Copyright, 1906
By EDITH F. KUNZ
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
614.3
The Athenæum Press
GINN & COMPANY · PROPRIETORS ·
BOSTON · U.S.A.
INTRODUCTION
Outside of the province of the Märchen, which constitutes so rich a field in German literature, there is no writer better known or better loved in the young German-speaking world than Johanna Spyri. Her stories, written "for children and those who love children," are read and reread as something that never grows old. The secret of this charm lies, above all, in the author's genuine love of children, as shown in her sympathetic insight into the joys, the hopes, and the longings of childhood, and in her skillful selection of characteristic details, which creates an atmosphere of reality that is rare in books written for children.
Johanna Heusser Spyri was born in the little Swiss town of Hirzel, canton of Zürich, in 1827, and died in Zürich in 1901. She wrote especially for young people, her writings dealing mostly with Swiss mountain life and portraying the thrifty, industrious nature of the people. The stories are sometimes sad,—for the peasant's life is full of hardships,—but through them all a fresh mountain breeze is blowing and a play of sunlight illumines the high Alps.
CONTENTS
| MONI THE GOAT BOY | ||
| Chapter | Page | |
|---|---|---|
| I. | Moni is Happy | 3 |
| II. | Moni's Life on the Mountain | 10 |
| III. | A Visit | 21 |
| IV. | Moni Cannot Sing | 31 |
| V. | Moni Sings Once More | 41 |
| WITHOUT A FRIEND | ||
| I. | He is Good for Nothing | 49 |
| II. | In the Upper Pasture | 61 |
| III. | A Ministering Angel | 75 |
| IV. | As the Mother Wishes It | 85 |
| THE LITTLE RUNAWAY | ||
| I. | Under the Alders | 103 |
| II. | The Two Farms | 119 |
| III. | Going Astray | 139 |
| IV. | What Gretchen learned at Sunday | 159 |
| V. | How Renti Learns a Motto | 175 |
| VI. | All Buschweil is Amazed | 186 |
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
| Running along in their midst came the goat boy | Frontispiece |
| Page | |
|---|---|
| "Hold fast, Meggy!... I'm coming down to get you" | 17 |
| He drew her close to him and held her fast | 25 |
| He thought over what he had promised Jordie | 33 |
| With happy song and yodel Moni returned in the evening | 45 |
| He would hunt up a hedge or a bush and hide behind it | 57 |
| "Come out, child! You need not be afraid" | 69 |
| He greedily drank the cool water | 83 |
| Never in his life had Rudi seen so many good things together on a table | 97 |
| He charged down upon the steer | 109 |
| There he stayed for hours without stirring | 136 |
| "Why are you standing out here?... And why are you crying?" | 150 |
| "I'd like to chop down all his trees!" | 168 |
| "The dog will understand instantly, you may depend upon it" | 179 |
| "Brindle, dear Brindle, do you know me?" | 203 |