The following morning Paula awoke earlier than ever before; a loud singing had awakened¹ her out of sleep.  
"That is surely the goat-boy so soon," she said, springing out of bed and running to the window.
 
Quite right. With fresh, red cheeks there stood Moni below, and he had just brought the old goat and the little kid out of the goat shed. Now he swung his rod in the air, the goats leaped and sprang around him, and then he went along with the whole flock. Suddenly Moni raised his voice again and sang until the mountains echoed:
 
  "Up yonder in the fir trees
  Sing the birds in a choir²,
  And after the rain comes,
  Comes the sun like a fire."
"To-day he must sing his whole song for me once," said Paula, for Moni had now disappeared and she could no longer understand the words of his distant song.
 
In the sky the rosy³ morning clouds were disappearing and a cool mountain breeze rustled⁴ around Moni's ears, as he climbed up. This he thought just right. He yodeled with satisfaction from the first ledge⁵ so lustily down into the valley that many of the sleepers⁶ in the Bath House below opened their eyes in amazement⁷, then closed them again at once, for they recognized the sound and knew that they could have an hour longer to sleep, since the goat-boy always came so early. Meanwhile Moni climbed with his goats for an hour longer, farther and farther up to the high cliffs above.
 
The higher up he mounted, the broader and more beautiful became the view. From time to time he looked around him, then gazed up into the bright sky, which was becoming bluer and bluer, then began to sing with all his might, louder and louder and more merrily the higher he came:
 
  "Up yonder in the fir trees,
  Sing the birds in a choir,
  And after the rain comes,
  Comes the sun like a fire.
 
  "And the sun and the stars
  And the moon in the night,
  The dear Lord has made them
  To give us delight.
 
  "In the spring there are flowers—
  They are yellow and gold,
  And so blue is the sky then
  My joy can't be told.
 
  "And in summer there are berries,
  There are plenty if it's fine,
  And the red ones and black ones,
  I eat all from the vine.
 
  "If there are nuts in the bushes
  I know what to do.
  Where the goats like to nibble⁸,
  There I can hunt too.
 
  "And in winter I'm happy,
  For weeping's in vain,
  And, besides, the glad springtime
  Will soon come again."
Now the height was reached where he usually stayed, and where he was going to remain for a while to-day. It was a little green table-land, with so broad a projection⁹ that one could see from the top all round about and far, far down into the valley. This projection was called the Pulpit-rock, and here Moni could often stay for hours at a time, gazing about him and whistling away, while his little goats quite contentedly¹⁰ sought their feed around him.
 
As soon as Moni arrived, he took his provision bag from his back, laid it in a little hole in the ground, which he had dug out for this purpose, then went to the Pulpit-rock and threw himself on the grass in order to enjoy himself fully¹¹.
 
The sky had now become a deep blue; above were the high mountains with peaks towering to the sky and great ice-fields appearing, and far away down below the green valley shone in the morning light. Moni lay there, looking about, singing and whistling. The mountain wind cooled his warm face, and as soon as he stopped whistling, the birds piped all the more lustily and flew up into the blue sky. Moni was indescribably happy. From time to time Mäggerli came to Moni and rubbed her head around on his shoulder, as she always did out of sheer affection. Then she bleated¹² quite fondly, went to Moni's other side and rubbed her head on the other shoulder. The other goats also, first one and then another, came to look at their keeper and each had her own way of paying the visit.
 
The brown one, his own goat, came very cautiously and looked at him to see if he was all right, then she would stand and gaze at him until he said: "Yes, yes, Braunli, it's all right, go and look for your fodder¹³."
 
The young white one and Swallow, so called because she was so small and nimble and darted¹⁴ everywhere, like swallows into their holes, always rushed together upon Moni, so that they would have thrown him down, if he had not already been stretched out on the ground, and then they immediately, darted off again.
 
The shiny Blackie, the goat belonging to the landlord of the Bath House, Mäggerli's mother, was a little proud; she came only to within a few steps of Moni, looked at him with her head lifted, as if she wouldn't appear too familiar, and then went her way again. The big Sultan, the billy-goat, never showed himself but once, then he pushed away all he found near Moni, and bleated several times as significantly as if he had information to give about the condition of the flock, whose leader he felt himself to be.
 
Little Mäggerli alone never allowed herself to be crowded away from her protector; if the billy-goat came and tried to push her aside, she crept so far under Moni's arm or head that the big Sultan no longer came near her, and so under Moni's protection the little kid was not the least bit afraid of him. Otherwise she would have trembled if he came near her.
 
Thus the sunny morning had passed; Moni had already taken his midday meal and now stood thinking as he leaned on his stick, which he often needed there, for it was very useful in climbing up and down. He was thinking whether he would go up to a new side of the rocks, for he wanted to go higher this afternoon with the goats, but the question was, to which side? He decided¹⁵ to take the left, for in that direction were the three Dragon-stones, around which grew such tender shrubs¹⁶ that it ............