INTRODUCTION

    "Heidi" is a delightful story
           for children of life
         in the Alps,
           one of many tales
              written by the Swiss authoress,
         Johanna Spyri,
           who died
               in her home
             at Zurich in 1891.

    She had been well
          known to the younger readers
               of her own country
         since 1880,
           when she published her story,
         Heimathlos,
           which ran into three
              or more editions,
         and which,
           like her other books,
         as she states
               on the title page,
           was written for those
             who love children,
         as well
               as for the youngsters themselves.

    Her own sympathy
           with the instincts
               and longings
                   of the child's heart
        is shown
               in her picture of Heidi.

    The record
           of the early life
         of this Swiss child
           amid the beauties
               of her passionately
          loved mountain-home and
              during her exile
                   in the great town
        has been
               for many years
                   a favorite book
                 of younger readers
               in Germany and America.

    Madame Spyri,
           like Hans Andersen,
         had by temperament
               a peculiar skill
             in writing the simple histories
                   of an innocent world.

    In all her stories
         she shows an underlying desire
              to preserve children alike
                   from misunderstanding
                       and the mistaken kindness
         that frequently
              hinder the happiness
                   and natural development
                       of their lives and characters.

    The authoress,
           as we feel
               in reading her tales,
         lived among the scenes
               and people
             she describes,
           and the setting
               of her stories
            has the charm
                   of the mountain scenery
                 amid which
             she places her small actors.

    Her chief works,
           besides Heidi,
         were:-
        - Am Sonntag;
           Arthur und Squirrel;
        Aus dem Leben;
           Aus den Schweizer Bergen;
        Aus Nah und Fern;
           Aus unserem,
           Lande;
        Cornelli wird erzogen;
           Einer vom Hause Lesa;
     10 Geschichten fur
          Yung und Alt;
           Kurze Geschichten,
           2 vols.;

    Gritli's Kinder,
           2 vols.;

    Heimathlos;
        Im Tilonethal;
           In Leuchtensa;
     Keiner zu Klein
        Helfer zu sein;
           Onkel Titus;
        Schloss Wildenstein;
           Sina;
        Ein Goldener Spruch;
           Die Hauffer Muhle;
        Verschollen,
           nicht vergessen;
     Was soll deim aus
           ihr werden;
           Was aus ihr Geworden ist.

    M.E.

    HEIDI
 
  CHAPTER I. UP THE MOUNTAIN
       TO ALM-UNCLE

    From the old and pleasantly
          situated village of Mayenfeld,
           a footpath winds
               through green and shady meadows
                   to the foot
                       of the mountains,
         which on this side
               look down
                   from their stern
                       and lofty heights
                   upon the valley below.

    The land
        grows gradually wilder
               as the path ascends,
           and the climber
            has not gone far
             before he
                begins to inhale the fragrance
                       of the short grass
                     and sturdy mountain-plants,
         for the way is
             steep and leads directly
                   up to the summits above.

    On a clear sunny morning
           in June two figures
        might be seen
         climbing the narrow mountain path;
        one,
           a tall strong-looking girl,
         the other a child whom
             she was
                  leading by the hand,
           and whose little checks
            were so aglow with heat
             that the crimson color
                could be seen
             even through the dark,
         sunburnt skin.

    And this
        was hardly to be
             wondered at,
           for in spite
               of the hot June
              sun the child
            was clothed
             as if
                  to keep
                       off the bitterest frost.

    She did not
          look more
               than five years old,
           if as much,
         but what her natural figure
            was like,
           it would have been hard
               to say,
         for she had apparently two,
           if not three dresses,
         one above the other,
           and over
            these a thick red woollen
                   shawl wound round
             about her,
         so that the little body
              presented a shapeless appearance,
           as,
         with its small feet shod
               in thick,