Chapter-1
It was a fine sunny morning of the month of June. A lady was climbing up the mountain path from the little town of Mayenfield. She was tall, sturdy and looked young. She was carrying a bundle in one hand and a little five-year-old girl in the other hand. The child was wearing two frocks and had a large white scarf with red dots wound around her neck. She had fluffy cheeks and they were as red as a ripened tomato.
The lady kept climbing the mountain putting up all the energy she had. Finally, after one hour of climbing, she reached the little village named, Dorfli. Actually, this was the woman’s old home. Soon, she saw many villagers shouting her name. Everyone was calling her to greet her. She was ignoring all the voices touching her ears and kept moving in her own direction. Finally, she reached a house. Before she could knock the door, a voice from inside the house called to her to stop.
Detie, the young woman, stopped at once and stood still. A few seconds later, another woman came and opened the door. The two ladies entered the house and the little girl followed. The second lady was pretty and pleasant-faced.
“Detie, is she the orphan kid your sister left behind? Where are you going with her?” asked the other woman.
“Yes, she is. I have been offered a job in Germany. And I am taking her to Uncle. She will be staying along with him from now on,” replied Detie.
“Are you talking about Uncle Alp on the mountain?” asked the woman surprisingly.
“Yes, you are guessing it right,” replied Detie in a low voice.
“But how can you do this? What does that old man know about looking after a child? You are so stupid that you thought of such a bad idea,” said Barbie (the other woman).
“But he’s her grandfather and he must be made to realize that even he has some duties towards her. It’s high time and now he must know it. I don’t want to turn down this job-offer because of the girl. I have already sacrificed a lot,” replied Detie.
Barbie was filled up with anger hearing this and replied, “I am glad that I am not that poor child. That old man is really sick. Nobody really knows, what’s the matter with the old man? He looks so wild. He doesn’t talk to anyone. He has nothing to do with anyone in the village. He never even visits the village and whenever he steps out of his house, everyone just gets scared by the way he looks and stares around.”
“I don’t know how he lives his own life but he has to look after his grandchild now,” replied Detie.
They kept discussing it for long but Detie was stubborn.
Barbie was curious to know why that old man lived like that on the mountain and why people hated him and avoided talking about him.
She finally asked Detie, “Why doesn’t he like anyone? Why is he like that? You must know this? Your sister might have told you.”
But Detie refused Barbie to discuss anything about the kid’s grandfather.
After a few minutes Barbie asked again, “Please tell about that old man. I promise not to tell anyone.”
Detie said, “I will tell you but mind you keep your word.”
Before Detie could start, she found that the little girl was missing from the room. The two women looked all over the room but she was nowhere to be seen. Then Barbie’s eye was caught by a shine of light. The girl was sitting under the table and playing with a shiny stone. So, the ladies came back to their seats and sat down and Detie began—
“The girl’s name is Heidi. Her grandfather was very well-off once. He was the owner of one of the best farms in Domleschg. But at a very small age as a youngster, he got into bad company. Soon, he started drinking. He got addicted to alcohol and before he realized he started gambling too. He gambled away all his property and money. This resulted in the death of his parents due to shame and grief. And soon after, Uncle was left with nothing but a bad name. He suddenly disappeared after all this for almost about twelve years.”
“Carry on,” said Barbie enthusiastically.
“And one day, he suddenly came back to Domleschg. He was accompanied by his young son. He had no relatives to look after the boy but had none left to support him. He got so annoyed that time that he decided to leave the place and came here to Dorfli and settled with his boy named—Tobias. He made his boy learn carpentry and soon the boy was one of the favourites among the villagers. But still, no one liked the old man and neither any one trusted him. It was rumoured that he had once killed someone in a drunken bawl and ran away. He was my mother’s cousin, so we accepted him as the member of our family and called him Uncle.
We named him Uncle Alp after he had come to the mountains to live.”
“What about Tobias? What happened to him?” Barbie asked eagerly.
“When he was settled as a carpenter in the village, he married my sister, Adelheid, and settled here in Dorfli.
It was a happy family. But the happiness didn’t last long.
Two years later, Tobias was killed while he was building a house where a large beam fell on him. This affected Adelheid so badly that she died of shock a few weeks later. Everyone blamed Uncle Alp for all this. They said it was his punishment for his wicked deeds in his past. They told him to prick his conscience. After all this, he got angry with everyone and further stopped talking and caring about anyone. Then one day, news came that he had come up here on the mountain to live. Since then, he has been living here quietly. My mother brought Heidi with her after her mother’s death. Since then, I and my mother have looked after her. But now, I need to think about my life too. For that, I cannot reject this great offer in Frankfurt. I really intend to take it.”
“So, you mean to say to make your life better, you will handle this little angel to an old beast like him?” said Barbie reproachfully.
“I don’t have any other options,” Detie replied angrily.
Barbie felt she had nothing more to say, so she got up and went away silently. Then, they started walking together and reached an old broken hut where Peter, the goatherd, lived. Barbie came to see Peter’s mother, so she greeted Detie one last time and said goodbye to her and kissed the young girl.
Bridget, Peter’s mother and Peter’s blind grandmother, who was called ‘Grannie’ by everyone, lived in a wretched small hut. Peter was just eleven years old. Every morning, he took the goats down to Dorfli and drove them up to graze all day in the fragrant mountain meadows above. In the evening, he would bring them down. When he would reach the village, he would give a shrill whistle through his fingers to inform the owners to come and collect their animals.
Detie and Barbie had left Heidi along with Peter while they were discussing about Uncle Alp. So after Barbie had left her and entered the hut, Detie looked anxiously for the two children with the goats but there was no sign of them.
The children had gone far away from the path. It was Peter’s habit to make his way up the mountain whenever he liked. Heidi also tried to climb up the mountain but with her frock she could not do so. So, she pulled off her boots and the stockings. She also took off both her dresses and removed her scarf. She laid them in a neat pile on the ground. Then, she quickly followed Peter and the goats. She was hurrying herself to catch them as she was left behind almost by half a mile. Soon, Heidi matched up with Peter. Then, they walked along the way. Heidi kept asking Peter how many goats he had, where he was taking them, who was the owner of which goat, what he was going to do when he got there, which one his favourite was.
A few hours later, Detie could see them returning back towards the hut. As soon as Detie thought her voice would reach them, Detie shouted shrilly, “Where the hell have you been? Who allowed you to go? What mess have you made up with your clothes and those new boots?”
Heidi pointed towards the place where she had removed her clothes. They were still lying there neatly as she had kept them. Detie was angry and came forward to slap Heidi but she moved away.
“You naughty girl, who is going to fetch them for you?” said Detie with anger.
Then, Detie took out a coin and held the bright coin in her hand and said, “Peter! Look I got something for you. Run there and bring those clothes back to me. Till then, I will take care of this little devil.”
Without wasting a second, Peter quickly ran towards the place. Within no time, he got back the clothes. He got the coin from Detie and kept it safely in his pocket. He greeted Detie with a smile. He was happy as not very often he used to get such small rewards. But Peter was still worried about small Heidi and he knew that she was in some trouble for her mischief. He had concern in his eyes but he was too helpless to say or to do something.
Soon, the three of them left for Uncle Alp’s place. It took them one hour to reach Uncle Alp’s hut. It was situated on a plateau and could be seen from a very far distance and was shining because of the sunshine. The hut was situated at the centre with glorious view right down the valley.
Uncle Alp was sitting on a wooden seat next to his hut and was smoking his pipe. He saw a little girl swiftly running towards him.
Heidi reached the place where the old man was sitting ahead of Detie and Peter.
“Hello Grandfather!” said Heidi reaching the old man.
Heidi was at once fascinated by the old man. He had a long beard and thick eyebrows. They both kept looking at each other for a few seconds.
The old man took Heidi’s hand in his hands and came forward towards her and asked, “Who are you? Who is your grandfather? What is your name? Where are your parents?”
Detie’s voice came from a distance, “Good morning, Uncle. She is Tobias’ daughter. She is your only grand-daughter.”
The old man was filled with surprise and anger. Instead of replying to Detie’s words he looked at Peter with a violent look.
“What are you doing here? You should be off with your goats,” said Uncle Alp.
Peter disappeared from the scene at once.
“Why have you brought her to me? You should also leave. I don’t have any grand-daughter?” said the old man looking towards Detie.
“I have brought her here so that she may stay with you, Uncle,” replied Detie.
“I can keep her. What if she cries remembering you and fret for you? How will I manage then? What am I supposed to do?” he snapped, glaring at her.
“I have got a job far away from here and I can’t take her along with me. Now, it is your duty to look after her. She is not my responsibility any more and it will be your affairs and you have to think to sort them out.”
Before Uncle could say anything else Detie continued, “I have to go and you are the only relative she has. So, you have to be responsible to any harm caused to her and you will have to answer for that. I shouldn’t think you would want anything more on your conscience.”
The old man got up on his feet on listening the last lines. He stared at her with his eyes red with anger. The look in his eyes frightened her. Slowly, she took a few steps backward to go out of the reach of the old man.
“It would be better if you leave and never return to this place as you will never be forgiven for what you are doing with this little child,” said Uncle Alp said angrily, raising his arm.
Detie quickly turned around and started walking as fast as she could. After covering a few yards, she turned again and shouted loudly, “Goodbye, Heidi!”
Then she ran off down the mountain, not stopping till she came to Dorfli.
