Heidi | Page 8

the goatherd's
wife, for the sake of old association, while the blind grandmother was
just "grandmother" to all the old and young in the neighborhood.
Dete had been standing for a good ten minutes looking about her in
every direction for some sign of the children and the goats. Not a
glimpse of them, however, was to be seen, so she climbed to a higher
spot, whence she could get a fuller view of the mountain as it sloped
beneath her to the valley, while, with ever- increasing anxiety on her
face and in her movements, she continued to scan the surrounding
slopes. Meanwhile the children were climbing up by a far and
roundabout way, for Peter knew many spots where all kinds of good
food, in the shape of shrubs and plants, grew for his goats, and he was
in the habit of leading his flock aside from the beaten track. The child,
exhausted with the heat and weight of her thick armor of clothes,
panted and struggled after him at first with some difficulty. She said
nothing, but her little eyes kept watching first Peter, as he sprang
nimbly hither and thither on his bare feet, clad only in his short light
breeches, and then the slim-legged goats that went leaping over rocks
and shrubs and up the steep ascents with even greater ease. All at once
she sat herself down on the ground, and as fast as her little fingers
could move, began pulling off her shoes and stockings. This done she
rose, unwound the hot red shawl and threw it away, and then proceeded
to undo her frock. It was off in a second, but there was still another to
unfasten, for Dete had put the Sunday frock on over the everyday one,
to save the trouble of carrying it. Quick as lightning the everyday frock

followed the other, and now the child stood up, clad only in her light
short-sleeved under garment, stretching out her little bare arms with
glee. She put all her clothes together in a tidy little heap, and then went
jumping and climbing up after Peter and the goats as nimbly as any one
of the party. Peter had taken no heed of what the child was about when
she stayed behind, but when she ran up to him in her new attire, his
face broke into a grin, which grew broader still as he looked back and
saw the small heap of clothes lying on the ground, until his mouth
stretched almost from ear to ear; he said nothing, however. The child,
able now to move at her ease, began to enter into conversation with
Peter, who had many questions to answer, for his companion wanted to
know how many goats he had, where he was going to with them, and
what he had to do when he arrived there. At last, after some time, they
and the goats approached the hut and came within view of Cousin Dete.
Hardly had the latter caught sight of the little company climbing up
towards her when she shrieked out: "Heidi, what have you been doing!
What a sight you have made of yourself! And where are your two
frocks and the red wrapper? And the new shoes I bought, and the new
stockings I knitted for you--everything gone! not a thing left! What can
you have been thinking of, Heidi; where are all your clothes?"
The child quietly pointed to a spot below on the mountain side and
answered, "Down there." Dete followed the direction of her finger; she
could just distinguish something lying on the ground, with a spot of red
on the top of it which she had no doubt was the woollen wrapper.
"You good-for-nothing little thing!" exclaimed Dete angrily, "what
could have put it into your head to do like that? What made you
undress yourself? What do you mean by it?"
"I don't want any clothes," said the child, not showing any sign of
repentance for her past deed.
"You wretched, thoughtless child! have you no sense in you at all?"
continued Dete, scolding and lamenting. "Who is going all that way
down to fetch them; it's a good half-hour's walk! Peter, you go off and
fetch them for me as quickly as you can, and don't stand there gaping at
me, as if you were rooted to the ground!"

"I am already past my time," answered Peter slowly, without moving
from the spot where he had been standing with his hands in his pockets,
listening to Dete's outburst of dismay and anger.
"Well, you won't get far if you only keep on standing there with your
eyes staring out of your head," was Dete's cross reply; "but see, you
shall have something nice," and she held out a