The Alps are like a mother, guarding every innocent childlike innocence. All was silent now, save for the maiden’s laughter echoing in the Vale of Elm.
The bus departing from Zurich, Switzerland traveled east along the winding mountain road in the Alps, and stopped in a small town not far from the border. Although I have never been to eastern Switzerland, the outline of the town looks familiar. When the street signs in Maienfield Town became clearer, I suddenly realized that Heidi and Grandpa’s home was not far away.
In 1879, Swiss children’s literature writer Johanna Spyri got inspiration in the mountains of Maienfeld and wrote the fairy tale “Heidi’s Learning and Wandering Years” for her son Bernhard. Once Heidi’s story was released, it was widely welcomed by children. Spiri immediately wrote the sequel “Heidi’s Learning and Practice”, which portrayed Heidi as the goddess in the hearts of little boys. The story is a fairy tale, and the content is natural and simple: the little girl Heidi and her withdrawn grandfather live in Daolifu Village on the top of the mountain. When the grandparents and grandchildren get along with each other every day, the innocent Heidi melts the grandfather’s frozen heart In her heart, she also became good friends with the shepherd boy Peter, and helped the rich lady Clara overcome her leg disease.
The quiet and simple style of Maienfield Town and the sacred and magnificent mountain scenery, together with the movie “Little Heidi” starring American child star Shirley Temple, the animation “Girl of the Alps” by Japanese animation master Hayao Miyazaki, and the German The movie “Heidi and Grandpa” all rooted the image of Heidi in our hearts. She is a pure and omnipotent angel, as crystal clear as any snowflake in the Alps.
In order to save time, the bus did not stop too much in the town of Maienfield, but as described at the beginning of the story of “Heidi”, we walked along the small road on the outskirts of the town, crossed the green grass to the foot of the mountain, and came from time to time outside the window The tangy aroma of pasture green grass. After driving for about 10 minutes, the car stopped on a small grassland in the valley. The driver told us to follow the head of Heidi (the guidepost of the tourism department of the town) that can be seen everywhere in the bushes, pass through a row of fir forests, and then step on After crossing a flat grass field, you can see “Heidi’s House”.
In 1978, the then mayor decided to name the mountain road leading from the city to the village “Heidi Road”, and in the next year, a Heidi Village was copied according to the scene in the original story. Since then, “Heidi’s House” has become A museum for book lovers. Although I know that Heidi’s stories are all fabricated, when I followed the gray ancient rocky mountains, passed the house of the shepherd boy Peter, crossed the green winding path that the writer roamed in the past, and finally saw the grandpa’s cabin on the cliff plateau A sweet and hot feeling still came to my heart involuntarily, as if returning to a certain Sunday more than 30 years ago. At that time, CCTV would broadcast dubbed films at 10 o’clock in the evening. Only when the movie starring Deng Boer was shown, my grandfather would make an exception and allow me to sleep in and watch TV for a while. At that time, I became Heidi, thinking that everything in the world is so beautiful, and grandpa will always be by my side.
Heidi and Grandpa’s house is not thatched and drafty as described in the story. It was built of solid stone, topped with neat planks to form an attic, where Heidi lived. Bypassing the three ancient fir trees with dense branches and leaves outside the house, and pushing open the heavy door, I walked into the house cautiously. Under the dim yellow light, the wax figures of Heidi and Peter are very eye-catching. They sat in one of the largest rooms in the house, with Grandpa’s bed in one corner, a few small spinning wheels in the other corner, a fireplace as described in the novel, a large kettle hanging on it, and some Grandpa’s linen clothes.
If you haven’t read the novel, Heidi’s House is just a simple country house. Without a doubt, Heidi’s room is the main attraction here. She lived in a hay shed where she fell asleep to the scent of the grass and had a round window overlooking the Alpine valley. Back to reality, this low but spacious wooden roof has no hay, and the windows are square, but the furnishings are exquisite and lovely. The wooden bed, which looks like a toy box, is covered with a white coarse cloth sheet, which feels a little rough to the touch, as if it is really covered with hay. There is also a mini shaker that is more like a toy, with a doll in the shape of Heidi lying on it. At this time, Heidi is not only the granddaughter of the grandfather, but also a mother who raises dolls.
Interestingly, everything in the room remained in a disorganized state: the center of the pillow was squashed and has not yet recovered, the bed sheet was also crumpled up, as if the owner had just woken up, and the drawer was even opened halfway, as if the owner had just searched for it. Small objects. All the furnishings give visitors a clear message – Heidi is coming back soon, and we must not touch her things. The only thing I can do and what I want to do most is to walk around Heidi’s small wooden bed and look out through the small window. The mountain peaks in the twilight looked at me, the bluebells, cornflowers and mountain peonies said nothing, and a ray of red light sprinkled on the grass in front of the hut, coating everything with a layer of gold. Rose-colored clouds were burning high in the sky. This was a scene Heidi had never seen in dreams, but it was vividly displayed before my eyes. Spieli must have seen this rose-colored dusk with her own eyes back then, so she wrote it into the novel.
In order to relive my childhood, I went to the theater to watch “Heidi and Grandpa”. At the end of the film, the camera focused on Heidi’s back, she turned around and smiled at me, the girl in the wind is my eternal lover, a natural elf and a holy angel, she sent an invitation to everyone.
