"I go down to the village to buy bread for mother. I live up here. That is our chalet up there by the brook. My name is Gretel."
"Do you go down to the village to school, too?" asked Joe.
"Yes," answered the little girl. "But this is vacation time now. I often take another path when I go to school. Sometimes I ride home on that big car, which helps me up the mountain as far as the waterfall."
"Do you go to school all winter?" asked Jack.
"Oh, yes! except when the snow is so deep I just can't get there. All of us girls and boys have to go to school forty weeks every year. I am glad we do. I like to go to school."
"Please let us carry that basket of bread for you," said Jack. "I think our path goes right by your house."
So the children walked on up the path together, and Gretel told the boys many interesting things about her life on the mountain alp.
"I always thought a Swiss alp was a high mountain peak," said Joe.
"Oh, no! An alp is a lovely mountain meadow," said Gretel. "See what a fine great alp ours is. This is one of the low alps. Father raises lots of hay here to feed the cows during the long winter."
"Where are your cows now?" asked Jack.