Hiedi

Heidi , The girl from Alps Author: Johanna (Joan) Spyri, was born as Johanna Heusser in a small village called Hirzel, some 25 km [15 miles] southeast of Zurich, on June 12, 1827, as the daughter of a country doctor. As a widow, she traveled a lot, had many friends and was a very self-confident, independent woman. Writing stories helped her to find her personal road out of the traditional way of accepting suffering as an unchangeable fate . Johanna Spyri did not, however, quit her faith , but rather believed in personal development and in accepting challenges. Summary:The orphan child Heidi first lives with her aunt Dete, but Dete would like to concentrate on her career. So she brings Heidi to her grandfather, a queer old man living in an alpine cottage far from the next village (he is therefore called Alm-Uncle). Alm-Uncle is good-hearted but mistrusts anybody and wants to keep the child from all evils of the world. So he refuses to send Heidi to school; instead she goes to the pastures, together with Peter, a shepherd boy looking after the goats. This apine idyll finds a sudden end when aunt Dete comes in again and brings Heidi to Frankfurt where she shall stay with Clara, the paralyzed daughter of a rich family, and learn something. Thanks to the grandmother of Clara, Heidi learns to read but she can't get acquainted to the strict discipline in the upper class house (personified by governess Fraulein Rottenmeier). She is very lonesome and gets depressed by the gray anonymous city. Heidi becomes ill of homesickness, she starts to walk in her sleep. Miss Rottenmeier is alarmed, not because of the fate of the poor child, but rather because she thinks that there are ghosts in the old house. Finally Clara's father Herr Stresemann and the sympathetic doctor of the family decide to stay up till midnight and find out about the ghosts. When the doctor sees Heidi walking around in her sleep, he finds the right diagnosis and sends her back to the alps. Next summer, Clara visits Heidi there. They go to the pastures and Heidi shows Clara all the beauty of her world. Peter gets terribly jealous, and in a moment when he feels unobserved, he pushes the empty wheelchair down to the valley so it gets smashed. Clara wants to see the flowers and is forced to walk - and her desire is strong enough that she overcomes her handicap. Healings at body, spirit and soul in that healthy Alpine world - end well, all well. Conclusion: This beautiful and touching story has a very important lesson to teach us. The mountains , the blossoms , the rustling winds, the sunsets, the goats milk and the fresh air all helped Clara, the paralysed girl in the to be able to walk. In todays’ fast moving world , one does not have the time or opportunity to enjoy the simple pleasures of nature like admiring the sunrise, enjoy the smell of the first raindrops on the ground, admire the flora and fauna and relish the nutrients of freshly grown unadulterated food. Even today all these natures’ bounty can work wonders for ones health. Concluding with a quote from a poem by William Henry Davies “ What is this life if full of care we have no time to stand and stare “