Then the hunter heard the sound of cattle lowing nearer and nearer, as if they were drawn by the music of the horn, and a moment later a voice called out, “Come down from the loft, Moni, and taste of the good things in the bowls.”
This amazed him, for he was sure they had not seen him, and how could they know his name? But he crept down from his straw pile, as he was bid, and into the room.
“Choose whichever you please,” the little man said, “and besides the drink in the bowl you will receive a gift that goes with the liquid of your choice.”
The golden bowls stood side by side on the floor, and each one contained a different-colored liquid. One was red, like the wine of Geneva, one yellow as the honey of Zurich, and the third was white like goat’s milk. Moni looked from one to the other, deciding which to take. He was hungry from his long tramp over the crags in the storm and needed milk far more than honey or wine, so he chose that bowl and drank greedily.
“Ah,” the cheese maker shouted, “you have won the Alp horn!”
“Yes,” another exclaimed, “and it is a precious gift. You can make other horns like it, and teach the people how to call their herds, which will not stray away and be lost as happens now. Thus the herdsmen will become very prosperous.”
“But remember, if you wish to be happy, you must give up chamois hunting, and never again kill a harmless wild creature.”
The gnomes disappeared, and with them went the cattle, the kettle, and the shining bowls. But the horn lay where the little man had dropped it, and as the hunter looked at it he found it was pure silver. Catching it up, he ran down the mountain side to the hut where his sweetheart lived. He told her the story and showed her the Alp horn, and she was very happy; for she never had wanted him to be a chamois hunter, as the life was full of danger, and she loved the poor little animals that he killed. Now he would tend flocks as she did, and they would be happy in the life of herding.
At first the hunter thought he could not change his ways, for he loved to roam over the mountains and bound from crag to crag in pursuit of the fleet-footed creatures, but the promise of the gnomes and the pleas of Heidi persuaded him, and he gathered a herd and tended it all summer.