Heidi Hanselmann

''Heidi'' (; ) is a work of children's fiction published in 1881 by Swiss author Johanna Spyri, originally published in two parts as ''Heidi: Her Years of Wandering and Learning'' (german: Heidis Lehr- und Wanderjahre) and ''Heidi: How She Used What She Learned'' (german: Heidi kann brauchen, was es gelernt hat).
It is a novel about the events in the life of a 5-year-old girl in her paternal grandfather's care in the Swiss Alps. It was written as a book "for children and those who love children" (as quoted from its subtitle).

''Heidi'' is one of the best-selling books ever written and is among the best-known works of Swiss literature.

Plot

Heidi is an orphaned girl initially raised by her maternal grandmother and aunt Dete in Maienfeld, in the Grisons, after the early deaths of her parents, Tobias and Adelheid (Dete's brother-in-law and sister). Shortly after the grandmother's death, Dete is offered a good job as a maid in the big city, and takes 5-year-old Heidi to her paternal grandfather's house, up the mountain from the Dörfli ('small village' in Swiss German). He has been at odds with the villagers and embittered against God for years and lives in seclusion on the alm, which has earned him the nickname 'The Alm-Uncle'. He briefly resents Heidi's arrival, but the girl's evident intelligence and cheerful yet unaffected demeanour soon earn his genuine, if reserved, love. Heidi enthusiastically befriends her new neighbours, young Peter the goatherd, his mother Brigitte, and his blind maternal grandmother. With each season that passes, the mountaintop inhabitants, especially Peter and the grandmother, grow more attached to Heidi, and she to them. However, the grandfather refuses to allow Heidi to attend school, and quarrels with the local pastor and schoolmaster, who try to encourage him to do so, and Heidi is illiterate as a result.

Three years later, Dete returns to take Heidi to Frankfurt to be a hired lady's companion to a wealthy girl named Klara Sesemann, who is unable to walk and regarded as an invalid. Klara is charmed by Heidi's simple friendliness and her descriptions of life on the Alm, and delights in all the funny mishaps brought about by Heidi's naïvety and lack of experience with city life. However, the Sesemanns' strict housekeeper, Fräulein Rottenmeier, views the household disruptions as wanton misbehaviour, and places the free-spirited Heidi under more and more restraint. Soon, Heidi becomes terribly homesick for the Alm, and grows alarmingly pale and thin. Her one diversion is learning to read and write, motivated by Klara's grandmother, who shows her trust and affection, and encourages her to believe in God and to pray.

Heidi's intractable homesickness leads to episodes of sleepwalking where she goes downstairs and opens the front door, which the household initially takes as the work of ghosts, and the family doctor recommends she be sent home as a matter of urgency before she becomes seriously ill. She returns to the mountains laden with presents for her friends, but finds one of her greatest pleasures is reading hymns to Peter's blind grandmother, who can no longer do so for herself. Her faith in God speaks to something in the Alm-Uncle, and he returns to the Christian faith. He accompanies Heidi to church, and that winter takes accommodation in the village so that she can attend school.

Heidi and Klara continue to keep in touch and exchange letters. A visit by the doctor to Heidi leads him to eagerly recommend that Klara visit Heidi, feeling assured that the mountain environment and the wholesome companionship will do her good. Klara makes the journey the next season and spends a wonderful summer with Heidi, becoming stronger on goat's milk and fresh mountain air. But Peter, who grows jealous of Heidi's and Klara's friendship, pushes her empty wheelchair down the mountain to its destruction, although he is soon wracked with guilt about what he did and ultimately confesses to it. Without her wheelchair, Klara has no choice but to learn to walk; she attempts to do so and is gradually successful. She is not very strong, often relying on Heidi or the grandfather to stay standing and not collapse, but it marks an end to her time as a lonely, shut-in invalid. Her grandmother and father are amazed and overcome with joy to see Klara walking again. The Sesemann family promises to provide permanent care for Heidi, if there ever comes a time when her grandfather is no longer able to do so.

Characters

*Adelheid "Heidi": A joyful and free-spirited young girl who is orphaned as a toddler. She loves the beauty and fresh air of the mountains.
*Grandfather: Heidi's grandfather, a cantankerous loner who lives in a hut high in the mountains.
*Klara Sesemann: A lonely, frail girl who cannot walk. Spelled "Clara" in some translations.
*Peter: A goat herder who lives with his mother and grandmother.
*Herr Sesemann: Klara's father, a successful businessman who travels often.
*The Doctor: Friend of Herr Sesemann.
*Grandmama: Herr Sesemann's mother.
*Adelheid: Heidi's mother died from fever soon after her husband Tobias died. Spelled "Adelaide" in some translations.
*Tobias: Heidi's father who was killed when a beam fell on his head when Heidi was a baby.
*Dete: Heidi's selfish and insensitive aunt. Spelled "Deta" in some translations.
*Brigitte: Peter's mother who takes care of Peter and her mother. Spelled "Brigitta" in some translations.
*Fräulein Rottenmeier: The strict and arrogant housekeeper at Herr Sesemann's home who antagonizes Heidi.
*Sebastian: A manservant in the Sesemann household.
*Tinette: A maidservant in the Sesemann household.

Translations

English: Thirteen English translations were done between 1882 and 1959, by British and American translators: Louise Brooks, Helen B. Dole, H.A. Melcon, Helene S. White, Marian Edwardes, Elisabeth P. Stork, Mabel Abbott, Philip Schuyler Allen, Shirley Watkins, M. Rosenbaum, Eileen Hall, and Joy Law. As of 2010, only the Brooks, Edwardes and Hall translations are still in print.

Adaptations

Film and television

About 25 film or television productions of the original story have been made. The ''Heidi'' films were popular far and wide, becoming a huge hit, and the Japanese animated series became iconic in several countries around the world. The only incarnation of the Japanese-produced animated TV series to reach the English language was a dubbed feature-length compilation movie using the most pivotal episodes of the television series, released on video in the United States in 1985. Although the original book describes Heidi as having dark, curly hair, she is usually portrayed as blonde.

Versions of the story include:
* ''Heidi'', a 1937 motion picture which starred Shirley Temple in the title role.
*'' Heidi'', a 1952 film in Swiss German and German, directed by Luigi Comencini, starring Elsbeth Sigmund (filmed on location in Switzerland), and followed by a sequel, '' Heidi and Peter'', in 1955, directed by Franz Schnyder, also starring Ms. Sigmund.
* ''Heidemarie S'Waisechind vo Engelberg'', 1956 film of Austria directed by Hermann Kugelstadt
* ''A Gift for Heidi'' (1958), by George Templeton.
*'' Do Phool'', a 1958 Indian Hindi-language family drama film adaptation by A. R. Kardar

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