Moni the Goat-Boy Read online

  CHAPTER II

  MONI'S LIFE IN THE MOUNTAINS

  The following morning Paula awoke earlier than ever before; a loudsinging had awakened her out of sleep.

  "That is surely the goat-boy so soon," she said, springing out of bedand running to the window.

  Quite right. With fresh, red cheeks there stood Moni below, and he hadjust brought the old goat and the little kid out of the goat shed. Nowhe swung his rod in the air, the goats leaped and sprang around him,and then he went along with the whole flock. Suddenly Moni raised hisvoice again and sang until the mountains echoed:

  "Up yonder in the fir trees Sing the birds in a choir, And after the rain comes, Comes the sun like a fire."

  "To-day he must sing his whole song for me once," said Paula, for Monihad now disappeared and she could no longer understand the words of hisdistant song.

  "_Moni climbed with his goats for an hour longer_."]

  In the sky the rosy morning clouds were disappearing and a cool mountainbreeze rustled around Moni's ears, as he climbed up. This he thoughtjust right. He yodeled with satisfaction from the first ledge solustily down into the valley that many of the sleepers in the Bath Housebelow opened their eyes in amazement, then closed them again at once,for they recognized the sound and knew that they could have an hourlonger to sleep, since the goat-boy always came so early. Meanwhile Moniclimbed with his goats for an hour longer, farther and farther up to thehigh cliffs above.

  The higher up he mounted, the broader and more beautiful became theview. From time to time he looked around him, then gazed up into thebright sky, which was becoming bluer and bluer, then began to sing withall his might, louder and louder and more merrily the higher he came:

  "Up yonder in the fir trees, Sing the birds in a choir, And after the rain comes, Comes the sun like a fire.

  "And the sun and the stars And the moon in the night, The dear Lord has made them To give us delight.

  "In the spring there are flowers-- They are yellow and gold, And so blue is the sky then My joy can't be told.

  "And in summer there are berries, There are plenty if it's fine, And the red ones and black ones, I eat all from the vine.

  "If there are nuts in the bushes I know what to do. Where the goats like to nibble, There I can hunt too.

  "And in winter I'm happy, For weeping's in vain, And, besides, the glad springtime Will soon come again."

  Now the height was reached where he usually stayed, and where he wasgoing to remain for a while to-day. It was a little green table-land,with so broad a projection that one could see from the top all roundabout and far, far down into the valley. This projection was called thePulpit-rock, and here Moni could often stay for hours at a time, gazingabout him and whistling away, while his little goats quite contentedlysought their feed around him.

  As soon as Moni arrived, he took his provision bag from his back, laidit in a little hole in the ground, which he had dug out for thispurpose, then went to the Pulpit-rock and threw himself on the grass inorder to enjoy himself fully.

  The sky had now become a deep blue; above were the high mountains withpeaks towering to the sky and great ice-fields appearing, and far awaydown below the green valley shone in the morning light. Moni lay there,looking about, singing and whistling. The mountain wind cooled his warmface, and as soon as he stopped whistling, the birds piped all the morelustily and flew up into the blue sky. Moni was indescribably happy.From time to time Maeggerli came to Moni and rubbed her head around onhis shoulder, as she always did out of sheer affection. Then she bleatedquite fondly, went to Moni's other side and rubbed her head on the othershoulder. The other goats also, first one and then another, came to lookat their keeper and each had her own way of paying the visit.

  The brown one, his own goat, came very cautiously and looked at him tosee if he was all right, then she would stand and gaze at him until hesaid: "Yes, yes, Braunli, it's all right, go and look for your fodder."

  The young white one and Swallow, so called because she was so small andnimble and darted everywhere, like swallows into their holes, alwaysrushed together upon Moni, so that they would have thrown him down, ifhe had not already been stretched out on the ground, and then theyimmediately, darted off again.

  The shiny Blackie, the goat belonging to the landlord of the BathHouse, Maeggerli's mother, was a little proud; she came only to within afew steps of Moni, looked at him with her head lifted, as if shewouldn't appear too familiar, and then went her way again. The bigSultan, the billy-goat, never showed himself but once, then he pushedaway all he found near Moni, and bleated several times as significantlyas if he had information to give about the condition of the flock, whoseleader he felt himself to be.

  Little Maeggerli alone never allowed herself to be crowded away from herprotector; if the billy-goat came and tried to push her aside, she creptso far under Moni's arm or head that the big Sultan no longer came nearher, and so under Moni's protection the little kid was not the least bitafraid of him. Otherwise she would have trembled if he came near her.

  Thus the sunny morning had passed; Moni had already taken his middaymeal and now stood thinking as he leaned on his stick, which he oftenneeded there, for it was very useful in climbing up and down. He wasthinking whether he would go up to a new side of the rocks, for hewanted to go higher this afternoon with the goats, but the question was,to which side? He decided to take the left, for in that direction werethe three Dragon-stones, around which grew such tender shrubs that itwas a real feast for the goats.

  The way was steep, and there were dangerous places in the rugged wall ofrock; but he knew a good path, and the goats were so sensible and didnot easily go astray. He began to climb and all his goats gaylyclambered after him, some in front, some behind him, little Maeggerlialways quite close to him; occasionally he held her fast and pulled heralong with him, when he came to a very steep place.

  All went quite well and now they were at the top, and with high boundsthe goats ran immediately to the green bushes, for they knew well thefine feed which they had often nibbled up here before.

  "Be quiet! Be quiet!" commanded Moni, "don't push each other to thesteep places, for in a moment one of you might go down and have yourlegs broken. Swallow! Swallow! what are you thinking of?" he calledfull of excitement, up to the goat, for the nimble Swallow had climbedup to the high Dragon-stones and was now standing on the outermost edgeof one of them and looking quite impertinently down on him. He climbedup quickly, for only a single step more and Swallow would be lyingbelow at the foot of the precipice. Moni was very agile; in a fewminutes he had climbed up on the crag, quickly seized Swallow by theleg, and pulled her down.

  "Now come with me, you foolish little beast, you," scolded Moni, as hedragged Swallow along with him to the others, and held her fast for awhile, until she had taken a good bite of a shrub and thought no more ofrunning away.

  "Where is Maeggerli?" screamed Moni suddenly, as he noticed Blackiestanding alone in a steep place, and not eating, but quietly lookingaround her. The little young kid was always near Moni, or running afterits mother.

  "What have you done with your little kid, Blackie?" he called in alarmand sprang towards the goat. She seemed quite strange, was not eating,but stood still in the same spot and pricked up her ears inquiringly.Moni placed himself beside her and looked up and down. Now he heard afaint, pitiful bleating; it was Maeggerli's voice, and it came from belowso plaintive and beseeching. Moni lay down on the ground and leanedover. There below something was moving; now he saw quite plainly, fardown Maeggerli was hanging to the bough of a tree which grew out of therock, and was moaning pitifully; she must have fallen over.

  Fortunately the bough had caught her, otherwise she would have falleninto the ravine and met a sorry death. Even now if she could nolonger hold to the bough, she would fall into the depths and bedashed to pieces.

  In the greatest anguish he called down: "Hold fast, Maeggerli, hold fastto the bough! See, I am coming to get yo
u!" But how could he reachthere? The wall of rock was so steep here, Moni saw very well that itwould be impossible to go down that way. But the little goat must bedown there somewhere near the Rain-rock, the overhanging stone underwhich good protection was to be found in rainy weather; the goat-boyshad always spent rainy days there, therefore the stone had been calledfrom old times the Rain-rock. From there, Moni thought he could climbacross over the rocks and so bring back the little kid.

  He quickly whistled the flock together and went with them down to theplace from which he could reach the Rain-rock. There he left them tograze and went to the rock. Here he immediately saw, just a little bitabove him, the bough of the tree, and the kid hanging to it. He saw verywell that it would not be an easy task to climb up there and then downagain with Maeggerli on his back, but there was no other way to rescueher. He also thought the dear Lord would surely stand by him, and thenhe could not possibly fail. He folded his hands, looked up to heaven andprayed: "Oh, dear Lord, help me, so that I can save Maeggerli!"

  Then he was full of trust that all would go well, and he bravelyclambered up the rock until he reached the bough above. Here he clungfast with both feet, lifted the trembling, moaning little creature tohis shoulders, and then climbed with great caution back down again.When he had the firm earth under his feet once more and had saved theterror-stricken kid, he was so glad he had to offer thanks aloud andcried up to heaven:

  "Oh, dear Lord, I thank Thee a thousand times for having helped us sowell! Oh, we are both so glad for it!" Then he sat down on the ground alittle while, and stroked the kid, for she was still trembling in allher delicate limbs, and comforted her for enduring so much suffering.

  As it was soon time for departure, Moni placed the little goat on hisshoulders again, and said anxiously:

  "Come, you poor Maeggerli, you are still trembling; you cannot walk hometo-day, I must carry you--" and so he carried the little creature,clinging close to him, all the way down.

  Paula was standing on the last rise in front of the Bath House,waiting for the goat-boy. Her aunt had accompanied her. When Moni camedown with his burden on his back, Paula wanted to know if the kid wassick, and showed great interest. When Moni saw this, he at once satdown on the ground in front of Paula and told her his day's experiencewith Maeggerli.

  The young lady showed very keen interest in the affair and stroked thelittle rescued creature, which now lay quietly in Moni's lap and lookedvery pretty, with its white feet, and the beautiful black pelt on itsback. It was very willing to be stroked by her.

  "Now sing your song again for me, while you are sitting here," saidPaula. Moni was in such a gay frame of mind that he willingly andheartily began and sang his whole song to the end.

  This pleased Paula exceptionally well and she said he must sing it toher often again. Then the whole company went together down to the BathHouse. Here the kid was laid in its bed, Moni said farewell, and Paulawent back to her room to talk with her aunt longer about the goat-boy,whose merry morning song she had enjoyed again.