Chapter-5
Heidi was being sent to live with Mr. Sesemann who was a wealthy man in Frankfurt. His daughter, Clara was paralysed and was on a wheel chair twenty-four hours a day. Mr. Sesemann’s wife was dead and Clara was looked after by Miss Rottenmeier.
Heidi knocked at the door and it was opened by the maid, Tinette. She was straightaway taken to the dining room where everyone was waiting for her. Miss Rottenmeier was unimpressed by Heidi’s appearance as she was wearing a shabby frock with dirt sticking all over it. Heidi kept staring around and felt a bit uncomfortable.
Miss Rottenmeier came close to Heidi and sat at her knees, “What is your name, dear?”
“Heidi,” replied the little girl.
“How old is she?” she asked Detie. Detie hesitated as she knew that Clara was twelve and Mr. Sesemanns asked for a girl of the same age.
“She is almost ten,” replied Detie in a trembling voice.
“No, she is lying; I will be eight soon,” interrupted Heidi.
Detie looked at her angrily and Heidi moved a few steps back. Miss Rottenmeier was surprised hearing this and looked at Detie with suspicion.
“Clara is twelve and she is not even eight!!” she looked at Detie, “What books have you studied till now?” she said looking towards Heidi.
“I haven’t studied any yet. I don’t know how to read and write,” replied Heidi.
“So, you can’t read at this age.” She turned towards Detie and said, “Detie, how can you even think of bringing such a dumb child here. She can’t do anything at all.”
Detie didn’t know what she should say but slowly she gathered courage to speak a few words,” Ma’am, I know and I am sorry I was trying to lie. But you wanted an unusual sort of a child and Heidi is very much different from other kids of her age. I thought you would be pleased to know her.”
Before Miss Rottenmeier could say anything Detie started moving towards the door. Soon, she was out of the room. Heidi was standing still at her place as without Detie she didn’t know what to do.
“You must be happy to hear that I am allowing you to stay here,” Miss Rotenmeier.
“But I will be going tomorrow morning. I have to take a gift for the grandmother,” replied Heidi.
Clara looked at Heidi, “I think you don’t know that you have to stay here from now on. We both will do lessons with my tutor, Mr. Usher.
Heidi’s eyebrows rose with a surprise. She looked at Miss Rottenmeier and Clara one by one doubtfully. Before Heidi could say anything Miss Rottenmeier came and held Heidi’s hand and took her to another room. She had already asked Tinette to clean up the room for Heidi. But Miss Rottenmeier was also worried of what Mr. Sesemann would say after seeing the girl. Miss Rottenmeier was still not happy with her decision to keep Heidi.
At dinner time Heidi was served white rolls. She instead of eating them put them in her pocket thinking she would take them for the Granny. This annoyed Miss Rottenmeier even more and she started giving a lecture to Heidi. She started teaching Heidi about the rules of the house and how she was expected to behave in the upcoming days. But her anger crossed the limits when she found that while she was scolding her, Heidi was asleep in the chair.
When Heidi woke up next morning, she found herself in her new room and it took a few minutes to realize where she was. She jumped out of bed and dressed quickly. She went first to one window, then to the other, but they were so high that she was not able to peep through them. She remembered her grandfather’s hut where she used to see the blue morning sky out of the window after she had woken up. She went from window to window but could not see anything from any of them. This made Heidi sad as she always liked saying good morning to leaves, flowers and trees. Just then the door opened and Tinette told her to come down for breakfast.
Heidi was told that Mr. Usher and Clara were waiting for her in the study. On her way to the study along with Tinette, Heidi asked, “Do you know a window from where I can look out and see the blue sky?”
“Well, ask Sebastian. He will open the window for you,” replied Tinette.
After the lessons by Mr. Usher, Heidi and Clara stayed in the study room and kept chatting. Heidi told her about her life with the grandfather. She told her about Peter, goats, mountains, etc.
In the afternoon, when Clara and Miss Rottenmeier slept, Heidi followed Sebastian into the dining room. She asked Sebastian to open just one single window for her and he readily agreed to it.
Heidi tried to look out but the window was too high. Sebastian brought her a high stool. She climbed up and was disappointed to see empty dark streets out of the window. She stepped down from the stool.
“I want to see the whole valley. Where should I go?” she said in a disappointed tone.
“You need to go to some higher place.” He pointed out to a church visible from the window. “You should go there if you wish to see the valley,” said Sebastian.
Before he could speak further, Heidi quickly ran out of the room and soon she was on the streets. But she could not see the church anywhere. She thought of finding it but she didn’t know whom she should ask. She went from one street to another until she met a ragged boy with a music box in one hand and a tortoise in another.
Heidi ran towards him and asked, “Do you know a church with a high tower?”
“Yes, I know. But I will take two pennies to take you there. Will you give me?” said the boy.
Heidi didn’t have the money but she thought she could ask Clara to lend her to give it to the boy. She agreed to the boy and both started walking down a long street.
At the end of the street there stood an old church with a high tower. The tower gate was closed tightly and she could not push it open. Then she saw a bell. She went near it and rang it with all her power.
“If I go up, please do wait for as you have to take me back home. I don’t know the streets,” said Heidi to the boy.
The boy demanded two more pennies for that. Heidi readily agreed to it. The door then opened with a creaking sound and an old man appeared from behind the door. He was very annoyed seeing the children playing with the church bell.
“Why did you ring the bell?” he asked looking towards them.
“I wish to climb the tower and see the whole valley from it,” said Heidi.
“But it is not allowed. Why do you want that?” said the old keeper.
“Please, let me go. I want to see it from the top,” replied Heidi.
The old keeper pushed Heidi back and started closing the door. Heidi came back forward again, “Let me go up just once.”
The old man was surprised to see the eagerness in Heidi’s eyes, so he allowed her to enter. Heidi was excited. He took Heidi by the hand and led her up the stairs, shutting the door behind him. The boy sat down outside on the doorstep, to wait for Heidi and his pennies.
After reaching the top, the old keeper lifted a window to let Heidi see through it. But it disappointed Heidi as he could only see a sea of roofs, chimneys and towers. This was not what she expected. The old keeper asked Heidi to come down fast and ordered her not to ring the bell again.
While coming down Heidi noticed a door on the left of the stairs which led to the old keeper’s room. She stood there and noticed a huge grey cat in the corner of the room. She was surprised to see such a huge cat.
“You can look at the kittens if you want,” said the old keeper.
Heidi went up to the basket and lifted one of the kittens. She started loving them at once. The old keeper asked Heidi if she wanted to take one of the kittens for herself.
“Can I take two, one for me and one for Clara?” requested Heidi.
The keeper agreed to it and Heidi picked up the two cutest kittens from the basket. Heidi came out of the big door and found the boy still waiting for her.
But there was a problem now. She didn’t know where she had to go as she didn’t even remember how the house looked. The thing she remembered was the entrance door. She described it to the boy and he knew at once where she wished to go. He took Heidi as fast as he could. Soon, Heidi pulled the bell to see Sebastian opening the door.
“You should hurry in as all of them are waiting for you at the table and Miss Rottenmeier looks fit to explode! Why did you run away like that without informing anyone?” said Sebastian. He slammed the door without even noticing the boy.
She went into the dining room and Sebastian pushed her chair upto the table. Miss Rottenmeier looked at Heidi with anger. But Heidi was trying to ignore it. But finally, Miss Rottenmeier said, “It was very much careless of you to go out of the house without informing anyone.”
Before Heidi could say something, “Miaou”, came the reply itself.
This turned Miss Rottenmeier red, “How dare you say miaou to me?” said Miss Rottenmeie, her temper rising.
“I didn’t do it,” Heidi started saying but before she continued there was another “Miaou, miaou!” Sebastian quickly went out off the room as he was not able to control his laughter. Miss Rottenmeier got up from her chair in anger and ordered Heidi to leave the room immediately.
Heidi got scared hearing her angry tone. She quietly got up from her chair and was going out of the room when again the same sound came. Heidi turned to explain her that it was not her but the kittens. But as she turned, one of the kittens fell off from her hand. She had covered them with a cloth.
“Get these horrible creatures off from here. Sebastian! Tinette!” Sreaming out loud, Miss Rottenmeier quickly ran towards the study and locked Heidi inside.
Clara told Heidi that Miss Rottenmeier feared cats. This made Heidi laugh much louder. Even Sebastian entered the room laughing loud as he was not able to control his joy of seeing Miss Rottenmeier running like that. He came in and found Clara and Heidi with kittens on their laps. They both were admiring the little things.
“Sebastian, we must think of some idea to hide these kittens so that Miss Rottenmeier may not find them. I want these. I like them,” said Clara.
He took the kittens from them before Miss Rottenmeier entered the room back again.
The noise of the door bell woke up Sebastian from his sleep the next morning. He quickly ran to open the door as he thought that Mr. Sesemann might have arrived for a surprise visit. But to his surprise, he found a ragged boy with a music box in one hand and tortoise in other.
“What the hell do you want?” asked Sebastian.
“Miss Clara owes me four pence; I came to take my money,” the boy answered.
“How do you know that Miss Clara lives in the house? And why does she have to give you money?” asked Sebastian.
“I showed her the way yesterday for two pence and then way back to this house for another two pence,” explained the boy.
“You are telling lies, young boy. Miss Clara can’t walk and, therefore, she doesn’t leave the house,” said Sebastian.
The boy was too stubborn to move. He kept standing there for a few hours. Sebastian made the boy enter the house and ask him to play his music as he thought Clara would like it. He went to the study and told Clara about the boy. Clara was surprised to hear that.
Meanwhile, the boy kept on playing music which Miss Rottenmeier picked in her room and got highly irritated and came running towards the door.
“Stop that music and get out of here!” cried Miss Rottenmeier.
She darted towards the boy and almost tipped over something on the floor. When she looked down, she noticed the little tortoise the boy had kept on the floor. She screamed at the top of her voice and called Sebastian. The boy stopped playing his music.
As soon as Sebastian appeared in the room, she shouted, “Get rid of the boy and his belongings now!” The little boy picked up his tortoise and Sebastian showed him the way out. He gave the boy four pence and the boy went away leaving Miss Rottenmeier in shock.
Heidi’s entry to Clara’s life brought colours in her life. She enjoyed more than ever and soon they became friends and started enjoying their lessons together. Heidi always managed to provide some amusement to Clara but her sight always upset Miss Rottenmeier.
