there, and your grandfather said you were not to fall over the cliffs."

And now Peter set up such a tremendous shouting and whistling that Heidi wondered what was going to happen. But the goats must have under-5 stood it well enough, for they came jumping and running down the mountain side, one after the other, until the whole flock was assembled on the green pasture, some nibbling away at the juicy stalks, others skipping hither and thither, while 10 still others tried their horns on one another in playful combat.

Heidi had jumped to her feet and was soon in the midst of them, for to her it was a new and highly amusing sight to see the little creatures 15 skip about and carry on their merry antics. ran from one to the other, getting personally acquainted with each in turn, for no two were alike; each had its own peculiar appearance and

ways.

She

Thus the day slipped by unnoticed, and already the sun was nearing the tops of the western mountains. Heidi was sitting very quietly on

on the

20

ground looking at the bluebells and tender rockroses glistening in the golden evening sunshine; even the grass had caught the golden light, and the cliffs above were beginning to gleam and glow, 5 when suddenly the child sprang to her feet, crying: "Peter! See! The fire, the fire, Peter! the mountains are in flames, and the field yonder is burning, and the sky!

The great rocks are all red!

All

big snow

Oh, look,

Oh, the

look! 10 beautiful burning snow! Peter, get up! See, the fire has reached the eagle's nest! Oh, do look at the rocks! Look at the pine trees! thing, everything is on fire!"

Every

"It is always so," said Peter quite unmoved as 15 he whittled away at his stick, "but it's no fire.” "What is it, then?" asked Heidi eagerly, and ran hither and thither to look in every direction, for she could not see enough, it was so beautiful on every side.

20

"What is it, Peter? What is it?" she asked again.

"Oh, it just comes so of itself," was Peter's explanation.

"Oh, see, see!" cried Heidi in great excitement, "all the mountains are turning rosy-red! Look at the one with the snow, and that one with the high, pointed cliffs! What are their names, Peter?

What are their names?"

"Mountains have no names," was the reply.

66

Oh, how beautiful! Look at the pink snow! And oh, see all the many, many roses up yonder on the rocks! Oh, now they are turning gray! Oh, oh! Now it is all fading out! Now it is all 10 gone, Peter!" And Heidi sat down on the grass looking as sad as though the world were coming to an end.

"To-morrow it will be so again," said Peter. "Come, get up; we must go home now."

The boy shouted and whistled for his goats, and then the whole company started homeward.

15

"Will it be so every day, every day that we come up here?" asked Heidi, in eager hope of an assuring answer as she trudged along at Peter's side. 20 "Usually," was the answer.

"But to-morrow? Are you sure it will be so to-morrow?" she wanted to know.

Yes, yes; to-morrow, of course!"

Peter

assured her, whereupon Heidi's good spirits returned.

But she had seen so much that was new, and shad so many things to think about, that she was quite silent all the way down to her grandfather's cottage.

JOHANNA SPYRI: Heidi (ADAPTED).

antics (an'tiks): tricks, play

precipices (pres'i pis): high, steep rocks

sheer (sher) steep and straight

tremendous (trē men'dus): very

great

vanished (van'ish'd): disappeared

HELPS TO STUDY

I. 1. How is Heidi's day to be spent? 2. Who is to be her guide? 3. What does her grandfather tell her about being clean? 4. What flowers does she see?

II. 1. What great bird flies above them? 2. What was the most wonderful sight of the whole day? What caused it? The common name for it in Switzerland is "the Alpen-glow." 3. How did Peter call his goats together? 4. What do you think of the way Peter explains things?

HEIDI'S RETURN TO THE MOUNTAIN

In the last story, we read how Heidi loved her new home in the mountains. After she had been there a while, she went to a rich home in the city of Frankfort to be a companion to a crippled girl. But she grew ill from homesickness; she could not sleep well, and began to walk in her sleep. When her kind employers found out what was the matter, they sent her back to her mountain home.

I

Heidi bade her friend "Good-night," and, with her basket on her arm, began to climb up toward the Alm. The green mountain slope was bright with the rays of the setting sun, and soon the great snow field on Casaplana came in view, glit- 5 tering in the sunlight. After every few steps Heidi stood still and looked backward, for as she climbed up, the high mountains lay behind her. Suddenly the grass at her feet became tinged with red; she turned and lo! a splendor such as 10 neither her memory nor her dreams had ever painted. The jagged peaks of Falkniss flamed red against the sky, the great snow field was aglow, while rosy clouds drifted across it. The grass on