The Story of Heidi

And then it was not long before Heidi was

running up the path she knew so well, up to

Grandfather's hut. Before Grandfather had seen

her coming, she had thrown her arms around his

neck.

"Grandfather!" she cried. "Grandfather! I am

home and will never leave again!"

The Story of Heidi

The very next day Heidi's bag was packed so

she could go back to the mountains she loved.

Heidi and Clara cried when they had to leave

each other. "But just wait," Heidi said. "You will

come to visit us soon, and then you will see how

beautiful it is. And you will get well and strong

up in the mountains!"

The Story of Heidi

The kind old doctor who came to see Clara

spoke gravely to Mr. Sesemann, Clara's father.

"Heidi has grown thin and pale with home-

sickness. You must send her home at once, or she

will be very ill," he said.

Poor Heidi! She was so homesick for her
mountains with the green valley spreading
below. Here in Frankfurt, even from the golden
steeple of the church which she visited one day,
as far as her eyes reached she could only see the
gray stone houses of the city.
Many weeks went by, and every day Heidi
grew paler and more homesick.

The Story of Heidi

And of course there was Clara herself, pretty

and sweet, but so pale and frail, and unable to

walk or stand.

Heidi told her over and over again about

Grandfather and Peter and the merry goats and

the great fir trees. "Oh, if only you could go

there," Heidi would say sadly. "You'd see, you

would grow well and learn to walk there. Oh, if

only we were home!"

The Story of Heidi

There was Clara's grandmother, who taught

Heidi to read.

The Story of Heidi

Heidi soon made friends in Frankfurt. There

was the good old docter who came to see Heidi's

cousin Clara, and who never left without saying

a kind word to Heidi.

The Story of Heidi

One day, Heidi's aunt Dete came to take her to school.

So off went Heidi to Frankfurt far away.

The Story of Heidi

In the wintertime, Heidi stayed inside at home
with Grandfather, and watched him carve round
wooden spoons, or hammer together chairs or
tables.
Sometimes, Peter struggled up the snowy
mountain path to call for Heidi, and took her down
to vist his mother and his blind grandmother.

The Story of Heidi

Heidi had a happy life. Every day in the
summer she went up the mountain with Peter,
the young goatherd. She knew the names of all

the flowers, and was friends with all the goats

in Peter's herd.

The Story of Heidi

On top of a mountain in the Swiss Alps,
Heidi lived with her grandfather.
Their home was a hut overlooking the valley,
and behind it stood three old fir trees. Heidi loved
tp hear the wind rushing and roaring in theiry long
thick branches.