"I can do it!"
"What is it you can do, Peter?" asked his mother, eagerly.
"Read."
"What, is it possible? Did you hear it, grandmother?" exclaimed Brigida.
The grandmother also was curious to learn how this had happened.
"I must read a song now; Heidi told me to," Peter continued. To the women's amazement, Peter began. After every verse his mother would exclaim, "Who would have ever thought it!" while the grandmother remained silent.
One day later, when it happened that it was Peter's turn to read in school, the teacher said:
"Peter, must I pass you by again, as usual? Or do you want to try—I shall not say to read, but to stammer through a line?"
Peter began and read three lines without stopping.
In dumb astonishment, the teacher, putting down his book, looked at the boy.