



Produced by E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, David Garcia,
and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading
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MONI THE GOAT-BOY

BY JOHANNA SPYRI

Author Of "Heidi"

TRANSLATED BY HELEN B. DOLE

ILLUSTRATED IN COLOR BY CHARLES COPELAND




[Illustration: "_In the midst of the flock came the goat-boy_."]




CONTENTS

    CHAPTER

      I. ALL IS WELL WITH MONI
     II. MONI'S LIFE IN THE MOUNTAINS
    III. A VISIT
     IV. MONI CAN NO LONGER SING
      V. MONI SINGS AGAIN



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

    "In the midst of the flock came the goat-boy" _frontispiece_

    "Moni climbed with his goats for an hour longer"

    "Joergli had opened his hand. In it lay a cross set with a large
     number of stones"





CHAPTER I

ALL IS WELL WITH MONI


It is a long, steep climb up to the Bath House at Fideris, after leaving
the road leading up through the long valley of Praettigau. The horses
pant so hard on their way up the mountain that you prefer to dismount
and clamber up on foot to the green summit.

After a long ascent, you come first to the village of Fideris, which
lies on the pleasant green height, and from there you go on farther
into the mountains, until the lonely buildings connected with the
Baths appear, surrounded on all sides by rocky mountains. The only
trees that grow up there are firs, covering the peaks and rocks, and
it would all look very gloomy if the delicate mountain flowers with
their brilliant coloring were not peeping forth everywhere through the
low pasture grass.

One clear summer evening two ladies stepped out of the Bath House and
went along the narrow footpath, which begins to mount not far from the
