Heidi visits the blind grandmother

Heidi’s visits to Peter’s Grandmother become a winter ritual in which conversation and practical help answer two different forms of hardship. Heidi cannot restore the old woman’s sight, but her stories make the darkness less lonely; Alm-Uncle, moved by what Heidi tells him, repairs the cottage that has kept Peter’s Grandmother awake with fear. The episode joins affection to action: the child’s attention brings the household’s troubles into view, and her grandfather’s work makes that attention tangible.

The Invitation and the First Journey

After supper at Alm-Uncle’s hut, Peter announces that he will come again the following Sunday and adds that Peter’s Grandmother would like Alm-Uncle to visit her. The invitation gives Heidi a new idea: she should go herself. The next day she insists that Peter’s Grandmother will be expecting her, repeating her determination until Alm-Uncle agrees to take her despite the deep snow.

On the way, Heidi delights in the fir trees, whose snow-covered branches glitter in the sunlight. Alm-Uncle brings out a large hand-sleigh, wraps Heidi in a sack to keep her warm, and holds her on his lap as they descend the mountain. The journey ends at Peter’s Family Hut. Alm-Uncle leaves Heidi at the door and tells her to return when it begins to grow dark, giving her time to make the visit on her own.

Inside, Heidi passes through a tiny, dark kitchen into a second room. The cottage is old, narrow, poor, and shabby, unlike Alm-Uncle’s more spacious herdsman’s hut. Brigitta is mending Peter’s waistcoat, while Peter’s Grandmother sits bent over her spinning. Heidi approaches her and explains that she has finally come. Peter’s Grandmother feels for the offered hand before asking whether the child is Heidi, the one who lives with Alm-Uncle.

Darkness, Conversation, and a Promise

Peter’s Grandmother tells Heidi that she will never again see the mountains on fire or the yellow flowers, and that it will never be light for her on earth. Heidi breaks into tears and asks whether anyone can make it light for her. Peter’s Grandmother tries to quiet her, then explains that a kind word is precious when one can no longer see. She says she enjoys listening to Heidi talk and asks her to describe life on the mountain and what Alm-Uncle does.

The invitation to talk changes the visit’s course. Heidi dries her tears and begins describing the life she shares with Alm-Uncle: the goats, the winter days, and the things he makes from wood. She names the seats and stools, the mangers for Little Swan and Snowflake, a new water-tub for summer, and a milk-bowl and spoon. As she recounts watching Alm-Uncle work and hopes to learn to make such things herself, her sorrow gives way to animation. Her stories offer Peter’s Grandmother company, while Heidi’s descriptions also reveal how much the old woman’s home needs care.

After Alm-Uncle carries Heidi back up the mountain, she tells him that Peter’s Grandmother’s house shakes and rattles, and that its noises frighten her when she cannot sleep. Heidi proposes taking a hammer and long nails to secure the shutter and fasten other loose parts. She insists that the dark is not the only source of Peter’s Grandmother’s distress: the fear that the house may fall makes her nights worse. Heidi believes Alm-Uncle can help, and asks him to go with her the next day.

Repairs at the Cottage

Alm-Uncle keeps his promise. He takes Heidi down by sleigh again, leaves her at the cottage, and sets about repairing the building while she goes inside. Peter’s Grandmother recognizes Heidi’s return at once, delighted enough to let the thread drop from her fingers and stop the spinning-wheel. Heidi pulls a stool close and sits beside her, talking and asking questions.

Heavy blows against the wall interrupt their conversation. Peter’s Grandmother starts in alarm, fearing that the house is falling on them. Heidi catches her by the arm and reassures her that the noise is only Alm-Uncle hammering to mend the house. Peter’s Grandmother hears the blows differently now: once Heidi explains their cause, she recognizes the hammer and exclaims that God has not forgotten them. She asks Brigitta to go outside and invite Alm-Uncle in so that she can thank him.

Alm-Uncle declines to come inside, telling Brigitta that he knows what she thinks of him and can find the repairs himself. He continues hammering around the cottage and climbs the narrow steps to the roof, using all the nails he has brought. When the work is done, he gathers Heidi and carries her safely back up the mountain, worried that she might lose her wrappings and become nearly frozen if she rode alone. The repairs do not change Peter’s Grandmother’s blindness, but they do address a concrete source of fear: the cottage no longer groans and rattles through the night.

A Winter Routine and Its Consequences

The visits continue on fine winter days. The narrative shifts from the first meeting and repair to the repeated pattern: Peter’s Grandmother listens for Heidi’s quick footsteps, welcomes her when the door opens, and spends the afternoon hearing her lively account of whatever she knows. The hours that once seemed weary and indistinguishable now pass so quickly that, after Heidi leaves, Peter’s Grandmother remarks that the afternoon has hardly seemed to begin. She hopes Heidi will not be taken from her and asks Brigitta whether the child looks well; Brigitta says she is bright and rosy.

Heidi, in turn, grows deeply fond of Peter’s Grandmother. Once she understands that nobody can restore the old woman’s sight, the knowledge grieves her, but Peter’s Grandmother tells her that the darkness feels much less when Heidi is present. Alm-Uncle continues to take Heidi down in the sleigh, carrying the hammer and other tools as well as the child. He spends many afternoons making the cottage sound and tight, so that Peter’s Grandmother can sleep more peacefully.

The episode’s resolution is therefore neither a cure nor a single act of charity. Heidi’s regular presence gives Peter’s Grandmother something to anticipate and makes the long winter days feel shorter; Alm-Uncle’s repairs relieve the nighttime fear caused by the frail house. Heidi’s visit has lasting consequences because she returns, tells what she has seen, and persuades her grandfather to help. The bond is built through that recurrence: a child’s conversation brings warmth into a dark room, while the hammer outside turns concern into shelter.