Part 13 (2/2)
”Here is a girl coming up the mountain with a basket on her back. Come down and see her.”
”Come up here,” said Mr. George, ”and we will wait till she comes.”
So Rollo chirruped to his horse and started along again. In a few minutes he reached the place where his uncle George was standing, and there they all waited till the little girl came up.
”Good morning,” said the girl, as soon as she came near enough to be heard. She spoke the words in the German language and with a very pleasant smile upon her face.
The peasants in Switzerland, when they meet strangers in ascending or descending the mountains, always accost them pleasantly and wish them good morning or good evening. In most other countries, strangers meeting each other on the road pa.s.s in silence. Perhaps it is the loneliness and solitude of the country and the sense of danger and awe that the stupendous mountains inspire that incline people to be more pleased when they meet each other in Switzerland, even if they are strangers, than in the more cheerful and smiling regions of France and England.
The guide said something to the girl, but Rollo could not understand what it was, for he spoke, and the answer was returned, in German.
”She says her name is Ninette,” said Henry.
Rollo's attention was immediately attracted to the form of the basket which Ninette wore and to the manner in which it was fastened to her back. The basket was comparatively small at the bottom, being about as wide as the waist of the girl; but it grew larger towards the top, where it opened as wide as the girl's shoulders--being shaped in this respect in conformity with the shape of the back on which it was to be borne.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE MOUNTAIN GIRL.]
The side of the basket, too, which lay against the back was flat, so as to fit to it exactly. The outer side was rounded. It was open at the top.
The basket was secured to its place upon the child's back and shoulders by means of two flat strips of wood, which were fastened at the upper ends of them to the back of the basket near the top, and which came round over the shoulders in front, and then, pa.s.sing under the arms, were fastened at the lower ends to the basket near the bottom. The basket was thus supported in its place and carried by means of the pressure of these straps upon the shoulders.
”Uncle George,” said Rollo, ”I should like to have such a basket as that and such a pair of straps to carry it by.”
”What would you do with it,” asked Mr. George, ”if you had it?”
”Why, it would be very convenient,” said Rollo, ”in America, when I went a-raspberrying. You see, if I had such a basket as that, I could bring my berries home on my back, and so have my hands free.”
”Yes,” said Mr. George, ”that would be convenient.”
”Besides,” said Rollo, ”it would be a curiosity.”
”That's true,” replied Mr. George; ”but it would be very difficult to carry so bulky a thing home.”
After some further conversation it was concluded not to buy the basket, but to ask the girl if she would be willing to sell the straps, or bows, that it was fastened with. These straps were really quite curious. They were made of some very hard and smooth-grained wood, and were nicely carved and bent so as to fit to the girl's shoulders quite precisely.
Accordingly Mr. George, speaking in French, requested Henry to ask the girl whether she would be willing to sell the straps. Henry immediately addressed the girl in the German language, and after talking with her a few minutes he turned again to Mr. George and Rollo and said that the girl would rather not sell them herself, as they belonged to her father, who lived about half a mile farther up the mountain. But she was sure her father would sell them if they would stop at his cottage as they went by. He would either sell them that pair, she said, or a new pair; for he made such things himself, and he had two or three new pairs in his cottage.
”Very well,” said Mr. George; ”let us go on.
”Which would you rather have,” said Mr. George to Rollo, as they resumed their march, ”this pair, or some new ones?”
”I would rather have this pair,” said Rollo.
”They are somewhat soiled and worn,” said Mr. George.
”Yes,” said Rollo; ”but they are good and strong; and as soon as I get home I shall rub them all off clean with sand paper and then have them varnished, so as to make them look very bright and nice; and then I shall keep them for a curiosity. I would rather have this pair, for then I can tell people that I bought them actually off the shoulders of a little girl who was carrying a burden with them up the Alps.”
In due time the party reached the little hamlet where Ninette lived. The hamlet consisted of a scattered group of cabins and cow houses on a shelving green more than a thousand feet above the valley. The girl led the party to the door of her father's hut; and there, through the medium of Henry as interpreter, they purchased the two bows for a very small sum of money. They also bought a drink of excellent milk for the whole party of Ninette's mother and then resumed their journey.
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