidi had spent the entire day gathering flowers and running after the goats. She had reached the edge of the ravine once but Peter caught her before the danger. But now it was time for them to return. The setting sun spread a golden glow over the grass. For once, she thought that the ground was on fire but Peter sorted out her confusion.
“It is always like this during this time of the evening. It’s not fire,” said Peter explaining.
But before he could convince her the golden colour disappeared and everything started looking grey. Heidi was terribly upset and sat down on the ground.
“Don’t be sad. It will be the same tomorrow,” explained Peter, “We should leave now. It’s getting late. He whistled again to gather all the goats and all of them started walking back.
At the supper that night, her grandfather asked about what he did the entire day. She told him about everything without a pause from start to end. She also told him about the large hawk that scared her.
Then she told her grandfather about the evening fire. She also felt that Peter was lying to her as he refused that it wasn’t fire but had to reason with him to convince her.
“It is not fire. The sun spreads that beautiful light so that you remember him till he comes back again next morning. It’s the sun’s old way of saying goodnight to the kids,” explained Uncle Alp, “Now, you should go off to your bed.”
The explanation by the grandfather made Heidi smile and she was more excited now for the next day to begin as soon as possible. She spent a few minutes decorating her bed with the flowers she got. And then, she slept the whole night dreaming about the mountains, flowers, the golden light and the lovely little goats.
The next morning again, Peter appeared with the goats and the two children climbed up together to the high meadows again. Heidi kept on going with Peter daily passing her life among the grass and the flowers and grew so strong and healthy that nothing ever troubled her. She was happy and lived from day to day as free as the birds in the sky with no limits to fly.
During the autumn the grandfather used to stop Heidi from going due to the strong and chilly winds on the mountain. Whenever Peter had to go alone, he became unhappy as it was his routine to take care of Heidi and a day without Heidi made him bear a long dull day alone. Also, he would miss a good meal that Heidi always offered him. Even the goats had grown so accustomed to Heidi’s presence that they would run in every direction and refuse to go on unless she was with them.
But Heidi used to find something to interest or amuse her. Although the thing she liked the most was to go out with Peter up to the flowers and the great bird and so many experiences to go through among the goats with their different characters yet she also found her grandfather’s hammering, sawing and carpentering very entertaining. She would watch her grandfather, with sleeves rolled back, as he stirred the great cauldron with his bare arms. The thing that attracted her most was the waving and roaring of the three old fir trees on these windy days. She would stand underneath them, look up and listen while they bowed, swayed and roared as the mighty wind rushed through them.
The summer was almost passing away. So one day, Heidi went to the cupboard and got her shoes, stockings and dress as it was growing colder every day. When she stood under the fir trees now, the wind blew through her as if she were a thin little leaf. But still, she felt she could not stay indoors when she heard the branches waving outside.

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