| Share page |
|
AT THE GRANDFATHER'S |
27 |
||
|
"The white one is named Schwanli1 and the brown one Barli,"2 answered the grandfather.
" Good-night, Schwanli! good-night, Barli! " called Heidi at the top of her voice. Then Heidi sat down on the bench and ate her bread and drank her milk; but the strong wind almost blew her off from her seat; so she finished hastily, then went in and climbed up to her bed, in which she immediately fell asleep and slept as soundly and well as if she had been in the loveliest bed of some royal princess.
Not long after, even before it was wholly dark, the grandfather also went to bed; for he was always up with the sun, and it came climbing over the mountain very early in the summer time. In the night the wind blew with such force that its blasts made the whole hut tremble, and every rafter creaked. It howled and groaned down the chimney like voices in distress, and outside in the fir trees it raged with such fury that now and then a bough was broken off.
In the middle of the night the grandfather rose and said half aloud to himself : —
" She may be afraid."
He climbed the ladder and went to Heidi's bedside. The moon outside shone brightly in the sky for a moment and then disappeared behind the driving clouds, and everything grew dark. Then the moonlight came again brightly through the round opening and fell directly on Heidi's couch. Her cheeks were fiery red
1 Schwanli = little swan.
2 Barli = little bear. |
|||