Heidi

Detie is taking Heidi to her Uncle Alp, because he is the closest kin Heidi has, and Detie can’t take care of Heidi anymore
because she has a new job in Frankfurt, Germany.
Peter is a young boy who takes care of the goats in the mountains.
It was a little house which stood on a ledge which was high on the side of the mountain. The old man had a wonderful view
from his home. Three old fir trees, with big branches, grew nest to the hut. There was a wooden bench in front of the hut.
Inside the hut there was only one big room, there was a table and a chair in the middle of the room, and a bed in one corner.
Opposite the bed, there was an iron stove, big cooking pot was hanging above the stove. There was a door in one wall, behind
the door was a large cupboard. There were also shelves with plates, cups and glasses. On the highest shelf there was bread,
cheese and meat, some ladders near her Uncle Alp’s bed lead to a loft. That long, narrow room had a high ceiling and it was
full of soft, dry hay.
2
Snowflake and Finch are two goats. Finch almost falls of a cliff, but Peter and Heidi save him from falling. Heidi gave Finch
some grass so Peter can get back on the mountain and pull Finch back as well.

3
(i) Peter started to go to school.
(ii) They just chilled in the hut
(iii) Uncle Alp and Heidi were in their hut chilling.
When the snow froze Uncle Alp and Heidi started to visit Peter, his grandmother, mother.
Heidi became upset because the shutters were broken so she called Uncle Alp for help and he fixed the shutters and started
to patch the holes in their house. The thing he couldn’t fix was Grannies sight because she was blind.
4
Detie came for Heidi to take her to Frankfurt so she can live with a girl who is a bit older then her and was an invalid. She
would have a nice place to be and she would get a great education.
Uncle Alp was alone again, he never left his hut, he became lonely.

5
They were cultured differently, acted a bit differently their life was a bit fancier. Miss Rottenmeier wasn’t kind to Heidi and
that made her sad. Life in the city was boring for Heidi.
Heidi ran into the street because she wanted to see the fir trees, while she was in her room she heard the wind swinging the
trees branches. She couldn’t see them from her windows so the butler Sebastian told her she needed to get higher up so she
could see them. She got outside and asked a boy to take her to a church so she could climb up the tower, and so the young
boy did but the condition was that she has to give him money. When she got up the tower she couldn’t see the trees because
there were no trees in the city.
She brought cats to her home, and a boy knocked on the door claiming he was promised money from Clara, but he described
Heidi. The next day a basket came filled with cats, Miss Rottenmeier didn’t like that for a second so she wanted them gone.

6
Heidi met Doctor Classen, a friend of Mr. Sesemann.
Heidi was homesick because she wanted to see grandma, and bring some fresh rolls for her because the bread she got was
hard and wasn’t tasty.
The book and the reading are very important in this chapter because it stimulated Heidi to work hard so she can have the
book and so she can read for Grannie. It also reminded her of the Alps, Switzerland and Uncle Alps hut.
7
Clara’s father came home because there was a ghost who opened the door every night. Sebastian and John had a job to watch
the door one night. That night they saw someone wearing white and the door opened the person was on the stairs standing.
The servants were scared to death. Next time they put guns on the counter beside the door thinking it would scare the person
away, but it was Heidi they saw her open the door and asked her what was she doing in the middle of the night leaving the
house. She told them she had no idea, that she was only dreaming of being in the Alps with her Uncle Alp in the hut, then
going outside the hut to see the beautiful mountains. Doctor Classen figured she was homesick they needed to send her
home, because she was becoming thinner and had these dreams because of her homesickness. They sent Heidi home after
that.
8
Heidi was happy when she heard the news about going home but she was sad that she couldn’t see her friend Clara anymore.
She brought fresh rolls with her, some dresses, a hat and an envelope.
Uncle Alp wanted to go back to the village because it wasn’t safe for them up there he wanted a good education for Heidi so it
was better to go back to the village but only when it is winter.
9
The presents were: a thick coat with a warm hood for Heidi, a warm shawl and a box of cakes for Grannie, tobacco for Uncle
Alp, sausage for Peter, his mother and Grannie.
Doctor Classen brought the presents to Heidi and the rest. Because Clara was ill, and couldn’t go and visit Heidi.
Heidi was happy as well as Uncle Alp, but Peter was not happy at all because Heidi was spending her time with Doctor Classen
and not with him.

10
Heidi had a brilliant idea to learn Peter to read so he can read to Grannie instead of her because she couldn’t go and visit her
while the snow was soft and hard to walk on. Heidi was waiting for the snow to get harder but three weeks have passed and
the snow didn’t get any harder, she wanted to teach Peter how to read so he can read instead of Heidi and that would make
Grannie very happy and she would be pleased. Peter didn’t want to learn how to read because he said it was too difficult for
him, one day in school he read aloud in the class because the teacher said so. When he started to read without a mistake the
teacher was very surprised as well he couldn’t believe what was he hearing. Then soon he started to read to Grannie, but it
wasn’t the same, Heidi was a better reader than Peter and her voice was more appealing to Grannie.
11
Heidi helped Clara to get dressed. When they got ready Uncle Alp helped Clara down the ladder and then they drank goat milk
together, and Clara wondered what to do now, Heidi wanted to write letters to Grandmamma cause perhaps she was worried
about Clara. Clara wanted to do the writing outside because it was beautiful out there.
Uncle Alp told Clara softly to try and stand for a short period of time, but her legs hurt too much.
12
Because he was jealous of Clara spending more time with Heidi than him and he didn’t want to take her to the pastor with
Heidi and the goats. Clara was sad that she couldn’t go to the pastor and see it as well as more beautiful mountains, but Heidi
had an idea. Peter and her could carry Clara, Peter on one side Heidi on the other and she could walk a bit. They started to
that every morning and every morning Clara started to grow stronger, she could walk more and more.
Peter received a present which was a penny every week
Heidi
Uncle Alp received a present it was insurance that Heidi would be taken care of when he dies.
Grannie received a present it was Heidi’s bed from Frankfurt
Grandmamma gave pennies to Peter, but also as well as Mr. Sesemann received the greatest gift she could of gotten, it was
the sight to see her granddaughter walk again.
Mr. Sesemann he received the greatest gift of all of them the best gift he could ever get, he finally saw his daughter walk again
something he thought was impossible.
Vocabulary
Many soldiers were injured in the war.
The mountain slopes are steep and the paths are dangerous
A long red scarf was tied tightly around her body.
Three old fir trees, with big branches grew next to the hut.
Grannie could not see. She had been blind for many years.
A woman was repairing a jacket with a needle and thread.
Grandmother worked hard for several hours removing the snow from the walls of the hut with a large shovel.
Clara is an invalid. She can’t walk an she has to sit in a wheelchair.
The child - Adelheid - is not a suitable companion for Miss Clara.
There was a figure on the stairs. It was dressed in white clothes. It looked like a ghost.
Heidi wanted to go back to the Alps because she felt homesick.
She had a basket with twelve fresh bread rolls for Grannie.
One of the wooden shutters outside your window is loose.
They heard a loud, sharp whistle. ‘Ah! Here comes Peter and the goats!’ said Heidi’s grandfather.
Peter pushed the wheelchair over the ledge and it crashed onto the rocks below.

Writing: rewrite sentences

Uncle Alp does not live with anyone.
Uncle Alp lives alone.
You are the only member of Heidi’s family.
You are the only one she has left.
The mountain paths are not safe.
The mountain paths are dangerous.
Grandfather was digging the snow with a shovel.
Grandfather was removing the snow with a shovel.
There was snow all over his boots and shoes.
His boots and shoes were covered in snow.
It was so cold the snow began to change until it was as hard as iron.
The snow began to change until it was hard as iron, because it was so cold.
“Bridget, can you describe the girl to me?” asked Grannie.
‘What does the girl look like, Bridget?’ asked Grannie.
Heidi often went to see Grannie that winter.
Heidi often visited Grannie that winter.
Clara is a very unwell person.
Clara is a very sick person.
Heidi missed her home very much.
Heidi felt homesick.

Grammar: syntax
Did the house come into a thief last night?
Did a thief come into the house last night?
There was a white figure dressed on the stairs which was in clothes.
There was a white figure in white clothes which was on the stairs.
While she opens Every night, she’s sleeping, the front door.
Every night, she opens the front door, while she’s sleeping.
There was a horse with a man pulled by a small cart.
There was a man pulled by a horse with a cart.
Heidi that had sad Clara returned was to the mountains.
Clara was sad that Heidi returned to the mountains.
They saw a mountain man walking up on his back with the huge a parcel.
They saw a man walking up the mountain with a huge parcel on his back.
Her stove had pictures on the room and a warm walls.
Her room had pictures on the walls and a warm stove.
Heidi spent Clara Peter became jealous when all her time with.
Peter became jealous when Heidi spent all her time with Clara.
The Writter
Johanna Louise Spyri (12 June 1827 – 7 July 1901) was a Swiss-born author of novels, notably children's stories, and is best
known for her book Heidi. Born in Hirzel, a rural area in the canton of Zurich, Switzerland, as a child she spent several
summers near Chur in Graubünden, the setting she later would use in her novels.
In the 1800s, Johanna Heusser married Bernhard Spyri. Bernhard was a lawyer. Whilst living in the city of Zürich she began to
write about life in the country. Her first story, A Leaf on Vrony's Grave, which deals with a woman's life of domestic violence,
was published in 1880, the following year further stories for both adults and children appeared, among them the novel Heidi,
which she wrote in four weeks. Heidi tells the story of an orphan girl who lives with her grandfather in the Swiss Alps, and is
famous for its vivid portrayal of the landscape. Her husband and her only child, named Bernhard, both died in 1884. Alone,
she devoted herself to charitable causes and wrote over fifty more stories before her death in 1901.

Short Summary
Just outside the small Swiss village of Dorfil, five-year-old Heidi is being lead up the mountain by her aunt, Detie.
Since her parents died, Heidi has been living with Detie, but now that Detie has gotten a job as a maid in the city,
she can no longer care for the girl. Thus she is taking her to live at the home of her paternal grandfather. He has a
tempestuous relationship with the rest of the village and lives far up the mountain in the alm, earning him the
nickname “Uncle Alp.” Detie has not told him that she is going to leave Heidi with him.
As she climbs under the warm sun, Heidi grows hot and decides to take off the outer layers of her dress, leaving her
in only her undergown. Detie is embarrassed at the girl’s behavior, but the grandfather sees that Heidi favors
practicality over putting on airs. He is upset at being given this new responsibility, but he allows her to stay. Over the
next few days, Heidi meets the residents of Dorfil, including a boy named Peter, his mother, Brigitte, and his blind
grandmother. She endears herself to all she meets.
As the years pass, Heidi grows strong in the mountain air and sunshine. She adores her village home and loves to
run through the mountains, looking at flowers and listening to the wind blow through the trees. Heidi also gradually
reintroduces her grandfather to the village, first by asking him to fix Peter’s family’s cottage so that it will not
collapse and then in her insistence on going to church. He does not attend, but he picks her up from the service.
After three years, Heidi has turned eight, and Detie has been sending letters saying that Heidi should be sent to
school. The grandfather refuses, so Detie arrives at the village one day to take Heidi away with her. She expects that
the grandfather will be pleased to finally be rid of the responsibility, but he is enraged to lose her. Heidi begs to stay,
as do Peter and his grandmother beg for her to remain. Detie, however, has arranged for Heidi to be cared for and
educated by the wealthy Sesemann family, and in return, she will serve as a companion for their invalid daughter,
Klara.
At the home of the Sesemanns in Frankfurt, Heidi is confronted with the strangeness of city life. She hears the
wheels of carriages on the streets and runs outside, thinking it to be wind in the trees. Once she goes searching for a
church tower because it is so tall, she thinks she will be able to see some nature from there. In the process, she gets
lost and has to offer money to a street organ player to help her. It does not endear her to Miss Rottenmeier, the
Sesemann’s housekeeper, to have to pay the promised amount. In fact, both Miss Rottenmeier and the tutor despise
Heidi for her behavior.
When Mr. Sesemann returns home from a business trip, he hears two conflicting versions of the state of his
household. One is told by Miss Rottenmeier, who believes that Heidi is a stupid girl who causes nothing but trouble.
But both Klara and Klara’s grandmother adore her, and Mr. Sesemann too soon sees the charm in Heidi. Heidi also
resolves to learn to read so that one day she may return to Dorfil and read to Peter’s grandmother.
As time passes in Frankfurt, Heidi grows increasingly homesick. She becomes paler and loses her appetite. Several
members of the household claim to see a ghost wandering around at night, but it turns out to merely be a
sleepwalking Heidi looking for the mountain. Eventually a doctor recommends that Heidi should be sent back home
for her own health. She leaves immediately on a train and then hitches a ride the rest of the way in a baker’s
carriage.
Heidi arrives in Dorfil as a surprise, and the entire village is overjoyed to see her, but most of all her grandfather. In
her absence, he keenly felt his isolation and understood his need to reconnect with the village. Back in the healthy
environment of the mountain, Heidi quickly regains her strength. To make sure that she never has to leave again, the
grandfather decides that they will live in the village during the winter so that she can attend school, then return to
the mountaintop during the summer.
Eventually the Sesemanns come to visit Heidi in Dorfil, and they are amazed at the beauty of the place. Peter grows
jealous over Heidi’s new friends, so he pushes Klara’s wheelchair off an embankment, breaking it. He soon feels
guilty, but what is done is done, and Klara decides to use the opportunity to learn to walk. She, too, has grown
strong on mountain air and goat’s milk, and eventually her efforts are rewarded. The Sesemanns are so overjoyed at
this that they promise they will always take care of Heidi if the grandfather is ever unable to do so himself.