“Go up to the tower tomorrow, boy,” answered the uncle. The grandfather was the oldest man on the whole mountain-side and one had to do his bidding.
“Whose grandfather is he?” asked Vinzi.
“Oh, the grandfather of all the so-called Tower Boys,” replied the uncle, “and of a huge family besides who stay at home. Only the boys who attend to the cattle go up there. He is in fact their great, or even great-great grandfather. But as that is much too complicated to say all his relatives on the mountain call him grandfather. He has an enormous number of grand and great-grandchildren.”
“Yes, Black Vereli is decidedly the worst of the whole bunch,” added Faz.
“How so?” asked the father, who saw not the slightest connection between his own statement and the words which had followed.
“Oh, I mean that the Tower Boys always start the worst mischief and Black Vereli invents most of their tricks,” Faz explained. “Jos always takes his part because he can jodel so well.”
“Yes he can do it like no one else and I love to hear him,” affirmed Jos. “I think that the invention of naughty tricks is beginning to die down a bit. Vereli is needed for that, and he has something else in his head now. Vinzi has made him a pipe, which he has wanted for ages, and he is so determined to learn how to play that nothing will stop him. You know that if he wants a thing he never gives up till he has it.”
“Those pipes are a real blessing for the whole mountain, it seems to me. They are toning down even the worst boys,” said the mother, comfortably leaning back in her chair. She knew what peace it had brought to her own evenings and was already waiting for the tones of the pipe which so quieted them.
When the boys were ready to set out to the pasture with their cattle next morning, the uncle said to Vinzi. “Go right up to the tower, for the grandfather is sure to be up by now. He sits from early morning till evening on the bench before his house sunning himself. You will have to judge when it will be time to leave. Be sure to stay as long as he wants you to.”
They set out, Russli, as usual, staying a little behind Vinzi. He had attentively listened to his father’s words.