Vinzi (Illustrated) (eBook)

Johanna Spyri (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2017
176 Seiten
Delphi Classics (Parts Edition) (Verlag)
978-1-78877-933-3 (ISBN)

Infos

This eBook features the unabridged text of 'Vinzi by Johanna Spyri - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)' from the bestselling edition of 'The Collected Works of Johanna Spyri'.

Having established their name as the leading publisher of classic literature and art, Delphi Classics produce publications that are individually crafted with superior formatting, while introducing many rare texts for the first time in digital print. The Delphi Classics edition of Spyri includes original annotations and illustrations relating to the life and works of the author, as well as individual tables of contents, allowing you to navigate eBooks quickly and easily.

eBook features:
* The complete unabridged text of 'Vinzi by Johanna Spyri - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)'
* Beautifully illustrated with images related to Spyri's works
* Individual contents table, allowing easy navigation around the eBook
* Excellent formatting of the textPlease visit www.delphiclassics.com to learn more about our wide range of titles

Textauszug

CHAPTER I

IN LEUK

THE JUNE SUN was streaming down upon the green slope above the village of Leuk, and the fresh green grass which covered the heights as far as the eye could see filled the air with fragrance. At an isolated house along the path which led to the baths of Leuk, two women were lost in lively talk; indeed it seemed as if they could never come to the end of everything they had to say to each other.

“Yes, Marianna,” said the more talkative of the two, “if you could furnish a couple of rooms the way I did, you would soon realize a good profit. You could soon get boarders among the people who have relatives at the baths. You know some of them do not want to go there, or are not allowed to, just like the three who are staying with me. You really are a little too far down, for people like to go a little higher up in the summer. If only you were living where those people over there do. They certainly have the best spot on the slope and own all the very best meadows. But I do not think much of them,” the woman concluded with an unfriendly glance toward the house which stood a little higher up and away from the road. “They are nearly eaten up with pride, especially she, and you ought to see her.”

“In what way do they show it?” Marianna asked.

“In what way? You might just as well ask in what way they don’t show it,” Magdalene replied quickly. “They show it in everything. In everything they do and in the way they dress as if it were always Sunday with them. She has brought up the children to be just as particular as she is. The boy’s black hair is always curled as if he were going to the church fair and the little one always carries her nose high in the air as if she meant to say, ‘Watch out, here I come!’”

“How can the little one help it if her nose has grown that way?” was Marianna’s opinion. “And the boy can’t help his curly hair either. Doesn’t the woman speak to you when you meet her?”

“Oh yes, she does, and I would not exactly advise her to let her pride go as far as that,” said Magdalene in a threatening manner, “but you are mistaken if you imagine that she ever stops a minute to say a few words to a neighbor. If one starts to talk with her, she just gives a short answer and hurries away as if she did not think one her equal. She can wait awhile before I ever say anything to her again.”

Marianna looked at the house in question and exclaimed full of astonishment, “How is that? As long as I can remember, the house over there looked old and gray, not a window was ever opened, and all the panes were dirty and dull from age. It looked like a robber’s den. Now it is snow-white and the windows shine in the sun. It can’t be the same house!”

“It certainly is! Now you can see how proud they are,” replied Magdalene eagerly. “Old farmer Lesa lived there with his old housekeeper more than fifty years; all that time he did not hammer in a single nail, for he was satisfied with the way it had been in his father’s and his grandfather’s time. Just as soon as his eyes were closed, his heir came across the Gemmi (The Gemma is a remarkable mountain pass across the Alps.) and things were torn down, cleaned and renewed until one might think a count was moving in. Of course The Gemma is a remarkable mountain pass across the Alps. the woman was the cause of it all, for nothing that the parents had admired was good enough for her.”

“But I should think that it was not unnecessary to clean and straighten up a bit if the last owner had not fixed up a nail in the house for fifty years and had let things go as his father and grandfather had left them,” replied Marianna. “The old house certainly was ugly, and how changed it is! Why did you say that his heir came from across the Gemmi? Are the Lesas not from our parts?”

“Yes, they are, and there are several of that name hereabouts,” replied Magdalene, “but one of them is supposed to have married across the Gemmi and to have stayed there with his wife near Berne or Freiburg. But I only know this from hearsay, for it was either a hundred or two hundred years ago. When old Lesa died, it was found that his nearest relatives were the same we were talking of, so it happened that Vinzenz Lesa moved here with his wife and two children about two years ago. I heard that there too they have a fine house and a lot of cows, and that their pastures over there are very fine, as well as their breed of cattle. I think Vinzenz’s brother now takes care of the other place. I do not know whether Vinzenz is going back there again when he has put everything here in good shape, nor whether he means to sell this place, for he does not say much.”

“Dear me, I must go,” Marianna exclaimed, quite startled when she heard the sound of a bell from the village below. “I have to go up to the baths, and I must not get back too late, because my husband and the children don’t like to be kept waiting for supper. Where did old Lesa’s housekeeper go?”

“She was his cousin and died a short time after him,” Magdalene informed her. “She had been with him fifty years and was well past seventy, so she could not very well have started on anything new. Look, there they come towards us across the meadow. Now you can see for yourself Lesa’s wife and her dressed-up children; just wait till she comes.”

Marianna needed no further urging for she was curious to see the people they had been discussing.

They were coming close, and one could see that the children had a great deal to tell their mother. They talked to her steadily so that one might have thought the woman could not possibly see or hear anything else. As soon, however, as she reached the house where the two women had withdrawn a little into the open doorway, she greeted them pleasantly. The boy immediately pulled off his cap and the girl called out “Good-day” with a ringing voice. When they had gone a few steps further, their lively conversation began anew.

“I must say they look nice,” said Marianna, gazing after the group with visible satisfaction. “I see no pride there, Magdalene, but neatness and cleanliness in the children as well as in the mother. Everything looks well on her and I wonder how she does it. She just wore what we do, only it looks better on her. Didn’t the boy’s black curls tumble out from his cap in a nice way! And I like the way the little one with the snub nose has her brown hair braided about her head. She looks as bright and happy as a little bird.”

“What else have you to say?” retorted Magdalene, slightly annoyed.

“You are right; I should do better to go my way instead of idly talking,” said Marianna, getting ready to leave. “It does one good to see people who teach their children good manners and keep them as if they meant to make them into something decent. There are too many of the other kind, and one often wonders if it is possible to raise children to anything good. That woman has given me a mind to imitate her as far as I can, for I’d like my children to look as nice and speak as politely as hers. I must go now. Do not take amiss anything I said. Good-bye, Magdalene.”

Marianna set out now and hurried along towards the height. Mrs. Lesa in the meantime climbed up the mountain slope with her children. They kept on talking steadily, sometimes the boy alone or the girl, and sometimes both at once.

“Just think, mother,” the boy informed her, “the child is hardly any bigger than Stefeli. When we passed Mrs. Troll’s house yesterday evening we first saw her standing before the door, then she ran into the house and suddenly we heard the most beautiful music through the open window. I asked the brother who had stayed outside with a book what it was and he said, ‘Alida is playing the piano.’ Imagine, such a young child! I should have loved to listen a while, but I was afraid to, because Stefeli said that it was late and we had to go home.”

“And so it was,” Stefeli affirmed. “I should have loved to stay, too, but we had to go home. Don’t you remember, father was already at table when we came? I found out that the boy’s name is Hugo and that the crooked lady lives with them, because I heard Alida say to her brother, ‘I simply have to go in now, otherwise Fraulein will fetch me in and everything will go crooked.’”

“No, no, Stefeli, it was not meant that way,” said the mother. “I don’t think the lady is crooked. The idea probably was that things would go crooked with Alida if she did not obey. Are not the children’s parents with them?”

“No I don’t think so, but I am not sure. What do you think, Vinzi?” asked Stefeli, turning toward her brother.

He gave no answer.

“What makes you stare into the distance, Vinzi, and why don’t you answer?” now asked the mother.

“Listen, mother, listen!” Vinzi replied in a low voice. “Can you hear those beautiful sounds?” The mother stood still. The wind was wafting up the sounds of an evening bell from the valley, which, as they reached the heights, faded away only to rise more loudly from far below.

The wind must have come straight from that direction, for one could hear them very plainly. Now the tones had died...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 17.7.2017
• Reihe/Serie: Delphi Parts Edition (Johanna Spyri)
• Reihe/Serie: Delphi Parts Edition (Johanna Spyri)
• Übersetzer: Johanna Spyri
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Anthologien
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Klassiker / Moderne Klassiker
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen
• Schlagworte: Anne • Gables • Heidi • Mazli • Rico • Stories • Vinzi
• ISBN-10: 1-78877-933-9 / 1788779339
• ISBN-13: 978-1-78877-933-3 / 9781788779333