Student Question

What does Heidi have for lunch on the mountain?

Quick answer:

For lunch on the mountain with her grandfather and the doctor, Heidi has milk, toasted cheese, and slices of meat her grandfather cured himself.

Expert Answers

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When the doctor comes to her mountain home, Heidi is at first disappointed that Clara is not with him. However, it is midday, with the sun high, so Heidi's grandfather carries the table from the cottage outside so that they can all have lunch in the sunshine. Heidi goes and brings out what they need to set up for lunch. Grandfather provides a typical meal: fresh milk steaming in a jug and toasted cheese. He also has what is more of a treat: slices of meat he had cured himself. The doctor says he has not had such a good meal in a whole year.

The meal helps further convince the doctor that the mountains are the right place for Clara to grow healthy. He says that it would make her a new person if she ate as he has done today and that she would gain more weight than she ever has.

Heidi is disappointed not to see Clara and be able to show her her mountain home, but she reasons that spring, when Clara is now scheduled to come, is not that far off. In the meantime, Heidi is excited by the gifts the doctor has brought, including tobacco for her grandfather and cakes for the grandmother.

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