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"People who do that must have their ears pulled; do you hear?"

The boy was frightened, for there was no one in the world whom he respected more than the uncle.

"A general like you ought to be doubly ashamed to do so," the uncle went on. "What would you do with the goats if they did not obey you any more?"

"Beat them," was the reply.

"If you knew of a boy that was behaving like a disobedient goat and had to get spanked, what would you say?"

"Serves him right."

"So now you know it, goat-general: if you miss school again, when you ought to be there, you can come to me and get your due."

Now at last Peter understood what the uncle had meant. More kindly, the old man then turned to Peter and said, "Come to the table now and eat with us. Then you can go up with Heidi, and when you bring her back at night, you can get your supper here."