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AT THE GRANDFATHER'S 25 |
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then laid down fresh straw for the animals to sleep on. Then he went to his little shop, cut some round sticks, shaped a board, made some holes in it, put the round sticks into them, and suddenly it was a stool like his own, only much higher. Heidi was speechless with amazement as she saw his work.
"What is this, Heidi ? " asked the grandfather.
" It is a stool for me, because it is so high ; you made it all at once," said the child, still deeply astonished.
" She knows what she sees ; her eyes are in the right place," remarked the grandfather to himself as he went around the hut driving a nail here and there; then he repaired something about the door and went from place to place with hammer, nails, and pieces of wood, mending and clearing away wherever it was needed. Heidi followed him step by step and watched him with the closest attention, and everything he did amused her very much.
Evening was coming on. It was beginning to blow harder in the old fir trees, for a mighty wind had sprung up and was whistling and moaning through their thick tops. It sounded so beautiful in Heidi's ears and heart that she was quite delighted, and skipped and jumped under the firs as if she were experiencing the greatest pleasure of her life. The grandfather stood in the doorway and watched the child.
A shrill whistle sounded. Heidi stopped her jumping, and the grandfather stepped outside. Down from above came goat after goat, leaping like a hunting train, and Peter in the midst of them. With a shout of joy |
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