Adventures of Nils - Forgotten Books

The Wonderfu l

Adventures of NilsFrom the Sw ed ish of

SELMA LAGER LOF

Tra nsla ted by

VELMA SWANSTON HOWARD

DECORATIONS BY

HAROLD HEARTT

NEW YORK

ONSSET a: DUNLAP

Publishers

PUBLISHERS ’ NOTE

The Wonderful Adventures of Nils wa s

written for use in schools a s supplem enta ryrea ding, with the specia l idea of introduc ingsuch subjects a s would be educa tive a s wella s entertaining to the m inds of chi ldren fromthe a ges of nine to eleven. Th e book h a s

been a dopted in the publi c schools of Sweden ,

but older people have found in i t a book of

perm anent va lue.

In so fa r a s possible,the tra nsla tor ha s

fa ithfully interpreted the a uthor’s loca l a nd

idiom a ti c expressions .

TRANSLATOR ’S INTRODUCTION

TH IS book , which is the latest work of

Sweden’s greatest fiction writer , w a s published

in Stockholm,December

,1 906 . It became

immediately the most popular book of theyear in Scandinavia .

Four years ago the author received a commission from the Nationa l Teachers ’ Associati on to write a reader for the public schools .

She devoted three years to Nature studyand to familiarising herself with animal andb ird life . She sought out hitherto unpublishedfolk—lore and legends of the di fferent provinces .

These sh e has ingeniously woven into herstory .

The book has been translated into Germanand Danish , and the book reviewers of Germany and Denmark , a s well as those of

Sweden,are unanimous in proclaiming this

Selma Lagerlof ’s best work .

One reviewer has said : Sinc e the days

ADVENTURE S OF NILb

of Hans Christian Andersen , we have h a dnothing in Scandinavian juvenile literatureto compare with this remarkable book .

”

Another reviewer wrote : “Miss Lagerlof h a sthe keen insight into animal psychology of

a Rudyard Kipling .

Stockholm ’s D a gbla d said among otherthings : “ The great author stands a s itwere in the background . The prophetessis forgotten for the voices that Speak throughher . It is as though the book had sprungdirect from the soul of the Swedish nation .

Sydsvenska D a gbla det writes :“ The s ign ifi

cant thing about this book is : while ' onefollows with breathless interest the shifting scenes and adventures , one learns manythings without being conscious of it .

Th e author ’s imagination unfolds an almostmexh a ust ible wealth in invention of new,

and ever- changing adventures , told in such aconvincing way that we almost believe them .

As amusement reading for the

young, this book is a decided acquisition .

The intimate blending of fiction and fact is

so subtle that one finds it hard to distingu ish

ADVENTURES OF NILS ix

Where one ends , and the other begins . lt

is a classic . A masterwork .

From Gefle Posten :“ The author is here

as always , the great story- teller , the greatest

,perhaps , in Scandinavian literature since

the days of Hans Christian Andersen . To

children whose imaginations have been fostered by Ashbjornsen , Andersen ,

and ‘Thousand-and-One Nights ,

’ Nils Holgersson willalways be precious , as well a s to those of uswho are older .

”

From Gateborg Posten : Selma Lagerlofhas given us a good lift onward . She is theone whom we , in these days , place first andforemost . Among the other work whichshehas done for us , and for our children , sh e

has re-created our geography for us . Upon imagination ’s road she has sought to Openthe child-heart to an understanding of animals

,

while she tactfully and playfully drops intolittle knowledge- thirsty minds a c ompreh en

sive understanding of the hab its a nd chara c ter ist ic s of different animals . She c a rr ies

us with her and shapes for us—o ldand young—a new childhood in tune with the

x ADVENTURES OF NILS

thought of our time . What does she not

touch upon in this wonderful book ? AsMowgli , who had the key to all the languagesof the Jungle , once found his way to allhis little brother and sister-hearts in thegreat civilised world , so shall the Th umb ietot of Swedish fairyland lead many littlethirsting child- souls

,not only on the high

ways of adventure , but also upon the roadof seriousness and learning .

”

Another critic says : “ Beyond all doubt ,‘Nils Holgersson ’s Journey ’ is one of the mostnoteworthy books ever published in our

language . I take it , that no other nation hasa book of this sort . One can make this orthat comment on one and another phase of

it,but the whole impresses one as so master

ful , so great , and so Swedish , that one laysthe book down with a sense of gratitude forthe privilege of rea ding such a thing . Therei s a deep undercurrent of Swedish earnestnessall through this tale of Nils Holgersson . Itbelongs to us . It is a part of us .

Ny Ti a! writes : “ Selma Lagerlof ’s bookcontains just a s much inf ormation—no , twice

ADVENTURES DE NILS x i

a s much—as the old readers . It acqua intsthe childr en with Sweden ’s nature ; it intereststhem in its bird world—both tame and wild ;in its domestic and forest animals

,even in

i ts rats . It explains its vegetation ,its soil ,

its mountain-formations,i ts climatic con

d it ions . It gives you customs , superstitionsand the folk- lore in different sections of thecountry . It takes in farming industry , manors and factories ; cities and peasant- cabins ,and even dog-kennels . It has a word foreverything ; an interest in , and for , everything . For , mark you , this book has notbeen patched together by the dilettante , bycommittees . It was written by ahighly gifted

,warm-hearted seer , to whom

the child-nature has not been a murky poolto fish in , but a clear , impressionable mirror.The author has fulfilled her mission ina wholly convincing manner . She hashad enough imagination and skill to

blend all the dry travel and nature mater i a l into the harmonious beauty of fable .

She knew how to combine the useful withthe beautiful , as no ped ant of the prae

xi i ADVENTURES OF NILS

tic a l, or the aesthetic , has ever dreamed it.

She has converted the absorption of knowledge into a child ’s game—a pleasur e . Her

style throughout is the simplest , the mostfacile for children to grasp . Her

utterances are hearty without being boisterous ; most playful !and humorous without being loquacious . Her work is a modeltext-book ; and just therefore, a fin ishedwork of art . ”

From Goteborg M organ Posten : The fameof her literary greatness goes forward without ad issenting voice ; fills her own land , a nd travelsfa r and wide outside its borders .a s modestly as she points a moral , just so delic a tely and unobtrusively does she give information . Everything comes to you through thea dventures , or through the concrete images of

No one who has retained a particle of his childmind c an escape the genuine witchery of thepoesy in

‘Nils Holgersson .

’

A new history of literatur e , entitled Frauender Gegenwart” , by Dr . Theodore Klaiber,mentions Miss Lagerlof as the foremost wom a n

ADVENTURES OF NILS

writer of our t ime , and says that she isreceiving the same affectionate homage forher art in other lands , that h a s been accordedto her in Swed en . Dr . Klaiber does not see

in her merely “a dreaming poetess farremoved from the world .

” He finds her tooforceful and courageous for this .

“ But she sees life with other eyes tha n doour up

-to-date people . All her world becomessaga and legend . More than a ll othermodern authors , she has that all-embracinglove for everything which never wanes andnever wearies . says Dr . Klaiber .

Torsten Fagelqv ist , a well-known Swed ishwriter , ends his review of the book with theseremarks : Our guide is clear-visioned

,

many-sided and maternal . She can speakall languages : the language of animals , andthe language of flowers ; but first and last

,

Childhood ’s language . An d the best of allis , that under her spell all are compelled tobec ome children .

”

VELMA SWANSTON HOWARD .

m

Comm ents tra nsla ted from Swedish a nd Germ a n.

ILLUSTRATIONS

P R ONTIS P I I CE

' ACING PAG E

Th ey bore on towa rd th e

h eigh ts"

Th e goosey-ga nder got in

h ea d first

a nd th e w ild goose gotaw a y

”

In G limm inge Ca stleTh e w ild geese , too , w ere gla dof th e r a in ”

Th e boy rode a long—h igh up

in th e a i r”

A tiny wooden shoe th a t h a d

fa llen from th e skies

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

fi ‘

(1)

THE BOY

THE E LF

Sunda y, Ma r ch twentieth .

NCE there w as a boy . He wa s—let ussa y—something like fourteen years old ;

long and loose jointed and towheaded . Hewasn ’t good for much

,th at boy . His chief

delight wa s to eat and sleep ; and after that—h e liked best to make mischief.It was a Sunday morning and t h e boy

’s

parents were getting ready to go to church .

Th e boy sa t on the edge of the table,in his

shirt sleeves,and thought how lucky it was

that both father and mother were going away,

and the coast would be clear for a couple ofhours .

“ Good ! Now I c an take down pop ’sgun and fire off a shot

,without anybody ’

s

meddling interference,

” he said to himself .But it wa s almost as if father should ha ve

3

4 ADVENTURES OF NILS

guessed the boy’s thoughts , for just a s he

was on th e threshOld—ready to sta rt—hestopped short , and turned toward the boy :“ Since you won’t come to church wi thmother and me ,

” he said , the least you c a n

do,is to read the service at home . Will you

promise to do so ?” “Yes, said the boy,

that I can do easy enough . And hethought

,of course , that he wouldn

’t rea da ny more than he felt like reading .

The boy thought that never had he seenhis mother so persistent . In a second shewas over by the shelf near the fireplace , a ndtook down Luther ’ s Commentary and la id iton the table , in front of the window—Openedat the service for the day . She also openedthe New Testament , and placed it beside theCommentary. Finally , she drew up the biga rm -chair, which was bought at the parisha uction the year before

,and which , a s a rule,

no one but father was permitted to occupy.

The boy sat thinking that his mother w a sgiving herself altogether too much troublewith thi s spread ; for he had no intention of

rea ding more th an a pa ge or so. But now,

ADVENTURES OF NILS 5

for the second time , it wa s almost a s if h is

father were able to see right through him .

Hewalked up to the boy, and said in a severetone : Now , remember, that you are to

rea d ca refully! For when we come back , Ishall question you thoroughly ; and if you

have skipped a single page , it will not go wellwith you .

”

“The service is fourteen and a ha lf pages

long ,” sa id his mother, just as i f

'

she wantedto heap up the measure of h i s misfortune .

fWou’

ll have to s it down and begin the reading at onc e , if you expect to get through withit .

”

With that they departed . And as the boystood in the doorway watching ~

.them, he

thought that he had been caught in a trap .

There they go congratulating themselves ,I suppose , in the belief tha t they

’ve hit uponsomething so good that I ’ ll be forced to sit

a nd hang over the sermon the whole time tha tthey are away

,

” thought he .

But his father and mother were c erta i nlynot congratulating themselves upon a nything


very much distressed . They were poor farm ers , and their plac e w as not much biggerthan a garden-plot . When they first movedthere

,the place couldn ’t feed more tha n one

pig and a pair of chickens ; but they wereuncommonly industrious and capable folkand now they had both cows and geese.Things had turned out very well for them ;and they would have gone to church thatbeautiful morning—sa t isfied and happy—ifthey hadn ’t had their son to think of. Fathercomplained that he was dull and lazy ; he h a dnot cared to learn anything at school , andhe was such an a ll-round good-for-nothing

,

that he could barely be made to tend geese .

Mother did not deny that this was true ; butshe was most distressed because he wa s wildand bad ; cruel to animals , and ill-willedtoward human beings . “ May God softenhis hard heart , and g ive mm a better di sposition ! said the mother, or else he willbe a misfortune , both to himself and to

“

us .”

The boy stood for a long time and pond ered whether he should rea d the serv ice or


that,this time

,it was best to be obedient .

He seated himself in the easy chair , and beganto read . But when he had been rattlingaway in an undertone for a little while , thismumbling seemed to have a soothing eff ectupon him—and he began to nod .

It was the most beautiful weather outside !It was only the twentieth of March ; but theboy lived in West Vemm inghOg Township ,down in Southern Skane

,where the Spring

was already in full Swing . It w a s not as yet

green, but it was fresh and budding . Therewas water in all the trenches

,and the colt ’s

foot on the edge of the ditch,was in bloom .

All the weeds that grew in among the stones,

were brown and shiny . The beech-woodsin the distance

,seemed to swell and grow

thicker with every second . The skies werehigh—and a clear blue . The cottage doorstood ajar

,and the lark ’s trill could be heard

in the room. The hens and geese patteredabout in the yard

,and the cows

,who felt

th e spring air away in their stalls,lowed

th eir approval every now and then .

The boy read and nodded and fought


against drowsiness . No ! I don ’t want tofall asleep

,

” thought he , for then I ’ ll notget through with this thing the wholeforenoon .

But—somehow -h e fell asleep .

He did not know whether he had Slept ashort while

,or a long while ; but he was

awakened by hearing a Slight noise back of him .

On the window- sill,facing the boy

,stood

a small looking-glass ; and almost the entirecottage could be seen in this . As the boyraised his head

,he happened to look in the

glass ; and then he saw that the cover toh is mother ’s chest had been opened .

His mother owned a great,heavy , iron

bound oa k chest , which she permitted noone but herself to open . Here sh e treasuredall the things sh e had inherited from hermother

,and of these sh e was especially

careful . Here lay a couple of old- time peasantdresses

,of red homespun cloth

,with Short .

bodice and plaited Shirt,and a pearl-bedecked

breast pin . There were starched white-linenhead-dresses

,and heavy silver ornaments

and chains. Folks don ’t care to go about

I O ADVENTURES OF NILS

To be sure , the boy had heard stories aboutelves , but he had never dreamed that theywere such tiny creatures . He was no tallerthan a hand ’s breadth—this one

,who sat on

the edge of the chest . He had an Old,

wrinkled and beardless face,and wa s dressed

in a black frock coat,knee-breeches and a

broad-brimmed black hat. He wa s verytrim and smart, with his white laces aboutthe throat and wrist-bands

,his buckled shoes

,

and the bows on his garters . He had takenfrom the chest an embroidered piece

,and sat

and looked at the old - fashioned handiworkwith such an air of veneration , that he didnot observe the boy had awakened .

The boy was somewhat surprised to see the

elf,but

, on the other hand , he was not part i c ula rly frightened . It was impossible to

be afraid of one who was so little. And sincethe elf was so absorbed in his own thoughtsthat he neither saw nor heard , the boy thoughtthat it would be great fun to play a trick on

him ; to push him over into the chest and shutth e lid on h im ,

or something of that kind .

But the boy wa s not SO courageous that he

ADVENTURES OF NILS 1 1

dared to touch the elf with his hands , insteadhe looked around the room for something topoke him with . He let his gaze wander fromthe sofa to the leaf- table ; from the lea ftable to the fireplace He looked at thekettles

,then at the coff ee-urn

,which stood

on a Shelf, near the fireplace ; on the waterbucket near the door ; and on the spoonsand knives and forks and saucers and plates

,

which could be seen through the half-opencupboard door. He looked at his father ’s

gun ,which hung on the wall

,beside the

por trait of the Danish royal family , and on

the geraniums and fuchsias,which blossomed

in the window. And last , he caught sightof an old butterfly

- snare that hung on thewindow frame . He had hardly set eyes on

that butterfly- snare,before he reached over

and snatched it and jumped up and swungit alongside the edge of the chest . He washimself astonished at the luck he had . Hehardly knew how he had managed it—buthe had actually “snared the elf . The poorlittle chap lay , head dovVnwa rd ,

in the bottomof th e long snare, and could not free himself.

1 2 ADVENTURES OF NILS

The first moment the boy hadn ’t the leastidea what he should do with his prize . Hewas only particular to swing the snare backward and forward

,to prevent the elf frorr

getting a foothold and clambering up .

The elf began to Speak,and begged

,oh !

so pitifully, for h is freedom. He had broughtthem good luck—these many years —h e said ,and deserved better treatment . Now , if theboy would set him free , he would give him a n

Old com, a silver spoon, and a gold penny,as b ig as the case on his father ’s silver watch .

The boy didn’t think that this was much

of an offer ; but it so happened— that a f terhe had gotten the elf in his power

,he was

a fraid of him. He felt that he had enteredinto an agreement with something wed anduncanny ; something which did not belong tohis world

,and he was only too glad to get

rid of the horrid thing .

For this reason he agreed at once to thebargain

,and held the snare still , SO the elf

could crawl ou t of it . But when the elfwas almost out of the snare , the boy happenedto think that he ought to have bargained for


large estates,and all sorts of good things .

He should at least have made this stipulation : that the elf must conjure the sermoninto his head . What a fool I was to lethim go ! thought he , and began to shakethe snare Violently

,so the elf would tumble

down again .

But the instant the boy did this , hereceived such a stinging box on the ear , thathe thought his head would fly in pieces . Hewa s dashed—first against one wall , thenagainst the other ; he sank to the floor

,and

lay there—senseless .

When he awoke , he was alone in the cottage .

The chest- lid w a s down,and the bu tterfly

snare hung in its usual place by the window .

If he had not felt how the right cheek burned ,

from that box on the ear, he would have beentempted to believe the whole thing had beena dream .

“ At any rate,father and mother

will be sure to insist that it w a s nothing else ,”

thought he .

“ They are not likely to makeany a llowances for that old sermon

,on

a c count of the elf . It ’ s best for me to geta t that reading again, thought he .


But as he walked toward the table,he

noticed something remarkable . It couldn ’tbe possible that the cottage had grown . Butwhy was he obliged to take so many moresteps than usual to g et to the table ? Andwhat was the matter with the chair ? Itlooked no bigger than it did a while ago ; butnow he had to step on the rung first

,and then

clamber up in order to reach the seat . It w a sthe same thing with the table. He couldnot look over the top without climbing tothe arm of the chair.What in all the world is this ? said the boy.

I believe the elf has bewitched both the armchair and the table—and the whole cottage .

”

The Commentary lay on the table and,to

all appearances,it was not changed ; but

there must have been something queer aboutthat too

,for he could not manage to read a

single word of it,without actually standing

right in the book itself.He read a couple of lines , and then he

chanced to look up . With that , his glancefell on the looking-glass ; and then he cried

a loud : “ Look ! There’s another one !

”


For in the glass he saw plainly a little ,little creature who was dressed in a hood andleather breeches .

“Why,that one is dressed exactly like me !

said the boy,and clasped his hands in aston

i shm ent . But then he saw that the thing inthe mirror did the same thing . Then hebegan to pull his hair and pinch his arms andswing round ; and instantly he did the samething after him ; he , who was seen in themirror.The boy ran around the glass several

times,to see if there wasn ’t a little man hid

den behind it,but he found no one there ; and

thenhe began to Shake with terror . For now

he understood that the elf had bewitchedhim ,

and that the creature whose image hesaw in the glass—w a s h e, himself .

THE WILD GEESE

THE boy simply could not make himselfbelieve that he had been transformed intoan elf . “ It can’t be anything but a dream—a queer fancy , thought he .

“ If I wait a


few moments , I’ll surely be turned back into

a human being again .

”

He placed himself before the glas s andclosed his eyes . He opened them again aftera couple of minutes , and then expected to

find that it had all passed over—but ith adn’t. He w a s—and remained—just a s

little. In other respects , he was the same a sbefore . The thin , straw-coloured hair ; thefreckles across his nose ; the patches on hisleather b reeches and the dam s o

i

his stockings

,were all like themselves , with this ex c ep

t ion—that they had become diminished .

No,it would do no good for him to stand

still and wait,of this he was certain He

must try something else . And he thoughtthe wisest thing that he could do was to tryand find the elf

,and make h i s peace W i th him .

And while he sought , he cried and pra yedand promised everything he could think of .

Nevermore would he break his word to anyone ; never again would he be naughty ; andnever

,never would he fall asleep again over

the sermon . If he might only be ahuman being once more, h e would be such a


hardly set eyes on the boy before he calledou t : Teetee ! Teetee ! Look at Nils gooseyboy ! Look at Th um b ietot ! Look at NilsHolgersson Thumb ietot !Instantly

,both the geese and the chickens

turned and stared at the boy ; and then theyset up a fearful cackling .

“ Cock- el- i - coo,

crowed the rooster,

“ good enough for him !Cock- el- i -coo

,he has pulled my comb Ka

,

k a,kada

,serves him right ! ” cried the hens

and w ith that they kept up a continuouscackle . The geese got together in a tightgroup

,stuck their heads together and asked :

Who can have done this ? Who can havedone this ?But the strangest thing of all was

,that the

boy understood what they said . He was soastonished

,that he stood there as if rooted

to the doorstep , and listened .

“ It must bebecause I am changed into an elf, said he .

This is probably why I understand bird- talk .

He thought it was unbearable that the henswould not stop saying that it served h im

right . He threw a stone at them and shouted :Shut up

, you pack !

ADVE IV 1 URES OF NILS 19

But it hadn ’t occurred to him before , thathe was no longer the sort of boy the hensneed fear . The whole henyard made a rushfor him

,and formed a ring around him ; then

they all cried at once : Ka,k a

,kada

,served

you right ! Ka,k a

,kada

,served you right !

The boy tried to get away,but the chickens

ran after him and screamed , until he thoughthe ’d lose his hearing . It is more than likelythat he never could have gotten away fromthem

,if the house cat hadn ’t come along

just then . As soon as the chickens saw thecat

,they quieted down and pretended to

be thinking of nothing else than just toscratch in the earth for worms .Immediately the boy ran up to the cat .You dear pussy ! ” said he

,

“ you must knowall the corners and hiding places about here ?You ’ ll be a good little kitty and tell me whereI can find the elf . ”

The cat did not reply at once . He seatedhimself

,curled his tail into a graceful ring

around his paws— and stared at the boy . Itwa s a large black cat with one white Spot onhis chest . His fur lay sleek and soft

,and

ADVENTURES OF NILS

shone in the sunlight . The claws were drawnin, and the eyes were a dull gray , with justa little narrow dark streak down the centre.

Th e cat looked thoroughly good-natured a nd

inoffensive .

“ I know well enough where the elf lives ,he said in a soft voice ,

“ but that doesn’t saythat I ’m going to tell you about it .

“ Dear pussy , you must tell me where theelf lives ! ” said the boy.

“ Can ’t you see

how he has bewitched me ?The cat opened his eyes a little

,so that the

green wickedness began to shine forth . Hespun round and purred with satisfactionbefore he replied . Shall I perhaps help youbecause you have so Often grabbed me by thetail ? ” he said at last .Then the boy was furious a nd forgotentirely how little and helpless he was now .

“ Oh ! I can pull your tail again, I can ,” said

he,and ran toward the cat .The next instant the cat was so changed

that the boy could scarcely believe it was thesame animal . Every separate hair on h is

body stood on end . The back wa s bent ; th e


legs had become elongated ; the cla ws scrapedthe ground ; the tail had grown thick andsh ort ; the ears were la id back ; the mouthwas frothy ; and the eyes were wide open andglistened like sparks of red fire .

The boy didn’t want to let himself be

scared by a cat,and he took a step forward .

Then the cat made one Spring and landedright on the boy ; knocked him down andstood over him—his forepaws on his chest

,

and his jaws wide apart—over his throat .The boy felt how the sharp claws sank

through his vest and shirt and into his skin ;and how the sharp eye-teeth tickled h is throat.He

’

sh r ieked for help , as loudly as he could ,but no one came. He thought surelythat his last hour had c ome. Then he feltthat the cat drew in his claws and let go thehold on his throat .

“ There ! ” he said , that will do now. I ’lllet you go thi s time , for my mistress

’ s sake .

I only wanted you to know which one of ustwo has the power now.

”

With that the cat walked away—looking a ssmooth a nd pious as he did when he first


appeared on the scene . The boy was socrestfallen that he didn ’t sa y a word , butonly hurried to the cowhouse to look for theelf.There were not more than three cows

,a ll

told . But when the boy came in,there was

such a bellowing and such a kick-up,that one

might easily have believed that there wereat least thirty.

Moo , moo , moo , bellowed Mayrose . Itis well there is such a thing as justice in thisworld .

”

MOO,moo

,moo

,sang the three of them

in unison . He couldn’t hear what they said ,for each one tried to out-bellow the others .The boy wanted to ask after the elf

,but he

couldn ’t make himself heard because the cowswere in full uproar. They carried on as theyused to do when he let a strange dog in on

them. They kicked with their hind legs ,Shook their necks

,stretched their heads

,and

measured the distance with their horns .“ Come here

,you ! ” said Mae se

,

“Andyou’ ll get a kick that you won

’t forget in a

hurry !


Come here , said Gold Lily , a nd you

shall dance on my horns !Come here

,and you Shall taste how it felt

when you threw your wooden shoes at me,

a s you did last summer !” bawled Star.

“ Come here,and you Shall be repaid for

that wasp you let loose in my ear ! growled

Mayrose was the oldest and the wisest ofthem

,and sh e was the very maddest . “ Come

here ! ” said She ,“ that I may pay you back

for the many times that you have jerked themilk pail away from your mother ; and fora ll c e snares you laid for her , when sh e camecarrying the milk pails ; and for a ll the tearswhich sh e has Stood here and wept over

The boy wanted to tell them how heregretted that he had been unk ind to them ;and that never, never—from now on—shouldhe be anything but good , if they would onlytell him where the elf was . But the cowsdi dn’t listen to him . They made such aracket that he began to fear one of themwould succeed in breaking loose ; a nd he


thought that the best thing for him to do,

was to go quietly away from the cowhouse .

When he came out,he was thOroughly

disheartened . He could understand that noone on the place wanted to help h im find

the elf. And little good would it do him,

probably,if the elf were found

He crawled up on the broad hedge whichfenced in the farm

,and which was overgrown

with briers and lichen . There he sa t downto think about how it would go with him

,if

he never became a human being again. Whenfather and mother came home from chur ch

,

there would be a surprise for them. Yes ,a surprise—it would be all over the land ; andpeople would come flocking from East Vemm inghOg ,

and from Torp,and from Skerup.

The whole Vemm inghOg township would cometo stare at him . Perhaps fa ther and motherwould take him with them, and Show him atthe market place in Kivik .

No,that was too horrible to think about .

He would rather that no human being shouldever see him again .

His unhappiness was Simply frightful ! No


Never had he seen the skies as blue as theywere to-day . Birds of passage came on theirtravels . They came from foreign lands , andhad travelled over the East sea

,by way of

Sm yga huk ,and were now on their way North .

They were of many different kinds ; but hewas only familiar with the wild geese

,who

came flying in two long rows,which met at

Several flocks of wild geese had alreadyflown by . They flew very high

,still he

could hear how they shrieked : To the hills !Now we ’re off to the hills !When the wild geese saw the tame geese

,

who walked about the farm ,they sank nearer

the earth,and called : “ Come along ! Come

a long ! We ’re off to the hills ! ”

The tame geese could not resist the tem ptation to raise their heads and listen , but theyanswer ed very sensibly “We’re pretty well

off where we are . We ’re pretty well Off

where we are .

”

It was,as we have said , an uncommonly

fine day,with an atmosphere that it must

have been a real delight to fly m ,so light a nd

ADV ENTUR ES OF NILS 2 7

b racing . And with each new wild geesefloc k that flew by

,the tame geese became

more and more unruly . A couple of timesthey fl a pped their wings , a s i f they had halfa mind to fly along . But then an old mothergoose would always sa y to them : Nowdon ’t be silly. Those creatures will have tosuff er both hunger and cold .

”

There wa s a young gander whom the wildgeese had fired with a passion for adventur e .

If another flock comes this way,I ’ll follow

them,

” said he .

Then there came a new flock,who shr ieked

like the others,and the young gander

answered : Wait a minute ! Wait a minute !I ’m coming .

He Spread his wings and raised himselfinto the air ; but he was so unaccustomed toflying

,that he fell to the ground again .

At any rate , the wild geese must have heardhis call , for they turned and flew back Slowlyto see if he was coming .

“Wait,wait ! ” he cried , and made another

attempt to fly .

All this the boy heard , where he lay on


the hedge . It would be a great pity,

thought he , if the big goosey-gander Shouldgo away . It would be a big loss to father andmother if he w a s gone when they came homefrom church .

”

When he thought of this , once again heentirely forgot that he w a s little and helpless .He took one leap right down into the gooseflock , and threw his arms around the neckof the goosey-gander . Oh , no ! You don

’tfly away this t ime, sir !

” cried he .

But just about then,the gander wa s c on

s i der ing how he should go to work to raisehimself from the ground . He couldn ’t stopto shake the boy off , hence he had to goalong with h im—up in the air .

Th ey bore on toward the heights so rapidly

,tha t the boy fairly gasped . Before he

ha d time to think that he ought to let go hishold around the gander ’s neck , he was so highup that he would have been killed instantly,if he had fallen to the ground .

The only thing that he could do to makeh irnself a little more comfortable , was to trya nd get upon the gander

’s back . And there


he wriggled himself forthwith ; but not without considerable trouble . And it wa s not

an easy matter,either

,to hold himself secure

on the slippery back,between two swaying

wings . He had to dig deep into feathers anddown with both hands

,to keep from tumbling

to the ground .

THE B IG CHECKED CLOTH

THE boy had grown so giddy that it was along while before he came to himself . Thewinds howled and beat against him

,and the

rustle of feathers and swaying of wingssounded like a whole storm . Thirteen geeseflew

.

around him,flapping their wings and

honking . They danced before his eyes and theybuzzed in his ea rs . He didn ’t know whetherthey flew high or low, or in what directionthey were travelling .

After a bit , he regained just enough senseto understand that he ought to find out wherethe geese were taking him . But this was notso easy , for he didn

’t know how he shouldever muster up courage enough to look down.

He wa s sure he ’d faint if he attempted it.


The wild geese were not flying Very highbecause the new travelling companion couldnot breathe in the very thinn est air . For

his sake they also flew a li ttle Slower thanusual .At last the boy just made himself ca st one

glance down to earth . Then he thought thata great big rug lay sprea d beneath him ,

which was made up of an incred ible numberof large and small checks .

Where in all the world am I now ? ” h ewondered .

He saw nothing but check upon check .

Some were broad and ran crossw ise , and somewere long and narrow—all over , there wereang les and corners . Nothing was round ,and nothing was crooked .

What kind of a big , checked cloth is thisthat I ’m looking down on ? ” said the boy tohimself without expecting anyone to answerhim .

But instantly,the wild geese who flew

about him,called out “ Fields and mea dows

F ields a nd meadows .

Then he understood that the big, chec ked


the orchards , where the grass-carpets werealready turning green , although the trees andbushes around them were still in their nude

,

brown bark .

The boy could not keep from laughingwhen he saw how checked everything looked .

But when the wild geese heard him laugh,

they called out—kind o '

reprovingly : “ Fertileand good land . Fertile and good land .

”

The boy had already become serious .To think that you can laugh ; you , who

have met with the most terrible misfortunethat c a n possibly happen to a hum an being !”

thought he . And for a moment he was prettyserious ; but it was n

’

t long before h e waslaughing again .

Now that he had grown somewhat a c custom ed to the ride and the Speed , so that hecould think of something besides holdinghimself on the gander ’s back , he began tonotice how full the air was of b irds flyingnorthward . And there was a Shouting anda calling from flock to flock . So you cameover to-d a y ? ” shrieked some . Yes ,

” answeredthe geese . How do you think the Spring ’s

ADVENTUR ES OF NILS 3 3

getting on ?” “Not a leaf on the trees and

ice-cold water in the lakes ,” came back th e

answer.When the geese flew over a place where

they saw any tame , half-naked fowl , theyshouted “What ’s the name of this plac e ?What ’s the name of this place ? Then theroosters cocked their heads and answered :“ Its name ’s Lillga rde this yea r—the same a slast year ; the same as last year .Most of the cottages were probably named

af ter their owners—which is the custom inSkane . But instead of saying this is “ PerMa tssons ,

”or

“ Ola Bossons , the roostersh it upon the kind of names which , to theirway of thinkin

g,were more appropriate .

Those who lived on small farms , and belongedto poor cottagers , cried :

“ This place is

called Gra insea r c e .

”And those who belonged

to the poorest hut-dwellers screamed : “The

name of this place is Little-to-eat , Little-toeat , Little- to-eat .

The big, well-cared-for farms got highsounding names from the roosters—such asLu c kym ea dow , Eggberga and Moneyv ille .


But the roosters on the great landed estateswere too high and mighty to condescend toanything like jesting . One of them crowedand called ou t with such gusto that it soundeda s if he wanted to be heard clear up to thesun :

“ This is Herr Dybec k’

s estate ; thesame this year as last year ; this year as last

year .A little fur ther on strutted one rooster who

crowed : This is Sw a nholm , sur ely all theworld knows that !The boy observed that the geese did not

fly straight forward ; but zigzagged hitherand thither over the whole South country

,

just as though they were glad to be in Skaneagain and wanted to pay their respects toevery separate place .

They came to one place where there werea number of big , clumsy- looking buildingswith great , tall chimneys , and all aroundthese were a lot of smaller houses .

“Thi sis Jordberga Sugar Refinery ,

” cried theroosters . The boy Shuddered as he sat thereon the goose ’s back . He ought to h a Ve

recognised this place, for it was not very fa r

ADVENTURES OF NILS

Here he h a d worked the yea r before as awatch boy ; but , to be sure , nothing w as

exactly like itself when one saw it like thatfrom up above .

And think ! Just think ! Osa the goosegirl and little Mats , who were his c omrad eslast yea r ! Indeed the boy would have beenglad to know if they still were anywhere abouther e . Fancy what they wou ld have said

,

had they suspected that he was flying overtheir heads !Soon Jordberga was lost to sight , and they

travelled toward Svedala and Sk a ber La kea nd back again over Gerringe Cloister andHa c keberga . The boy sa w more of Skanein this one day than he had ever seen before—in all the years that he had lived .

When ever the wild geese happened acrossany tame geese , they h a d the best fun ! Theyflew forward very Slowly and called down :We ’re Off to the hills . Are you comingalong ? Are you coming along ?But the tame geese answered : It ’s still

winter in th is country . You ’re out too soon .

Fly ba ck i Fly back !


The wild geese lowered themselves thatthey might be heard a little better , and called :Come along ! We ’ll tea ch you how to flyand swim .

”

Then the tame geese got mad and wouldn ’tanswer them with a Single honk .

The wild geese sank themselves still loweruntil they almost touched the ground—then ,

quick as lightning , they raised themselves ,just a s if they ’d been terribly frightened .

“ Oh , oh , oh !” they exclaimed .

“Those thingswere not geese . They were only sheep , theywere only Sheep .

The ones on the ground were beside themselves with rage and shrieked : “May you

be shot , the whole lot 0’ you ! The whole

lot 0’ you ! ”

When the boy heard all this teasing helaughed . Then he remembered how badlythings had gone with him , and he cried .

But the next second,he was laughing aga in .

Never before had he ridden so fast ; and toride fast and recklessly—that he had alwaysliked . And , of course , he had never dreamedthat it could be a s fresh and bracing a s it

ADVENTURE S OF NILS 37

was,up in the air ; or that there rose from

the earth such a fine scent of resin and soil .Nor had he ever dreamed what it could belike—to ride so high above the earth . It w a sjust like flying away from sorrow and troubleand annoyances of every kind that c ould bethought of .

AKKA FROM KEBNEKAISE

EVENING

HE big tame goosey-gander that hadfollowed them up in the air

,felt very

proud of being permitted to travel back a nd

forth over the south country with the wild

geese , and crack jokes with the tame birds .

But in spite of his keen delight , he began totire a s the afternoon wore on. He tried tota ke deeper breaths and qui cker wing- strokes ,but even so he remained several goose- lengthsbehind the others .When the wild geese

,who flew last

,noticed

that the tame one couldn ’t keep up withthem,

they b egan to call to the goose whorode in the centre of the angle and led theproc ession : Akka from Kebneka ise ! Akkafrom Kebnek a ise ! What do you want ofme ?

” asked the lea d er “ The white onew ill be

ADVENTURES OF NILS

The white one is ready to collapse .

Tell him that he who has not the strengthto fly with the flock

,can go back home !

cried the leader. She certainly had no ideaof decreasing her speed—but raced on a s before .

Oh ! is that the way the wind blows,

”

thought the goosey-gander . He understoodat once that the wild geese had never intendedto take him along up to Lappland . Theyhad only lured him away from home in sport .

He felt thoroughly exasperated . To thinkthat his strength Should fail him now

,so

he wouldn ’t be able to Show these trampsthat even a tame goose was good for something ! But the most provoking thing of all wasthat he had fallen in with Akka from Kebne

kaise . Tame goose that he was , he had heardabout a leader goose

,named Akka

,who wa s

more than a hundred years old . She had sucha b ig name that the best wild geese in the worldfollowed her. But no one had such a c on

tempt for tame geese a s Akka and her flock ,

and gladly would he have Shown them that

he wa s their equal .He flew Slowly behind the rest, while he


deliberated whether he should turn back or

continue . Finally,the little creature that

he carried on his back said : “ Dear MortenGoosey-gander

,you know well enough that

it is simply impossible for you,who have

never flown,to go with the wild geese all the

way up to Lappland . Won ’t you turn backbefore you kill yourself ?

”

But the farmer ’s lad was about the worstthing the goosey—gander knew anything about

,

and as soon as it had dawned on him that thispuny creature actually believed that hecouldn ’t make the trip

,he decided to stick it

out .

“ If you say another word about th1sI ’ll drop you into the first ditch we ride over !said he

,and at the same time his fury gave

him so much strength that he began to flyalmost as well as any of the others .It isn ’t lik ely that he could have kept this

pace up very long , neither was it necessary ;for

,just then

,the sun sank qui ckly ; and at

sunset the geese flew down,and before the

boy and the goosey-gander knew what hadhappened , they stood on the shores of Vom bLake.

ADVENTURES OF NILS

They probably intend that we Shall spendthe night here

,

” thought the boy , and jumpeddown from the goose ’s back .

He stood on a narrow beach by a fair- Sizedlake . It was ugly to look upon

,because it was

almost entirely covered with an ice- crustthat was blackened and uneven and full ofcracks and holes—as spring ice generally is .The ice was already breaking up . It

was loose and floating and had a broa dbelt of dark , shiny water all around it ; butthere was still enough of it left to spread chilland winter terror over the place .

On the other side of the lake there appearedto be an Open and light country

,but where

the geese had lighted there was a thick pinegrowth . It looked as if the forest of firs andpines had the power to bind the winter toitself. Every

'

vsmere else the ground was bare ;but beneath the sharp pine-branches lay snowthat had been melting and freezing , meltingand freezing

,until it was as hard as ice .

The boy thought he had struck an arcticwilderness

,and he was so miserable that h e

wanted to scream . He wa s


He hadn ’t eaten a b ite the whole d a y. But

where should he find a ny food ? Noth ingeatable grew on either ground or tree in the

month of March .

Yes , where was he to find food , a nd who

would give him shelter,and who would fix

h i s bed , and who would protec t him from the

wi ld beasts ?For now the Sun wa s away and frost c ame

from the lake , and darkness sank down fromheaven, and t error stole forward On the

twilight’ s trai l, and in the forest it began topa tter a nd rustle .

Now the good humour whi ch the boy h a dfelt when he wa s up in the a ir , wa s gone , a ndin h is m i sery he looked around for hi s tra velling c ompanions . He had no one but themto c ling to now .

Then he saw that the goosey-ganderhaving even a wor se t ime of it than he. Hewas lying prostrate on the spot where he h a da ligh ted ; and it looked as i f hewere rea dy tod ie. His nec k la y flat aga inst the ground , h iseyes were closed , and h i s brea thing sounded

like a feeble hi ssing.

44 ADVENTURES OF a

Dear Morten Goosey-Gander,said the

boy, try to get a swallow of water ! Itisn ’t two steps to the lake .

”

But the goosey-gander didn ’t stir.The boy had certainly been cruel to a ll

animals , and to the goosey-gander in timesgone by ; but now he felt that the goosey‘

gander was the only comfort he had left ,and he wa s dreadfully afraid of losing him .

At once the boy began to push and draghim

,to get him into the water

,but the goosey

gander was big and heavy,and it w a s mighty

hard work for the boy ; but at last hesucceeded .

The goosey-gander got in head first . Foran instant he lay motionless in the slime

,but

soon he poked up his head , shook the waterfrom his eyes and sniffed . Then he swam,

proudly,between reeds and seaweed .

The wild geese were in the lake before him .

They had not looked around for either th egoosey-gander or for his rider

,but had made

straight for the water. They had bathedand primped , and now they lay and gulpedha lf-rotten pond-weed and water-clover.


Wh ile the boy ate,the goosey-gander stood

silently beside him. But when he had sw a l

lowed the last bite , he said in a low voice :“It

’

s a fact that we have run across a stuckup goose folk who despise all tame birds . ”

“ Yes,I ’ve observed that

,

” said the boy .

What a triumph it would be for me if Icould follow them clear up to Lappland

,and

Show them that even a tame goose can dothings !

Y-e-e-s, said the boy , and drawled it

out because he didn’t believe the goosey

gander could ever do it ; yet he didn’t wish .

to contradict him. But I don ’t think I canget along all alone on such a journey; saidthe goosey-gander. “ I ’d like to a sk if youcouldn ’t come along and help me ? ” The boy

,

of course , hadn’t expected anything but to

return to his home as soon as possible,and

he was so surprised that he hardly knew whathe should reply .

“ I thought that we wereenemies

,you and I , said he . But this

the goosey-gander seemed to have forgottenentirely . He only remembered that the boyh a d but just sa ved his life.

ADVENTURES OF NILS

I suppose I really ought to go home tofather and mother ,

” said the boy . Oh ! I ’llget you back to them some time in the fall ,said the goosey-gander. I shall not leaveyou unti l I put you down on your own doorstep .

”

The boy thought it might be just as wellfor him if he escaped Showing himself beforehis parents for a while . He was not disinclined to favour the scheme , and was juston the point of saying that he agreed to itwhen they heard a loud rumbling behindthem . It wa s the wild geese who had comeup from the lake

— all at one time—and stoodShaking the water from their backs . Afterthat they arranged themselves in a long row

- with the leader-goose in the centre—andcame toward them .

'

As the white goosey-gander sized up thewild geese , he felt ill at ease . He hadexpected that they should be more like tamegeese , and that he should feel a closer kinshipwith them . They were much smaller thanhe ,and none Of them were white . They were

all gray with a Sprinkling of brown . He

4s ADVENTURES OF NILS

wa s almost a fraid of their eyes . They wereyellow, and shone as if a fire had been kindledback of them. The goosey-gander had alwaysbeen taught that it was most fitting to moveslowly and with a rolling motion , but thesec reatures did not walk— they half ran . He

grew most alarmed , however, when he lookeda t their feet . These were large , and the soleswere torn and ragged- looking . It was ev i

dent that the wild geese never questionedwhat they tramped upon . They took no .

by—paths . They were very neat and well

c ared for in other respects , but one could see bythe ir feet that they were poor wilderness-folk .

The goosey-gander only had time to whisperto the boy:

“ Speak up quickly for yourself,but don

’t tell them who you a re -beforethe geese were upon them .

When the wild geese h a d stepped in frontof them ,

they c urtsied with their necksmany times

,and th e goosey-gander did like

wise many more times . As soon as the

c eremoni es were over, the leader-goose said“ Now I presume we shall hear what kind of

c reatures you are .”


There i sn ’t much to tell a bout m e , saidthe goosey-gander . “ I was born in Skanorlast Spring . In the fall I was sold to HolgerN ilsson of West Vernm inghOg , and ther e Ihave lived ever since .

” “You don ’t seem to

have any pedigree to boas t of ,” said the lea d er

goose . What is it , then , that makes youso high-m inded that you wish to assoc iate withwild geese ? It may be because I want toShow you wild geese that we tame ones mayalso be good for something,

” said the gooseygander “ Yes , it would be well if you couldShow us that ,

” said the leader-goose ,“We

have already observed how much you knowabou t flying ; but you a re more Skilled , perhaps , in other

sports . Poss ibly you a re

strong in a swimm ing match ? ” No, I c an’t

boast that I am ,

” said : the goosey-gander .‘

It seemed toh im that the leader-goose h adalready made up h er m ind to send him home,so he didn ’t much care how he answered .

“ I never swam any farther than ac ross amarl-ditch ,

” he continued .

“ Then I presumeyou

’re a crack Sprinter ,” said the goose .

“ Ihave never seen a tame goose run, nor have

so ADVENTURES OF NILS

I ever done it myself , said the gooseygander ; a nd he made things appear muchworse than they really were .

The b ig white one was sur e now that theleader-goose would sa y that under no circ um sta nc es could they take him along . He

was very much astonished when sh e said :“ You answer questions courageously ; andhe who has courage can become a good travelling companion , even if he is ignorant in thebeginning . What do you sa y to stoppingwith us for a couple of days , until we cansee what you are good for ? ” “ That suitsme ! ” said the goosey-gander—and he wasthoroughly happy .

Thereupon the leader-goose pointed withher bill and said : “ But who is that ye thave with you ? I ’ve never seen anythinglike him before “ That ’s my comrade

,

said the goosey-gander .

“He

’

s been a goosetender all his life . He ’ll be useful all right totake with us on the trip .

“ Yes , he may beall right for a tame goose , answered the wildone .

“What do you call him ?” He has

several names ,” said the goosey-gander

ADVENTURES OF NILS 5 :

hesitatingly,

not knowing what he shouldhit upon in a hurry , for he didn

’

t want toreveal the fact that the boy h a d a humanname . Oh ! his name is Thum b ietot ,

” hesaid at last .

“ Does he belong to the elf

family ? asked the leader-goose .

“ At whattime do you wild geese usually retire ? ” saidthe goosey-gander quickly— trying to evad ethat last question .

“My eyes close of theirown accord about this time .

”

One could easily see that the goose whotalked with the gander w a s very old . Herentire feather outfit was ice-gray , without anydark streaks . The head was larger

,the legs

c oarser , and the feet were more worn thanany of the others . The feathers were stiff ;the shoulders knotty ; the neck thin . Allthis was due to age . It was only upon theeyes that time had h a d no eff ect . Theyshone brighter—as if they were youngerthan any of the others !She turned , very haughtily , toward the

goosey-gander .

“ Understand , Mr . Tame-goosethat I am Akka from Kebnek a ise ! Andthat the goose who fl ies nearest me—to the

sz ADVENTURES OF NILS

r ightm is Iksi from Va ssrj a ure, a nd the one

to the left, is Kaksi from Nuolja ! Understa nd , also , that the second right-hand goosei s Kolmi from Sa rjektj a kko, and the second ,left , is Nelja from Svappavaara ; and behindthem fly Viisi from Ov iksfjallen and Kuusifrom Sjangeli ! And know that these, aswell as the s ix goslings who fly last—three tothe right , and three to the left—are all highmountain geese of the finest breed ! You

must not take us for land-lubbers who strikeup a c hance acquaintance with any and everyone ! And you must not think that we perrnit anyone to share our quarters , that willnot tell us who his ancestors were .

”

When Akka , the leader-goose, talked mthis way, the boy stepped briskly forward .

It had distressed him that the goosey-gander,who had Spoken up so glibly for himself,should give such evasive answers when itconcerned him. I don ’t car e to make a

sec ret of who I am , said he . My name isNils Holgersson . I ’m a farmer ’s son, and,until to-day

,I have been a human being

54 ADVENTURES OE NILS

either for him or you , for we intend to rooston the broken ice out here .

”

She thought , of course , that the gooseygander would be doubtful when he heardthis

,but he never let on .

“ She is prettywise who knows how to choose such a safebed ,

” said he .

You will be answerable for his return to

h is own to-morrow.

”

“ Then I , too, will have to leave you ,said

the goosey—gander . “ I have sworn that Iwould not forsake him .

“ You are free to fly whither you will ,said the leader-goose .

_

With this , she raised her wings a nd flewout over the ice and one after another theWild geese followed her .

The boy was very sa d to think that his tripto Lappland would not come off, and ,

in thebargain , he was afraid of the chilly nightquarters . It will be worse and worse

,

” saidhe .

“ In the first place , we’ll freeze to death

on the ice .

But the gand er was in a good humour .There ’s no danger ,

”said he .

“ Only make


haste,I beg of you , and gather together a s

much grass and litter as you can well carryWhen the boy had his arms full of dried

grass,the goosey-gander grabbed him by the

shirt-band,l ifted him ,

and flew ou t on theice

,where the wild geese were already fast

asleep,with their bills tucked under the ir wings .

“ Now Spread ou t the grass on the ice , sothere ’ll be something to stand on , to keepme from freezing fa st . You help me andI ’ll help you

,

” said the goosey-gander .

This the boy did . And when he hadfinished

,the goosey-gander picked him up

,

once again,by the Shirt-band

,and tucked

h im under his wing .

“ I think you ’ ll lie snugand warm there ,

” said the goosey-gander ashe covered him with h is wing .

The boy was so imbedded in down that hecouldn ’t answer ; and he w a s nice andcomfy . Oh , but he was tired —And inless than two winks he was fast asleep .

NIGHTIT I S a fact that ice is always treacherous

and not to be trusted . In the middle of thenight the loosened ice-c ake on Vomb La ke

ADVENTURES OF NILS

the shore . Now it happened that Mr . SmirrsFox , who lived at this time in Ovid CloisterPa rk—on the east side of the lake—caughta gl impse of that one c orner, while he was outon his night chase . Sm irrs had seen the wildgeese ea rly in the even ing, and h a dn

’t daredto hope that he might get at one of them ,

but now he walked right out on the ic e .

When Sm irre wa s very near to the geese;his claws sc raped the ic e, and the geese awoke,fl a pped their wings , and prepared for flight .

d ar ted forwa rd a s though he ’

d been shotgrabbed a goose by the wing, and ran toward

But this ni ght the wild geesewere not a loneon the ic e , for they had a hum an being amongthem - little a s he wa s . The boy had awa

kenedwhen thegoosey-gander sprea d h iswings .He had tumbled down on the ice and

”

wass itting there, dazed . He hadn ’t grasped thewhys and wherefores of all this confusion , until

who ran over the icewith a goose in hismouth .


In a m inute the boy was a fter that dog , to

try and take the goose away from him . Hemust have heard the goosey-gander c all tohim :

“ Have a care , Thumb ietot ! Have a

car e ! But the boy thought that such a

little runt of a dog was nothing to be afra idof and be rushed ahead .

The wild goose that Sm irre Fox tuggedafter him , heard the clatter as the boy

’

s

wooden Shoes beat against the ice , and She

could hardly believe her ears . “Does that

infant think he c a n take me away from the

fox ? ” she wondered . And in sp ite of her

misery , she began to c ackle right merrily, d eepdown in her windpipe . It was a lmost a s i f

She had laughed .

The first thing he knows , he’ll fall through

a crack in the ice,

” thought she.

But dark as the night was , the boy saw d is

tinc tly all the cracks and holes there were ,and took daring leaps over them. This wa sbecause he had the elf’ s good eyesight now ,

and could see in the dark. He saw both lakeand sh ore just a s clearly a s i f it had been


Sm i rre Fox left the ice where it touched theshore . And just as he was working his wayup to the land-edge

,the boy shouted to him:

Drop that goose,you sneak ! ” Smirrs didn ’t

know who was calling to him,and wasted no

time in looking around , but increased hispace.

The fox made straight for the forest and theboy followed him,

with never a thought of thedanger he was running . On the contrary

,he

thought all the whi le about the contemptuousWa y in which he had been received by thewild geese that evening ; and he made up hismind to let them see that a human being wassomething higher than all else created .

He shouted,again and again , to that dog,

to make him drop his game .

“What kind ofa dog a re you, who can steal a whole goose andnot feel asham ed of yourself ? Drop her atonce ! or you ’ll see what a beating you ’ ll get .

Drop her,I sa y, or I

’ ll tell your master howyou behave !When Sm irre Fox saw that he had been mis

taken for a scary dog , he was so amused that

he came near dropping the goose . Sm irre


wa s a great plunderer who wasn ’t satisfiedw ith only hunting rats and pigeons in thefields

,but he also ventured into the farm

yards to steal chickens and geese . He knewthat he was feared throughout the district ;and anything as idiotic as this he had notheard since he was a baby.

The boy ran so fast that the thick beechtrees appeared to be running past him—backward

,but he caught up with Sm i rre . Finally

,

he was so close to him that he got a hold onhis tail . Now I ’ll take the goose from youanyway

,cried he

,and held on as hard as

ever he could,but he hadn ’t strength enough

to stop Sm irre . The fox dragged him alonguntil the dry foliage whirled around him .

But now it began to dawn on Sm irre how

harmless the thing wa s that pursued him .

He stopped short , put the goose on the ground ,and stood on her with his forepaws

, so shecouldn ’t fly away . He wa s just about to b iteoff her neck—but then he cou ldn ’t resist thedes ire to tease the boy a little . Hurry off

and complain to the master,for now I

’

m

going to bite the goose to death ! said he .


Certa inly the one who wa s surprised whenhe saw what a pointed nose, and heard whata hoarse and angry voice that dog which hewa s pursuing had , —was the boy ! But nowhe was so enrag ed becaus e the fox h a d madefun of him, that he never thought of beingfrightened. He took a firmer hold on thetail

,brac ed himself a gainst a beech trunk ;

a nd just as the fox Opened his jaws over the

goo'

se ’s th roat , he pulled as hard as he could .

‘

Sm i rre was so astonished that he let himself'

be pulled backward a couple of steps- andthe wild goose got a way. She flutteredupward feebly and heavily. One wing wasso badly wounded that she could barely useit . In addition to this, She could not see inthe night darkness of the forest but wa s a s

h elpless as the b lind . Therefore She couldin noway help the boy ; so She groped ! h er waythrough the branches and flew down to the

Then Sm i rremade a dash for the boy. IfI don ’t get the One ,

I shall certainly have theother , sa id he ; and you could tell by h i s


believe it ! said the boy , who wa s in the bestof spirits because he had saved the goose . He

held himself fast by the fox-tail , and swungwith it —to one Side—when the fox tried tocatch him .

There was such a dance in that forest thatthe dry beech- leaves fairly flew ! Sm irre swunground and round , but the tail swung too ;

while the boy kept a tight grip on it,so the

fox couldn ’t grab h im .

The boy was so gay after his success that,

in the beginning , he only laughed and madefun of the fox . But Sm irre was persevering

- as old hunters generally are—and the boybegan to fear that he should be captured in theend .

Then he caught sight of a little,young

beech- tree that had shot up as slender a s arod , that it might soon reach the free airabove the canopy of branches which the oldbeeches Spread over it .

! uick as a flash,he let go of the fox-ta i l

a nd clim bed the beech tree. Sm irre Fox wasso excited that he continued to dance aroundaf ter his tail for a long time.


Don ’t bother with the dance any longer !”

said the boy.

But Sm irre couldn’t endure the humiliat i on of his failur e to get the better of such alittle tot , so he lay down under the tree, thathe might keep a close watch on him.

The boy didn’t have any too good a timeof it where he sa t , astride a frail branch .

The young beech did not , as yet , reach thehigh branch- canopy , so th e boy couldn

’t getover to another tree , and he didn

’t dare tocome down again . He was so cold and numbthat he almost lost his hold around thebranch ; and he wa s dreadfully sleepy ; buthe didn’t dare fall

”

asleep for fear of tum blingdown .

My ! but it was dismal to s it in that way thewhole night through , ou t in the forest ! Henever before understood " the real m eaning

of“ night .” It was just as if the whole world

had become petrified , a nd never could cometo life again .

Then it commenced to dawn. The boy.

was glad “that everything began to look like

i tself once more ; although the chill wa s


even sha rper than it h a d been during the

night .F inally, when the sun got up, it wasn

’tyellow but red . The boy thought it lookedas though it were angry and he wonderedwhat it was angry about . Perhaps it wasbecause the n ight had made it so cold a nd

gloomy on earth , while the sun was away .

The sunbeams came down in great clusters,

to see what the night had been up to. Itcould be seen how everything blushed—as ifthey all had guilty consciences . The cloudsin the skies ; the satiny beech-limbs ; the .

little intertwined branches of the forestcanopy ; the hear- frost that covered the foliage on the ground—everything grew flushedand red . More and more sunbeams camebursting th fough space , and soon the n ight

’ sterrors were driven away , and such a m a r

vellous lot of l iving things came forward .

The black woodpecker, with the red neck ,

began to h ammer with its b ill on thebranch . The squirrel glided from his nestwith a nut, and sa t down on a branchand began to shell it. The sta rling came

64 ADVENTURES OF N ILS

flying with a worm, and the bulfinc h sangin the tree-top.

Then the boy understood that the sun hadsaid to all these tiny creatures : Wake upnow, and come out of your nests ! I

’m here !Now you need be afraid of nothing .

The wild-goose call was heard from the lake ,as they were preparing for flight ; and soonall fourteen geese came flying through theforest . The boy tried to call to them,

butthey fl ew so high that his voice couldn ’treach them. They probably believed thefox had eaten him up ; and they didn

’ttrouble themselves to look for him.

The boy came near crying with regret ; butthe sun stood up there—orange- colour ed andhappy—and put courage into the wholeworld .

“ It isn ’t worth while,Nils Holgers

son , for you to be troubled about anything, aslong as I ’m here

,sa i d the sun .

GOOSE—PLAYMonda y, Ma rc h twenty-first .

EVERYTHING remained unchanged in theforest— about a s long as it takes a goose toeat her breakfast. But just a s the

“

morning

ADVENTURES OF NILS

wa s verging ,on forenoon , a goose came flying ,

all by herself , under the thick tree-canopyShe groped her way

,hesitatingly

,between

the stems and branches , and flew veryslowly . As soon as Sm irre Fox saw her , h eleft his place under the beech tree

,and sneaked

up toward her . The wild goose didn ’t avoidthe fox

,but fl ew very c lose tohim . Sm ir remade

a high jump for her but he missed her ; a ndthe goose went on her way down to the lake .

It wa s not long before another goose cameflying . She took the same route as the firstone ; and flew still lower and slower . She ,too

,flew close to Sm irre Fox

,and he made

such a high spring for her,that his ears

brushed her feet . But She , too , got away fromhim unhurt , and went her way toward thelake , Silent as a Shadow.

A little while passed and then there cameanother wild goose . She flew still slower andlower ; and it seemed even more difficult forher to find her way between the beechbranches . Sm i rre made a powerful spring !He was within a hair ’s breadth of catching her

,

but that goose also managed to save herself.

ADVENTURES OF NILS

Just a f ter she had disappeared , came a

fourth . She flew so slowly, and so badly,

that Sm i rre Fox thought he could catchher without much eff ort

,but he was afraid of

failure now,and concluded to let her fly past

unmolested . She took the same directionthe others had taken; and just as she wascome right above Sm irre , she sank down so

far that he was tempted to jump for her . Hejumped so high that he touched her with histail . But sh e flung herself quickly to Oneside and saved her life .

Before Sm irre got through panting,three

more geese come flying in a row. They flewjust like the rest

,and Sm irre made high

springs for them all,but he did not succeed

in catching any one of them .

After that came five geese ; but these flewbetter than the others . And although itseemed as if they wanted to lur e Sm irre to

jump ,he withstood the temptation . After

quite a long time came one Single goose . Itwas the thirteenth . This one was so old thatshe was gray all over, without a dark speck

$8 ADVENTURES OF NILS

wa s glad that she came back , and dartedafter her with a high leap . But he had beenin too much of a hurry

,and hadn ’t taken the

time to calculate the distance,and he landed

at one side of. the goose . Then there camestill another goose ; then a third ; a fourth ;a fifth ; and so on , until the angle closed inwith the old ice-gray one , and the big whiteone . Th ev all flew low and slow . Just asthey swayed in the VICIIl lty of Sm irre Fox ,

they sank down—k ind of inviting- like—forhim to take them . Sm irre ran after them andmade leaps a couple of fathoms high- buthe couldn ’t manage to get hold of a singleone of themIt was the most awful day that Sm irre Fox

had ever experienced . The wild geese kepton travelling over h is h ead . They cameand went—came and went . Great Splen didgeese

,who had eaten themselves fat on the

German heaths and grain fields,swayed all

day through the woods,and so close to him

that he touched them many times ; yet hewas not permitted to appease his hunger with

a single one of them .

ADVENTURES OF NILS

The winter wa s hardly gone yet , and Sm irrerecalled nights and days when he had beenforced to tramp around in idleness

,with not

so much as a hare to hunt , when the ratshid themselves under the frozen earth ; andwhen the chickens were all shut up . But allthe winter ’s hunger had not been as hard toendure as this day ’s miscalcu lations .

Sm irre was no young fox . He had had thedogs after him many a tim e

,and had heard

the bullets whizz around his ears . He hadlain in hiding

,down in the lair

,while the

dachshunds crept into the crevices and allbut found him . But all the anguish thatSm irr e Fox had been forced to suff er under thishot cha se

,was not to be compared with what he

suffered every time that he missed one of thewild geese .

In the morning,when the play began ,

Sm irre Fox had looked so stunning that thegeese were amazed when they saw him .

Sm irre loved display . His coat w a s a brillia nt red ; his breast white ; h i s nose black :and h is tail wa s as bushy as a plume . Butwhen the evening of this day w a s come ,


Sm irre’

s c oat hung in loose folds . He was

bathed in sweat ; his eyes were without lustre ;his tongue hung far ou t from his gaping jaws ;a nd froth oozed from his mouth .

In the afternoon Sm irre wa s so exhaustedthat he grew del irious . He saw nothingbefore his eyes but flying geese . He madeleaps for sun -Spots which he saw on the

ground and for a poor little butterfly thath a d c ome out of his Chrysalis too soon .

The wild geese flew and flew, unceasingly.

All day long they continued to tormentSm irre. They were not moved to pity becauseSm irre was done up ,

fevered , and out of

h is head . They continued without a let-up ,

a lthough they understood that he hardly saw

them , and that he jumped after their shadows .

When Sm irre Fox sank down on a pile ofdry leaves , weak and powerless and almostready to give up the ghost , they stoppedteasing him .

Now you know, Mr . Fox , what happensto the one who dares to come near Akka of

Kebnek a ise they shouted in his ea r ; andwith tha t they left him in pea c e.

THE WONDERFUL JOURNEYOF NILS

ON THE FARM

Th ursda y, Ma rc h tw enty-fou rth .

UST at that t ime a thing happened inSkane which created a good deal of

d iscussion and even got into. the newspapersbut which many believed to be a fable

,

because they had not been able to explain it .

It was about like this : A lady squirrel hadbeen captured in the h a zelb rush that grewon the shores of Vomb Lake

,and w a s carried

to a farmhouse close by . All the folks on

the farm—both young and old—were delighted with the pretty creature with thebushy tail, the wise , inquisitive eyes , and thenatty little feet . They intended to amusethemselves all summer by watching its nimblemovements ; its ingenious wa y of shelling

7z

72 ADVENTURES OF NIL S

nuts ; and its droll play . They immediatelyput in order an old squirrel cage with a little

green house and a wire-cylinder wheel . Thelittle house

,which had both doors andwindows

the lady squirrel was to use as a dining roomand bedroom . For this reason they placedtherein a bed of leaves

,a bowl of milk and

some nuts . The cylinder wheel,on the other

hand , sh e was to u se as a play-house , wheresh e could run and climb and swing round .

The people believed tha t they had arrangedthings very comfortably for the lady squirrel

,

and they were astonished because sh e didn ’tseem to be contented ; but , instead , she sa t

there,downcast and moody, in a corner of

her room . Every now and again,she would

let out a shrill,agonised cry . She did not

touch the food ; and not once did she swinground on the wheel . “

It’

s probably becauseshe ’s frightened

,

” said the farmer folk .

“ Tomorrow , when sh e feels more at home , she

will both eat and play .

”

Meanwhile , the women folk on the farmwere making preparations for a feast ; a ndjust on that day when the lady squirrel h a d


been captured,they were busy with an

elaborate bake . They had had bad luck withsomething : either the dough wouldn

’t rise ,or else they had been d ilatory, for they wereobliged to work long after dark .

Naturally there was a great deal of excitement and bustle in the kitchen , and probablyno one there took time to think about thesquirrel , or to wonder how sh e w a s gettingon . But there was an old grandma in thehouse who was too aged to take a hand in thebaking ; this she herself understood , but justthe same she did not relish the idea of beingleft ou t of the game . She felt ratherdownhearted ; and for this reason sh e did notgo to bed but seated herself by the sittingroom window and looked out .

They had Opened the kitchen door on

account of th e heat ; and through it a clearray of light streamed out on the yard ; and itbecame so well lighted out there that theold woman could see all the cracks and holesin the plastering on the wall opposite . Shealso saw the squ irrel cage which hung justwhere the light fell clearest . And she notic ed

74 ADVENTURES or NILS

how the squirrel ran from her room to thewheel , and from the wheel to her room

,

all night long, without stopping an instant .

She thought it was a strange sort of unr estthat had come over the animal ; but she

believed , of course , that the strong light kepther awake .

Between the cow-house and the stablethere was a broad , handsome carriage-gate ;this too came within the light- radius . Asthe night wore on , the old grandma saw atiny creature , no bigger than a hand

’s breadth,

cautiously steal his way through the gate .

He was dressed in leather breeches andwooden shoes like any other working man .

The old grandma knew at once that it wasthe elf

,and sh e was not the least bit

frightened . She had always heard that theelf kept himself somewhere about the place

,

although she had never seen him before ;and an elf , to be sure , brought good luckwherever he appeared .

As soon as the elf came into the stone

paved yard ,he ran right up to the squirrel

cage . And since it hung so high that he


The old woman , with her far-sighted eyes ,saw him distinctly ; and sh e also saw that hecarried something in his hands ; but what itwas sh e couldn ’t imagine . The thing heca rried in his left hand he laid down on thepavement ; but that which he held in hisright hand he took with h im to the cage .

He kicked so hard with his wooden shoes onthe little window that the glass was broken .

He poked in the thing which he held in hishand to the lady squirrel . Then he sliddown again , and took up that which he hadlaid upon the ground , and climbed up to thecage with that also . The next instant heran off again with such haste that the old

woman could hardly follow him with her eyes .

But now it was the old grandma who couldno longer s it still in the cottage ; but who ,very slowly

,went out to the back yard and

stationed herself in the shadow of the pumpto await the elf

’s return . And there ”wasone other who had also seen him and hadbecome curious . This was the house cat .

He crept along slyly and stopped close to the

wa ll, just two steps away from the stream of


light. They both stood and waited , long a ndpatiently , on that chilly March night

,and

th e old woman was just beginning to thinkabout going in again , when she hea rd a clatteron the pavement , and saw that the little miteof an elf came trotting along once more ,carrying a burden in each hand , a s he h a ddone before . That which he bore squealeda nd squirmed . And now a light dawned on

the old grandma . She understood that theelf had hurried down to the hazel-groveand brought back the lady squirrel ’s babies ;a nd that he was carrying them to her so theyshouldn

’t starve to death .

The old grandma stood very still,so a s not

to disturb them ; and it did not look as if theelf had noticed her. He was just going tolay one of the babies on the ground so that hecould swing himself up to the cage with theother one—when he saw the house cat ’sgreen eyes glisten close beside him . He stoodthere, bewildered , with a young one in eachhand .

He turned around and looked in all d irections ; then he became aware of the old

7s ADVENTURES OF NILS

grandma’ s presence . Then he did not hes i-Z

tate long ; but walked forward , stretched hisa rms as high as he could reach ,

for her to takeone of the baby squirrels.The old grandma did not wish to prove

herself unworthy of the confidence , so she

bent down and took the baby squirrel, andstood ther

‘

e and held it until the boy h a dswung himself up to the cage with the otherone . Then he came back for the one he hadentrusted to her care .The next morning, when the farm folk had

gathered together for breakfast, it was impossible for the old wom an to refrain fromtelling them of what she had seen the nightbefore . They all laughed at her, of course,a nd said that she had been only dreaming.

There were no baby squirrels this ea rly in the

But sh e was sure of her ground , and beggedthem to take a look into the squirrel cageand this they did . And there lay on the bedof leaves , four tiny half-naked , half-blindb a by squ irrels, Who were at least a couple of


goosey—gander,who carried on his back a tiny

lad dressed in yellow leather breeches,green

vest,and a white woollen toboggan hood .

They were now very near the Eastern sea ;

and on the meadow where the geese hadalighted the soil was sandy

,as it usually is

on the sea- coast . It looked as if,formerly

,

there had been flying sand in this vicinitywhich had to be held down ; for in severaldirections large

,planted pine-woods could

b e seen .

When the wild geese h a d been feeding aNh ile

,several children came along

,and

walked on the edge of the meadow. Thegoose who was on guard at once raised herself into the air with noisy wing- strokes , sothe whole flock should hear that there wasdanger on foot . All the wild geese flewupward ; but the white one trotted along on

the ground unconcerned . When he saw theothers fly he raised his head and called a fterthem : You needn’t fly away from _ these !They are only a couple of children ! ”

The little creature who had been riding on

h is back , sat down upon a knoll on the


outskirts of the wood and picked a pine-cone inpieces , that he might get at the seed s . Thechildren were so close to him that he d id notdare to run across the meadow to the whiteone . He concealed himself under a big

,dry

thistleleaf,and at the same time gave a

warning- cry . But the white one had evid ently made up his mind not to let himselfbe sca red . He walked along on the groundall the while ; and not once did he look to see

in what direction they were going .

Meanwhile,they turned from the path

,

walked across the field,getting nearer and

nearer to the goosey-gander . When he finallyd id look up, they were right upon him . Hewas so dum founded , and became so confused ,

he forgot that he could fly,and tried to get

out of their reach by “ running . But thechildren followed , chasing him into a ditch ,

a nd there they caught him . The larger of thetwo stuck him under hi s arm and carried himoff .

When the boy , who lay under the thistleleaf saw this , he sprang up as i f he wanted tota ke the goosey—gander away from them ;

8 2 ADVENTURES'

OF NILS

then he must have remembered how littleand powerless he wa s , for he threw himselfon the knoll and beat upon the ground withhis clenched fists

‘

The godsey-gander cried with all his mightfor help : Thum b ietot

,come and help me !

Oh, Thumb ietot , come and help me !

” Theboy began to laugh in the midst of his distress. Oh , yes ! I

’m just the right one tohelp anybody

,I am ! ” said he .

Anyw ay he got up and followed the gooseygander. I can ’t help him

,

” said he,

“ butI shall at least find out where they are takinghim.

”

The chi ldren had a good start ; but the boyhad no difficulty in keeping them withinSight until they came to a hollow where abrook gushed forth . But here he was obligedto run alongside of it for some little time ,before he could find a place narrow enoughfor him to jump over.When he came up from the hollow the

children had disappeared . He could see theirfootprints on a narrow path which led to the

84. ADVENTURES OF NILS

there . By this time he ’s probably butchered ,

” he said to himself. But he did notseem to be satisfied with anything less thanproof positive , and with renewed couragehe ran forward . He met no one in the a lléeand that was well , for such as he are generallyafraid of being seen by human beings .

The mansion which he came to was asplendid , old - time structure with four greatwings which inclosed a courtyard . On theeast wing , there was a high arch leading intothe courtyard . This far the boy ran without

“

hesitation,but when he got there he stopped .

He dared not venture farther , but stood stilla nd pondered what he should do now.

There he stood , with his finger on his nose ,thinking

,when he heard footsteps behind

him ; and as he turned around he saw a wholecompany march up the a llée . In haste hestole behind a water-barrel which stood nearthe arch , and hid himself .Those who came up were some twenty

young men from a folk-high- school,out on a

pedestrian tour . They were accompaniedby one of the instructors . When they were

ADVENTURES or NILS 3 5

come a s far as the arch , the teacher requestedthem to wait there a moment , while he wentin and asked if they might see the old castle

of Vittskovle .

The newcomers were warm and tired ; asif they had been on a long tramp . One ofthem was so thirsty that he went over to thewater-barrel and stooped down to drink . He

had a tin box such as botanists use hanging about his neck . He evidently thoughtthat this was in his way

,for he threw it down

on the ground . With this , the lid flew open,

and one could see that there were a few springflowers in it .The botanist ’s box dropped just in front of

the boy ; and he must have thought that herewas his opportunity to get into the castle andfind out what had become of the gooseygander. He smuggled himself quickly intothe box and concealed himself as well a s hecould under the anemones and colts- foot .

He was hardly hidden before the young manpicked the box up

,hung it around his neck

,

and slammed down the cover.Then the teacher came back

,and said


that they h ad been given permission to enterthe castle: At first he conducted them nofarther than the courtyard . There he stoppedand began to talk to them about this ancientstructure .

He called their attention to the first humanbe ings who had inhabited this country , andwh o had been obliged to live in mountaingrottoes and earth- caves ; in the dens of wildbeasts , and in the brushwood ; and that a verylong

.

period had elapsed before they learnedto build themselves huts from the trunks of

trees . And afterward how long had theynot been forced to labour and struggle , beforethey had advanced from the log cabin , withits single room , to th e build ing

‘

of a castlewith a

'

hundred rooms— like Vittsk'

ovle'

!

It was about three hundred and fifty yea rsago 1 that the rich and powerful built suchcastles for themselves , he said . It was veryevident that Vittskovle had been

’

erected at

a t im e'

wh en wars and frobb ers made it unsafein Skane . All around the castle was a deeptrench filled with water ; a nd across this there

h a d been a bridge m bygon e days that could


detail ; a nd the boy who lay shut up in thebox was pretty impatient ; but he must havelain very still , for the owner of the boxhadn ’t the least suspicion tha t he w a s carryinghim along .

Finally the company went into the castle .

But if the boy had hoped for cha nce to crawlout of that box ,

he w a s deceived ; for thestudent carried it upon him all the while ,and the boy was obliged to accompany himthrough all the rooms . It w a s a tedioustramp . The teacher stopped every otherminute to explain and instruct .

In one room he found a n old fireplace,and

before th is he stopped to talk about the

diff erent kinds of fireplaces that had beenused in the cour se of time . The first indoorsfireplace had been a b ig, flat stone on thefloor of the hut , with an opening in the roofwhich let in both wind and rain . The nexthad been a big stone hearth with no openingin the roof. This must have made the hutvery warm , but it also filled it with sootand smoke . When Vittskovle was built ,the people had advanced far enough to open


the fireplace , which , at that time , had a widechimney for the smoke ; but it also tookmost of the warmth up in the air with it .

If that boy had ever in his life been crossand impatient , he w a s given a good lessonin patience that day . It must have been awhole hour now that he had lain perfectlystill .In the next room they came to , the teacher

stopped before an old - time bed with its highcanopy and rich curtains . Immediately hebegan to talk about the beds and bed placesof olden days .

The teacher didn't hurry himself ; but thenhe did not know, of cour se , that a poor littlecreature lay shut up in a botanist ’s box

,and

only waited for him to get through . Whenthey came to a room with g ilded leather hangings , he talked to them about how the peoplehad dressed their walls and ceilings eversince the beginning of time . And when hecame to an old family portrait he told themall about the d ifl erent changes ln dress . Andin the banquet halls he described ancientcustom s of celebrating weddings and funerals .

90 ADVENTURES OF N [ LS

Thereupon , the tea cher talked a littleabout the excellent men and women who h a dlived in the c astle ; about the old Bra h es

,

and the old Ba rnekows ; of Christian Barnekow, who had given his horse to the king t ohelp him escape ; of Margareta Aschebergwho had been married to Kjell Barnekowand who, when a widow, had managed theestates and the whole district for fifty-threeyears ; of banker Hageman , a farmer

’s son

from Vittskovle , who had grown so rich thathe had bought the ent ire estate ; about theStjernsvards , who had given the people of

Skane better ploughs , which enabled them todiscard the ridiculou s old wooden ploughsthat three oxen were hardly able to drag .

During all this , the boy lay still . If he hadever been mischievous and shut the cellardoor on his father or mother, he understoodnow how they had felt ; for it was hours andhours before that teacher got through .

At last the teacher went out into the c ohrtyard again . And there he discoursed uponth e tireless labour of mankind to procure forthems elves tools and weapons clothes a nd


But he got no further , for now the boydared not stay in the box any longer , butwith one bound he stood on the floor

,and

out he rushed . The maid s hardly had timeto see what it was that ran ,

bu t they hurriedafter it , nevertheless .

The teacher still stood and talked when hewas interrupted by shrill cries .

“ Catch him,

catch h i m !” shrieked those who had come

from the kitchen ; and all the young menraced after the boy , who glided away fasterthan a rat . They tried to intercept him atthe gate , but it was not so easy to get a holdon such a little creature , so , luckily , he gotout in the open .

The boy did not dare to run down towardthe open a llée, but turned in another direction .

He rushed through the garden into the backyard . All the while the people raced afterhim

,shrieking and laughing . The poor little

thing ran as hard as ever he could to get ou tof the i r way ; but still it looked as though thepeople would catch up with him .

As he rushed past a labourer ’s cottage , heh eard a goose cackle , and saw a white down


lying on the doorstep . There , at last , wasthe goosey-gander ! He had been on thewrong track before . He thought no more ofhousemaids and men , who were houndinghim

,but climbed up the steps—and into the

hallway . Farther he couldn ’t come , for thedoor was locked . He heard how the goosey

gander cried and moaned inside , but hecouldn ’t get the door open . The hunters thatwere pursuing him came nearer and nearer ,and , in the room , the goosey-gander cried moreand more pitifully . In this direst of needsthe boy finally plucked up courage andpounded on the door with all his might .

A child opened it,and the boy looked into

the room . In the middle of the floor sa t awoman who held the goosey-gander tightto clip his quill- feathers .

_

It was her childrenwho had found him ,

and sh e didn ’t want todo him any harm . It was her intention tolet him in among her own geese

,had she

only succeeded in clipping his wings so hecouldn ’t fly away . But a worse fate couldhardly have happened to the goosey-gander ,and he shrieked and moaned with all his might .


And a lucky thing it was that the womanhadn ’t started the clipping sooner . Nowonly two quills had fallen under the shearswhen the door was opened— and the boystood on the door- Sill . But a creature likethat the woman had never seen before . Shecouldn ’t believe anything else but that itwa s Goa-nisse himself ; and in her terror sh edropped the shears

,clasped her hands—and

forgot to hold on to the goosey-gander .

As soon as he felt himself freed , he rantoward the door . He didn ’t give himself timeto stop ; but , as he ran past him , he grabbedthe boy by the neck-band and carried himalong with him . On the st00p he sprea d h iswings and flew up in the air ; at the same timehe made a graceful sweep with his neck andseated the boy on his smooth , downy back .

And off they fl ew—while a ll Vittskovlestood and stared after them .

IN OVID CLO ISTE R PARK

ALL that day,when the wild geese played

with the fox,the boy lay and slept in a

deserted squirrel nest . When he awoke,

gf) ADVENTURES or NILS

impos ing with its great castle ; its well plannedcourt surrounded by low walls and pavilions ;its fin e old -time garden with covered arbours ,streams and fountains ; its wonderful trees ,trimmed bushes

,and its evenly mown lawns

with their beds of beautiful Spring flowers .

When the wild geese rode over the estatein the early morning hour there was no humanbeing about . When they had carefullyassured themselves of this , they lowered themselves toward the dog kennel , and shouted :What kind of a little hut is this ? What kind

of a little hut is this ?Instantly the dog came ou t of his kennel

furiously angry— and barked at the air .Do you call this a hut , you tramps ! Can

’tyou see that this is a great stone castle ? Can ’tyou see what fine terraces , and what a lot ofpretty walls and windows and great doors ithas , bow,

wow, wow , wow ? Don’t you see

the grounds , can’t you see the garden , can

’t

you see the conservatories , can’t you see the

marble statues ? You call this a hut , do you ?Do huts have parks with beech-groves andhazel-bushes and trail ing vines and oa k trees


and firs and hunting-grounds filled with game,wow ,

wow,wow ? Do you call this a hut ?

Have you seen huts with so many outhousesaround them that they look like a wholeVillage ? You must know of a lot of huts thathave their own church and their own parsomage ; and that rule over the district and thepeasant homes and the neighbouring farms a ndbarracks

,wow

,wow ,

wow ? Do you call thisa hut ? To this hut belong the richest possess ions in Skane , you beggars ! You can

’t see

a bit of land , from where you hang in theclouds , that does not obey commands fromthis hut , wow , wow, wow !All this the dog managed to cry ou t in one

breath ; and the wild geese flew back andforth over the estate

,and listened to him

until he was winded . But then they cried :“What are you so mad about ? We didn ’task about the castle ; we only wanted to

know about your kennel,stupid ! ”

When the boy heard this joke , he laughed ;then a thought stole in on him which at oncemade him serious .

“ Think how many of

these amusing things you would hear , if you

ADVENTURES OF NILS

c ould go with the wild geese through thewhole country, all the way up to Lappla ndsaid he to himself . “And just now

,when you

a re in such a bad fix,a trip like that wou ld b e

the best thing you could hit upon .

The wild geese travelled to one of the widefields , east of the estate , to eat grass-roots ,a nd they kept th is up for hours . In themeantime , the boy wandered in the greatpark which bordered the field . He hunted upa beec h-nut grove and began to look up

.

at thebushes

,to see if a nut from la st fall still hung

there . But again and again the thought of

the trip came over him , a s he walked in thepark . He pictured to himself what a finetime he would have if he went with the wildgeese . To freeze and starve : that he believedhe should have to do often enough : but as arecompense , he would escape both work andstudy.

As he walked there , the old gray leadergoose came up to him , and asked if h e hadfound anything eatable . No , tha t he hadn

’t,he replied

,and then sh e tried to help him .

She c ouldn’t find an y nuts either , but she

I OO ADVENTURES OF NILS

play in the water near the ice-edge until sun

set , when they immediately arranged themselves for sleep .

This is just the life that suits me,thought

the boy when he crept in under the gander ’swing .

“ But to-morrow,I suppose I ’ll be

sent home .

”

Before he fell asleep,he lay and thought

that if he might go along with the wild geese,

he would escape all scold ings because he waslazy . Then he could cut loose every d a y,

andhis only worry would be to get something toea t . But he needed so little nowadays ; andthere would always be a way to get that .

So he pictured the whole scene to himself ;what he Should see , and all the adventuresthat he would be in on . Yes , it would besomething d ifferent from the wear and tear athome .

“ If I could only go with the wild

geese 011 their travels , I shouldn’t grieve b e

cause I ’d been transformed ,” thought the boy .

He wasn ’t afraid of anything—except being

s ent nome ; but not even on Wednesday did

the geese say anything to him about going .

Th at day passed in the same way as Tuesday ;


and the boy grew more and more contentedwith the outdoor life . He thought that hehad the lovely Ovid Cloister park—which wasas large as a forest— all to himself ; and hewasn ’t anxious to go back to the stuffy cabinand the little patch of ground there at home .

On Wednesday he believed that the wildgeese thought of keeping him with them ; buton Thursday he lost hope again ,

Thursday began just like the other days ;the geese fed on the broad meadows , and theboy hunted for food in the park . After awhile Akka came to him

,and asked if he had

found anything to eat No,he had not ; and

then she looked up a dry caraway herb , thathad kept all its tiny seeds intact .

When the boy had eaten,Akka said that

she thought he ran around in the park altogether too recklessly . She wondered if heknew how many enemies he had to guardagainst—h e , who was so little . No

,he didn

’

tknow anything at all about that . Then Akkabegan to enumerate them for him .

Whenever he walked in the park,she said

,

that he must look out for the fox a nd the

roz ADVENTURES OF NILS

marten ; when he came to the Shores of thelake , he m ust r th ink 'of the otters ; a s he sa t onthe stone wall , h e

' must not forget theweasels , who could creep through the smallest r holes ; and if he wished to lie down andsleep on a pile of leaves , he must first findout if the adders were not sleeping the1rwinter sleep in the same pile . As soon as hecame out in the open fields , he should keep aneye out for hawks and buzzards ; for eaglesand falcons that soared in the air . In thebramble-bush he could be captured by theSparrow-hawk ; magpies and crows were foundeverywhere and in these he mustn ’t placeany too much confidence . As soon as it wasdusk

,he must keep h is ears open and listen

for the big ow ls,who flew along with such

soundless wing- strokes that they c ould comeright up to him before he was aware of the1rpresence .

When the boy heard that th ere were so

many who were after his l ife , he thought thatit would be S 1mply impossible for him to escape.

He was not particularly afraid to die , but he

d idn ’t like the idea of being eaten up , so he


This was just the sort of answer the boywould not have let go unpunished

,in the days

when he was Nils the goose boy. But now hewas only fearful lest the wild geese

, too, h a d

found out ho V wicked he could be . He hadbeen so anxious for fear he wouldn ’t be permitted to stay with the wild geese

,that he hadn ’t

dared to get into the least little misch ief sincehe joined their company . It was true thathe didn ’t have the power to do much harmnow, but , little as he was , he could haved estroyed many b irds ’nests

,and crushed many

eggs , if he’d been a mind to . Now he h a d

been good . He hadn ’t pulled a feather froma goose-wing , or given anyone a rude answer ;and every morning when he called upon Akkahe had always removed his cap and bowed .

All day Thursday he thought it w a s surelyon ac count of his wickedness that the wildgeese did not care to take him along up toLappland . And in the evening , when heheard that S irle Squ i rrel ’s wife had beenstolen

,and her children were starving to death ,

he made up h is mind to help them . And we

have already been told how well he succeed ed .

ADVENTURES OF NILS

When the boy came into the park on F riday,h e heard the bulfinc hes sing in every bush ,

of how S irle Squirrel ’s wife had been carriedaway from her children by cruel robbers , andhow Nils , the goose boy, had risked his lifeamong human beings , and taken the littlesquirrel children to her .

“And who is so honoured in Ovid Cloisterpark now

,as Thumb ietot sang the bulfinc h ;

he , whom all feared when he was Nils thegoose boy ? S irle Squirrel will give him nutsthe poor hares are going to play with h im ,

the small wild animals will carry him on theirbacks , and fly away with him when Sm irreFox approaches . The titmice are going towarn him against the hawk , and the finchesa nd larks will Sing of his valour .

The boy was absolutely certain that bothAkka and the wild geese had heard all this .

But still Friday passed and not one word didthey sa y about his remaining with them .

Until Saturday the wild geese fed in the fieldsaround Ovid , undisturbed by Sm ir re Fox .

But on Sa turday morning , when they cameout in the meadows , he lay in wa it for them .

ADVENTUR ES OF NILS

a nd chased them from one field to another,

and they were not allowed to eat in peace .

When Akka understood that he didn ’t intendto leave them in peace , sh e came to a decision

quickly, raised herself into the air and flewwith her flock several miles away, over Fa rs

’

plains and Linderod sosen’

s hills . Th ey didnot stop before they had arrived in the d istr i c t of Vittskovle .

But at Vittskovle the“

goosey-gander wasstolen

,and how it happened has a lrea dv

been related . If the boy hadn ’t used all h ispowers to help him , he would never againhave been foundOn Saturday evening , as the boy came

back to Vomb Lake with the goosey-gander,

he thought that h e had done a good day’

s

work ; and he speculated a good deal on whatAkka and the wild geese would sa y to him .

The wild geese were not at all sparing in theirpraises

,but they did not sa y the word he was

longing to hear .

Then Sunday came again . A whole weekhad gone by Since the boy had been

bewitched , and he was still just as little .

ADVENTURES OF NILS

jumped from the bush . He had seen Akka,

a nd all the wild geese , coming toward himin a long row . They walked so uncommonlyslow and d ign ified - like

,that the boy imme

d ia tely understood that now he Should learn'

wha t they intended to do with h im .

1

When they stopped at last,Akka said

You m a y well ha ve reason to wonder at me ,Thu mb ietot

,who have not said thanks to

you for sa ving me from Sm irre Fox . But Iam one of those who would rather give thanksby deeds than words . I have sent word tothe elf that bewitched you . At first hedidn ’t wa nt to hear anything about cur ingyou ; but I ha ve sent message upon messageto him , a nd told him how well vou have conducted yourself among us . He greets you ,

and says , that as soon as you turn back home ,you sh a ll b e human again .

”

But think of it ! Just as happy as the boy .

had been when the wild geese began to Speak ,just that miserable was he when they hadfinished . He didn ’t say a word

,but turned

away and wept .

What in all the world is this ? said Akka.


It looks as though you had expected moreof me than I have off ered you .

”

But the boy was thinking of the care- freedays and the banter ; a nd of adventure a nd

freedom and travel,high above the earth

,

that he Should miss , a nd he actua lly bawledw i th grief . “ I don ’t want to be human ,

said he .

“ I want to go with you to La ppland .

“ I ’ll tell you something ,” said Akka .

“ Thatelf is very touchy, and I

’m afraid that if youdo not accept his off er now , it will be difficultfor you to coax him another time .

”

It was a strange thing about that boy—aslong as he had lived , he h a d never cared foranyone . He h a d not cared for his father ormother ; not for the school teacher ; not forhis schoolmates ; nor for the boys in the neighbou rhood . All that they -had wished to haveh im do—whether it had been work or playne had only thought tiresome . Thereforethere was no onewhom hemissed or longed for .

The only ones that he had come anywherenear agreeing with , were Osa , the goose girl ,and little Mats—a couple of children who hadtended geese in the fields , like himself . But

n o ADVENTURES OF NILS

he didn’t care particularly for them either .

No,far from it ! “ I don ’t want to be human

,

”

bawled the boy . I want to go with you toLappland . That ’s why I ’ve been good for awhole week ! ” I don ’t want to forbid youto come along with us as far as you like ,

”

said Akka ,“ but think first if you wouldn

’trather go home again . A day may comewhen you will regret this .

”

“No,

” said the boy, “ that ’s nothing to

egret . I have never been as well off as herewith you .

“Well then , let it be as you wish , saidAkka .

“ Thanks ! ” said the boy, and he felt sohappy that he had to cry for very joy—justa s he had c ried before from sorrow.

ADVENTURES OF NILS

In the old war times , the people were just a sglad that they could shut themselves up in a

strong and massive house like this,as one is

nowadays to be able to creep into furs in asnapping cold winter . But when the tuneof peace came , they did not care to live in thedark and cold stone halls of the old castleany longer . They have long since desertedthe big Glimminge castle

,and moved into

dwelling places where the light and air can

penetrate .

At the time when Nils Holgersson wandered around with the wild geese , there wereno hum an beings in Glimminge castle ; butfor all that , it was not without inhabitants .

Every summer there lived a stork couple ina large nest on the roof . In a nest in theattic lived a pair of gray owls ; in the secret

passages hung bats ; in the kitchen ovenlived an old cat ; and down in the cellar therewere hundreds of old black rats .

Rats are not held in very high esteem byother animals ; but the black rats at Glimmingecastle were an exception . They were alwaysm entioned with respect , bec ause they had

ADVENTURES OF NILS 1 1 3

shown great valour in battle with their enemies ; and much endurance under the grea tmisfortunes which had befallen their kind .

They nominally belonged to a rat-folk who,

at one time,had been very numerous and

powerful , but who were now dying out .

During a long period of time,the black rats

owned Skane and the whole country . Theywere found in every cellar ; in every attic ;in larders and cowhouses and barns ; inbreweries and flour -mills ; in churches andcastles ; in every man-constructed building .

But now they were banished from all thisa nd were almost exterminated . Only in one

a nd another old and secluded pla ce couldone run across a few of them ; a nd nowherewere they to be found in such large numbersa s in Glimminge castle .

’When an animal folk die out , it is generallythe human kind who a re the c ause of it ;but that was not the case in this instance .

The people had certainly struggled with theblack rats , but they had not been able to dothem any harm worth mention ing . Thosewho had conquered them were a n animal


folk of their own kind , who were called grayrats .

These gray rats had not lived in the landSince time immemorial

,like the black rats

,

but descended from a couple of poor immigrants who landed in Malmo from a Libyanl Op about a hundr ed years ago . Theywere homeless , starved- out wretches whostuck close to the harbour , swam among thepiles under the bridges

,and ate refuse that

was thrown in the water They never ventu red into the city, which was owned bythe black rats .

But gradually, as the gray rats increasedin number they grew bolder . At first theymoved over to some waste places and cond em ned old houses which the black rats hadabandoned . They hunted their food in gutters and dirt heaps , and made the most of allthe rubbish that the black rats did not deignto take ca re of . They were hardy , contentedand fearless ; and within a few years they hadbecome so powerful that they undertook to .

drive the black rats out of Malmo. Theytook from them attics , cella rs and store


rats had kept faithful watch,and had fought

with the utmost contempt for death , and ,

thanks to the fine old house , they had alwaysc onquered .

It will have to be acknowledged that aslong as the black rats were in power they,

were as much shunned by all other livingcreatures as the gray rats are in our dayand for just ca use ; they had thrown themselves upon poor

,fettered prisoners , and

tortured them ; they had ravished the dead ;they had stolen the last turnip from the cellarsof the poor ; bitten off the feet of sleeping

geese ; robbed eggs and chicks from the hens ;and committed a thousand depredations .

But since they had come to grief , all thisseemed to have been forgotten ; and no one

could help but marvel at the last of a race th athad held ou t so long aga inst its enemies .

The gray rats that lived in the cour tyard atGlimminge and in the vicinity

,kept up a

continuous warfare and tried to watch ou t

for every possible chance to capture the castleOne would fancy that they should haveallowed the little company of black rats to

ADVENTURES OF NILS

occupy Glimminge castle in peace , since theythemselves had acquired all the rest of thecountry ; bu t you may be sure this thoughtnever occurred to them . They were wontto sa y that it was a point of honour with themto conquer the black rats at some time or

other . But those who were acquainted withthe gray rats must have known that it wasbecause the human kind used Glimmingecastle a s a grain storehouse that the gray onescould not rest before they had taken possessionof the place .

THE STORK

Monda y, Ma rch twenty-eigh th .

EARLY one morning the wild geese who stoodand slept on the ice in Vomb Lake were awakened by long calls from the air .

“Tr irop ,

Tr irop !” it sounded

,

“ Tr i a nu t,the crane

,

sends greetings to Akka , the wild goose , and

h er flock . To-morrow will be the day of the

great crane da nce on Ku lla b erg .

”

Akka raised her head and answered atonce : “ Greetings a nd th anks ! Greetings andthanks

1 1 8 ADVENTURES OF NILS

With that , the cranes flew farther ; a n d thewild geese heard them for a long whilewhere they travelled a nd called out over everyfield , and every wooded hill : Tr i a nut sendsgreetings . To-morrow will be the day of thegreat crane dance on Kulla b erg .

”

The wild geese were very happy over thisinvitation .

“ You ’re in luck ,

” they said tothe white goosey-ga nder ,

“ to be permitted toattend the great crane dance on Ku lla berg !Is it then so remarkable to see cranesdance ? ” asked the goosey-gander .

“ It issomething that you have never even dreamedabout ! ” replied the wild geese .

“ Now we must think out what we shall dowith Thum b ietot to-morrow—so that no harmcan come to him

,while we run over to Kulla

berg,

” said Akka .

“Thum b ietot shall not

be left alone ! ” said the goosey-gander . Ifthe cranes won ’t let him see their dance , thenI ’ll stay with him .

No human being has ever been permittedto attend the Animals ’ Congress , atKulla b erg ,

said Akka,

“ and I Sh ouldn ’t dare to takeThumb ietot along . But we ’ll discuss this


passed,still he hadn ’t come round to it . It

may sound remarkable—but the boy hadactually acquired a kind of respect for theold leader-goose . He felt that it was not easyto pit his will against hers .

On one side of the swampy meadow ,where

th e wild geese fed , there was a broa d stonehedge . Toward even ing when the boy finallyra1sed his head , to speak to Akka, his glancehappened to rest on this hedge He uttered alittle cry of surprise , and all the wild geeseinstantly looked up , and stared in the samedirection . At first , both the geese and theboy thought that all the round , gray stonesin the hedge had acquired legs

,and were

starting on a run ; but soon they saw that itwas a company of rats who ran over it . Theymoved very rapidly ,

_

and ran forward,

tightly packed,line upon line , and were so

numerous that , for some time , they coveredthe entire stone hedge .

The boy had been afraid of rats , even whenhe was a big , strong human being . Thenwhat must his feelings be now, when he wasso tiny that two or three of them could


overpower him ? One shudder after anothertravelled down his spinal column as he stoodand stared at them .

But strangely enough,the wild geese seemed

to feel the same aversion toward the rats thathe did . They did not speak to them ; andwhen they were gone

,they shook themselves

as if their feathers had been mud-bespattered .

“ Such a lot of gray rats abroad ! ” said Ik s ifrom Va ss ija u re .

“ That ’s not a good omen .

”

The boy intended to take advantage of thisOpportunity to s a y to Akka that he thoughtsh e ought to let him go with them to Kullaberg

,but he was prevented anew

,for all of a

sudden a big bird came down in the midst ofthe geese .

One could believe,when one looked at this

bird , that he had borrowed body , neck andhead from a little white goose . But in addition to this , he had procured for himself largeblack wings

,long red legs

,and a thick bill ,

which was too large for the little head ,and

weighed it down until it gave him a sa d andworried look .

Akka at once straightened ou t the folds of

ADVENTURES OF NILS

her wings , and curtsied many times as Sheapproached the stork . She wasn ’t Speciallysurprised to see him in Skane so early in thespring

,because Sh e knew that the male storks

are in the habit Of coming over in good seasonto take a look at the nest

,and see that it

hasn ’t been damaged during the winter,

before the female storks go to the trouble Offlying over the East sea . But she wonderedvery much what it might signify that hesought her ou t , Since storks prefer to associatewith members of their own family .

“ I can hardly believe that there is anythingwrong with your house

,Herr E rm enr i c h ,

said Akka .

It was apparent now that it is true whatthey sa y : a stork can seldom open his billwithout complaining . But what made thething he said sound even more doleful wasthat it was difficult for him to Speak ou t . Hestood for a long time and only clattered withhis bill afterward he Spoke in a hoarse andfeeble Vo1ce . He complained about every !

thing : the nest -which was situated at‘

thevery top of the roof-tree at Glimminge castle


rats who , for years , had defended the castle .

But this night Glimminge ca stle will fa ll intothe gray rats ’ power

,

” sighed the stork .

“And why just this night , Herr Ermenrich ? ” asked Akka .

“Well , because nearly all the black rats wentover to Kulla b erg last n ight ,

” said the stork ,

“ since they had counted on all the rest of theanimals also hurrying there . But you see

that the gray rats have stayed at home ; andnow they are mustering to storm the castleto-night , when it will be defended by onlya few old creatures who are too feeble togo over to Kulla b erg . They ’ll probablyaccomplish their purpose . But I have livedhere in harmony with the black rats for somany years

,that it does not please me to

live in a place inhabited by their enemies .

”

Akka understood now that the stork hadbecome SO enraged over the gray rats m ode ofaction

,that he had sought her out as an excuse

to complain about them . But after the manner of storks , he certainly had done nothingto avert the disaster .

“ Have you sent word

to the black r ats , Herr E rm enr i c h ? she


asked . NO,

replied the stork,that

wouldn ’t be of a ny use . Before they can getback

,the castle w ill be taken .

“You

mustn ’t be so sure of that , Herr E rm enr ic h ,

"

said Akka .

“ I know an old w ild goose,I do

,

who will gladly prevent outrages of thiskind .

”

When Akka said this , the stork raised hishead and stared at her . And it was notsurprising

,for Akka had neither claws nor

bill that were fit for fighting ; and , in the bargain

,she was a day bird , and as soon as i t

grew dark she fell helplessly asleep ,while

the_

ra ts did their fighting at night .

But Akka had evidently made up her mindto help the black rats . She called Iks i fromVa ss i ja ure , and ordered him to take the wildgeese over to Vomb Lake ; and when the geesemade excuses , she said authoritatively : Ibelieve it will be best for us all that you obeyme . I must fly over to the big stone house ,and if you follow me

,the people on the place

will be sur e to see us , and shoot u s down .

The on ly one that I want to take with me onthis trip is Thum b ietot . He c a n be of great


service to me because he has good eyes, a nd

can keep awake at night .

”

The boy was in his most con trary moodthat day . And when he heard what Akkasaid , he raised himself to his full height a ndstepped forward , his hands behind him andh is nose in the air , a nd he intended to sa y

that he , most assuredly , did not wish to takea hand in th e fight with gray rats . Shemight look around for assistance elsewhere .

But the instant the boy was seen , the storkbegan to move . He had stood before

,as

storks generally stand,with head bent down

ward and the bill pressed against the neck .

But now a gurgle was heard deep down in hiswindpipe ; as though he would have laughed .

! uick as a flash ,he lowered the bill , grabbed

the boy,and tossed him a couple of metres

in the air . This feat he performed seventimes

,while the boy shrieked a nd the geese

shouted : “What are you trying to do , HerrE rm enr ic h ? That ’s not a frog . That ’s a

human being , Herr E rm enr ic h ,

”

Finally the stork put the boy downentirely unhurt . Thereupon he said to Akka :


foundation , and over this lay several grass~

mats , and some twigs . The nest“

was so old

that many shrubs and plants had takenroot up there ; and when the mother stork sa t

on her eggs in the round hole in the middleof the nest , sh e not only had the beautifuloutlook over a good ly portion of Skane toenjoy

,but sh e had a lso the wild brier-blos

soms and house-leeks to look upon .

Both Akka and the boy saw immediatelythat something was going on here

,which turned

up and down—in the most regular ord er . Onthe edge of the stork-nest sa t two gray owls

, a n

Old,gray- streaked cat , and a dozen Old ,

decrepit rats with protruding teeth and wateryeyes . Th

’

ey were not exactly the sort of animalsone usually finds living peaceably together .

Not one of them turned around to look atAkka

,or to bid her welcome . They thought

of nothing except to s it and stare at somelong

,gray lines

,which came into Sight here

and there—on the winter-naked meadowsAll the black rats were Silent . One could

see that they were in deep despair , and probably knew that they could neither defend


foundation , and over this lay several grassmats , and some twigs . The nest

'

was so Oldthat many shrubs and plants had takenroot up there ; and when the mother stork sa ton her eggs in the round hole in the middleof the nest , She not only had the beautifuloutlook over a good ly portion Of Skane toenjoy

,but sh e had a lso the wild brier-blos

soms and house-leeks to look upon .

Both Akka and the boy saw immediatelythat something was going on here ,which turnedup and down -in the most regular order . Onthe edge of the stork-nest sat two gray owls

, a n

Old,gray- streaked cat , and a dozen old ,

decrepit rats with protruding teeth and wateryeyes . They were not exactly the sort of animalsone usually finds living peaceably together .

Not one of them turned around to look atAkka

,or to bid her welcome . They thought

of nothing except to sit and stare a t somelong

,gray lines

,wh ich came into sight here

and there—on the winter-naked meadowsAll the black rats were sflent . One could

see that they were in deep despair , and probably k new that they could neither defend


their own lives ~ —or the castle . The two owlssa t and rolled their big eyes , and twisted theirgreat

,encircling eyebrows , and talked in

hollow,ghost- like voices , about the awful

cruelty of the gray rats , and that they wouldhave to move away from their nest , becausethey had heard it said of them that theyspared neither eggs nor baby birds . The Oldgray- streaked cat was positive that the grayrats would bite him to death , since they werecoming into the castle in such great numbers

,

and he scolded the black rats incessantly .

“How

could you be so idiotic as to let your best figh ters go away ? ” said he .

“ How could you trustthegray rats ? It is absolutely unpardonableThe twelve black rats did not sa y a word .

But the stork,despite his misery

,could not

refrain from teasing the cat .

“ Don ’t worryso ,

Mons ie house- cat ! ” said he .

“ Can ’t yousee that mother Akka and Thum b ietot havecome to save the castle ? You can be certainthat they ’ll succeed . Now I must stand up

to sleep—and I do so with the utmost calm .

To-morrow , when I awaken ,there won ’t b e

a Single gray rat in Glimminge castle .

”

ADVENTURES OF NILS

The boy winked at Akka , and made a Sign- ! as the stork stood upon the very edge of th enest , with one leg drawn up , to sleep—that hewanted to push him down to the ground ; butAkka restrained him . She did not seem tobe the least bit angry . Instead

,She said in a

confident tone of voice : It would be prettypoor business if one who is as old as I am couldnot manage to get ou t of worse difficulties thanthis . If only Mr . and Mrs . Owl , who can stayawake all night , will fly Off with a couple Ofmessages for m e

, I think that a ll will go well .”

Both owls were willing . Then Akka badethe gentleman owl that he should go and seekthe black rats who had gone off , and counselthem to hurry home immediately . The ladyowl he sent to Flamm ea , the steeple-owl,who lived in Lund cathedral , with a commission which w a s so secret that Akka only daredto confide it to her in a whisper .

THE RAT CHARMER

IT was getting on toward midnight whenthe gray rats after a diligent search suc

c eeded in finding an open air-hole in the

ADVENTURES OF NILS

their way . They soon found the passagesin the walls which the black rats had used toget to the upper floors . Before they beganto clamber up these narrow and steep steps ,they listened again with great attention .

They felt more frightened because the blackrats held themselves aloof in this way

,than

if they had met them in open battle . Theyc ould hardly believe their luck when theyreached the first story without any mishaps .

Immediately upon their entrance the grayrats caught the scent Of the grain , which wasstored in great bins on the floor . But it wasnot as yet time for them to begin to enjoytheir conquest . They searched first, with theutmost caution

,through the sombre , empty

rooms . They ran up in the fireplace , whichstood on the floor in the Old castle kitchen ,

and they almost tumbled into the well , in theinner room . Not one of the narrow peepholes did they leave uninspected , but theyfound no black rats . When this floor w a swholly in their possession ,

they began , withthe same caution , to acquire the next . Then

they had to venture on a bold a nd dangerous

ADVENTURES OF NILS .3 3

c limb through the walls , while , with breathless anxiety

,they awaited an assault from

the enemy . And although they were tempted by the most delicious odour from thegrain bins

,they forced themselves most

systematically to inspect the Old- time warriors ’ pillar-propped kitchen ; their stonetable , and fireplace ; the deep window-niches ,a nd the hole in the floor—which in oldentime had been Opened to pour down boilingpitch on the intruding enemy .

All this time the black rats were invisible .

The gray ones groped their way to the thirdstory , and into the lord of the castle ’s greatbanquet hall—which stood there cold andempty , like all the other rooms in the old

house . They even groped their way to theupper story , which had but one big , barrenroom . The only place they did not thinkof exploring , was the big stork-nest on theroof—where , just at this time , the ladyowl awakened Akka

,and informed her that

Flammea , the steeple owl , had granted herrequest , and had sent her the thing she

wished. for .

ADVENTURES OF NILS

Since the gray rats h a d so conscientiouslyinspected the entire castle , they felt at ease .

They took it for granted that the black ratshad flown

,and didn ’t intend to Offer a ny

resistance ; and ,with light hearts

,they r a n

up into the grain bins .

But the gray rats had hardly swallowedthe first wheat-grains

,before the sound of a

little shrill pipe was heard from the yard .

The gray rats raised their heads,listened

anxiously,ran a few steps as if they in tend ed

to leave the bin,then they turned back and

began to eat once more .

Again the pipe sounded a sharp andpiercing note—and now something wonderful happened . One rat , two rats -yes , awhole lot Of rats left the grain , jumped fromthe bins and hurried down cellar by the Shortest cut

,to get out of the house . Still

there were many gray rats left . Thesethought of all the toil and trouble it had costthem to win Glimminge castle

,and they did

not want to leave it . But again they caughtthe tones from the pipe

,and had to follow

them . With wild excitement they rushed


hedges and down into ditches—and whereverhe went they had to follow . He blewcontinuously on his pipe , which appeared tobe made from an animal ’s horn , although thehorn was SO small that , in our days , therewere no animals from whose foreheads it couldhave been broken . N0 one knew, either,who had m ade it . Flammea , the steepleowl, h a d found it in a niche , in Lund cathedral .She had shown it to Bataki , the raven ; a ndthey h a d both figured out that this was th ekind of horn that was u sed in former timesby those who wished to gain power over ratsand mice . But the raven was Akka ’s friend :and it was from him She had learned thatFlammea owned a trea sure like this .And it was true that the rats could notresist the pipe . The boy walked before themand played as long a s the starlight lastedand all the while they followed h im . He

played at daybreak ; he played at sunrise ;and the whole time the entire procession of

gray rats followed him , and were enticedfarther and farther away from the big grain

THE GREAT CRANE DANCE ONKULLABERG

Tuesda y, Ma rc h twenty-ninth .

LTHOUGH there are many magnificentbuildings in Skane , it must be a c knowl

edged that there ’s not one among them thathas such pretty walls as old Kulla berg .

Kulla berg is low and rather long . It is notby any means a b ig or imposing mountain .

On its broad summit you ’ll find woods andgrain fields , and one and another heatherheath . Here a nd there , round heather-knollsand barren cliffs rise up . It is not especiallypretty up there .

" It looks a good deal like allthe other upland places in Skane .

He who walks along the path which run sacross the middle of the mountain

,can ’t help

feeling a little disappointed . Then he hap

pens , perhaps , to turn away from the path ,

and wanders off toward the mountain ’s sides1 3 7


a nd looks down over th e bluff s ; a nd then ,

all at once,h e will discover so much that is

worth seelng , he hardly knows how he’ll find

time to take in the whole of it . For it happens that Ku lla b erg does not stand on thela nd , with plains and valleys aroun d it , likeoth er mountains ; but it has plunged into thesea ,

as far out a s it could get . Not even thetin iest strip of land lies below the mountainto protect it against the breakers ; but thesereach all the way up to the mountain walls ,and can polish and mould them to suitthemselves . This is why the walls standthere as richly ornamented as the sea and itshelpmeet , the wind ,

have been able to effect .

You ’ll find steep ravines that are deeplychiselled in the mountain ’s sides ; and blackcrags that have become smooth and shinyunder the constant lashing of the winds .

There are solitary rock- columns that springright up out of the water

,and dark grottoes

with narrow entrances . There are barren ,

perpend icular precipices , and soft , leaf- cladinclines . There are small points , and, smallinlets

, and small rolling stones tha t are

ADVENTURES OF NILS

as long as the summer lasts . But it is moredifficult to tell what it is that makes it so

attractive to animals , that every year theygather there for a big play-meeting . This isa custom that has been observed since timeimmemorial ; and one should have been therewhen the first sea-wave was dashed into foamagainst the shore , to be able to explain whyjust Kulla berg was chosen as a rendezvous ,in pref erence to all other places .

When the meeting is to take place,the

stags and roebucks and hares and foxes andall the other four- footers make the journeyto Kulla b erg the night before , so as not to beobserved by the human beings . Just beforesunrise they all march up to the playground ,

which is a heather-heath on the left Side of theroad , and not very far from the mountain

’smost extreme point . The playgroun d isinclosed on all sides by round knolls , whichconceal it from any and all who do not happento come right upon it . And in the month of

March it is not at all likely that any pedestr i a ns will stray off up there . All the strangerswho usually stroll around on the rocks , a nd


clamber up the mountain ’s sides the fallstorms have driven away these many monthspast . And the lighthouse k eeper out thereon the point ; the Old fru on the moun tainfarm

,and the mountain peasant and his

house—folk go their accustomed ways , and donot run about on the desolate heather-field s .

When the four-footers have arrived on theplayground

,they take their places

.

on theround knolls . Each animal family keeps toitself , although it is understood that , on aday like this

,universal peace reigns , and no

one need fear attack . On this day a littlehare might wander over to the foxes ’ hill ,without losing as much as one of his long ears .

But still the animals arrange themselves intoseparate groups . This is an old custom .

After they have all taken their pla ces , theybegin to look around for the birds . Iti s always beautiful weather on this day .

The cranes are good weather prophets,and

would not call the animals together if theyexpected rain . Although the air is clear

,and

nothing obstructs the Vision,the four-footers

see no b irds . This is strange . The sun


stands high in the heavens , and the birdsShould already be on their way .

But what the animals,on the other hand

,

observe,is one and another little dark cloud

that comes Slowly forward over the plain .

And look ! one of these clouds comes graduallyalong the coast of Oresund

,and up toward

Kulla b erg . When the cloud has come justover the playground it stops , and , simult a neou sly, the entire cloud begins to ring andchirp

,as if it was made of nothing but tone .

It rises and sinks,rises and Sinks

,but all the

while it rings and chirps . At last the wholecloud falls down over a knoll—all at onceand the next instant the knoll is entirelycovered with gray larks , pretty red-white-graybulfinc h es , Speckled starlings and green ish

yellow titmice .

Soon after that , another cloud comes overthe plain . This stops over every bit of land ;over peasant cottage and palace ; over townsand cities ; over farms and railway stations ;over fishing hamlets and sugar refineries .

Every time it stops , it draws to itself a littlewhirling colum n of gray dust-grains from the


boy where he walk ed with h is long following,and quickly sa nk down over him and caughthim with the bill and swung into the air withhim

, bu t it w a s Herr E rm enr i c h , the stork !For Herr E rm enr ic h ha d also gone out to lookfor him ; and after he ha d borne him up to thestork-nest , he begged his forgiveness for h a ving treated him with disrespect the evening

This plea s ed the boy immensely, and thestork and he b ecame good friends . Akka ,

too,

Showed him th at she felt very kindly towardh im ; sh e stroked her old hea d several timesagainst hi s arms , and comm ended h im becausehe had helped those who were in trouble .

But this on e must sa y to the boy’s credi t

that he did not want to acc ept pr aise whi chhe h a d not earned . No ,

mother Akka ,” he

said ,

“

you mustn’t th ink th a t I lured th e gray

rats away to help the bla c k ones . I on lywanted to Show Herr E rm enr i c h th at I w a s

He h a d hardly sa id thi s beforeAkka turned tothe stork and asked if he thoug ht it w a s

a dvisa ble to take Thum b ietot a long to Kulla


and Northeast . These are forest-b irds fromGOinge districts : black grouse and woodgrouse who come flying in long lines ac ouple of metres apa rt . Swimming-b irdsthat live around Maklappen ,

just ou t of

Falsterbo , now come floating over Oresund in ¢many extraordinary figures : in triangular andlong curves ; in sharp hooks and semicircles .

To the great reunion held the year thatNils Holgersson travelled around with thewild geese , came Akka and her floc k—“ laterthan all the others . And that w a s not to bewondered at

,for Akka had to fl y over the

whole of Skane to get to Kulla b erg . Beside,

as soon as sh e awoke , She had been obliged togo out and hunt for Thum b ietot , who , formany hours

,had gone and played to the gray

rats,and lured them far away from Glimminge

castle . Mr . Owl had returned with the newsthat the black rats would be at home immed i a tely . after sunrise ; and there was no longerany danger in letting the steeple-owl ’s pipebe hushed

,and to give the gray rats the

liberty to go where they pleased .

But it was not Akka who discovered the

ADVENTURES OF NILS

berg . I mean , that we can rely '

on him a s

upon ourselves ,” said sh e . The stork at once

advised , most enthusiastically, that Thumbietot be permitted to come along .

“ Certa inly you shall take Thum b ietot along to‘Kulla b erg , mother Akka ,

” said he .

“ It isfortunate for us that we can repay him for

all that he has endured this night for our sakes .

And since it still grieves me to think that Idid not conduct myself in a becoming mannertoward him the other evening

,it is I who

will carry h im on my back— all the way to themeeting place .

”

Th ere isn ’t much that tastes better tha n toreceive praise from those who are themselveswise and capable ; and the boy had certainlynever felt so happy as he did when the wildgoose and the stork talked about him in thisway .

Thus the boy made the trip to Kulla b erg ,

riding stork—back . Although he knew thatthis was a great honour

,it caused him much

anxiety,for Herr E rm enr i c h was a master

flyer , and started off at a very different pace

from the wild geese . While Akka flew h er

ADVENTURES OF NILS

straight way with even wing- strokes , thestork amused himself by performing a lot of

flying tricks . Now he lay still in animmeasurable height , and floated in the airwithout mov ing his wings , now he flung himself downward with such sudden haste that itseemed as though he would fall to the ground ,

helpless a s a stone ; now he had lots of funflying all around Akka , in great and smallcircles

,like a whirlwind . The boy had never

been on a ride of this sort before ; and a l

though he sa t there all the while in terror ,he had to acknowledge to himself that he hadnever before known what a good flight meant .

~

Only a single pause was made during thejourney

,and that was at Vomb Lake when

Akka joined her travelling companions,and

called to them that the gray rats had beenvanquished . After that , the travellers flewstraight to Ku lla b erg .

There they descended to the knoll reservedfor the wild geese ; a nd as the boy let hisglance wander from knoll to knoll

,he saw on

one of them the many-pom ted antlers of th estags ; and on another

,the gray h erons ’ neck

ADVENTURES OF NILS

c rests . One knoll was red with foxes,one

was gray with rats ; one was covered withblack ravens who shrieked continually

, one

with larks who simply couldn ’t keep still,but

kept on throwing themselves in the air andsinging for very joy .

Just as it has ever been the custom onKulla b erg ,

it was the crows who began theday ’s games and frolics with their flyingdance . They divided themselves into twoflocks

,that flew toward each other

,met

,

turned,

a nd began all over again . Thisdance had many repetitions

,and appeared to

the Spectators who were not familiar with thedance as altogether too monotonous . Thecrows were very proud of their dance , but a llthe others were glad when it was

.over . It

appeared to the animals about as gloomy and

meaningless as the winter- storms ’ play withthe snow-fl a kes . It depressed them to watchit

,and they waited eagerly for something that

should give them a little pleasure .

They did not have to wait in vain , either ;for as soon as the crows had fin ished

,the hares

came running . They d a shed forward in a

1 5° ADVENTURES OF NILS

stood in the centre of the playground . Theone who sat upon the topmost branch fluffed

up his feathers , lowered h is wings , and liftedhis tail so that the white covert- feathers wereseen . Thereupon he stretched his neck andsent forth a couple of deep notes from histhick throat . Tja c k , tj a c k , tja c k ,

”i t

sounded . More than this he could not utter .

It only gurgled a few times way down III thethroat . Then he closed his eyes and wh is

pered : Sis , sis , s is . Hear how pretty ! S is,

sis,s is . At the same time he fell into such

an ecstasy that he no longer knew what wasgoing on around him .

While the first wood“

grouse was sissing,the

three nearest—under him—began to sing ; andbefore they had finished their song

,the ten

who sat lower down joined in ; a nd thus,

itcontinued from branch to branch

,until the

entire hundred grouse sang and gurgled a nd

s issed . They all fell into the same ecstasyduring their song , and this affected the otheranimals like a contagious transport . L atelythe blood had flowed lightly and agreeably ;now it began to grow heavy and hot .

“Yes

ADVENTURES or NILS 1 5 1

this is surely Sp ring , thought all the animalfolk . Winter chill h a s vanished . The firesof Spr ing burn over the earth .

”

When the black grouse saw that the browngrouse were having such success

,they could

no longer keep qu iet . As there was no treefor - them to light on , they rushed down on

the playground,where the heather stood so

high that only their b ea ut i fullv turned tailfeathers and their thick bills were visibleand they began to sing ; Orr

, orr , orr .

”

Just as the black grouse began to competewith the brown grouse , someth ing unprec e

dented happened . While all the animalsthought of nothing but the grouse-game

, a

fox stole slowly over to the wild geese ’s knoll .He glided very cautiously , and came way upon the knoll before anyone noticed him .

Suddenly a goose caugh t sight of h im : and assh e could not believe that a fox had sneakedin among the geese for any good purpose

,sh e

began to cry : “ Have a care , wild geese ! Hav ea care I” The fox struck her across the throatmostly , perhaps , because he wanted to makeher keep quiet—but the wild geese had already


heard the cry , and they all raised th em selve

in the air . And when they had flown up , th

animals sa w Sm irre Fox standing on the wilgeese ’s knoll , with a dead goose in his m outl

But because he had in this way brokethe play-day

’

s peace , such a punishment w ameted out to Sm irre Fox that , for the resthis days

,he must regret he had not bee

able to control his thirst for revenge , but hattempted to approach Akka and her flocin this manner .

He was immediately surrounded by a crowof foxes , and doomed in accordance withold custom , which demands that whosoevdisturbs the peace on the great play-day , m u

go into exile . Not a fox wished to light:

the sentence,Since they all knew that t

“

instant they attempted a nvth ing of the 301

they would be driven from the pla ygrou rand would nevermore be permitted to em

it . Banishment was pronounced upon Smirwithout Opposition . He w a s forb iddenremain in Skane . He was banished from wand kindred ; from hunting grounds

,hon

resting places a nd retreats , which he h


heard the cry , and they all raised themselvesm the air . And when they had flown up

,the

animals saw Sm i rre Fox standing on'

the wildgeese ’s knoll , with a dead goose in

” hismouth .

But because he had in this way brokenthe play-day ’s peace , such a punishment wasmeted ou t to Sm irre Fox that , for the rest ofhis days , he must regret he ha d not beenable to control his thirst for revenge

,but had

attempted to approach Akka and her flockin this manner .

He was immediately surrounded by a crowdof foxes , and doomed in accordance with anold custom

,which demands that whosoever

disturbs the peace on the great play-day, must

go into exile . Not a fox wished to lightenthe sentence

,since they all knew that the

instant they attempted a nvth ing of the sort ,they would be driven from the playground ,

and would nevermore be permitted to enterit . Banishment was pronounced upon Sm irrewithout Opposition . He was forbidden to

remain in Skane . He was banished from wifeand kindred ; from hunting grounds, home ,resting places and retreats , which

‘

he h a d


hitherto owned ; and he must tempt fortunein foreign lands . So that all foxes in Skaneshould know that Sm i rrewas outlawed in thedistrict , the oldest of the foxes bit off his rightearlap . AS soon as this was done , all theyoung foxes began to yowl from blood-thirst

,

and threw themselves on Sm irre . For himthere was no alternative except to take flight ;and with all the young foxes in hot pur suit ,he rushed away from Kulla b erg .

All this happened while black grouse andbrown grouse were going on w ith their games .

But these birds lose themselves so completelyin their song

,that they neither hear nor see .

Nor had they permitted t hemselves to bedisturbed .

The forest birds ’ contest was barely over,

before the stags from Ha c keb erga came forward to Show their wrestling game . Therewere severa l pair s of stags who fought at thesame time . They rushed at each other withtremendous force , struck their antlers clashingly together , so that their points wereentangled ; and tried to force each other backward . The heather-heaths were torn up

AD VENTURES OF NILS

beneath their hoofs ; the breath came likesmoke from their nostrils ; out of their throatsstrained hideous b ellow ings , and the frothoozed down on their Shoulders .

On the knolls round about there wasbreathless silence while the skilled stagwrestlers c linched . In all the animals newemotions were awakened . Each and all feltcourageous and strong ; enlivened by returning powers ; born again with the spr ing ;Sprightly

,and ready for all kinds of a dven

tures . They felt no enmity toward eachother

,although , everywhere , wings were lifted ,

neck- feathers raised and claws sharpened . Ifthe stags from Ha c keberga had continuedanother instant

,a wild struggle would have

arisen on the knolls , for all had been grippedwith a burning desire to Show that they toowere full of life because the w inter ’s impotencewas over and strength surged thr ough theirbodies .

But the stags stopped wrestling just atthe right moment , and instantly a whisperwent f rom knoll to knoll : “ The cranes a re

coming !


oppresssive body that dragged them down toearth and soar away toward the infinite .

Such longing after the unattainable , afterthe hidden mysteries back of this life , theanimals felt only once a year ; a nd th is was onthe day when they beheld the great craned ance .

IN RAINY WEATHER

Wednesda y, Ma rc h thi rtieth .

T WAS the first rainy day of the trip .

As long as the wild geese had remainedin the vicinity of Vomb Lake

,they had had

beautiful weather ; but on the day when theyset out to travel farther north , it began torain

,and for several hours the boy had to sit

on the goose-back, soaking wet , and shiveringwith the cold .

In the morning when they started , it hadbeen clear and mild . The wild geese hadflown high up in the air—evenly , and withouthaste—with Akka at the head maintainingstrict discipline

,and the rest in two oblique

lines back of her . They had not taken thetime to shout any witty sarcasms to the

animals on the ground ; but , as it was simplyimpossible for them to keep perfectly silent ,they sang out continually—in rhythm with

1 57


the wing-strokes —their usual coaxing-call“Where a re you ? Here am I . Where are

you? Here am I .

”

They all took part in this persistent calling,

and on ly stopped ,now and then ,

to Show th e

goosey-gander the landmarks they were travelling Over . The places on this route includedL inderOdsosen

’

s dry hills, Ovesholm

’

s manor,

Ch r ist i a nsta d’

s church steeple , Ba c k a skog’

s

royal castle on the narrow isthmus betweenOppm a nn

’

s lake and Ivos lake , and. R yss

mountain ’s steep precipice .

It had been a monotonous trip , and whenthe rain-clouds made their appearance theboy thought it was a real diversion . In theOld days

,when h e had only seen a rain-cloud

from below , he had imagined that they weregray and disagreeable ; but it was a verydifferent thing to be up amongst them . Nowhe saw distinctly that the clouds were enormous carts , which drove through the heavenswith sky

-high loads . Some of them werepiled up with huge

,gray sacks

,some with

barrels ; some were so large that they couldhold a whole lake ; a nd a few were filled with


When they flew over the big potato patches ,which are so plentiful in the country a roundCh r ist i a nsta d—" and which still lay bare a nd

black—they screamed : Wake up and be useful ! Here comes something that will awakenyou . You h aVe idled long enough now .

”

When they saw people who hurried to getout Of the rain , they reproved them saying :What are you in such a hurry about ? Can

’tyou see that it ’s raining rye-loaves andc ookies ?It was a big, thick mist that moved north

ward briskly , and followed close upon thegeese . They seemed to think that theyd ragged the mist along with them ; and , justnow , when they saw g reat orchards beneaththem, they called Out ; proudly : “ Here wec ome with anemones ; here we come withroses ; here we come with apple blossom s andc herry buds ; here

’

we come with peas andbeans and turnips a nd cabbages . He whowills can

,

take them ; He who wills cantake them .

Thus it had sounded while the first showersfell, a nd when all were still glad of the rain .

ADVENTURES OF NILS

discouraged , but ran about in fine sp i r i ts , a nd

hunted for cranberries and frozen whortleberries . But then came evening

,and dark

ness sank down on them so close , that noteven such eyes as the boy ’s could see throughit ; and all the wilderness became so strangelygrim and awful . The boy lay tucked in underthe goosey-gander ’s wing, but could notsleep because he was cold and wet . Heheard such a lot of rustling and rattling andstealthy steps and menacing voices , that h ewas terror-stricken and didn ’t know where heshould go . He must go somewhere wherethere was light and heat , if he wasn t goingto be entirely scared to death .

“ If I should venture where there are humanbeings , just for this night ? thought th eboy. Only so I cou ld s it by a fire f or amoment , and get a ! little food . I could goback to the wild geese before sunrise .

”

He crept from under the wing and sliddown to the ground . He didn ’t awakeneither the goosey-gander or any of the othergeese , but stole , silently and unobserved ,


He d idn ’t know exactly where on earthhe was : if he was in Skane , in Smala nd , orin Blekinge . But just before he h a d gottendown in the morass, he had caught a glimpseof a large village , a nd thither he directed hissteps . It wasn ’t long , either, b efore h e

discovered a road ; a nd soon he was on theVillage street , which wa s long, and had plantedtrees on both sides , and was bordered withgarden after ga rden .

The boy had c ome to one Of the b ig cathedraltowns , which a re so comm on on the uplands ,but can hardly be- seen at a ll d own in the

plain .

The houses were of wood , a nd veryprettily constructed . Most of them had gablesa nd fronts , edged with c a rved mouldings ,a nd glass doors , with here a nd there a

c oloured pane , opening on verandas . The

walls were painted in light Oilmolom s z th e

doors a nd window-frames shone in blues andgreens , and even in reds . While the boywalked about and viewed the houses , he couldhear

,all the wa y out to the road , how

the people who sat in the wa rm c otta ges


chattered and laughed . The words h e c ouldnot distinguish , but he thought it w a s

just lovely to hear human voices . I wonderwhat they would sa y if I knocked and beggedto be let in ,

” thought he .

This was,of course , what he h a d intended

to do all along , but now that h e saw thelighted windows

,his fear of the darkness was

gone . Instead,he felt again that Shyness

which always came over him now when hewas near human beings .

“ I ’ll take a lookaround the town for a while longer ,

” thoughthe ,

“ before I ask anyone to take me in .

”

On one house there was a balcony . Andjust as the boy walked by , the doors werethrown open

,and a yellow light streamed

through the fine , sheer curtains . Then apretty young fru came out on the balconyand leaned over the railing .

“ It ’s raining ;now we Shall soon have Spr ing

,said sh e .

When the boy saw her he felt a strangeanxiety . It was as though he wanted toweep . For the first time he was a bit uneasybec ause he had shut himself out from the

hum an kind .


God and the resurrection and eternal life .

And the longer he walked there,the better

he liked human beings .

It is so with children that they never thinkany farther ahead than the length of theirnoses . That which lies nearest them ,

theywant promptly , without caring what it mayc ost them . Nils Holgersson had not understood what he was losing when he chose toremain an elf ; but now he began to bedreadfully afraid that , perhaps , he shouldnever again get back his right form .

How in all the world should he go to workin order to become human ? This he wanted ,

Oh ! so much , to know .

He crawled up on a doorstep , and seatedhimself in the pouring rain and meditated .

He sa t there One whole hour—two wholehours

,and he thought so hard that his fore

hea d lay in furrows ; but he was none thewiser . It seemed as though the thoughtsonly rolled round and round in his head .

The longer he sa t there , the more impossibleit seemed to h im to find any solution .

Th is thing is certainly much too difficult"

ADVENTURES OF NILS

for one who h a s learned as little as I have ,be thought at last It will probably w indup by my having to go back among humanbeings after all. I must a sk the minister andthe doctor and the schoolmaster and otherswho are learned , and may know a cure forsuch things .

”

This he concluded that he would do atonce

,and shook himself—for he w a s a s wet

as a dog that has been in a water-pool .Just about then he saw that a big owl

came flying along , and alighted on one of thetrees that bordered the village street . Thenext instant a lady owl , who sa t under thecornice Of the house

,began to call out :

K iv itt , Kiv itt ! Are you at home again ,

Mr . Gray Owl ? What kind of a time did youha ve abroad ?

Thank you , Lady Brown Owl . I had avery comf ortable time

,said the gray owl.

Has anything out of the ordinary happenedhere at home during my absence ?

“Not here in Blekinge,Mr . Gray Owl ; but

in Skane a marvellous thing has happened !A boy has been transformed by an elf into a


goblin no bigger than a squirrel ; and sincethen he has gone to Lappland with a tamegoose .

“ That ’s a remarkable bit Of news, a

remarkable bit Of news . Can he never behuman again , Lady Brown Owl ? Can henever be human again ? ”

“ That ’s a secret , Mr . Gray Owl ; but youshall hear it just the same . The elf has saidthat if the boy watches over the gooseygander , SO that he comes home safe and sound ,andWhat more

,Lady Brown Owl ? What

more ? What more ?”“ Fly with me up to the church tower , Mr .

Grav Owl,and you shall hear the whole

story ! I fear there may be someone listeningdown here in the street .

” With that , theowls flew their way ; but the boy flung hisc ap in the air , and shouted :

“ If I onlywatch over the goosey-gander , so that hegets back safe a nd sound , then I shallbecome a human being again , Hurrah !Hurrah ! Then I shall bec ome a hum anbe ing again !

168

then hgoose .

Tharem a rk a

never b eThat

shall hea rthat if t

gander , soand 3 7

Wh atmore ? W

“ Fly w iGrav Owlstory ! I frdown hereowls flew tc a p in thewatc h overgets backbec ome aHurrah ! T]

be ing a gain !’

tbled themt t ime ; butrave kept it3,moss and

THE STAIRWAY WITH THE THREESTEPS

Thursda y, Ma rc h th i rty-fir st .

HE following day the wild geese intended to travel northward through

Allbo district , in Smaland . They sent Ik s iand Kaksi to spy out the land . But whenthey returned , they said that all the waterwas frozen , and all the land was snow-covered .

“We m ay a s well remain where we are,

” saidthe wild geese .

“We cannot travel over acountry where there is neither water nor food .

”

“ If we remain where we are , we may have towait here until the next moon ,

” said Akka .

It is better to go eastward,through Blekinge ,

and see if we can ’t get to Smaland by w a y of

More , which lies near the coast , and has a n

early Spring .

Thus the boy came to ride over Blekingethe next day . Now, that it w a s light again,

n o

THE STAIRWAY WITH THE THREESTEPS

Thursda y, Ma r c h thi rty-fir st.

HE following day the wild geese intended to travel northward through

Allbo district , in Smaland . They sent Iks iand Kaksi to spy out the land . But whenthey returned , they said that all the waterwas frozen

,and all the land was snow-covered .

“We may a s well remain where we are,

” saidthe wild geese .

“We cannot travel over acountry where there is neither water nor food .

”

“ If we remain where we are , we may have towait here until the next moon ,

” said Akka .

“ It is better to go eastward , through Blekinge ,and see if we can ’t get to Smaland by w a v of

More , which lies near the coast , and h a s anearly spring .

Thus the boy came to ride over Blekingethe next day . Now , that it w a s light again,

1 70


e was in a merry mood once more , and couldt comprehend what had come over him the

e . He certainly didn ’t want toive up the journey and the outdoor life now .

There lay a thick fog over Blekinge . Theoy couldn

’t see how it looked ou t there .

I wonder if it is a good,or a poor country

hat I ’m riding over,thought he

,and tried

O search his memory for the things which heheard about the coun try at sc hool . Butthe same time he knew well enough thatis w a s useless

,as he had never been in the

abit of studying his lessons .

At once the boy saw the whole school beforehim .

"

The children sat by the l ittle desks andraised their hands ; the teacher sa t in thelectern and looked displeased ; a nd he himselfstood before the map and Should answer somequestion about Blekinge

,but he hadn ’t a

word to say . The schoolmaster ’s face grewdarker and darker for every second thatpassed

,and the boy thought the teacher was

more particular that they should know theirgeography

,than anything else . Now he

tame down from the lectern , took the pointer


from the boy , and sent him back to his seat .“ This won ’t end well

,

” the boy thought then .

But the schoolmaster had gone over to awindow, and had stood there for a momentand looked out , and then he had whistled tohimself once . Then he had gone up into thelectern and sa id that he would tell them something about Blekinge . And that which hethen talked about had been so a m usmg thatthe boy had listened . When he only stoppedand thought for a moment

,he remembered

every word .

Smaland is a tall house with spruce treeson the roof , said the teacher ,

“ and leading upto it is a broad stairway with three big steps ;and this stairway is called Blekinge . It isa stairway that is well constructed . Itstretches forty-two miles along the frontageOf Smaland house , and anyone who wishes togo all the way down to the East sea ,

b v

way Of the stairs,has twenty-four miles to

A good long time must have elapsed sincethe stairway was built . Both days and yearsh a ve gone by sinc e the steps were hewn from

ADVENTURES OF NILS

c a n thrive up there . One understa nds besthow poor and dry it is there , when one seeshow small the field -plots are

,that are ploughed

up from the forest lands ; and how many littleca bins th e people bui ld for themselves ; a ndhow far it is between the churches . But onthe middle step there is b etter soil

,and it

does not lie bound down under such severecold

,either . This one can see at a glance

,

Since the trees are both higher and Of finerquality . There you ’

ll find maple and oak andlinden and weeping-birch and hazel treesgrowing

,but no cone-trees to Speak of . And

it is still more noticeable because Of theamount of cultivated land that you will fin dthere ; and also because the people have builtthemselves great and beautiful houses . Onthe middle step , there are many churches ,with large towns around them ; a nd in everyway it makes a better and finer appearancethan the top step .

“ But the very lowest step is the best of all .It is covered with good rich soil ; and , whereit lies and bathes in the sea ,

it hasn ’t theslightest feeling of the Smaland chill . Beeches


and chestnut and walnut trees thrive downhere ; and they grow so big that they towerabove the church-roofs . Here lie also thelargest grain-fields ; but the people have not

only timber and farming to live upon,but

they are also occupied with fishing and tradingand Seafaring . For this reason you will findthe most costly residences and the prettiestchurches here ; and the parishes have developed into villages and cities .

“ But this is not all that is said of the threesteps . For one must realise that when itrains on the roof of the big Smaland house , orwhen the snow melts up there

,the water has

to”

go somewhere ; and then ,naturally

,a lot

Of it is spilled over the big stairway . In thebeginning it probably oozed over th e wholestairway, big as it w a s ;

- then cracks appearedin it , and , gradually , the water has accustomeditself to flow alongside of it , in well dug-outgrooves . And water is water

,whatever one

does with it . It never h a s any rest . In one

place it cuts and files away,and in another

it adds to . Those grooves it has dug intova les , and the walls Of the vales it has dec ked


with soil ; and bushes and trees and vines haveclung to them ever since—SO thick , and in suchprofusion , that they almost hide the stream of

water that winds its way down there in thedeep . But when the streams come to thelandings between the steps

,they throw them

selves headlong Over them ; this is why thewater comes with such a seething rush , thatit gathers strength with which to move millwheels and machinery— these , too ,

haveSprung up by every waterfall .But this does not tell all that is said of the

land with the three steps . It must also betold that up in the big house in Smalandthere lived once upon a time a giant

,who had

grown very Old . And it fatigued him in hisextreme age

,to be forced to walk down that

long stairway in order to catch sa lmon fromthe sea . To him it seemed much more suitable that the salmon should come up to him ,

where he lived .

“ Therefore,he went up on the roof of his

great house ; and there he stood and threwstones down into the East sea . He thr ewthem with such force that they flew over the

BY RONNEBY RIVER

Frida y , April first .

EITHER the wild geese nor Sm i rre Foxhad believed that they should ever run

across each other after they had left Skane .But now it turned out SO that the wild geesehappened to take the route over Blekinge andthither Sm irre Fox had also gone .

SO far he had kept himself in the northern.

parts of the province ; and s in ce he had not a syet seen any manor parks , or hunting groundsfilled with game a nd dainty young deer , hewas more disgruntled than he could sa y .

One afternoon , when Sm ir re tramped aroundin the desolate forest district of Mella nbygden ,

not far from Ronneby River , he saw aflock of wild geese fly through the air .

Instantly he Observed that one of the geesewas wh ite and then he knew , of course ,with whom he had to deal .

1 78

ADVENTURES OF NILS

Sm irre began immediately to hunt the geese—just as much for the pleasure Of getting agood square meal , as for the desire to beavenged for all the humiliation that they hadheaped upon him . He saw that they fleweastward until they came to Ronn eby River .

Then they changed their course , and followedthe river toward the south . He understoodthat they intended to seek a Sleeping-placealong the river-ba nk , a nd he thought thathe should be able to get hold Of a pair of themwithout much trouble . But when Sm irre

finally discovered the place where the wildgeese had taken refuge , he Observ ed theyha d chosen such a well-protected spot , that hecouldn ’t

. get near them .

Ronneby River isn ’t any big or importantbody of water ; nevertheless , it is just as muchtalked of , for the sake of its pretty shores .

At Several points it forces its way forwardbetween steep mountain-walls that standupright out of the water

,and are entirely

overgrown with honeysuckle and b ird-cherry,

mountain-ash and osier ; and there isn’t

much that can be more delightful than to


row out on the little dark river on a pleasantsummer day , and look upward on all thesoft green that fastens itself to the ruggedmountain-Sides .But now, when the wild geese and Sm irre

c ame to the river , it was cold and blusterySpring-winter ; all the trees were nude , andthere was probably 110 one who thought theleast little bit about whether the shore wasugly or pretty . The wild geese thanked theirgood fortune that they had found a sandstrip large enough for them to stand upon

,

on a steep mountain wall . In front Of themrushed the river

,which was strong and

violent in the snow-melting time ; behindthem they had an impassable mountain rockwall , and overhanging branches screenedthem . They couldn ’t have it better .

The geese were asleep instantly ; but theboy couldn

’t get a wink Of Sleep . As soon asthe sun had disappeared he was seized with afear Of the darkness , and a wilderness-terror,and he longed for human beings . Wherehe la y—tucked in under the goose-wing—j—h ec ould see nothing, and only hear a little ; a nd

ADVENTURES OF NILS

Blekinge . He worked him self up to such a

pitch , as he lay there , that he wished thewild geese were dead , even if he , himselfshould not have the satisfaction Of eatingthem .

When Sm irre’

s resentment had reachedthis height , he heard rasping in a large pinethat grew close to him , and saw a squirrelcome down from the tree

,hotly pursued by

a marten . Neither Of them noticed Sm ir re ;and he sa t quietly and watched the chase ,which went from tree to tree . He lookedat the squirrel , who moved among the branchesas lightly a s though he ’d been able to fly . Helooked at the mart en , who was not as Skilledat climbing as the squirrel

,but who still ran

up and along the branches just as securelyas if they had been even paths in the forest .

“ If I could only climb half as well as eitherof them ,

” thought the fox,

“ those things downthere wouldn ’t sleep in peace very long ! ”

As soon as the squirrel had been captur ed ,

a nd the chase was at an end ,Sm irre walked

over to the mar ten , but stopped two steps

awa y from him , to signify that he did not


wish to cheat him of his prey. He greeted themarten in a very friendly manner , and wishedhim good luck with his catch . Sm irre chosehis words well—as foxes always do . The

marten,on the contrary , who, with his long

and slender body, his fine head , his soft Skin ,

and his light brown neck-piece , looked likea little marvel of beauty—but in reality wasnothing but a crude forest dweller—hardlyanswered him .

“ It surprises me , saidSm irre ,

that such a fine hunter a s you a re

should be sa tisfied with chasing squirrelswhen there is much better game within reach .

Here he paused ; but when the marten onlygrinned impudently at him , he continued :“ Can it be possible that you haven ’t seen thewild geese that stand under the mountainwall ? or are you not a good enough clim berto get down to them ?”

This time he had no need to wait for ananswer . The marten rushed up to him withback bent , and every separate hair on end .

Have you seen wild geese ? ” he hissed .

Wh ere are they ? Tell me instantly, or

I’

ll b ite your neck off !” “ NO ! you must


remember that I ’m twice your S i ze—SO bea little polite . I a sk nothing better than toShow you the wild geese .

The next instant the marten was on hisway down the steep ; and while Sm irre sa t

a nd watched how he swung his snake- likebody from branch to branch , he thought :That pretty tree-hunter has the wickedestheart in all the forest . I believe that the wildgeese will have me to thank for a bloodyawakening .

But just as Sm irre was waiting to hear thegeese ’s death—rattle

,he saw the marten tumble

from branch to branch— and plump into theriver SO the water splashed high . Soonthereafter , wings beat loudly and strongly andall the geese went up in a

-hurried flight .

Sm irre intended to hurry after the geese ,but he was SO cur ious to know how they hadbeen saved

,that h e sa t there until the marten

came clambering up . That poor thing w a s

soaked in mud , and stopped every now andthen to rub h i s head with his forepaws .

“ Now wasn ’t that just what I thoughtthat you were a booby , and would go and


like a black , Shining snake . In this way sh e

came way down to Djupa fors—where theriver first hides itself in an undergroundchannel—and then clear and transparent

,

as though it were made Of glass , rushesdown in a narrow cleft , and breaks into b itsagainst its bottom in glittering dr ops andflying foam Below the white falls lay . afew stones

,between which the water rushed

away in a wild torrent cataract . Heremother Akka alighted . This was anothergood sleeping-place—especially this late inthe evening

,when no human beings moved

about . At sunset the geese would hardlyhave been able to camp there , for Djupa forsdoes not lie in any wilderness . On one Sideof the falls is a paper factory; on the otherwhich is steep

,and tree-grown—is Djupa d a l

’

s

park , where people are always strolling abouton the steep and slippery paths to enjoyth e wild stream ’s rushing movement downin the ravine .

It was about the same here as at the former place ; none of the travellers thought theleast little bit tha t they had c ome to a pretty


and well-known place . They thought ratherthat it was ghastly and dangerous to stand

a nd sleep on slippery , wet stones , in themiddle Of a rumbling waterfall . But theyhad to be content , if only they were protectedfrom carnivorous animals .

The geese fell asleep instantly , while the boycould find no rest in sleep , but sa t besidethem that he might watch over the goosey

After a while , Sm irre came running alongthe river- shore . He spied the geese immed i a tely where they stood out in the foaming Whirlpools , and understood that hecouldn ’t get at them here , either . Still hecouldn ’t make up his mind to abandon them

,

but seated himself on the shore and lookedat them . He felt very much hum bled

,and

thought that his entire reputation as ahunter was at stake .

All of a sudden , he saw an otter come creeping up from the falls with a fish in his mouth .

Sm irre approached him but stopped withintwo steps Of him , to Show him that he didn ’twish to take his game from him .


You’

re a remarkable one , who can contentyourself w ith catching a fish , while the stonesare covered with geese ! ” said Sm irre . He wasso eager , that he hadn

’t taken the time toarrange his words as carefully as he was wontto do . The otter didn ’t turn his head oncein the direction of the ri ver . He was a vagabond - like all otters—and had fished manytimes by Vomb Lake , and probably knewSm i rre Fox .

“ I know very well how you actwhen you want to coax away a salmon-trout ,Sm irre , said he .

“ Oh ! is it you , Gripe ?” said Sm irre , a nd

was delighted ; for he knew that this pa rt icular otter was a quick and accomplishedswimmer .

“ I don ’t wonder that you do notcare to look at the wild geese , since you can

’

t

manage to get ou t to them .

” But the otter ,who had swimming-webs between his toes

,

and a stiff tail—which was a s good as an oarand a skin that was w ater-proof , didn

’t wishto have it said of him that there was a waterfall that he wasn ’t able to manage . He turnedtoward the stream ; and as soon a s he caughtsight of the wild geese , he threw the fish away,

ADVENTURES OF NILS

forepaws . When Sm irre sneered at h im

because he hadn ’t succeeded , he broke out : It

was not the fault Of my swimm ing- art, Sm irre .

I had raced all the way over to the geese, a nd

was about to climb up to them,when a tiny

creature came running,and jabbed me in the

foot with some Sharp iron . It hurt so ,I lost

my footing , and then the current took me .

”

He didn ’t have to sa y any more . Sm irre

was already far away on his way to the wildgeese .

Once again Akka and her flock had to takea night fly . Fortunately , the moon had notgone down ; and with the aid of its light , sh esucceeded in finding another of those Sleepingplaces which sh e knew in that neighbourhood .

Again She followed the shining river towardthe south . Over Djupa d a l

’

s manor , and overR onneby

’

s dark roofs and white waterfallsShe swayed forward without alighting . Buta little south Of the city and not far from thesea

,lies Ronneby health- spring, with its

bath house and Spring house ; with its bighotel and summer cottages for the Spring ’

sguests . All these stand empty and desolate


in w inter—which the birds know pei fec tly

well ; and many are the bird-companies whoseek shelter on the deserted buildings ’ balustrades and balconies during hard storm- times .

Here the wild geese lit on a balcony , and ,

as usual,they fell asleep at once . The boy,

on the contrary , could not sleep because hehadn ’t cared to creep in under the gooseygander ’s wing .

The balcony faced south , SO the boy hadan outlook over the sea . And Since he couldnot Sleep , he sa t there and saw how pretty itlooked when sea and land meet , here inBlekinge .

You see that sea and land can meet in manyd ifl erent ways . In many places the landcomes down toward the sea with flat , tuf tedmeadows , and the sea meets the land withflying sand , which piles up in mounds anddrifts . It appears as though they both disliked each other SO much that they onlywished to Show the poorest they possessed .

But it can also happen that,when the land

comes toward the sea ,it raises a wall Of hills

in front of it —as though the sea were


something dangerous . When the land doesthis , the sea comes up to it with fierywrath

,and beats and roars and lashes against

the rocks , and looks as if it would tear theland-hill to pieces .

But in Blekinge it is altogether diff erentwhen sea and land meet . There the landbreaks itself up into points and islands andislets ; and the sea divides itself into fiords andbays and sounds ; and it is , perhaps , thiswhich makes it look as if they must meet inhappiness and harmony .

Think now first and foremost , of the sea !

Far out it lies desolate and empty and big,and has nothing else to do but to roll its graybillows . When it comes toward the land

,it

happens across the first Obstacle: This itimmediately overpowers ; tears away everything green , and makes it as gray as itself .

Then it meets still another Obstacle . Withthis it does the same thing . And still another .

Yes , the same thing happens to this also . Itis str ipped and plundered

,as if it had fallen

into robbers ’ hands . Then the Obstacles Comenearer and nearer together, and then the sea


fiord s begin to broaden and separate,they

break up fields and woods and then the hillSide cannot help but notice them .

“ I believeit is the sea itself that is coming

,says the

hillside , and then it begins to adorn itself .It wreathes itself with blossoms

,travels up

and down in hills and throws islands intothe sea . It no longer cares about pines andSpruces , but casts them Off like Old every dayclothes , and parades later with big oaks andlindens and chestnuts , and with blossomingleafy bowers , and becomes as gorgeous as amanor-park . And when it meets the sea ,

itis so changed that it doesn ’t know itself . Allthis one cannot see very well until summertime ; but , at any rate, the boy Observed howmild and friendly nature was ; and he beganto feel calmer than he had been before , thatnight . Then ,

suddenly, he heard a sharpand ugly yowl from the bath-house park ; andwhen he stood up he saw,

in the white moonlight

,a fox standing on the pavement under

the balcony . For Sm i rre had followed thewild geese once more . But when he had

found the place where they were quartered , he


had understood that it was impossible to getat them in

'

a ny way ; then he had not beenable to keep from yowling with chagrin .

When the fox yowled in this manner , Old

Akka , the leader-goose was awakened .

Although sh e could see nothing,She thought

she recognised the voice . IS it you who are ou tto-night , Sm irre said She .

“ Yes,

” said Sm irre ,

“ it is I ; and I want to ask what you geesethink of the night that I have given you ?

”

Do you mean to sa y that it is you who havesent the marten and otter against us ? ” askedAkka .

“A good turn shouldn ’t be denied,

said Sm irre “ You once played the goosegame with me , now I have begun to play thefox-game with you ; and I

’m not inclined tolet up on it so long as a single one of you stilllives even if I have to follow you the worldover ! ”

“You

, Sm irre ,ought at least to think

whether it is right for you,who are weaponed

with both teeth and claws,to hound us in this

wa y ; we , who are without defence ,” said Akka .

Sm i rre thought that Akka sounded scared ,

and he said quickly : If you ,Akka , will take


that Thum b ietot—who has so Often apposedm e—and throw him down to me , I

’

ll promiseto make peace with you . Then I ’ll never morepursue you or any Of yours .

“ I ’m not

going to give you Thumb ietot , said Akka .

“From the youngest Of us to the oldest , wewould willingly give our lives for his sake ! ”“ Since you ’re so fond of him , said Sm i rre ,

“ I ’ll promise you that he shall be the firstamong you that I will wreak vengea h c e upon .

”

Akka said no more , and after Sm irre hadsent up a few more yowls , all was still . Theboy lay all the while awake . Now it wasAkka ’s words to the fox that prevented himfrom sleeping . Never had he dreamed thathe Should hear anything SO grea t as that anyone was willing to risk life for his sake . Fromthat moment , it could no longer be said of

Nils Holgersson that he did not care for


and spook-like . The heavens were no longerblue , but encased him like a globe of green glass .

The sea was milk-white , and as far a s he couldsee rolled small white waves tipped withSilver ripples . In the midst Of all this whitela y nu merous little islets , absolutely coalblack . Whether they were big or little

,

whether they were as even as meadows, Or

full of cliffs they looked just as black . Evendwelling houses and churches and windmills ,which at other times are white or red ,

’wereoutlined in black against the green sky. Theboy thought it was as if the earth had beentransformed , andhewas come to anotherworld .

He thought that just for this one night hewanted to be brave , and not afraid -whenhe saw something that really frightenedh im . It was a high cliff island , wh ichwas c overed with big , angular blocks ; a ndbetween the blocks shone specks of bright ,Shining gold . He couldn ’t keep from thinking of Ma glestone , by Trolle-Ljungby,~ whichth e trolls sometimes raised upon high goldp i llars and he wondered if thi s wa s someth ing like th a t.

zoo ADVENTURES OF NILS

up on the island , and raised h is arms , wa s achurch with two cross-towers ; all the sea

trolls and monsters , which he thought he hadseen , were boats and ships of every desc r iption

,that lay anchored all around t h e i sland .

On the side which lay toward the land“

1weremostly f row—boats a nd sail-boats and s mallcoast steamers ; but on the side that

“

facedthe sea lay armour- clad battleships somewere broad

,with very thick

,slanting smoke

stacks ; others were long and narrow , a nd so

constructed that they could glide through thewater like fishes .

Nowwhat city might this be ? That,the bov

could figure ou t because he saw all the battleShips . All his life he had loved sh 1ps, althoughhe had had nothing to do W1th a ny, exceptthe galleys which he had sailed in the roadditches . He knew very well that this citywhere so many battleships lay—couldn ’t beany place but Karlskrona .

The boy ’

s grandfather had been an old

marine ; and as long as he had lived , he hadtalked of Karlskrona every day ; of the greatwarship dock

,and of all the other things to be

ADVENTURES OF NILS

seen in that city . The boy felt perfectly a t

home,and he was glad that he should see a ll

this of which he had heard so much .

But he only had a glimpse of the towers a ndfortifications which barred the entrance tothe harbour , and the many buildings , and theshipyard—before Akka came down on one

of the flat church- towers .

This w a s a pretty safe place for those whowanted to get away from a fox , and the boybegan to wonder i f he couldn ’t venture tocrawl in under the goosey—gander ’s wing forthi s one night . Yes

,that he might safely do.

It would do him good to get a little sleep .

He should try to see a little more of the doc kand the ships after it had grown light .

The boy himself thought it w as strange thathe could keep still and wait until the nextmorning to see the ships . He certainly hadnot slept five minutes before he slipped out

from under the wing a nd slid down the

lightning- rod and the water-spout a ll the

way down to the ground .

Soon he stood on a big squa re which spreaditself in front of the church . It was covered


with round stones , and was just as difficul tfor him to travel over , as it is for big people towalk on a tuf ted meadow . Those who areaccustomed to live in the open—or way out

in the country—always feel unea sy whenthey come into a city, where the houses standstraight and forbidding

,and the streets are

open,so that everyone can see who goes there .

And it happened in the same way with the boy .

When he stood on the big Karlskrona square,

and looked at the German chur ch , and townhall

,and the cathedral from which he had

just descended he couldn ’t do anything butwish that he w a s back on the tower again withthe geese .

It was a lucky thing that the square wasentirely deserted . There wasn ’t a hum anbeing about—unless he counted a statue thatstood on a high pedestal . The boy gazed longat the statue , which represented a big ,

waistcoat , knee -breeches and coa rse Shoes ,a nd wondered what kind of a one he was . He

h eld a long stick in his hand , and he looked as


Perhaps he is only out walking for rec reation ,

” thought the boy .

“ Surely he can ’tbe offended with me for the words I Spoke .

They were not at all badly meant .

”

Instead of going straight on,and trying to

get down to the clock,the boy turned into a

Side street which led east . First and foremost , he wanted to get away from the one whotramped after him .

But the next instant he heard that thebronze man had switched off to the samestreet ; and then the boy was so Scared thathe didn ’t know what he would do with himself . And how hard it was to find any hidingplaces in a city where all the gates were closed !Then he saw on his right an old framechurch , which lay a Short distance away fromthe street in the centre of a large grove .

Not an instant did he pause to consider , butrushed on toward the church .

“ If I can onlyget there

,then I ’ll surely be shielded from all

harm ,

” thought he .

As he ran forward,he suddenly caught

Sight of a man who stood on a gravel pathand beckoned to him .

“ There is certainly


someone who will help me ! ” thought the boyhe became intensely happy , and hurried off in

that direction . He was actually so frightenedthat the heart of him fairly thum ped in h isbreast .

But when he came up to the man who

stood on the edge of the gravel path , upon alow pedestal

,he was absolutely thunder

struck . Surely , it can’t have been that one

who beckoned to me ! ” thought he ; for hesaw that the entire man was made of wood .

He stood there and stared at him . Hewas a thick- set man on short legs , with abroad

,ruddy countenance

,sh iny

,black hair

and full black beard . On his head he worea wooden hat ; on his body , a brown wood encoat ; around his waist , a black wooden belt ;on his legs he had wide wooden knee-breechesand wooden stockings ; and on his feet blackwooden shoes . He was newly painted andnewly varnished , so that he glistened andshone in the moonlight . This un doubtedlyhad a good deal to do with giving him such agood-natured appearance

,that the boy a t

once placed confidence in him .

ADVENTURES OF NILS

In his left hand he held a wooden slate, a nd

there the boy read :

Most humb ly I b eg you .

Th ou gh voic e I m a y la ckCom e d rop a penny , do ;

Bu t lift my h a t !

Oh ho ! the man was only a poor-box . Th e

boy felt that he had been done . He hadexpected that this should be som ethingreally remarkable . And now he rememberedthat grandpa had also Spoken of the woodenman

,and said that all the children in Karls

krona were so fond of h im . And that musthave been true , for he , too, found it hard topart with the wooden man . He had something so old -t im y about him , that one couldwell take him to be many hundred years old ;and at the same time , he looked so strongand bold

,and animated- just as one might

imagine that folks looked in olden times .

The boy had so much fun looking at thewooden man ,

that be entirely forgot theone from whom he was fleeing . But now

he heard him . He turned from the street a nd .


now , when he thought about it , he knew thatth e statue on the square represented the onewho had founded the city . It was probablyno less an one tha n Charles the Eleventhhimself , whom he had encountered .

He gives a good account of himself ,said the bronze man .

“

Ca n he also tell meif he has seen a little brat who runs around inthe city to-n ight ? He ’s an impudent rascalif I get hold of him , I

’ll teach him manners !With that , he again pounded on the groundw ith his stick , and looked fearfully angry .

By Your Majesty ’s leave , I have seen him ,

said the wooden man ; and the boy was so

scared that he commenced to shake wherehe sat under the hat and looked at the bronzeman through a crack in the wood . But hec alm ed down when the wooden man continued :Your Majesty is on the wrong track . Thatyoungster certainly intended to run into theshipyard ,

and conceal him self there .

”

“Does he sa y so, R osenbom ? Well then ,

don ’t stand still on the pedestal any longerbut come with me and help me find him .

Four eyes are better than two, R osenbom .

”


But the wooden man answered in a dolefulvoice “ I would most humbly beg to be

permitted to stay where I am . I look welland Sleek because of the paint , but I

’m old

and mouldy,and cannot stand moving about .

The bronze man was not one of those wholiked to be contradicted .

“What sort of

notions are these ? Come along , R osenbom !”

Then he raised his stick and gave the otherone a resounding whack on the shoulder .“ Does R osenbom not see that he holdstogether ? ”

With that they broke off and walkedforw ard on the streets of Karlskrona —largeand mighty—until they came to a high gate,which led to the shipyard . Just outsideand on guard

‘

walked one of the navy ’s jacktars , but the bronze man strutted past himand kicked the gate open without the jacktar ’s pretending to notice it .

AS soon a s they had gotten into the shipyard , they saw before them a wide , expansiveharbour separated by pile-bridges . In the

different harbour basins,lay the warships

,

which looked bigger, and more awe-mspm ng

2 1 0 ADVENTURE S OF NILS

c lose to , like this , than lately , when the boyhad seen them from up above .

“ Then itwasn ’t so crazy after all , to imagine that theywere sea -trolls ,

” thought he .

“Where does R osenbom think ‘ it mostadvisable for us to begin the search ? ” saidthe bronze man .

“ Such an one as he, could most easily c on

c eal himself in the hall of models ,” replied

the wooden man .

On a narrow land-strip which stretched tothe right from the gate, all along the harbour

,lay ancient structures . The bronze

man walked over to a building with low walls,

small windows , and a conspicuous roof . Hepounded on the door with his stick un til itburst Open ; and tramped up a pair of worn-outsteps . Soon they came into a large ha ll,which was filled with tackled and full- riggedlittle Ships . The boy understood withoutbe ing told , that these were models for the

ships which had been built for the Swedishnavy.


fates they had met . He told them aboutChapman and Puke and Trolle ; of Hoaglandand Svensksund—all the way along until1 809—after that he had not been there

Both he and the bronz e man had the ,mostto sa y about the fine old wooden ships . Thenew battleships they didn ’t exactly appearto understand .

I can hear that R osenbom doesn ’t knowanything about these new- fangled things

,

”

said the bronze man .

“ Therefore,let us go

and look at something else ; for this amusesme , R osenbom .

”

By this time he had entirely given up hissearch for the boy

,who felt calm and secure

where he sat in the wooden h a t .

Thereupon both men wandered throughthe big establishment : sail-making shops ,anchor smithy

,machine and carpenter shops .

They saw the mast Sheers and the docks ;the large magazines

,the arsenal

,the rope

bridge and the big discarded dock , whichhad been blasted in the rock . They went ou tupon the pile-bridges

,where the naval vessels

lay moored,stepped on board and examined

ADVENTURES OF NILS 2 I 3

them like two old sea -dogs ; wondered ; d isapproved ; approved ; and became indignant .

The boy sat in safety under the woodenhat

,and heard all about how they had

laboured and struggled in this place , to equipthe navies which had gone ou t from here .

He heard how life and blood had been risked ;how the last penny had been sacrificed tobuild the warships ; how skilled men hadstrained all their powers , in order to perfectthese ships which had been their fatherland ’s safeguard . A couple of times thetears came to the boy ’s eyes , a s he heard allthis .

And the very last , they went into an opencourt , where the galley models of old men-of

war were grouped ; and a more remarkablesight the boy had never beheld ; for thesemodels had inconceivably powerful and terrorstriking faces . They were big

,fearless and

saVa ge : filled with the same proud Spiritthat had fitted out the great ships . Theywere from another time than his . He thoughtthat he shrivelled up before them .

But when they came in here,the bronze


man said to the wooden man : Take off thyhat , R osenbom , for those that stand here !They have all fought for the fatherland .

And R osenbom —like the bronze manhad forgotten why they had begun thistramp . Without thinking, he lifted thewooden hat from his head and shouted :

“ I take off my hat to the one who chosethe harbour and founded the shipyard andre-created the navy ; to the monarch who hasawakened all this into life ! ”

“ Thanks , R osenbom ' That was wellSpoken . R osenbom is a fine man . But whatis this

,R osenbom ?

”

For there stood Nils Holgersson ,right on

the top of R osenbom’

s bald pate . He wasn ’tafraid any longer ; but raised his white toboggan hood , and shouted

“ Hurrah for you ,

The bronze man struck the ground hardwith his stick ; but the boy never learnedwhat he had intended to do for now th e sun

ra n up ,and

,at the same time, both the

bronze man and the wooden man vanisheda s if they had been made of mists . While he

THE TRIP TO OLAND

Sunda y, Apri l th ird;HE wild geese went out on a woodedisland to feed . There they happened

to run across a few gray geese,who were sur

prised to see them—since they knew verywell that their kinsmen

,the wild geese ,

usually travel over the interior of the country .

They were curious and inqu isitive , andwouldn ’t be satisfied with less than that thewild geese should tell them all about the persecu t ion which they had to endur e from Sm irreFox . When they had finished , a gray goose ,who appeared to be as old and as wise asAkka herself , said :

“ It was a great misfortune for you that Sm irre Fox was declaredan outlaw in his own land . He ’ll be sur e tokeep his word , and follow you all the way up

to Lappland . If I were in your place , Ishouldn ’t tra vel north over Smaland ; but

2 1 6


would take the outside route over Olandinstead , so that he

’ll be thrown off the trac kentirely . To really mislead him , you mus tremain for a couple of days on Oland ’

ssouthern point . There you

’

ll find lots of

food and lots of company . I don ’

t believeyou ’ll regret it , if you go over there .

It w a s certainly very sensible advice , a ndthe wild geese concluded to follow it . Assoon as they had eaten all they could hold ,they started on the trip to Ola nd . None ofthem had ever been there before , but thegray goose had given them excellent dircotions . They only had to travel d irect southuntil they came to a large b ird-track , whichextended all along the Blekinge coast . Allthe birds who had winter res idences by theWest sea , and who now intended to travel toFinland and Russia , fiew forward therea nd , in passing , they were always in the habitof stopping at Oland to rest . The wildgeese would have no trouble in finding guides .

That day it was perfectly still and warm—like a summer ’s day—the best weatherin the world for a sea trip . The only grave

ADVENTURES OF NIDS

thing about it was that it was not quite clea r ,for the Sky was gray and veiled . Here andthere were enormous mist-clouds whichhung way down to the sea ’s outer edge , andobstructed the view .

When the travellers had gotten awayfrom the wooded island , the sea Spread itselfso smooth and mirror- like , that the boy a s

he looked down thought the water haddisappeared . There was no longer any earthunder him . He had nothing but mist andsky around him . He grew very dizzy

,and

held h 1m self tight on the goose-back,more

frightened than when he sat there for the fir sttime . It seemed as though he couldn ’tpossibly hold on ; he must fall in somedirection .

It wa s even worse when they reached theb ig bird-track , of which the gray goose hadspoken . Actually , there came flock afterflock flying in exac tly the same direction .

They seemed to follow a fixed route . There

were ducks and gray geese , sur f-scoters a nd

guillemots , loons and pin- tail ducks and

mergansers and grebes and oyster-catc hers


Just about then he heard a couple of loudshots , and saw two white smoke-columnsascend .

There was a sudden awa kening , and anunrest among the birds . Hunters ! Hunters ! ”

they cried .

“ Fly high ! Fly away ! ”

Then the boy saw , finally , that they weretravelling all the while over the sea -coast ,and that they certainly were not in heaven .

In a long row lay small boats ‘ filled withhunters , who fired shot upon shot: Thenearest b ird-floc k s hadn ’t noticed them intime . They had flown too low . Severaldark bodies sank down toward the Sea ; andfor everyone that fell , there arose cries of

a ngu ish from the living .

It was strange for one who had but latelybelieved himself in heaven , to wake upsuddenly to such fear and lamenta tion . Akkashot toward the heights as fast a s She could ,

and th e flock followed with the greatest possible Speed . The wild geese got safely out

of the wa y, but the boy couldn’t get over his

amazem ent . To think that anyone could

w ish to shoot upon such a s A kka and" v s i


and Kaksi and the goosey-gander and the

others ! Hum an beings had no conception

o f what they did .

So it bore on again , in the still air , and everything w a s as quiet as heretofore—with the

exception that some of the t ired birds calledou t every now and then :

“Are we not theresoon ? Ar e you sur e we

’re on the right tra ck ? ”

Hereupon,those who flew in the centre

answered : “We are flying straight to Oland ;straight to Oland .

”

The gray geese were tired out , and theloons flew around them .

“

Don ’t be in sucha rush ! ” cried the ducks .

“ You ’ll eat upa ll the food before we get there . Oh !there ’ll be enough for both you and us ,

”

answered the loons .

Before they had gotten so far that they sawOland , there came a light wind against them .

It brought with it something that resembledimm ense clouds of white smoke—just a s ifthere was a big fire somewhere .

When the b irds saw the first white sp iralhaze , they became uneasy and increased theirSpeed . But that which resembled smoke


blew thic ker and thicker , an d at la s t itenveloped them altogether . They smelled nosmoke ; and the smoke w a s not dark and dry ,but white and damp . Suddenly the b oyunderstood that it was nothing but a mist .

When the mist became so thick that one

couldn ’t see a goose-length ahead , the birdsbegan to carry on like real lunatics . All these ,who before had travelled forward in suchperfect order , began to play 1n the mist .

They flew hither and thither , to entice one

another astray .

“ Be careful ! ” they cried .

You ’re only travelling round and round .

Turn back , for pity’s sake ! You ’

ll neverget to Oland in this way .

”

They all knew perfectly .well where theisland was , but they did their best to lead

each other astray“ Look at those wag

tails ! ” rang out in the mist .

“ Th ey aregoing back toward the North Sea ! “ Havea care

,wild geese ! ” shrieked someone from

another direction . If you continue likethis

,you ’ll get clear up to Rugen .

”

There was , of cour se , no danger th at the

b ird s who were accustomed to travel . here ,


that you are not acc ustomed to look out for

yourselves on journeys .

”

Those rogues succeeded in making Akka ’3head swim . As near as the boy could makeout , the wild geese flew round a nd round fora long time .

Be c a reful ! Can ’t you see that you a re

flying up and down ? shouted a loon as herushed by The boy positively clutched the

goosey-gander around the neck . This wassomething which he had feared for a long

No one c a n tell when they would havea rrived , if they hadn

’t heard a rolling andmuffl ed sound in the distance .

Then Akka craned her neck . snapped hardw ith her wings

, and rushed on at full Speed .

Now she had something to go by . The gray

goose had told her not to light on Oland ’ssouthern point

,because there was a cannon

there , which the people used to shoot themist with . Nowshe knew the way, and now

no one in the world should lea d her astray

OLAND ’S SOUTHERN POINT

April th ird to Slxth .

N THE most southerly part of Olandlies a royal demesne , which is called

Ottenby . It is a rather large estate whichextends from shore to shore

,straight across

the island ; and it is remarkable because ithas always been a haunt for large birdcompanies . In the Seventeenth Century

,

when the kings used to go over to Oland tohunt , the entire estate was nothing but a deerpark . In the Eighteenth Century there wasa stud there , where blooded race-horses werebred ; and a sheep far m, where several hundred sheep were maintained . In our daysyou ’ll find neither blooded horses nor sheep atOttenby . In place of them , live great herdsof young horses , which are to be used by thecavalry .

In all the land there is certainly no place2 2 5


that could be a better abode for anima ls .

Along the extreme eastern shore lies the oldsheep meadow, which is a mile and a half long ,

and the largest meadow in all Oland,where

ani m als can graze and play and run about,as

free a s if they were in a wilderness . Andthere you will find the celebrated Ottenbygrove with the hundred-year-old oaks , whichgive Shade from the sun ,

and shelter from thesevere Oland winds . And we must not forgetthe long Ottenby wall , which stretches fromshore to shore , and separates Ottenby fromthe rest of the island , so that the an imalsmay know how far the old royal demesneextends , and be careful about getting in on

other ground ,where they are not so well

protected .

You ’ll find plenty of tame animals atOttenby

,but that isn ’t all . One could almost

believe that the wild ones also felt that on a n

old crown property both the wild and the tameones can coun t upon shelter and protections ince they venture there in such great numbers .Beside

,there are still a few stags of th e

old desc ent left ; and burrow-du c ks a nd


stood side by side close together and pickedgrub-worm s fi wh ic h must have been foundthere in lim i tless quantities for ‘ it was veryevident that there was never any complaintover a lack of food .

The great majority were going to travelfarther , and had only alighted to take a shortrest ; and as soon as the leader of a flockthought that his comrades had recoveredthemselves sufficiently he said , If you areready now, we may as well move on .

“ No,wait , wait ! We haven

’t had anythinglike enough

,

” said the followers .

“ You surely don ’t believe that I intend tolet you eat so much that you will not be ableto move ? ” said the leader , a nd fl a pped hiswings and started off . Along the outermostsea -weed banks lay a flock of swans . Theydidn ’t bother about going on land , but restedthemselves by lying a nd rocking on the water .

Now and then they dived downwith their necksand brought up food from the sea -bottom .

When they had gotten hold of anything verygood

,they indulged in loud shouts that

sounded like trumpet calls .


When the boy heard that there were swanson the shoals

,he hurried ou t to the sea -weed

banks . He had never before seen wild swansat close range . He had luck on his side , sothat he got close up to them .

The boy was not the only one who had heardthe swans . Both the wild geese and the graygeese and the loons swam ou t between thebanks

,laid themselves in a ring around the

swans and stared at them . The swans ruffled their feathers , raised their wings like sails ,and lifted their necks high in the air . OccaS ion a lly one and another of them swam up toa goose

, or a great loon , or a diving-duck , andsaid a few words . And then it appeared asthough the one addressed hardly dared raisehis bill to reply .

But then there was -a little loon—a tinym ischievous baggage—who couldn

’t stand allthis ceremony . He dived suddenly , anddisappeared under the water ’s edge . Soonafter that , one of the swans let out a scream ,

and swam off so quickly that the waterfoamed . Then he stopped and began to lookmajestic once more . Bu t soon, another one

ADVENTURES OF NILS

shrieked in the same way as the first one ,and

then a thirdThe little loon wasn ’t able to stay under

water any longer , but appeared on the water’s

edge , little and black and venomous . Theswans rushed toward him ; but when they sawwhat a poor little thing it was

,they turned

abruptly -as if they considered themselvestoo good to quarrel with him . Then the littleloon dived again , and pinched their feet . Itc ertainly must have hurt ; and the worst of itwas

,that they could not maintain their

dignity . At once they took a decided stand .

They began to beat the air with their wmgsso that it thundered ; came forward a bit -asthough they were running on the waterfinally

,got wind under their wings

, and raised

themselves .

When the swans were gone they weregreatly m issed ; and those who had latelybeen amused by the little loon ’s antics scoldedhim for his thoughtlessness .

The boy walked toward land again . Therehe stationed himself to see how the poolsn ipe played . They resembled small storks ;


like anyone else , said a brown mallard-duck .

“ They may try as much as they please , stillthey ’ll never get anywhere with such noses ,said a gray goose . And this was actuallytrue . The burrow-ducks had a big knob onthe base of the bill , which spoiled theirappearance .

Close to the shore , sea -gulls and sea

swallows moved forward on the water a nd

fished . What kind of fish are you catching ? ” asked a wild goose .

“ It ’s a stickleback . It

’

s Oland stickleback . It’

s the beststickleback in the world , said a gull .“Won ’t you taste of it ? ” And he flew up tothe goose

,with his mouth full of the little

fishes,and wanted to give her some . Ugh !

Do you think that I eat such filth ? ” said thewild goose .

The next morning it was just as cloudy .

The wild geese walked about on the meadowand fed ; but the boy had gone to the sea

shore to gather mussels . There were plentyof them ; and when he thought that the nextday

,perhaps

,they would be in some place

where they couldn ’t get any food at all , he


concluded that he would try to make himselfa little bag

,which he could fill with mussels .

He found an old sedge on the meadow , whichwas strong and tough ; and out of this hebegan to braid a knapsack . He worked atthis for several hours , but he was well satisfied with it when it was finished .

At dinner t im e all the wild geese camerunning and asked him if he had seen anything of the white goosey-gander “ No , hehas not been with me ,

” said the boy .

“We

had him with us all along unt il just lately,

”

said Akka , but now we no longer knowwhere he ’s to be found .

”

The boy jumped up,and was terribly fright

ened . He asked if any fox or eagle had putin an appearance

,or if any human being had

been seen in the neighbourhood . But no one

had noticed anything dangerous . Thegoosey—gander had probably lost his way inthe mist .

But it was just as great a misfortune for theboy , in whatever way the white one had beenlost

,and he started off immediately to hunt

for him . The mist shielded him , so that h e

ADVENTURES OF NILS

c ould run wherever he wished without beingseen , but it also prevented him from seeing .

He ran southward along the shore—all theway down to the lighthouse and the mistc annon on the island ’s extreme point . Itwa s the same bird confusion everywhere ,but no goosey-gander . He ventured over toOt tenby estate , and he searched every one of

the old , hollow oaks in Ottenby grove , buthe saw no trace of the goosey—gander .

He searched until it began to grow dark .

Then he had to turn back again to the eas ternshore . He walked with heavy steps , andwas fearfully blue . He didn ’t know whatwould become of him if he couldn ’t find the

goosey-gander. There was no one whom hec ould Spare less .

But when he wandered over the sheepmeadow, what was that big, white thing thatc ame toward him in the mist if it wasn ’tthe goosey-gander ? He was all right , and

very glad that , at last , he had been able tofind his way back to the others . The misth a d ma de h im so dizzy, he said , that he hadwa ndered a round on the b ig meadow a ll day


and the boy must return to the beach , hecouldn ’t believe anything but that histravelling companion was lost . He was so

depressed,he did not know what to do

with himself .He had just climbed over the wall again

when he heard a stone crash down closebeside him ; As he turned to see what it was

,

he thought that he could distinguish something that moved on a stone pile which layclose to the wall . He stole nearer , and saw

the goosey-gander come trudging wearilyover the stone pile

,with several long fibres in

his mouth . The goosey-ga nder didn ’t see

the boy,and the boy d id not call to him , but

thought it advisable to find ou t first why. thegoosey-gander time a nd again disappeared inthis m annerAnd he soon learned the reason for it . Up

in the stone-pile lay a young gray goose ,who cried with joy when the goosey-gandercame . The boy crept near , so that he heardwhat they said ; then he found out that thegray goose had been wounded in one wing ,so that sh e could not fly , and that her floc k


had travelled away from her , and left heralone . She had been near death ’s door withhunger

,when the white goosey-gander had

heard her call , the other day ,and had

sought her ou t . Ever since,he had been

carrying food to her . They had both hopedthat she would be well before they left theisland

,but

,as yet , sh e could neither fly nor

walk . She was very much worried over this,

but he comforted her with the thought thathe shouldn

’t travel for a long t inl e . At lasthe bade her good-night , and promised to comethe next day .

The boy let the goosey-gander go ; and assoon as he was gone , he stole , in turn ,

up tothe stone heap . Hewas angry because he hadbeen deceived

,and now he wanted to sa y to

that gray goose that the goosey-gander washis property . He was going to take theboy up to Lappla nd ,

and there would beno talk of his staying here on her account .

But now , when he saw the young gray gooseclose to , he understood ,

not only why thegoosey-gander had gone and carried food toher for two days , but also why he had not


wished to mention that he had helped her .

She had the prettiest little head ; her featherd ress was like soft satin , and the eyes weremild and plea d ing .

When she saw the boy,sh e wa n ted to run

away ; bu t the left wing w a s ou t of joint a nd

d ragg ed on the ground ,so tha t i t interfered

with her m ovem ents .

You mustn'

t be a fra id of m e,sa id the

boy, a nd d id n

'

t look nea rly so a ngry a s he h a din tended to a ppear . I

’

m Th um b ie to t , Mor

ten gmosey-ga nde r

'

s c omra de .

"

he continued .

Then he stood the re , a nd d idn ’t know Wha the wa nted to sa y.

Occa s iona lly one li nd s som ething amon g

a n im a ls whic h m a kes one wond e r wha t sor t. ofc rea tures they rea lly a re . One is a lm ost

a fra id tha t they m a y he tra nsform e d hum a n

beings . It wa s som e thing like this w ith the

g ra y goose . As soon a s'

l‘

hum b ie lo t sa idwho he wa s , she lowe rm l he r nec k a nd hea dve ry c ha rm ing ly befo re h im . a nd s aid in a

Vo ic e th a t wa s so pre ttv tha t he c ould n'

t

bel ieve i t wa s a goose who Spoke :"I a m

ve ry gla d tha t y ou ha ve com e her e to help


wished to mention that he had helped her .

She had the prettiest little head ; her featherdress w a s like soft satin , and the eyes werem ild and pleading .

When she saw the boy,sh e wanted to run

away ; but the left wing was out of jo1nt andd ragged on the ground , so that it interferedwith her movements .

“You mustn ’t be afraid of me

,said the

boy,and didn ’t look nearly so angry as he h a d

intended to appear .

“ I ’m Thumb ietot , Mor

ten goosey-gander ’s comrade ,” he continued .

Then he stood there , and didn’t know what

he wanted to say .

Occasionally one finds something amonga nimals which makes one wonder what sort ofc reatures they really are . One is almostafraid that they may be transformed humanbeings . It was something like this with the

gray goose . As soon a s Thum b ietot saidwho he wa s ,

She lowered her neck and headvery charmingly before him , and said in avoice that wa s so pretty that he couldn ’tbelieve it was a goose who spoke : I amvery glad that you have c ome here to ,

help


me . The white goosey-gander has told m e

that no one is as wise and as good as you .

”

She said this with such dignity , that theboy grew really embarrassed .

“ Th is surelycan ’t be any bird ,

” thought he .

“ It is certa inly some bewitched princess .

He was filled with a desire to help her , andran his hand under the fea thers , .and feltalong the wing-bone . Th e bone was not

broken , but there was something wrong withthe jo int . He got his finger down into theempty cavity . Be careful , now !

” he said ;and got a firm grip on the bone-pipe and fittedit into the place where it ought to be . He didit very quickly and well , considering it was thefirst time tha t he had attempted anything ofthe sort . But it must have hurt very much

,for

the poor young goose uttered a s ingle shrillcry , and then sank down am ong the stoneswithout showing a Sign of life .

The boy w as terribly frightened . He h a d

only, wished to help her , and now sh e wa s

dead . He made a big jump from the stonepile , and ran away . He thought it was a s

though he had murdered a human being.


The next morning it was clear and freefrom mist , a nd Akka said that now theyshould continue their travels . All the otherswere willing to go , but t h e white gooseygander made excuses . The boy understoodwell enough that he didn ’t care to leave thegray goose . Akka did not listen to him

,but

started off .

The boy jumped up on the goosey-gander ’sback

,and the white one followed the floc k

albeit Slowly and unwillingly . The boy w a s

mighty glad that they could fly aw a v fromthe island . He was conscience—stricken on

account of the gray goose , and had not caredto tell the goosey—gander how it had turnedou t when he had tried to cure her . It wouldprobably be best if Morten goosey-gandernever found out about this , he thought ,though he wondered

,at the same time

,how

the white one had the heart to leave the graygoose .

But suddenly the goosey-gander turned .

The thought of the young gray goose hadoverpowered him . It could go as it wouldwith the Lappland trip : he couldn ’t

, go

THE BIG BUTTERFLY

Wednesda y, April sixth .

HE geese travelled alongside the coast ofthe long island , which la y distinctly

visible under them . The boy felt happyand light of heart during the trip . He w a s

just as pleased and well satisfied as he hadbeen glum and depressed the day before

,

when he roamed around down on the island,

and hunted for the goosey-gander .

He saw now that the interior of the islandconsisted of a barren high plain , with a wreathof fertile land along the coast ; and he beganto comprehend the meaning of somethingwhich he had heard the other evening .

He had just seated him self to rest a bitby one of the many windmills on the highland ,

when a couple of Shepherds came along withthe dogs beside them , and a large herd of sheepin their train . The boy had not been afraid

2 42


because he was well concealed under thewindmill stairs . But as it turned ou t , theShepherds came and seated themselves on thesame stairway

,and then there was nothing

for him to do but to keep perfectly still .

One of the shepherds was young , and lookedabout as folks do m ostly ; the other was anold queer one . His body was large andknotty

,but the head was small

, a nd the facehad sensitive and delicate features . It a p

pea red as though the body and head didn’t

want to fit together at all .One moment he sa t silent and gazed into

the mist , with an unutterably weary expression. Then he began to talk to h is c om

panion . Then the other one took out somebread and cheese from his kna psack

,to eat

h is evening meal . He answered scarcelya nythmg , but listened very patiently , just asif he were th inking :

“ I might as well give youthe pleasu re of letting you chatter a whi le .

New I Shall tell you something , Eric ,said the old shepherd .

“ I have figu red out

that in former days,when both human beings

and animals were much larger than they a re

ADVENTURES OF NILS

now, that the butterflies , too,must have been

uncommonly large . And once there was abutterfly that was many miles long

,and had

wings as wide as seas . Those wings wereblue , and shone like silver , and so gorgeousthat , when the butterfly was ou t flying , allthe other animals stood still and stared at it .

It had this drawback,however

,that it w a s

too large . The wings had hard work to carryit . But probably all would have gone verywell , if the butterfly had been wise enough toremain on the hillside . But it wasn ’t ; it ventured ou t over the East sea . And it hadn ’t gotten very far before the storm came along andbegan to tear at its wings . Well , it

’

s easy tounderstand

,Eric

,how things would go when

the East sea storm commenced to wrestle withfrail butterfl y-wings . It wasn ’t long beforethey were torn away and scattered , and then ,

of course , the poor butterfl y fell into the sea .

At first it was tossed backward and forwardon the b illows , and then it was stranded upona few cliff-foundations outside of Smaland .

And there it lay- as large and long as it w a s .

“New I think , Eric , that if the butterfly

a few c l iff -found a u s 01

wings asblue , andthat , whenthe other anIt had thistoo large T1.

i t . But prob .

well , if the butremain on the htured ou t over th e

2 46 ADVENTURES OF NIIAS

how he would take this assertion . But theyoung man kept on eating with the utmostcalm , and nodded to him to continue .

“As soon as the butterfly had been changedinto a limestone rock

,many different kinds of

seeds of herbs and trees came travelling withthe winds , and wanted to take root on it . Itwas a long time before anything but sedgecould grow there . Then came Sheep sorrel ,and the rock- rose and thorn-brush . Buteven to-day there is not so much growth on

Alv a ret , that the mountain is well covered ,but it shines through here and there . Andno one can think of ploughing and sowing uphere

,where the earth-crust is so thin . But

if you will admit that Alv a ret and the strongholds around it

,are made of the butterfl y

body,then you may well have the right to

question where that land which lies beneaththe strongholds came from .

”

“ Yes,it is just that ,

” said he who waseating . That I should indeed like to know .

”

“Well,you must remember that Oland has

lain in the sea for a good many years , and inthe course of time all the things which tumble


want to know : if the peasants who live on thebuilt-up farms beneath the strongholds , or thefishermen who take the small herring from thesea , or the merchants in Borgholm

, or thebathing guests who come here every summer

,

or the tourists who wander around in Borgholm ’s old castle ruin , or the sportsmen whocome here in the fall to hunt partridges

, or

the painters who s it here on Alv a ret and paintthe sheep and windmills—I Should like toknow if a ny of them understand that this islandhas been a butterfly which flew about withgreat shimmery wings .

”

“Ah ! ” said the young shepherd ,suddenly .

It Should have occurred to some of them,as

they sat on the edge of the stronghold of anevening

,and heard the nightingales trill in

the groves below them , and looked overKalmar Sound , that this island could not havecome into existence in the same way a s theothers .

”

“ I want to ask , said the old one ,“ if no one

has had the desire to give wings to the windmills—so large that they could reach to

hea ven , so large that they could lift the whole


island out of the sea and let it fly like abutterfly among butterfl ies .

”

“ It may be possible that there is somethingin what you sa y , said the young one ; for

on summer nights , when the heavens widenand open over the island , I have sometimesthought that it was as if it wanted to raiseitself from the sea , and fly away .

”

But when the old one had finally gottenthe young one to talk

,he didn ’t listen to him

very much .

“ I would like to know,

” the oldone said in a low tone ,

“ if anyone can explainwhy one feels such a longing up here on

Alva ret . I have felt it every day of my life ;a nd I think it preys upon each and every onewho must go about here I want to know if

no one else h a s understood that all this wistfulness is caused by the fact that the wholeisland is a butterfly that longs for its wings .

”

LITTLE KARL ’S ISLAND

THE STORM

Frida y, April eigh th .

HE wild geese had spen t the night on

Oland ’s northern point , and were nowon their way to the continent . A strongsouth wind blew over Kalmar Sound

,and

they had been thrown northward . Still theyworked their way toward land with goodSpeed . But when they were nearing the firstislands a powerful rumbling was heard , as ifa lot of strong-winged birds had come flying ;and the water under them , all at once , becameperfectly black . Akka drew in her wings sosuddenly that She almost stood still in theair . Thereupon , sh e lowered herself to lighton the edge of the sea . But before the geesehad reached the water

,the west storm caught

up with them . Already , it it2 50

LITTLE KARL ’S ISLAND

THE STORM

Frida y, April ei gh th .

HE wild geese had spent the night on

Oland ’s northern point , and were nowon their way to the continent . A strongsouth wind blew over Kalmar Sound

,and

they had been thrown northward . Still theyworked their way toward land with goodspeed . But when they were nearing the firstislands a powerful rumbling was heard , as ifa lot of strong-winged birds had come flying ;and the water under them , all at once , becameperfectly black . Akka drew in her wings sosuddenly that She almost stood still in theair . Thereupon , sh e lowered herself to lighton the edge of the sea . But before the geesehad reached the water , the west storm caughtup with them . Already , it drove it

2 50


fogs , salt scum and small b irds ; it alsosnatched with it the wild geese

,threw them

on end , and cast them toward the sea .

It wa s a rough storm . The wild geese triedto turn back

,time and again

,but they couldn ’t

do it a nd~

were driven out toward the Eastsea . The storm had already blown them pastOland , and the sea lay before them —emptyand desolate . There was nothing for themto do

,but to keep out of the water .

When Akka observed that they were unableto turn back sh e thought that it was needlessto let the storm drive them over the entireEast sea . Therefore She sank down to thewater Now the sea was raging , andincreased in violence with every second . Thesea -green b illows rolled forward , with seethingfoam on their crests . Each one surged higherthan the other . It was as though they racedwith each other , to see which could foam thewildest . But the wild geese were not afraidof the swells . On the contrary ,

this seemedto afford them much pleasure . Th ey did notstrain themselves with swimming , but layand let themselves be washed up with the


wave-crests , and down in the water-dales ,and had just as much fun as children in aswing . Their only anxiety was that theflock should be separated . The few landbirds who drove by, up in the stor m,

criedwith envy : “ There is no danger for youwho can swim .

But the wild geese were certainly not out ofall danger . In the first place

,the rocking

made them helplessly sleepy . They wishedcontinually to turn their heads backward ,

poke their bills under their wings,and go to

sleep . Nothing can be more dangerous thanto fall asleep in this way ; and Akka calledou t all the while : “ Don ’t go to sleep , wildgeese ! He that falls asleep will get awayfrom the flock . He that gets away from theflock is lost .

”

Despite all attempts at resistance one

after another fell asleep ; and Akka herselfcame pretty near dozing off , when sh e suddenly saw something round and dark rise onthe top of a wave .

“ Seals ! Seals ! Seals ! ”

c ried Akka in a high ,shrill voice , and raised

herself up in the air with resounding wing


wave-crests , and down in the water-dales ,and had just as much fun as children in aswing . Their only anxiety was that theflock should be separated . The few landbirds who drove by

,up in the storm

,cried

with envy“ There is no danger for you

who can swim .

But the wild geese were certainly not out ofall danger . In the first place

,the rocking

made them helplessly sleepy . They wishedcontinually to turn their heads backward ,

poke their bills under their wings,and go to

sleep . Nothing can be more dangerous thanto fall asleep in this way ; and Akka calledou t all the while : “ Don ’t go to sleep , wildgeese ! He that falls asleep will get awayfrom the flock . He that gets away from theflock is lost .

”

Despite all attempts at resistance one

after another fell asleep ; and Akka herselfcame pretty near dozing off , when sh e suddenly saw something round and dark rise onthe top of a wave .

“ Seals ! Seals ! Seals ! ”

c ried Akka in a high ,shrill voice , and raised

h erself up in the air with resounding wing:

ADVENTURES OF.NILS 2 53

strokes . It was just at the cru cial moment .

Before the last wild goose had time to comeup from the water , the seals were so close toher that they made a grab for her feet .

Then the wild geese were once more up inthe storm which drove them before it ou t tosea . No rest did it allow either itself or thewild geese ; and no land did they see - onlydesolate sea .

They lit on the water again,as soon as they

dared venture . But when they had rockedupon the waves for a while , they becameSleepy again . And when they fell asleep

,

the seals came swimming . If old Akka hadnot

"

been so wakeful , not one of them wouldhave escaped .

All day the storm raged ; and it causedfearful havoc among the crowds of little birds

,

which at this time of year were migrat ing .

Some were driven from their course to foreignlands , where they died of starvation ; othersbecame so exhausted that they sank down inthe sea and were drowned Many werecrushed against the cliff-walls , and manybecame a prey for the seals .

ADVENTURES OF NILS

The storm continued all day , and ,at last

,

Akka began to wonder if sh e and her flockwould perish . They were now dead tired

,

and nowhere did they see any placewhere they might rest . Toward evening sh e

no longer dared to lie down on the sea ,

because now it filled up all of a sudden withlarge ice-cakes , which struck against eachother

,and sh e feared they should be crushed

between these . A couple of times the wildgeese tried to stand on the i c e-crust ; butone time the wild storm swept them into thewater ; another time , the merciless sealscame creep ing up on the ice .

At sundown the wild geese were once moreup in the air . They flew on—fearful for thenight . The darkness seemed to come uponthem much too quickly th i s night—whichwas so full of dangers .

It was terrible that they, as yet , sawno land .

How would it go with them if they wereforced to stay out on the sea all night ? Theywould either be crushed between the ice-cakes

or devoured by seals or sepa rated b y the

storm .


boy did not see how they could avoid beingdashed to pieces against it . Hardly had hewondered that Akka hadn ’t seen the d a nger in time , when they were over by themountain . Then he also noticed that infront of them was the half- round entranceto a grotto . Into this the geese steered ;and the next moment they were safe .

The first thing the wild geese thought ofbefore they gave themselves time to rejoiceover their safety—was to see if all their comrades were also harboured . Yes , there w ereAkka , Ik s i , Kolmi , Nelja , Viisi , Knus i , allthe s ix goslings , the goosey-gander

, Dunfin

and Thum b ietot ; but Kaksi from Nuolj a ,

the first left-hand goose , was missing—and noone knew anything about her fate .

When the wild geese discovered that noone but Kaksi had been separated from theflock

,they took the matter lightly . Kaksi

was old and wise . She knew all their bywaysand their habits

,and sh e , of course , would

know how to find her way back to them .

Then the wild geese began to look around inthe cave . Enough daylight came in through

ADVENTUR ES OF NILS 2 57

the opening , so that they could see thegrotto was both deep and wide . They weredelighted to think they had found such afine night harbour

,when one of them caught

Sight of some shining , green dots , which glit

tered in a dark corner .

“

These are eyes ! ”

cried Akka .

“There are b ig animals in here .

They rushed toward the open ing , but Thumb

ietot called to them :“ There i s nothing to

run away from ! It’

s only a few sheep whoare lying alongside the grotto wall . ”

When the wild geese had accustomed themselves to the dim daylight in the grotto , theysaw the sheep very distinctly . The grown-up

ones might be about a s many a s there weregeese ; but beside these there were a fewlittle lambs . An old

“

ram with long , twistedhorns appeared to be the most lordly one of

the flock .~ The , wild geese went up to him

with much bowing. and scraping .

“Wellmet .in

‘ the ' wilderness ! ” they greeted,but

the big ram lay still , and did not speak aword of welcome .

Tben'

the Wild geese thought that the sheenwere displea sed because they h ad t aken


Shelter in their grotto . It is perhaps notpermissible that we have come in here ?

"

said Akka . But we cannot help it , for weare wind-driven . We have wandered aboutin the storm a ll day

,and it would be very

good to be allowed to stop here to-night .

After that a long time passed before any of

the sheep answered with words ; but , on theother hand , it could be heard distinctly thata

‘

pair of them heaved deep sighs . Akkaknew , to be sure , that Sheep are always shyand peculiar ; but these seemed to have noidea of how they should conduct themselves .

Finally an old ewe , who had a long andpathetic face and a doleful voice , said :There isn ’t one among us that refuses tolet you stay ; but this is a house of mourning ,and we cannot receive guests as we did informer days .

” “You needn ’t worry about

anything of that sort,said Akka . If you

knew what we have endured this day,you

would surely understand that we are satisfiedif we only get a safe spot to sleep on .

”

When Akka said this , the old ewe rai sedherself . I believe that it would be better


with such b ig a nd c oarse horns . In otherrespects , also , he was noticeable . He hada high , rolling

”

forehead , intelligent eyes , anda good bearing—as . though he were a proudand courageous animal .I cannot assume the responsibility of

letting you geese remain , without telling youthat it is unsafe here ,

” said he . We cannotreceive night guests just now . At ' las tAkka began to comprehend that this wasserious . “We shall go away , since you reallywish it , said she.

“But won ’t you tell us

first , what ' it is that troubles you ? Weknow nothing a bout

'

it . We do not eVen

know where we are . This is L ittle Ka rl’

s

Island ! ” said the ram . It lies outside of

Gottland , and only sheep and sea -birds livehere .

” “ Perhaps you are wild Sheep ?” said

,Akka . We ’re not far removed from it ,replied the ram . We have nothing to dowith human beings . It ’s an old agreementbetween us and some peasants on a farm inGottland , th at they Shall supply us withfodder in c ase We have snow-winter ; and

'

as

ADVENTURES OF NILS 2 6:

away those of us who bec ome superfluous .

The island is small , so it c annot feed verymany of us . But otherwise we take care ofourselves all the year round , and we do not

live in houses with doors and locks , but wereside in grottoes like these .

”

Do you stay out here in the winter a s

well ? ” asked Akka , surprised We do,

”

answered the ram . We have good fodderup here on the mountain , all the year around .

”

“ I think it sounds as if you might have itbetter than other Sheep ,

” said Akka “ Butwhat is the misfortune that has befallenyou ? It was b itter c old last winter . Thesea froze, and then three foxes came over hereon the ice , and here they have been eversince . Otherwise , there are no dangerousanimals here on the island .

” Oh ho ! do

foxes dare to attack such -as you ? “ Oh ,

no! not during the day ; then I can protectmyself and mine ,

” said the ram , shaking hishorns .

“ But they sneak upon us at n ight

when we sleep in the grottoes . We try tokeep awake , But one must sleep some of thetime ; and then they come upon us . They

ADVENTURES OF NILS

have already killed every sheep in the othergrottoes , and there were herds that were justas large as mine .

”

It isn ’t pleasant to tell that we are so

helpless ,” said the old ewe .

“We cannothelp ourselves any better than if we weretame sheep .

” “ Do you think that theywill come here to night ? asked Akka . Thereis nothing else in store for us ,

” answered theold ewe .

“Th ev were here last night , and

stole a lamb from us . They ’ll be sure to comeagain , as long as there are any of us alive .

This is what they have done in the otherplaces .

” But if they are allowed to keepthis up , you

’ll become entirely exterminated ,

’

said Akka .

“ Oh ! it won’t be long before

it is all over with the sheep on Little Karl ’sIsland , said the ewe .

Akka stood there hesitatingly . It was notpleasant , by any means , to venture out inthe storm again , and it wasn

’t good toremain in a house where such guests wereexpected . When She had pondered a while ,she turned to Thum b ietot . I wonder '

if

you will help us , as you have done so many


giants,or other stone- trolls—or perhaps they

were actual human beings . At fir st hethought that he was dreaming , but now hewas positive that he had not fallen asleep.

He saw the big°

men so distinctly that itcouldn ’t be an illusion . Some of them stoodon the land—strip , and others right fon themountain just as if they intended to climbit . Some had big , thick heads ; others hadno heads at all . Some were one-a rmed

,

and some had humps both before a nd

behind . He had never seen anything so

extraordinary .

The boy stood and worked himself into astate of panic because of those trolls , sothathe almost forgot to keep his eye p eeled forthe foxes . But now he heard a claw scrapeagainst a stone . He saw three foxes comingup the steep ; and as soon as he knew that hehad something real to deal with , he was calmagain

,and not the least bit scared . It struck

him that it w a s'

a pity to awaken only thegeese

,and to leave the sheep to their . fate .

He thought he would like to arrange thingssome other way .

ADVENTURES OF NILS

He ran quickly to the other end of the grotto ,Shook the big ram ’s horns until he awoke , and ,

at the same time , swung himself upon his back .

Get up,Sheep

,and we ’ll try to frighten the

foxes a bit ! ” said the boy .

He had tried to be a s quiet as possible ,but th e foxes must have heard some noise ;for when they came up to the mouth of thegrotto they stopped and deliberated . It

was certainly someone in th ere that moved .

said one . I wonder if they are awake .

“ Oh , go ahead , you !” said another . At

all events , they can’t do anything to u S .

When they came farther in ,in the grotto

,

they stopped and ,

sni ffed .

“Who shall wetake to-night ? wh ispered the one who wentfirst .

“To-night we will take the big ram ,

”

said the last After that,we ’ll have easy

work with the rest .

The boy Sa t on the old ram ’s back and saw

how they sneaked along . Now butt straightforward ! ” whispered the boy . The rambutted , and the first fox W 211. ) thrust— top overtail—back to the Opening . Now butt to theleft ! ” said the boy,

and turned the big ram ’s


head m that direction . The ram measureda terrific assault that caught the second foxin the side . He rolled around several timesbefore he got to his feet again and madehis escape . The boy had wished that thethird one ,

too , might have gotten a bump ,

but this one had already gone .

“ Now I think that they ’ve had enough forto n ight , said the boy .

“ I think so too ,

"

said the big ram . Now lie down on my back ,

and creep into the wool ! You deserve tohave it warm and comfortable , after all thewmd and storm that you have been out in .

”

HELL S HOLE

THE next day the big ram went around withthe boy on his back , and showed him theisland . It consisted of a single massivemountain ] It was like a large house withperpendicular walls and a flat roof . Firstthe ram walked up on the mountain-roof andshowed the boy the good grazing lands there ,and he had to admit that the island seemedto be especially created for sheep . There

’


Oh , yes ! it’s pretty enough here

,said the

big ram . It was as if he wished to a dd

something ; but he did not , only sighed .

“ If you go about here alone you mustlook out for the

,crevices which run all around

th e mountain ,

”

h e continued after a little .

And this w a s a good warn ing , for there weredeep and broad crevices in several places .Th e largest of them was called Hell ’s Hole .

That crevice was many fathoms deep andnearly one fathom wid e .

“ If anyone felldown there , it would certainly be the last ofhim

,said the big ram . The boy thought it

sounded as if he h a d a special mean ing inwhat he said .

Then he conducted the boy down to thenarrow strip of shore . Now he could see

those giants which had frightened him the

n ight before , at close ra nge . They werenothing but tall rock-pillars . The b ig ramcalled them “ cliffs .

” The boy couldn ’t see

enough of them . He thought that i f therehad ever been any trolls who had turnedinto stone they ought to look just like that .

Although it was pretty down on the shore,‘

ADVENTURES or NILS 2 69

the boy liked it still better on the mountainheight . It was ghastly down here ; for everywhere they came across dead sheep . It w ashere that the foxes had held their orgies .

He saw skeletons whose flesh had been eaten ,

and -bodies that were half- eaten , and otherswhich they had scarcely tasted , but hadallowed to lie untouched . It was heart- rending to see how th e wild beasts had thrownthemselves upon the sheep just for sportjust to hunt them and tear them to death .

The big ram did not pause in front of thedead , but walked by them in silence . Butthe boy, meanwhile , could not help seeing allthe horror .Then the big r am

’

went up on the mountainheight again ; but when he was there hestopped and said : If someone who iscapable and wise could see all the miserywhich prevails here

,he surely would not be

able to rest until these foxes h a d f‘

ib een puni sh ed .

” “ The foxes must live,too ,

” said theboy. Yes , said the big ram ,

“ those whodo not tear in pieces more animals than

'

theyneed for their sustenance

,they may as well


live . But these are felons . The peasantswho own the island ought to come here andhelp you , insisted the boy .

“ They haverowed over a number of times

,replied the

ram , but the foxes always hid themselvesin the grottoes and crevices

,so they could not

get near them , to Shoot them .

” “You surely

cannot mean , father , that a poor little creaturelike me should be able to get at them , whenneither you nor the peasants have succeededin getting the better of them . He that islittle and spry can put many things to rights ,said the big ram .

”

They talked no more about this , and the boywent over and seated himself among the wild

geese who fed on the highland . Althoughhe had not cared to Show his feelings beforethe ram , he was very sa d on the Sheep ’ sa ccount , and he would have been glad tohelp them . I can at l east talk with Akkaa nd Morten goosey-gander about the matter ,

”

thought he .

“Perhaps they can help me witha good suggestion .

”

A little later the white goosey-gander tookthe boy on his back and went over the


nigh impossible to take the life of a goose onan open plain , thought at first that theywouldn ’t chase after the goosey-gander . Butas they had nothing else to do

,they finally

sneaked down on one of the long passes,and

tried to stea l up to him . They went’

about itso cautiously that the goosey-gander couldn ’tsee a Sha dow of them .

They were not far off when the gooseygander made an attempt to raise himselfinto the air . He spread h is w ings

,but he did

not succeed in lifting himself . When thefoxes seemed to grasp the fact that hecouldn ’t fiy,

they hurried for ward with greatereagerness than before . They no longer con

c ea led themselves in the cleft , but came up

on the highland . They hurried as fast asthey could , behind tufts and hollows , andcame nearer and nearer the goosey-ganderwithout his seeming to notice that he wasbeing hunted . At last the foxes were so nearthat they could make the final leap . S imulta neou sly,

all three threw themselves , withone long jump at the goosey-gander .

But still at the last moment he must have


noticed something,for he ran out of the w a y ,

so the foxes missed him . This,at any rate ,

didn ’t mean very much , for the goosey-ganderonly h a d a couple of metres headway , and ,

in the bargain,he limped . Anyway , the poor

thing,

ran ahead as fast a s he could .

The boy sa t upon the goose-back—backward— and shrieked and called to the foxes .

“You have eaten yourselves too fat on mut

ton ,foxes . You can ’t catch up with a goose

even .

” He teased them so that they becamecrazed with rage and thought only of rushingforward .

The white one ran right straight to the bigcleft . When he was there , he made one

stroke with his wings , and got over . Justthen the foxes were almost upon him .

The goosey-gander hurried on with the samehaste as before , even after he had gottenacross Hell ’s Hole . But he had hardly beenrunning two metres before the boy patted himon th e neck , and said :

“ Now you can stop ,

goosey-gand er .

At that instant they heard a number of

w ild howls behind them . and a scraping of


claws , and heavy falls . But of the foxes theysaw nothing more .

The next morning the lighthouse keeper onGreat Karl ’s Island found a bit of bark pokedunder the entrance-door , and on it had beencut

,in slanting

,angular letters : “ The foxes

on the little island have fallen down intoHell ’s Hole . Take care of them ! ”

And this the lighthouse keeper did , too.


to himself . For he was just a little afraid of

both the sea -nymph and the elf,but he didn ’t

believe in witches th e least little bit .

If there had been any witches out thatnight

,he Should have seen them , to be sure .

It w a s so light in th e heavens that not thet iniest black Speck could move in the airwithout his seeing it .

While the boy lay there with his nose inthe air and thought about this

,his eye rested

on something lovely ! The moon ’s disc waswhole and round

,and rather high , and over

it a big bird came flying . He did not flypast the moon

,but he moved just as though

he might have flown out from it . The birdlooked black against the light background

,

and the wings extended from one rim of thedisc to the other . He flew on ,

evenly ,in the

same direction , and the boy thought that hewas painted on the moon ’s disc . The bodywas small , the neck long and slender , the legshung down , long and thin . It couldn ’t beanything but a stork .

A couple of seconds later Herr E rm enr 1c h ,

the stork , lit beside the boy . He bent down


and poked him with his bill to awakenhim .

Instantly the boy sa t up .

“ I ’m not asleep ,

Herr E rm enr i c h ,

” he said . How does ithappen th at you are ou t in the midd le of thenight

,and how is everything at Glimminge

castle ? Do you want to Speak with motherAkka ? ”

“ It ’s too light to sleep to night , answeredHerr E rm enr i c h .

“ Therefore I concludedto travel over here to Karl ’s Island a nd huntyou up , friend Thum b ietot . I learned fromthe seamew that you were spending the nighthere . I have not as yet moved over to Glimminge castle , but am still living at Pommern .

”

The boy was Simply overjoyed to thinkthat Herr E rmenr ic h had sought h i m out .

They chatted about all sorts of things,like

old friends . At last the stork asked the boyif he wouldn ’t like to go out riding for a whileon this beautiful night .

Oh , yes ! that the boy wanted to do , if thestork would manage it so that he got back toth e wild geese before sunrise . This he prom

ised, so off th ev went .

2 7s ADVENTURES OF NILS

Again Herr E rm enr ic h fl ew straight towardthe moon . They rose and rose ; the sea sankdeep down

,but the flight went so light and

easy that it seemed alm ost as if the boy laystill in the air .When Herr E rm enr i c h began to descend ,

the boy thought that the flight had lasted anunreasonably Short time .

They landed on a desolate bit of seashore ,which was covered with fine , even sand .

All along the coast ran a row of flying-sand

drifts,with lvm e-grass on their tops . They

were not very high , but they prevented theboy from seeing any of the island .

Herr E rm enr ic h stood on a sand-hill , drewup one leg and bent his head backward , so hecould stick his b ill under the wing .

“You

can roam around on the Shore for a while ,he said to Thumb ietot ,

“while I rest myself .But don ’t go so far away but what you c a n

find your way back to me again ! ”

To start with , the boy intended to climba sand-hill and see how the land behind itlooked . But when he had walked a coupleof paces , he stubbed the toe of his wooden

ADVENTURES OF NILS

ou t what this can be,thought he

,and went

in through the gate .

In the deep archway there were guards,

dressed in brocaded and puffed suits,with

long-handled spears beside them,who sa t

and threw dice . They thought only of thegame , a nd took no notice of the boy whohurried past them quickly .

Just within the gate he found an openSpace

,paved with large

,even stone blocks .

All around this were high and magnificentbuildings ; and between these Opened long ,

narrow streets . On the square—facing thegate— it fairly swarmed with human beings .

The men wore long , fur- trimmed capes oversatin suits ; plume-bedecked hats sat obliquelyon their heads ; on their chests hung superbchains . They were all so rega lly gotten upthat the whole lot of them might have been

The women went about in high' head

dresses and long robes with tight-fitt ingSleeves . They , too,

were beautifully dressed ,but their splendour was not to be comparedwith that of the men .


This was exactly like the old story-bookwhich mother took from the chest —onlyonce—and Showed to him . The boy Simplycouldn ’t believe his eyes .

But that which was even more wonderful tolook upon than either the men or the women ,

was the city itself . Every house was builtin such a way that a gable faced the street .And the gables were so highly ornamented

,

that one could believe they wished to competewith each other as to which one could Showthe most beautiful decorations .

When one suddenly sees so,

much that isnew

,he cannot manage to trea sure it all in

his memory . But at least the boy couldreca ll that he had seen stairway gables on thevarious landings, which bore images of th e

Christ and his Apostles ; gables , where therewere images in niche after niche a ll alongthe wall : gables that were inlaid with multicoloured bits of glass , and gables that werestriped a nd checked with white and blackmarble . As the boy admired

‘

a ll this , a sudden sense Of haste came over him “Any-x

thing like this my eyes h a ve '

never seen before .


Anything like this , they would never see

again ,

” he said to himself . And he began torun in toward the city—up one street , a nd

down another .The streets were straight and narrow

,

but not empty and gloomy, a s they were inthe cities with which he was familiar . Therewere people everywhere . Old women sa t

by their open doors a nd Spun without a spinning-wheel—only with the help of a Shuttle .

The merchants ’ shops were like market- stalls—Opening on

‘

the street .

'

All the handworkers did their work out of doors . In one

place they were boil ing crude oil ; in anothertanning hides ; in a third there was a l ongrope-walk .

If only the boy had had time enough hec ould have learned how to make all sorts ofthings . Here he saw hOW armourers hammered ou t thin breast-plates ; how turnerstended their irons ; how the shoemakers soledsoft , red Shoes ; how the gold-wire drawerstwisted gold thread , and how the weaversinserted S ilver and g old into their weaving .

But the boy did not have the t ime to stay .


what a magnificent display of gilded crossesand gold-trimmed altars and priests in goldenvestments , shimmered through the open gate ?Directly opposite the church there was ahouse with a notched roof and a Single slender , sky

-high tower . That was probablythe courthouse . And between the cour thouse and the cathedral , all around thesquare , stood the beaut iful gabled houseswith their multiplicity! of adornments .

The boy had run himself both warm andtired . He thought that now he had seen themost remarkable things

,and therefore he

began to walk more leisurely . The streetwhich he had turned into now was . surelythe one

' where the inhabitants purchasedtheir fine ’ clothing .

"

He' saw crowds of peoplestanding before the little Stalls where themerchants spread brocades

,st iff satins , heavy

gold cloth,shimmery velvet

,delicat e v eiling,

and laces as Sheer a s a spider ’s web .

Before , when the boy ran so fast , no onehad paid any attent i on toh im . The peoplemust have thought that it was only a little

gray rat that darted,

by them ;‘ But now .


when he walked down the street, very Slowly ,

one of the sa lesmen caught sight of him , andbegan to beckon to him .

At fir st the boy was uneasy and wa nted tohurry out of the way, but the salesman onlybeckoned and smiled , and Spread out on thecounter a lovely piece of satin damask as

if he wanted to tempt him .

The boy shook his head . I will never beso rich that I can buy even a metre of that

c loth ,though t

'

he

But now they had caught Sight of h im inevery stall

,all along the street . Wherever

he looked stood a salesman and beckonedto h im.

.They left their costly wares , andthought only of him . He saw how they hurried into the most hidden corner of the stallto fetch the best that they had to sell , andhow their hands trembled with ea gernessand haste as they laid it upon the counter .

When the boy continued to go on , one of

the merchants jumped over the counter,

caught hold of him , and Spread before himsilver cloth and woven tapestries , which shone

with brill iant colours .


The boy couldn’t do anything but laugh at

him . The salesman certainly must understand that a poor little creature like himcouldn ’t buy such things . He stood stilland held out his two empty hands , so theywould understand that he had nothingand let him go in peace .

But the merchant raised a finger and noddedand pushed the whole pile of beautiful thingsover to him .

“ Can he mean that he will sell all this fora gold piece ? ” wondered the boy .

The merchant brought out a tiny wornand poor coin—the smallest that one couldsee—and Showed it to him . And he was SOeager to sell that he 1nc rea sed his pile witha pair of large , heavy, Silver goblets .Then the boy began to d ig down in his

pockets . He knew, of course , that h e didn’t

possess a single coin , but he couldn’t help

feeling for it .

All the other merchants stood still andtried to see how the sale would come off ,

and when they observed that the boy beganto search in his pockets , they flung themselves ;


no streets , no houses could now be seenonly the sea .

The boy couldn ’t help that the tears cameto his eyes . He had believed in the beginning

,

that that which he sa w was nothing but anhallucination , but this he had already forgotten . He only thought about how prettyeverything w a s . He felt a genuine

,deep

sorrow because the city had vanished .

That moment Herr E rm enr ic h awoke , andcame up to h im . But he d idn ’

t h ea r‘ him

,

and the stork had to poke the boy with his billto attract attention to hnn self . I believethat you stand here

“ and sleep just a s I do ,

”

said Herr E rm enr ic h .

Oh,Herr E rm enr ich said the boy . What

Wa s that city which stood h ere'

j ust now ?”

Have . you seen a city ?” said the stork .

You have Slept and dreamt , aS‘

I sa y .

No ! I have not dreamt ,” said Thum b ietot ,

and he told the stork all that he h a d

experienced .

Th en Herr E rmenr ic h sa id : For mypart ,Th um b ietot , I

“

believe t h at you fell asleephere on the strand and dreamm . all this.


But I will not conceal from you that Bataki ,the raven

,who is the most learned of all

birds,once told me that in former times there

was a city on this shore , called Vineta . Itwa s so rich and so fortunate , that no city hasever been more glorious ; but its inhabitants ,unluckily , gave themselves up to arroganceand love of display . As a punishment forthis , says Bataki , the city of Vineta w a s overtaken by a flood , and sank into the sea . Butthese inhabitants cannot die , neither is theircity destroyed . And one night in everyhundred years , it rises in all its Splendour upfrom the sea , and remains on t h e surfacejust One hour .

Yes , it must be so, said Thum b ietot ,for this I have seen .

”

“But when the h our is ~ up , it sinks again

into the sea , if , during that time , no merchantin Vineta has sold anything to a Single livingcreature . If you

,Thum b ietot , only had had

an ever so tiny coin,to pay the merchants ,

Vineta might have remained up here on theShore ; and its people could have lived a nd

died like other human beings .


Herr E rm enr i c h , said the boy, now Iunderstand why you came and fetched me inthe middle of the n ight . It was because youbelieved that I Should be able to save the oldcity . I am SO sorry it didn ’t turn out a s you

wished , Herr E rm enr ic h .

He covered his face with his hands andwept . It wasn ’t easy to sa y which one lookedthe more disc onsolate—the boy, or Herr

THE LIVING CITY

ON the afternoon of Easter Monday, thewild geese and Thumb ietot were on the wing .

They travelled over Gottland .

The large island lay smooth a nd evenbeneath them . The ground was chec kedjust as it w a s in Skane and there weremany churches and farms . But there wa sthis diff erence

,however

,that there were

more leafy meadows b etween the fields here,and then the farms were not built up withsmall houses . And there were no large manors


before sh e had learned through some crowsthat her comrades were on Little Karl ’sIsland . When Kaksi found out what waswrong with Thum b ietot , Sh e said impulsively :If Thum b ietot is grieving over an old

city , we’ll soon be able to comfort him . Just

come along , and I’ll take you to a place that

I saw yesterday ! You will not need to bedistressed very long .

”

Thereupon the geese had taken farewellof the Sheep , and were on their way to theplace which Kaksi wished to ShowThum b ietot .

AS blue as he was , he couldn’t keep from look

ing at the land over which he travelled,as

usual .He thought it looked as though the whole

island had in the beginning been just such ahigh , steep cliff as Kar l

’s Island—thoughmuch bigger of course . But afterward

,it

had in some way been flattened out . Someone had taken a big rolling-pin and rolledover it , as if it had been a lump of dough .

Not that the island had become altogether flatand even , like a bread-cake , for it wasn

’t likethat . While they had travelled along the coast

,


he had seen white lime walls with grottoes andcrags , in several directions ; but in most ofthe places they were levelled , and sankinconspicuously down toward the sea .

In Gottland they had a pleasant and peaceful holiday afternoon . It turned out to bemild Spring weather ; the trees had largebuds ; Spring blossoms dressed the ground inthe leafy meadows ; the poplars

’ long , thinpendants swayed ; and in the little gardens ,which one finds around every cottage

,the

gooseberry bushes were green .

The warmth and the Spring-budding hadtempted the people out into the gardens androads; and wherever a number of them werega thered together they were playing . It wasnot the children alone who played

,but the

grown-ups also . They were thr owing stonesat a given point

,and they threw balls in the

air with such exact aim that they almosttouched the wild geese . It looked cheerfuland pleas ant to see big folks at play ; and theboy certainly would have enjoyed it , if he hadoeen able to forget his grief because he h a dfa i led to save the city .


Anyway, he had to admit that this was alovely trip . There wa s SO much Singing andsound in the a ir . Little children playedring games , and sang a s they played . TheSalvation Army wa s out . He saw a lot of

people dressed in black and red— Sitting upona wooded hill , playing on guitars and brassinstruments . On one roa d came a great c rowdof people . They were Good Templars who hadbeen on a pleasure trip . He recognised themby the big banners with the gold inscriptionswhich waved above them . They sang songafter song as long as he could hear themAfter that th e boy could never think of

Gottland without thinking of the games andsongs at the same tim e .

He had been sitting and looking down fora long while ; but now he happened to raisehis eyes . No one can describe his amazement .

Before he was aware of it , the wi ld geese hadleft th e interior of the island and gene westward—toward the sea-coast . Now the wide ,blue sea lay before him . However , i t w a snot the sea

-t hat was remarkable, but a citywhich appeared on the sea -shore .


the glittering Splendour w a s gone . Th ere w a snothing left but the naked , gray stone skeleton .

When the boy came farther into the city,

he saw that the larger part of it w a s madeup of sm all , low houses ; but here and therewere st i ll a few high gabled houses anda few cathedrals , which were from the oldentime . Th e walls of the gabled houses werewhitewashed , and en tirely without ornamentation ; but because the boy had so lately seenthe buried city, he seemed to understandhow they had been decorated : some withstatues , and others with black and whitemarble . And it w a s the same with the old

cathedrals ; the majority of them were roofles s with bare interiors . The window openings were empty, the floors were grass-grown ,

and ivy cla mber ed along the walls . Butnow he knew how they h a d looked at one

time ; that they had been covered with imagesand p aintings ; that the chancel h a d hadtrimmed altars and gilded crosses , and thatthere priests had moved about , arrayed ingold vestments .

The boy sa w also the narrow streets , which


were almost deserted on holiday afternoons .

He knew ,he did , what a stream of stately

people had once upon a time sauntered abouton them . He knew that they had been like largeworkshops—filled with all sorts of workmen .

But that which N ils Holgersson did not see

was,t hat the city—even to-day—was both

beautiful and remarkable . He saw neitherthe cheery cottages on the Side streets

,

with their black walls,and white bows and

red pelargoniums behind the shining windowpanes

,nor the many pretty gardens and

avenues , nor the beauty in the weed-cladruins . His eyes were so filled with the preceding glory, that he could not see anythinggood in the present .

The wild geese flew back and forth over thecity a couple of times , so that Thum b ietotmight see everything . Finally they sankdown on the grass-grown floor of a cathedralruin to Spend the night .

When they had arranged themselves forsleep , Thum b ietot was still awake and lookedup through the Open arches

,to the pale pink

evening sky. When he had been sitting there


the glittering Splendour was gone . There wasnothing left but the naked , gray stone Skeleton .

When the boy came farther into the city,

he saw that the larger part of it w a s madeup of small , low houses ; but here and therewere still a few high gabled houses anda few cathedrals , which were from the oldentime . The walls of the gabled houses werewhitewashed , and entirely without ornamentation ; but because the boy had so lately seenthe buried city , he seemed to understandhow they had been decorated : some withstatues

,and others with black and white

marble . And it was the same with the old

cathedrals ; the majority of them were roofles s with ba re interiors . The window openings were empty, the floors were grass-grown ,

and ivy clambered along the walls . But

now he knew how they had looked~

a t one

time ; that they had been covered with imagesand p aintings ; that the chancel had hadtrimmed altars and gilded crosses , and thatthere priests had moved about , arrayed ingold vestments .

The boy saw also the narrow streets , which


a while , he thought he didn’t want to gr eve

any more because he couldn ’t save theburied city .

N0 , that he didn’t want to do , now that he

had seen this one . If that city,which he

had seen , had not sunk into the sea again,then it would perhaps become as dilapidateda s this one in a little while . Perhaps . it couldnot have withstood time and decay

,but would

have stood there with roofless churches andbare houses and desolate

,empty streets— just

like this one . Then it was better that it Shouldremain in all its glory down in the deep ;

“ It was best that it happened as it happened ,

” thought he .

“ If I had the power tosave the city , I don

’t believe that I x ShOuld

care to do it . Then he no longer grievedover that matter .And there are probably many among t h eyoung who think in the same way . Butwhen people are old , and have becomea ccustomed to being satisfied with little , thenthey are more happy over the Visby thatexists

,than over a m a gn ifient Vineta a t the

bottom of the sea .

THE LEGEND OF SMALAND

Tuesda y , Apri l tw elfth .

HE wild geese had made a good trip overthe sea , and had lighted in Tjust

Township,in northern Smaland . That town

ship didn ’t seem able to make up its mindwhether it wanted to be land or sea . Fiordsran in everywhere , and cut the land upinto islands and peninsulas and points andcapes . The sea was so forceful that theonly things which could hold themselvesabove it were hills and mountains . All thelowlands were hidden away under the waterexterior .

It was evening when the wild geese camein from the sea ; and the land with the littlehills lay prettily between the Shimmeringfiord s . Here and there

, on th e islands , the boysaw cabins and cottages ; and the fartherinla nd he came , the bigger and better becam e

2 99


the dwelling houses . Finally , they grewinto large

,white manors . Along the Shores

there was generally a border of trees ; andwithin this lay field -plots , and on the tops ofthe little hills there were trees again . Hecould not help but think of Blekinge . Hereagain was a place where land and sea met

,

in such a pretty and peaceful sort of wa y,just

as if they tried to Show each other the bestand loveliest which they possessed .

The wild geese alighted upon a limestoneisland a good way in on Goose-fiord . With thefirst glance at the shore they observed thatSpring had made rapid strides while they hadbeen away on the islands . The big

,fine

trees were not as yet leaf-clad , but theground under them was brocaded with whiteanemones , gagea , and blue anemones .When the wild geese saw the flower -carpet

they feared that they had lingered too longin the southern part of the country . Akkasaid instantly that there was no time inwhich to hunt up any of the stoppi

ng places

in Smaland , By the next morning theymust travel northward , over Ostergotland.


asked if it was hard to do .

‘Well , it isn’t

exa ctly easy ,’ said our Lord . Saint ‘Peter

stood there a little longer , and when he noticedhow easy it was to lay ou t one landscapeafter another , he too wanted to try his handat it .

‘Perhaps you need to rest yourselfa little

,

’ said Saint Peter,

‘I could attend tothe work in the meantime for you .

’ Butthis our Lord did not wish .

‘I do not knowif you are so much at home in this art that Ican trust you to take hold where I leaveoff ,

’ he answered . Then Saint Peter wasangry, and said that he believed he couldcreate just as fine countries as our Lordhimself .

“ It happened that our Lord w a s just thencreating Smaland . It wasn ’t even half- read ybut it looked as though it would be anindescribably pretty and fertile land . It wasdifficult for our Lord to sa y no to Saint Peter ,and aside from this

,he thought very glikely

that a thing so well begun no one could spoil .Therefore he said : ‘If you we , willprove which one of us two understands thissort of work the better . You , who are only


a novice , Shall go on with this which I havebegun , and I will create a new land .

’ T0 thisSaint Peter agreed at once ; and so theywent to work —each one 1n his place .

“ Our Lord moved southward a bit , andthere he undertook to create Skane . Itwasn ’t long before he was through with it

,

and soon he asked if Sa int Peter had finished ,

and would come and look at his work .

‘I hadmine ready long ago ,

’ said Saint Peter ; andfrom the sound of his voice it could be heardhow pleased he was with

‘

what he hadaccomplished .

“When Saint Peter saw Skane , he had toacknowledge that there was nothing butgood to be said of that land . It was a fertileland and easy to cultivate

,with wide plains

wherever one looked,and hardly a Sign of

hills . It was evident that ou r Lord had reallycontemplated making it such that peopleShould feel at home there .

‘Yes,this is a

good country,

’ said Saint Peter,

‘but I thinkthat mine is better .

’ ‘Then we ’ll take 2 a

look at it ,’ said ou r Lord

“ The land was already finished in the north


a nd east when Saint Peter began the work ,

but the southern and western parts,and the

whole interior , he had created all by himself .Now when our Lord came up there , whereSaint Peter had been at Work , he was so

horrified that he stopped short and exclaimed :‘What on earth have you been doing withthis land , Saint Peter ?

’

Saint Peter , too , stood and looked aroundperfectly astonished . He had had the idea thatnothing could be SO good for a land a s a greatdeal of warmth . Therefore he had gatheredtogether an enormous mass of stones andmountains , and erected a highland ,

and thishe had done SO that it Should be near the sun ,

and receive much help from the sun ’s heat .

Over th e stone-heaps he had Spread a thinlayer of soil , and then he had thought thateverything was well arranged .

“ But while he was down in Skane , a coupleof heavy Showers had come up , and more wasnot needed to Show what his work amountedto . When ou r Lord came to inspect theland , all the soil had been washed away, andthe naked mountain foundation shone forth

( 306 ADVENTURES OF NILS

This , to be sure , S aint Peter hadn’

t

thought about .‘Yes , here it will be a poor and frost~

bound land ,’

said our Lord ,‘it can ’t be

h elpedWhen little Mats had gotten this far in his

story , Osa , the goose-girl , protested :“ I can

not bear , little Mats, to hear you sa y that it isso miserable in Smaland ,

” said She . You

forget entirely how much good “

soil . thereis there . Only think of More district , byKalmar Sound ! I wonder where you ’ll finda richer gra in region . There are fields uponfields , just like here in Skane The soil isso good that I cannot imagine anything thatcouldn ’t grow there .

”

“ I can ’t help that , said little Mats'

. I’

m

only relating what others have said before .

“And I have heard many, sa y that there isnot a mere beautiful coast land than Tjust .Think of the bays and i slets , and the manors ,and the groves ! ” said Osa . Yes

,that ’s

true enough ,

” little Mats admitted .

“Anddon ’t you remember , continued Osa , the

school teacher said that such a ‘ lively and


picturesque district as that bit of Smalandwhich lies south of Lake Vettern is not to befound in all Sweden ? Think of the beautifulsea and the yellow coast-mountains

, a nd ofGrenna and Jonkoping , with its match factory

, a nd think of I—Iu skv a rn a , and all the bigestablishments there ! “ Yes , that

’s trueenoug said little Mats once again . Andthink of Visingso, little Mats , with the ruinsand the oa k forests and the legends ! Thinkof the valley through which Eman flows ,.

with all the villages and flour -mills and saw

mills,and the carpenter shops !

” “ Yes , thatis true enough ,

” said little Mats , and lookedtroubled .

All of a sudden he had looked up . Nowwe are pretty stupid

,

” said he . All this ,of course , lies in our Lord ’s Smaland , in th atpart of the land which was already finishedwhen Saint Peter undertook the job . It ’sonly natural that it Should be .pretty andfine there . But in Saint Peter ’s Smaland itlooks as it says in the legend . And it wasn ’tsurprising that our Lord was distressed wh en ir

he saw it , continued little Mats , a s he took


up the thread of his story again . SaintPeter didn ’t lose his courage , at all events,but tried to com fort our Lord .

‘Don ’t be so

grieved over this !’ said he .

‘Only wait untilI have created people who can till the swampsand break up fields from the stone hills .

’

That was the end of ou r Lord ’s patienceand he said : ‘No ! you can go down toSkane and make the Skan inge , but theSm ala nder I will create myself . ’ And so our

Lord created the Sm ala nder , and made himquick-witted and contented and happy andthri fty and enterprising and capable

,that he

might be able to get his livelihood in his poorc ountry .

”

Then little Mats was Silent ; a nd if NilsHolgersson had also kept S till , all would havegone well ; but he couldn

’t possibly. refrainfrom asking how Saint Peter had succeededin creating the Skan inge .

“Well,what do you think yourself ? ” sa i d

little Mats,and looked so scornful that Nils

Holgersson threw himself upon him , to thrashhim . But Mats was only a little tot , andOsa , the goose-girl, who was a year older

THE CROWS

THE EARTHEN CROCE

N THE southwest corner of Smaland liesa township called Sonnerbo . It is a

rather smooth and even country . And one

who sees it in winter , when it is . coveredwith snow , cannot imagine that there is anything under the snow but garden-plots , ryefields and clover-meadows as is generallythe case in flat countries . But, in the beginning of April when the Snow finally meltsaway in Sonnerbo, it is apparent that thatwhich lies hidden under it is only dry , sandyheaths , bare rocks , and big , marshy swamps .There are fields here and there , to besure , but they are so small that they arescarcely worth mentioning ; and one alsofinds a few little red or gray farmhouseshidden away in some beech-coppice

3 m


almost a s if they were afraid to Show them

Where Sonnerbo township touches theboundaries of Halland , there is a sandy heathwhich is SO far- reaching that he who standsupon one edge of it cannot look across to theother . Nothing except heather grows on theheath , and it wouldn

’t be easy either to coaxother growths to thrive there . To start with ,

one'

would have to uproot “ the heather ; forit is thus with heather : although it hasonly a little shrunken root , small shrunkenbranches , and dry, shrunken leaves it fanciesthat - it ’s a tree . Therefore it acts just likereal trees—Spreads itself out 111 forest fashionover wide areas ; hold s together faithfully , andcauses all foreign growths that wish to crowdin upon its territory to d ie out .

The only place on the heath where the '

heather is not all-powerful,

“ is a low , stonyridge which passes over it There you ’llfind juniper bushes

,mountain ash , and

a few large , fine 'oa ks . At the time when NilsHolgersson travelled around with the wildgeese , a little c ab in stood there , with a b it oi '


cleared ground around it . Bu t the peoplewho had lived there at one time , h a d,

forsome reason or other , moved away . The littlecabin was empty , and the ground lay un used .

When the tenants left the cabin t heyclosed the damper

,fastened the window

hooks , and locked the door . But no one h a dthought of the broken window-pane whichwa s only stuffed with a rag . After the Showersof a c ouple of summers , the rag had mouldedand shrunk , and , finally, a crow had succeededin poking it out .

The ridge on the heather-heath was reallynot as desolate a s one might think , for it wa sinhabited by a large crow- folk . Naturally

,

the crows did not live there all the yearround . They moved to foreign lands in thewinter ; in the autumn they travelled from one

grain-field to another all over GOta la nd ,

and picked grain ; during the summer , theyspread themselves over the farms in Sonnerbotownship

,and lived upon eggs and berries

and b ird lings ; but every Spring, when nesting time c ame , they came back to the heathenhea th .


who lead honourable lives—that is to say,

they only eat grain , worms , caterpillars , anddead animals ; and there are others who leada regular bandit ’s lif e , who throw themselves upon baby-hares and small birds

,and

plunder every single bird ’s nest they set eyeson .

The ancient Wh itefea th ers had been strictand temperate ; and a s long as they had ledthe flock , the crows had been compelled toconduct themselves in such a way that otherbirds could Speak no ill of them . But thecrows were numerous , and poverty was greatamong them . They didn

’

t care to go thewhole length of living a strictly moral life ,so they rebelled against the Wh itefea thers ,and gave the power to Wind-Rush , who wa sthe worst nest-plunderer and robber thatcould be imagined—if his wif e , Wind-Air

,

wasn ’t worse still . Under their governmentthe crows had begun to lead such a life thatnow they were more feared than pigeonhawks and leech-owls .

Naturally , Fum le-Drum le had nothing to

say in the flock . The crows were all of the


opinion that he did not in the least take afterhis forefathers , and that he wouldn

’t su it asa leader . N0 one would have mentioned him ,

if he hadn ’t constantly committed freshblunders . A few, who were quite sensible ,sometimes said perhaps it was lucky forFum le-Drum le that he was such a bunglingidiot

,otherwise Wind-Rush and Wind-Air

would hardly have allowed him—who wasof the old Chieftain stock—to remain withthe flock .

Now ,on the other hand

,they were rather

friendly toward him , and willingly took himalong with them on their hunting expeditions .

There all could observe how much more skilfuland daring they were than he .

None of the crows knew that it was Fum leDrum le who had peeked th e rag out of thewindow ; and had they known of this , theywould have been very much astonished .

Such a thing as daring to approach a humanbemg

’

s dwelling , they had never believed of

him . He kept the thing to hi mself verycarefully ; and he had his own good reasonsfor it . Wind and Air a lways trea ted him


well in the daytime,and when the others were

around ; but one very dark night , when thecomrades sa t on the night branch , he w a sattacked by a couple of crows and nearlymurdered . After that he moved every night

,

after dark , from his usual Sleeping quartersinto the empty cabin .

Now one afternoon , when the crows hadput their nests in order on crow- ridge , theyhappened upon a remarkable find . Win dRush , Fum le—Drum le , and a couple of othershad flown down into a big hollow in one corner of the heath . The hollow was nothingbut a gravel-pit

,but the crows could not be

satisfied with such a S imple explanation ; theyfl ew down in it continually , and turned everySingle sand-grain to get a t the reason whyhu man beings had digged it . While thecrows were pottering around down there , amass of gravel fell from one side . Theyru shed up to it , and had the good fortune tofind amongst the fallen stones and stubblea large earthen crock ,

which was locked witha wooden clasp ! Naturally they wanted toknow if there was anything in it , and they

3 1 8 ADVENTURES OF NIES

sound , there is nothing in the world‘

wh ichcrows love as much as silver money ;

“Hear how it rattles ! ” said the fox androlled the crock around once more .

2 2,Only

I can ’t understand how we Shall get at it .

That will surely be impossible, said thecrows . The fox stood and rubbed h is heada gainst his left leg , and pondered . Nowperhaps he might succeed , with the help of

the crows, in becoming master of that littleimp who always eluded him .

“ Oh ! I knowsomeone who could open the crock for

'

you ,

”

said the fox “ Then tell us ! Tell’

us ! ’

cried the crows ; and they were so excitedthat they tumbled down into the pit “ThatI will do , if you

’ll first promise'

me that youwill agree to my terms , said he :Then the fox told the crows about Thumb

ietot ; a nd said that if they could br ing h imto the heath he would open the crock forthem . But in payment for this counsel , hedemanded that they should deliver Thumbietot to him , as soon as he had gotten thesilver money for them. The ‘ crows h a d no

reason to Spare Thumb ietot , SO agreed to the


compact at once . It was easy enough toagree to this ; but it was harder to find ou t

where Thum b ietot and the wild geese werestopping .

Wind-Rush himself travelled away withfifty crows

,and said that he Should soon

return. But one day after another passedwithout the crows on crow-ridge seeing aShadow of him .

KIDNAPPED BY CROWS

Wednesda y, Apri l th irteenth .

THE wild geese were up at daybreak,SO

they Should have time to get themselves abite

"

of food before starting ou t on the journeytoward Ostergotland . The island in G oosefiord , where they had slept , was small andbarren , but in the water a ll around it weregrowths which they could eat their fill upon .

It was worse for the boy,however . He

couldn ’t !‘

manage to find anything eatable.

AS he stood there hungry a nd drowsy , andlooked around in all directions

,his glance

fell upon a pair of squirrels , who playedupon the wooded point , direc tly opposite


th e roc k isla nd . He wondered if the squ irrelsstill h a d a ny of their winter supplies left , a nda sked the white goos ey-gander to take himover to the po int , that he might beg them fora couple of hazelnuts .

Insta ntly the white one swam a cross thesound w ith him ; but a s luck would have itthe squirrels had so much fun chas ing eachother from tr ee to tr ee , that they didn

’tbother about listen ing to the boy. Theydrew fa rth er into the grove . He hurriedafter them , and w a s soon ou t of the gooseygander

'

s sight—who sta yed behind and waitedon the shore .

The bov waded forward between somewh ite anemone-stems—which were so highthey rea ch ed to his chin—when he felt thatsomeone ca ught hold of him from behind ,

and tried to lif t h im up . He turned roundand sa w that a crow had grabbed him bythe shi rt-band . He tried to brea k loose , butbefore this w a s poss ible , anoth er crow ranup . gripped him b y the stoc king , a nd knocked

h i m over .

If N ils Holgers son had immedi a tely cried


the rock island . He wondered if the squirrelsstill had any of their winter supplies left

,and

asked the white goosey—gander to take himover to the point , that he might beg them fora couple of hazelnuts .

Instantly the white one swam across th esound with him ; but as luck would have itthe squirrels had so much fun chasing eachother from tree to tree

,that they didn ’t

bother about listen ing to the boy. Theydrew farther into the grove . He hurriedafter them

,and was soon out of the goosey

gander ’s sight—who stayed behind and waitedon the shore .

The boy waded forward between somewhite anemone-stems—which were so highthey reached to his chin—when he felt thatsomeone caught hold of him from behind ,

and tried to lift him up . He turned roundand saw that a crow had grabbed him bythe shirt-band . He tried to break loose , butbefore this was possible , another crow ranup , gripped him by the stocking, a nd knockedhim over .

If Nils Holgersson had immediately cried


for help,the white goosey-gander certainly

would have been able to save him ; but theboy probably thought that he could protecthimself

,unaided

,against a couple of crows .

He kicked and struck ou t , but the crowsd idn

’

ta

let go their hold , and they soon suc

c eeded in raising themselves into the air withhim . To make matters worse

,they flew so

recklessly that his h ead struck against abranch . He received a hard knock over thehead

,it grew black before his eyes , a nd he

lost consciousness .

When he opened his eyes once more , hefound himself high above the ground . Heregained his senses slowly ; at first he knewneither where he was , nor what he sa w .

When he glanced down,he saw that under him

was sprea d a tremendously big woolly carpet , which was woven in greens and reds , andin large irregular patterns . The carpet wasvery thick and fine

,but he thought it was a

pity that it had been so badly used . -It wasactually ragged ; long tears ran through it ;i n some places large pieces were torn away.

And the strangest of all was that it appeared


to be spread over a mirror floor ; for underthe holes and tears in the carpet shone brightand glittering glass .

The next thing the boy observed was thatthe sun unrolled itself in the heavens . In

sta ntly,the mirror-glass under the holes and

tears in the carpet began to shimmer in redand gold . It looked very gorgeous , and theboy was delighted with the pretty colourscheme

,although he didn ’t exactly under

stand what it was that he saw . But now thecrows descended

,and he saw at on ce that

the big carpet under him was the earth,

which was dressed in green and brown conetrees and naked leaf- trees , and that the holesand tears were sh inm g fiords and little lakes .

He remembered ; that the first t ime he hadtravelled up in the air , he had thought thatthe earth in Skane looked lik e a piece of

checked cloth . Bu t this , coun try which resembled a torn carpet—what might this be ?He began to ask himself a lot of questions .

Why wasn ’t he sitting on the goosey-gander ’sback ? Why d id a great swarm of crows flya round him ? And why wa s he being pulled

!


boy down under a thick spruce , where he wasso well concealed that not even a falcon couldhave sighted him .

Fifty crows surrounded him , with billspointed toward him to guard him . Nowperhaps I may hear , crows , what your purposeis in carrying me off ,

” said he . But he w a shardly permitted to finish the sentence beforea big crow hissed at him :

“ Keep still ! orI ’ll bore your eyes out .

It was evident that the crow meant whatShe said ; and there was nothing for the boyto do but obey . So h e i sa t there and staredat the crows , and the crows stared at him .

The longer he looked at them , the less heliked them . It was dreadful how dusty a nd

unkempt their feather dresses wer e—as thoughthey knew neither baths nor o iling . Theirtoes and claws were grimy with dried- in mud ,

and the corners of their mouths were coveredwith food d r1pp1ngs .

l Th ese were very different b irds from the wild geese—that heobserved . He thought t hey had a cruel

,

sneaky,watchful , and bold appearance , just

like cut-throats and vagabonds .


It is certainly a real robber-band thatI ’ve fallen in with ,

” thought he .

Just then he heard the W ild geese ’s callabove him .

“Where are you ? Here am I .

Where are you ? Here am I .

”

He understood that Akka and the others

h a d gone ou t to search for him ; but beforehe could answer them the big crow whoappeared to be the leader of the band hissed inhis ear : Think of your eyes ! ” And there wasnothing else for him to do but to keep still .The wild geese may not have known that

he was so near them , but had just happened ,

incidentally , to‘

travel over this forest . Heheard their call a couple of times more , then itdied away .

“Well,now you ’ll have to get

a long by yourself,Nils Holgersson

,

” he saidto himself . Now you must prove whetheryou have learned anything during these weeksin the Open .

”

A moment later the crows gave the Signalto break up ; and Since it was still theirintention , apparently , to carry him along insuch a w a y that one held on to his shirt-band ,

a nd one to a stocking,the boy said : IS there


not one among you so strong that he can c arryme on his back ? You have already travelledso badly with me that I feel as if I were inpieces . Only let me ride ! I ’ll not jump fromthe crow ’s back , that I promise you .

“ Oh ! you needn ’t think that we care how

you have it ,” said the leader . But now the

largest of the crows—a dishevelled anduncouth one , who had a white feather in hiswing—came forward and said : “ It wouldcertainly be best for all of us , Wind-Rush , if

Thum b ietot got there whole, rather than half ,and therefore , I Shall carry him on my back .

”

“ If you can do it , Fum le-Drum le , I have noobjection

,

” said Wind-Rush .

“ But don ’tlose him !Wi th this , much was already g ained , and

the boy actually felt pleased again .

“Thereis nothing to be gained by losing my gritbecause I have been kidnapped by the crows ,

”

thought he .

“ I ’ll surely be able to managethose poor little things .

The crows continued to fly southwest , overSmaland . It was a glorious morning—sunnya nd calm ; and the birds down on the earth

ADVE NTURES OF NILS

Farther and farther inland they t ravelledand there were woods and lakes everywhere .

In a birch-grove sa t the wood-dove on a nakedbranch , and before him stood the lady-dove .

He blew up his feathers , cocked his head ,

raised and lowered his body, until the breastfeathers rattled against the branch . All thewhile he cooed : “ Thou , thou , thou a rt theloveliest in all th e forest . N0 one in theforest is so lovely as thou , thou, thou !But up in the air the boy rode pa st , a nd

when he heard Mr . Dove he c ouldn ’t keepstill . Don ’t you believe h im ! Don

’t youbelieve him ! ” cried he .

“Who , who , who is it that lies a bout me ?

cooed Mr . Dove , and tried to get a sigh t of theone who shrieked at him . It isCa ught-byCrows that lies about you, replied the boy.

Again Wind-Rush turned his head towardthe boy and commanded him to shut up, butPumle-Drum le ,

who was carrying h im , said :Let him chatter

,then all the little birds will

think that we crows have become .qu ic kwitted and funny birds .

” “ Oh ! they’re not

such fools , either, said Wind -Rush ; but he


liked the idea just the same , for after that helet the boy call out as much as he liked .

They flew mostly over forests and woodlands

,but there were churches and parishes

and little cabins in the outskirts of the forest .

In one place they sa w a pretty old manor .

It laywith the forest back of it , and the seain front of it ; had red walls and a turretedroof ; great sycamores about the grounds ,and big

,thick gooseberry-bushes in the

orchard . On the top of the weathercock sa t

the starling, and sang so loud that every notewas heard by the wife , who sa t on an egg inthe hea rt of a pear tree .

“We have fourpretty little eggs

,

” sang the starling .

“Wehave four pretty little round eggs . We havethe whole nest filled with fine eggsWhen the starling sang the song for the

thousandth time , the boy rode over the place .

He put h is hands up to his mouth,as a

pipe , and called :“ The mag pie will get them .

The magpie will get them .

”

“Who is it that wants to frighten me ?asked the starling

,and fl a pped his wings

uneasily.

“ It is Captured-by-Crows that


frightens you,said the boy . This time the

crow- chief didn ’t attempt to hush him up .

Instead,both he and his flock were having so

much fun that they cawed with satisfaction .

The farther inland they came,the larger

were the lakes , and the more plentiful were theislands and points . And on a lake- Shorestood a drake and kowtowed before the duck .

“ I ’ll be true to you all the days of my life .

I ’ll be true to you all the days of my life ,said the drake .

“ It won ’t last until thesummer ’s end

,

” shrieked the boy .

“Whoare you ? ” called the drake . My name ’sStolen-by

-Crows,shrieked the boy .

At dinner time the crows lighted in afood-grove . They walked about and pro

cured food for themselves , but none of themthought about giving the boy anything .

Then Pum le-Drumle came riding up to thechief with a dog-rose branch , with a few driedbuds on it . Here ’s something for you ,

Wind-Rush,said he .

“ This is pretty food ,and suitable for you . Wind-Rush sn iffedcontemptuously . Do you think that I wantto eat old , dr y buds ?

” said he .

“And I who


took the new-born kittens from her,and

drowned them . Just once,did She succeed

in keeping them concealed , a nd that was whenShe had laid them in a haystack

, out doors .

She was pretty well pleased with those youngkittens , but I believe that I got more pleasureout of them than She did .

Now they became so excited that they alltalked at once . What kind of an accomplishment is that—to steal little kittens ? ” saidone .

“ I once chased a young hare who wasalmost full-grown . That meant to followhim from covert to covert .

” He got nofurther before another took the words fromhim .

“ It may be fun,perhaps

,to annoy

hens and cats , but I find it still moreremarkable that a crow can worry a humanbeing . I once stole a silver SpoonBut now the boy thought he w a s too good

to s it and listen to such gabble .

“ Nowlisten to me

, you crows !” said he . I think

you ought to be ashamed of yourselves totalk about all your wickedness . I havelived amongst wild geese for three weeks,and of them I have never heard or seen any


thing but good . You must have a bad chief ,Since he permits you to rob and murder inthis way . You ought to begin to lead newlives , for I can tell you that human beingshave grown so tired of your wickednessthey are trying with all their might to rootyou ou t . And then

’

there will soon be anend of you .

”

When Wind-Rush and the crows heard this ,they were so furious that they intended to

throw themselves upon him and tear him in

pieces . But Fum le-Drum le laughed a nd

cawed,and stood in front of him .

“ Oh,no

,

no ! ” said he,and seemed absolutely terrified .

“What think you that Wind-Air will sa y if,

you tear Thum b ietot in pieces before he hasgotten that Silver money for us ? “ It has tobe you

,Fum le-Drum le

,tha t

’s afraid of womenfolk ,

” said Rush . But,at any rate

,both he

and the others left Thumb ietot in p ea c e .

Shortly after that the crows went furth er .

Until now the boy thought that Smalandwasn ’t such a poor country as he had heard .

Of course it was woody and full of mountainridges , but alongside the islands and lakes


lay cultivated grounds , and any real desolation he hadn ’t come upon , But the fartherinland they came , the fewer were the villagesand cottages . Toward the last

,he thought

that he was riding over a veritable wildernesswhere he saw nothing but swamps and heathsa nd juniper-hills .

The sun had gone down ,but it was still

perf ect daylight when the crows reachedthe large heather-heath . Wind-Rush senta crow on ahead , to sa y that he had met withsuccess ; and when it was known , Wind-Air ,with several hundred crows from Crow-Ridge ,flew to meet the arrivals . In the midst of thedeafening cawing which the crows emitted ,Pum le-Drum le said to the boy : “ You havebeen so comical and so jolly during the tripthat I am really fond of you . Therefore Iwant to give you some good advice . AS soonas we light

,you ’ll be requested to do a bit of

work which may seem very easy to you ; butbeware of doing it ! ”

Soon thereafter ‘

Fum le-Drum le put NilsHolgersson down in the bottom of a sand

pit . The boy flung himself down, rolled

3 3 6 ADVENTURES OF NIL‘S

Sleep until morning , I think that I’ll be able

to manage with that clasp .

”

But Wind-Rush was impatient,and he

rushed forward a nd pinched the boy in theleg . That sort of treatment the boy didn ’tcare to suffer from a crow . He jerked himself loose quickly , ran a couple of paces backward

,drew his knife from the Sheath

,and

held it extended in front of him .

“ You ’dbetter be careful ! ” he cried to Wind-Rush .

This one too was so enraged that he didn ’tdodge the danger . He rushed at the boy,

just as though he ’d been blind , and ran so

straight against the knife , that it enteredthr ough his eye into the head . The boyd rew the knife back quickly , but Wind-Rushonly struck out with his wings , then he felldown—dead .

Wind-Rush is dead ! The stranger haskilled our Chieftain ,

Wind-Rush ! ” cried thenearest crows , and then there was

”

a terribleuproar . Some wailed ,

others cried’

for ven

gea nc e . They all ! ran or fluttered up to theboy

,with Fum le-Drum le in the lead . But

he acted badly as usual . He only fluttered


and Spread his wings over the boy , and prevented the others from coming forward andrunning their bills into him .

The boy thought that things looked very

b a d for him now . He couldn ’t run awayfrom the crows

,and there was no place where

he could hide . Then he happened to thinkof the earthen crock . He took a firm hold

Dn the clasp ,and pulled it off . Then he

hopped into the crock to hide in it . But thecrock was a poor hiding place

,for it was nearly

filled to the br im with little , thin Silver coins .

The boy couldn ’t get far enough down , so

he stooped and began to throw ou t thecoins .

Until now the crows had fluttered aroundhim in a thick swarm and pecked at him ,

but when h e th rew ou t the coins they immed ia tely forgot their thirst for vengeance , andhurried to

'

gather the money . The boy threwou t handfuls of it

,and all the crows

yes , even Wind-Air herself— picked them up .

And everyone who succeeded in picking up aco in ran off to the nest with the utmostSpeed to conceal it .


When the boy had thrown out all the Silverpennies from the crock he glanced up . Notmore than a Single crowwa s left in the sandpit .

That wa s Fum le-Drum le ,w ith thewhite featherin his wing ; he who h ad carried Thum b r i tot .

“You have rendered me a greater servicethan you yourself understand ,

” said the crow—with a very different voice , and a diff erentintonation than the one he had used heretofore— “ and I want to save your life . S itdown on my back , and I

’ll take you to ahiding place where you can be secure forto-night . To -morrow, I

’ll arrange it so thatyou will get back to the wild geese .”

THE CABIN

Thursda y, Apr il fourteenth .

THE following morningwhen the boy awoke ,he lay in a bed . When he saw that he was ina house with four walls around him , and aroof over him , he thought that he was at home .

“ I wonder if mother will come soon with somecoffee ,

” he muttered to himself where he layhalf-awake . Then he rem embered that hewas in a deserted cabin on the crow-ridge,


bench on one side , and the table under thewindow , were also stationary —also the bigbed where he lay, a nd the many- colouredcupboa rd .

The boy could not help wondering whoowned the cabin

,and why it was deserted .

It certainly looked as though the people whohad lived there expected to return . Thecoff ee-urn and the gruel-pot stood on thehearth , and there was some wood in the fireplace ; the oven- rake and baker ’s peel stoodin a corner ; the Spinning wheel w a s raised on

a bench ; on the Shelf over the window layoakum and flax , a couple of Skeins of yarn , acandle

,and a bunch of matches .

Yes,it surely looked as if those who had

lived there had intended to come back . Therewere bed-clothes on the bed ; and on the wallsthere still hung long strips of cloth

,‘upon

which three riders named Kasper,Melchior ,

and Baltasar were painted . The same horsesand riders were pictured many times . Theyrode around the whole cabin

,and continued

their ride even up toward the joists .

But in the roof the boy saw something


which brought him to his senses in a j iffy .

It was a couple of loaves of big bread-cakesthat hung there upon a Spit . They looked

old and mouldy , but it was bread all the same .

He gave them a knock with the oven-rakeand one piece fell to the floor . He ate , andstuffed his bag full . It was incredible howgood bread was , anyway .

He looked around the cabin once more , totry and discover if there was anything elsewhich he might find useful to take along . Imay as well take what I need , Since no one

else cares about it ,” thought he . But most

of the things were too big and heavy . Theonly things that he could carry might be afew matches perhaps .He clambered up on the table , and swung

with the help of the curtains up to the window- shelf . While he stood there and stuffedthe matches into his bag , the crow with thewhite feather came in through the window .

“Well here I am at last,said Fum le-Drum le

as he lit on the table . I couldn ’t get here anysooner because we crows have elected a new

Chieftain in Wind-Rush ’s place .

” Whom


have you chosen ? ” sa id the boy . Well , wehave chosen one who will not permit robberyand injustice . We have elected Garm Whitefeather , lately called Fumle-Drum le , a n a

swered he , drawing h imself up until he lookedabsolutely regal . That was a good choice

,

said the boy and congratulated him .

“You

may well wish me luck ,” said Garm ; then he

told the boy about the time they had hadwith Wind-Rush and Wind-Air .

During this recital the boy heard a voiceoutside the window which he thought soundedfamiliar . IS he here ? - inquired the fox .

“ Yes,he ’s hidden in there , answered a crow

voice .

“ Be careful , Thum b ietot !” cried

Garm . Wind-Air stands without with thatfox who wants to eat you .

” More he didn ’thave time to sa y, for Sm ir re dashed againstthe window . The old , rotten window-framegave way

,and the next second Sm irre stood

upon the window- table . Garm Wh itefea ther ,who didn ’t have time to fly away , he killedinstantly . Thereupon he jumped down to

the floor,and looked around for the boy .

He tried to hide behind a big oakum-Spiral ,


you ; but in whichever way death meets youit will be dear to me.

”

The boy could not think but what the foxwas right

,for the fire was making rapid head

way . The whole bed was now in a blaze , andsmoke rose from the floor ; and along thepainted wall- strips the fire crept from riderto rider . The boy jumped up in the fir eplace ,and tried to open the oven door , when he hearda key which turned around Slowly in the lock .

It must be human beings coming . And inthe dire extremity in which he found himself

,he

was not afraid , but only glad . He w a s'

a lrea dy

on the threshold when the door Opened . Hesaw a couple Of children facing him ; but howthey looked when they saw the cabin inflames , he took no time to find out ; butrushed past them into the open .

He didn ’t dare run far . He knew, Ofcourse

,that Sm irre Fox lay in wait for

him,and he understood that he . must

remain near the children . He turned roundto see what sort Of folk they were , but hehadn ’t looked at them a second before hera n up to them and cried : Oh , good

ADVENTURES OF NILS

day, Osa goose-girl ! Oh , good day, little

Mats !For when the boy saw t hose children he

forgot entirely where he was . Crows andburning cabin and talking animals had vanish ed from his memory . He was walking on

a stubble-field , in West Vemm inghOg , tendinga goose-floc k ; and beside h i m, on the field ,

walked those same Smaland children , with theirgeese . AS soon

.

a s he saw them , he ran up onthe stone-hedge and shouted : “ Oh , good-day ,Osa goose-girl ! Oh , good-day , l ittle Mats !

”

But when the children saw such a little creature coming up to them with outstretchedhands , they grabbed hold Of each other , took acouple Of steps backward , and looked scared todeath .

When the boy noticed their terror he wokeup and remembered who he was . And th enit seemed to him that nothing worse couldhappen him , than that those children Shouldsee how he had been bewitched . Shame andgrief because he w a s no longer a human being,overpowered him . He turned and fled . Heknew not whither .


But a glad meeting awaited the boy when hecame down to the heath . For there , in theheather , he Spied something white

,and

toward him came theaccompanied by Dunfin . When the white onesaw the boy running with such Speed , hethought that dreadful fiends were pursu inghim . He flung him in all haste upon hisback and flew Off with him .


out on it , then we should have found justwhat we are seeking ,

” said the third .

The worst Of it was that when the sun hadgone down

,two Of the travellers became SO

sleepy that every second they were ready tofall to theground . The third one , who couldkeep himself awake , grew more and moreuneasy as night approached Then . it wasa misfortune that we came to a land wherelakes and swamps are frozen

, ,

SO that a foxcan get around everywhere . In other placesthe ice has melted away ; but now we

’re wellup in the very coldest Smaland , iwhere Springhas not as yet arrived . I don ’t

,know how I

Shall ever mana ge to find a good Sleepingplace ! Unless I find some Spot that is wellprotected” Sm irre Fox will be upon us beforemorning .

”

He gazed 1n all directions , but he saw noShelter where he could lodge .

2 It was a darkand chilly night

,with wind and ‘drizzle It

grew more terrible and disagreeable aroundhim every second .

This may sound strange,perhaps

,but the

tra vellers didn’t seem to have the least desire

ADVENTURES OE NILS 349

to ask for house-room on any farm . Theyhad a lrea dy passed many parishes withoutknocking at a single door . Little hillsidecabins on the outskirts of the forest , whichall poor wanderers are glad to run across ,they took no notice Of either . One mightalmost be tempted to sa y they deserved tohave

‘

a hard time Of it , Since they did not seekhelp where it was to be had for the asking .

But fin ally, when it was so dark that therew a s scarcely a glirnmer Of light left under theSkies and the two who needed

,sleep jour

neyed on in a kind Of half- Sleep , they happened into

'

a farmyard which —w a s a longway Off from all neighbours . And not

only did it h e there desolate,but it a p

pea red to be uninhabited as well . NO smokerose from the chimney ; no light shone throughthe windows ; no hum an being moved on the

place . When the one among the three whocould keep awake

,saw the place , he thought :

“ Now come what may , we must try to getin here . Anything better we are not likelyto find .

Soon after that , all three stood in the house

3 50 ADVENTURES OE NILS

yard . Two Of them fell asleep the instantthey stood still , but the third looked abouthim eagerly, to find where they could getunder cover . It was not a small farm .

Beside the dwelling house a nd stable andsmoke-house , there were long ranges withgranaries and storehouses and c a ttlesh eds .

But it all looked awfully poor and dilapidated .

The houses had gray , moss-grown , leaningwalls , which seemed ready to topple over .In the roofs were yawning holes , and thedoors hung aslant on broken hinges . It wasapparent that no one had taken the troubleto drive a nail into a wall on this place fora long time .

Meanwhile,he who was awake had figur ed

out which house was the cowshed . Heroused h is travelling companions from theirSleep

,and conducted them to the cowshed

door . Luckily,this wa s not fastened with

anything but a book ,which he could easily

push up -Aw ith a rod . He heaved a Sigh Ofrelief at the thought that they Should soonbe m safety . But when the cowshed doorswung Open with a Sharp creaking , he heard

3 5 2 ADVENTURES OF "NILS

generally ride , and a gray goose ; Suchrare guests have never before beenw ithin m yfour sw a lls , said the cow,

“and you Shall bewelcome , although I would have preferredthat it had been m y mistress , come to giveme m y supper .

”

The boy led the geese into the"

cowshed ,which was rather large , and placed them in

an empty manger , where they fell asleepinstantly . For himself

,he made ‘a little bed

of straw and expected that he,

‘ too , Shouldgo to :Sleep at once ;But , this was 1mpOSS ible ,

for the poor cow,

who hadn ’t had her supper,wasn ’t still an

instant . S h e Shook her flanks , moved -aroundin the stall , and complained Of how hungryShe was . The boy couldn ’t get aSleep , but lay there and lived over all thethings that had happened to him duri ng t h eselast days .

He thought Of_

Osa ,the goose-girl , and little

Mats,whom he h a d encountered SO unex

pec tedly ; and he fancied that . the littlecab in which he had set on fire must have beentheir Old home in Smaland . Now he rec a lled

ADVENTURES OF NILS 2 53N

at he had heard them speak Of just such a

in,and Of the big heather-heath which

below it . Now they had wandered backto see their Old home again , and then ,they had reached it it was in flames .S indeed a great sorrow which he hadupon them , and it hurt him veryIf he ever again became a humanhe would try to compensate them foramage and miscalculat ion .

en his thoughts wandered to the ' crows .when he thought Of Fum le-Drum le who

d saved h is life , and had met his own deathsoon after he had been elected -chieftain

,

was“

SO distressed that tears filled his eyes .

had a pretty rough time Of it these

yS . But , anyw ay, it was a rareOf luck that the goosey-gander andhad found him .

The goosey-gander had -said that as soonthe wild geese discovered that Thum b ietot

sa ppea red , they had asked all the smallin the forest about him . They soonthat a flock Of Smaland crows ‘

ha d

iecl h im Off . But the crows were already


generally ride , and a gray goose. Suckrare guests have never before been lwithin m 3four cw a lls , said the cow,

“ and you Shall b fwelcome

,although I would have preferrec

that it had been m y mistress , come to giv!me my supper .

”

The boy led the geese into the cowshedwhich wa s rather large , and placed them i!an empty manger , where they fell a slee'

instantly . For himself,he made a little be

Of straw and expected that he,too , Shoull

go to sleep at once ;But this was impossible

,for the poor c ov

who hadn ’t had her supper,wasn ’t still

instant S h e Shook her flanks , movedin the stall , a nd .c omplained Of howShe was . The boy couldn ’t get asleep , but lay there and lived over athings that had happened to him during -t

last days .

He thought Offl

OSa ,the goose-g irl , and

Mats , whom he h a d encountered SO

pec tedly ; and he fancied that thecabinw hich he had set on fire must havetheir Old home in Smaland . Now he

ADVENTURES OF NILS

ou t Of sight , and whither they hadtheir cour se no one had been ableThat they might find the boy as soonsible , Akka had commandedto start out—two a nd two—ihdirec tions , to search for h im

a two days’ hunt , whether or not

found himSmaland on a high mounta inresembled an abrupt, c hopped—Off tower ,was c alled Taberg . Af ter Akka h ad g

them the best d irec tions , a nd d esc r ibedfully how they should find Taberg, th eyseparated .

about hither and thither with theanx iety for Thum b ietot . Dur ing th

'

they had heard a th rush , who sat in acry and wail that someone ,self Kidnapped-by

-Crows , hhim . They had talked with the thrush ,he had shown them in wh ich directionKidnapped-by

-Crows had travelled .

ward , they had met a dove-cock, a star]


nd a drake ; they had all wailed about aLttle culprit who had disturbed their song ,nd who was named Caught-by-Crows , Cap

ured -by-Crows , and Stolen-by

-Crows . Inhis way , they were enabled to trace Thumbatot all the w ay to the heather-heath in

As soon as the goosey-gander and Dunfinad found Thumb ietot , they had started

award the north , in order to reach Taberg .

iut it had been a long road to travel , and thea rkness was upon them before they had

gh ted the mountain top .

“ If we only get1ere by to-morrow, sur ely all our troubles.ill be ever ,

” thought the boy , and dug downt o the straw to have it warmer . All thehile the cow fussed and fum ed in the stall .hen , all Of a sudden , She began to talk to:e boy .

“ Everything is wrong with me,

”

.id the c ow .

“ I am neither milked nornded . I have no night fodder in mvmanger

,

1d no bed has been made under me . MyistreSS came here at dusk , to put things inder for me ,

’ but She felt SO ill , that She h a dgo in soon again , and She has not returned .

”

3 54 ADVENTUR ES OF NILS

out of Sight , and wh ither they h a dtheir course no one had been able toTh at they might find the boy a s soon a s p08 ;sible , Akka had commandedto start out—two a nd two—indirec tions , to search . for h im

a two days’ hunt , whether or not

found him , they were toSmaland on a high mounta inresembled a n a brupt, c hopped -Off

wa s c alled Taberg . Af ter Akka h a dthem the best d irec tions , and d esc r ibedfully how they should find Ta berg , theyseparated .

as travelling c ompan ion , a nd tabout hither and thither with theanx iety for Thumb ietot . During th

'

they had heard a thrush , who sa t in acry and wail that someone , who 0

self Kidnapped-by-Crows , had madehim . They had talked with the thrush ,he had shown them in wh ich direc tionKidnapped-by

-Crows had travelled .

ward , they had met a dove-cock, a


It ’s distressing that I should be littlepowerless ,

” said t h e boy.

“I don ’t bel

that I)"

am able to help you .

“You 0

make me believe that you arebecause you are little ,

” said the cow.

the elves that I ’ve ever heard of , were SO

strong that they could pull a whole load Of hand strike a cow dead with one fist .”

boy couldn ’t help laughing at the cow.

’

Thewere a very d iff erent kind Of elf from me .

said he .

“ But I ’ll loosen your halter andopen the door for you, so that you can go outand drink in one Of the pools on the place

,and

then I ’ll try to climb up to the hayloft a ndthrow down some hay in your manger .”“Yes , that would be some help ,

” said the c ow .

The boy did , as he had said ; and when the’

c ow stood with a full manger in front Of her;he thought that at last he Should get somesleep . But he had ha rdly crept down in thebed before She began , anew , to talk to him .

You ’ll be clean put out with m e if I a sk

you for one thing more ,” said the c ow. Oh?

no I won ’t if it ’s only something that I ’mab le to do, said the boy.

“Then I will ask

ADVENTURES OF NILS

to go into the cabin , directly opposite ,find out how my mistress is getting a long .

some misfortune has come to h er NO !’

t do that,

”said the boy .

“ I dare notmyself b efore human beings .

“ Surelyre not afraid Of a n Old a nd Sick woman ,

the c ow . But you do not need to gothe cabin . Just stand outsid e the doorpeep m through the crack ! ” “ Oh ! if thatall you a sk Of me , I

’ll do it Of course ,” said

e boy .

With that he Opened the cowshed door andin the yard . It was a fearful n ight !

either moon nor stars shone ; the wind blewgale , and the rain came down in torrents .the worst of all wa s that seven greatsat in a row on the eaves Of the cabin .

was awful just to hear them , where theya nd grumbled a t th e weather ; but it was

even worse to think what would happen toh im if one Of them should set eyes on him .

That would b e ‘the last Of him .

“ Pity him who is little ! ” said the boy ashe ventured out 1n the yard . And he had a

right to sa y this , for he was blown down twice


before he got to the house : onc e the windswept him into a pool

,which was SO deep that

he came near dr owning . But he got therenevertheles s .He clambered up a pair Of steps

,scrambled

over a threshold,and came into the hallway .

The cabin door was closed,but down in one

corner a large piec e had been cut away ,that

the cat might gO in and out . It was no d iffic ulty whatever for the boy to see how thingswere in the cabin .

He had hardly cast a glance in there beforehe staggered back and turned h is head away.

An Old , gray-haired woman lay Stretched outon the floor within . She neither moved nor

moaned ; and her face shone strangely white.‘It was as if an 1nV1S ible moon had thrown a

The boy remembered that when his grandfather had died , his face had also become SOstrangely white-like . And he understood thatthe Old woman who lay on the cabin floor

'

must be dead . Death had probably come,

to her SO suddenly that Sh e didn ’t even havetime to lie down on her bed .


She was lest there would be no one w ithwhen She died . She was anxious for fea rone Should close her eyes and fold her hacross her breast , after She wa s dead .

haps you ’ll gO in and do this ?” The

hesitated . He remembered that whengrandfather had died

,mother had been

careful about putting everything to rHe knew this was something which haddone . But , on the other hand , he felt thathe didn ’t dare go to the dead , in the ghastlyn ight . He didn ’t sa y no ; neither did he takea step toward the cowshed door . For acouple Of seconds the old cow Wa s silent—justa s if sh e had expected an answer. But whenth e boy said nothing , She did not repeat herrequest . Instead , She began to talk with h imOf her mistress .

There was much to tell , fir st and foremost ,about all the children which she had broughtup . They had been in the cowshed everyd a y and in the summer they h a d taken thecattle to pasture on the Swamp and in the

groves , SO the Old c ow knew a ll about them .

Th e! ha d been Splendid , all of them , a nd

lDVEN’

l‘

UR E S OE NILS 3m

happy and industrious . A cow knew well

enough what her caretakers were good for .There was also much to be said about the

fa rm . It had not always been as poor as itwa s now . It was very large—although thegreater part Of it consisted Of swamps andstony groves . There was not much room forfields

,but there was plenty Of good fodder

everywhere . At one time there had been acow for every stall in the cowshed ; and theoxshed ,

which wa s now empty, had at one

t irne been filled with oxen . And then therewas lif e and gayety, both in cabin and c ow

house . When the mistress Opened the cowshed door she would hum and Sing, and allthe cows lowed with gladness when theyheard her coming.

But the good man had died when the children were so small that they could not be Ofany assistance , and the mistress had to takecharge Of the farm , and all the work andresponsibility . She had been as strong as aman

,and had both ploughed and reaped .

In the evenings , when She came 1nto the c ows hed to milk , sometimes she wa s SO tired tha t

3 6 2 ADVENTURES OE NILS

sh e wept . Then sh e dashed away her tea r s,and w a s cheerful again .

“ It doesn ’t matter .

Good times are c om ing ag ain for me too, if

on ly my ch ildren grow up . Yes , if they only

But a s soon a s th e c hfldr en were growm a

wan t to s tay at home , but went away to a

they h a d left their children beh ind , in the Oldhome . And now these children followed them i str ess in the cowshed , just a s her own haddone . Th ey tended the cows , and wer e fine ,good folk . And, in the evenings , when themi stres s w as so tired ou t that She c ould fallasleep in the m i ddle Of the milking , she wouldrou se her self aga in to renewed courage byth ink ing of th em .

“Good tim es a re c om ing

when once they are grown .

But when these chi ldr en grew up , theywent away to their parents in the strangela nd . NO one c ame bac k—no one stayed at

3 6 2 ADVENTURES OE NILS

sh e wept . Then She dashed away .her tea rs ,and was cheerful again .

“ It doesn ’

t matter .

GOOd ' t im eS are coming again for me too, if

only my children grow up . Yes , if they onlygrow up .

”

But as soon as the children were grown , astrange longing came over them . They didn ’twant to stay at home , but went awa y to a

strange country . Their mother,never got

any help from them . A couple Of her ' children were married before they went away

, and

they had left t h e ir children behind , in the Oldhome . And now t hese ch ildr en followed themistress in the cowshed , just as her own haddone . They tended the cows , and were fine ,good folk . And , in the evenings , when themistress was SO tired out that She could fallasleep in the middle Of the milking, she wouldrouse herself agam to renewed courage by.

thinking Of them .

“Good times are . comingfor me , too , said Sh e—and Shook Off sleepwhen once they are

”

grown .

”

But when these Children grew up , theywent away to their p arents in

‘

the strangeland . NO one came back—no one stayed at

ADVENTURES OE NILS 3 63

home—the Old mistress w a s left alone.on

the farm .

Probably She had never asked them to

remain with her . Think you , R Odlinn a ,

that I would ask them , to stay here with me ,when they can go 'Out in the world and havethings comfortable ?

”Sh e would sa y as She

stood in the stall with the Old cow . Here inSmaland they have only poverty to lookforward to .

”

But when the last grandchild w a s gone , itwas all up with the mistress . All at once Shebecame bent and gray, and tottered as sh e

walked ; as if She no longer had the strengthto move about . She stopped working . Shedid not care to look after the farm , but leteverything go to rack and ruin . She didn ’trepair the houses ; and She sold both the cowsand the oxen . The only one that She keptwas the old cow who now talked with Thumbietot . Her Sh e let live

“

because all thechildren had tended her .She could have taken maids and farm-hands

into her serv i ce, who would have helped herwith the Work

,but She couldn ’t bear to see


strangers around her , Since her own haddeserted her . Perhaps sh e was better satis

fied to let the farm go to ruin , since none Ofher children

'

were coming back to take itafter She was gone . She did not mind thatShe herself became poor , because She didn

’tvalue that which was only hers . But Shewas troubled lest the children should find outhow hard She had it . If only the childrendo not hear Of this ! If only the children donot hear Of this ! ” She sighed as She totteredthrough the cowhouse .

The children wrote constantly, and beggedher to come out to them ; but this She did notwish . She didn ’t want to see the land thathad taken them from her . She was angrywith it .

“ It ’s foolish Of me , perhaps , thatI do not like that land which h a s been so

good for them , said She . But I don ’twant to see it .

”

She never thought of anything but thec hildren , and Of this—that they must need shave gone . When summer came

,She led

the c ow out to graze in the big“

swamp . Allday She would Sit on the edge Of the swamp

,


The boy heard no more Of what the Oldc ow said . He had opened the cowhouse doorand gone across the yard

,and in to the

dead whom he had but lately been SO ? afraidOf .It was not SO poor in the cab in as he had

expected . It was well supplied with the sortOf things one generally finds among thosewho have relatives in America . In a cornerthere was an American rocking chair ; on thetable before the window lay a brocaded plushcover ; there wa s a pretty spread ,

On the bed ;on the wa lls , in carved-wood frames , hungthe photographs Of the children and grandchildren who had gone away ; On the bureaustood high vases a nd a couple Of candlesticks

,with thick

,Sp1r a l candles in them .

The boy searched for a matchbox andlighted these candles

,not because he needed

more light than he already had ; but b ec a usehe thought that this was one way to honourthe dead .

Then he went up to her, closed her eyes,folded her hands across her breast , and strokedba ck the th in gra y h a ir from h er fa c e .

ADVENTURES OE NILS 3 67

He thought no more about being afraid Ofher . He wa s SO deeply grieved because Shehad been forc ed to live out her old a ge inloneliness and longing . He , at least, wouldwatch Over her dead body this night .He hunted up the psa lm book, and seated

h imself to read a couple Of psalms in an u nder.tone . But in the middle Of the reading hepaused—because he had begun to thinka bout his mother and father.Think , that parents c a n long SO for their

children ! This he had never known . Think,that life can be as though it wa s over for themwhen the children are away ! Think , if thoseat home longed for him in the same way thatthis Old peasant woman had longed !Thi s thought made h im happy , but h e

dared not believe in ‘ it . He had not beensuch an one that anybody could long for him .

But what he had not been , perhaps hec ould becomeRound about h im he saw the portraits Of

those who were away . They were big , strongmen and women with earnest faces . Therewere brides in long veils , and gentlemen in

368 ADVENTUR ES OE NILS

fine clothes ; and there were children withwaved hair and pretty white dresses . And

he thought that they all stared blindly intovac a ncy— and did not want to see .

“ Poor you ! ” said the boy to the portraits .Your mother is dead . You cannot make

reparation now,because you went away from

her . But my mother is living ! ”

Here he paused,and nodded and smiled

to himself . “My moth er is living,” said

“ Both father and mother a re living.

”

ADVENTURES OF NILS 3 7x


her mistress . They would hur ry over to thedesolate farm to see how the Old woma n wa sgetting along , and then . they would

, find herdead body and bury it .

The boy and the geese had barely raisedthemselves into the air , when they c aught aglimpse of a high mountain , with almostperpendicular walls , and fa n abrupt , brokenbff top ; and they understood that . this mustbe

'

Ta berg . On the summit stood Akka,with

Yks i‘

tand Kaksi ; Kolmi and Nelja , .Viisi andKnusi , and all S ix goslings and waited for

and a fluttering, and a calling wh 1c h .no one

can describe , when they saw that . the gooseygander and Dunfin had succeeded in finding

The woods grew pretty high up on Taberg’s

Sides , but her highest peak was barren ; andfrom 2 there one could look fa r out in alldirections . If one gazed toward the east

,

or south ,or west , then therewa s hardly any

thing to be seen b ut a p oor h ighland w ith

3 72 ADVENTURES or NILS

Later in the d a y, ,

when the geese continuedtheir journey , they flew up toward the

blue valley . They were in holiday humour,

sh rieked and made such a racket thatno one who had ears could help hearingthem .

This happened to be the first really finespring day they had had in this section .

Until now,the spring had done its work under

rain and bluster ; and now , when it had allof a sudden become fine weather , the peoplewere filled with such a longing after summ erwarmth and green woods that they couldhardly perform their tasks . And when thewild geese rode by , high above the ground ,c heerful a nd free , there wasn

’t one who didnot drop what he had in hand , and glance

The first ones who saw the wild geese thatday were miners on Taberg , who were diggingore at the mouth of the mine . When theyheard them cackle , they paused in theirdrilling for ore , and one of them called to thebirds : Where

,

are you going ? Where a re

you going ?” The geese didn ’t understand

ADVENTURES . OF NILS 3 73

what he said , but . the boy leaned forwardover the goose-back , and answered for them :

Where there is neither pick nor hammer .”

When the miners heard the words , theythought it wa s their own longing that madethe goose-cackle sound like human Speech .

“Take us along with you ! Take us alongwith you ! ” they cried .

“ Not this year .

shrieked the boy .

“ Not this year .

”

The wild geese followed Taber River downtoward Monk Lake, and all the while theymade the same racket . Here , on the narrowland- strip between Monk and Vettern lakes

,

lay Jonkoping with its great factories . Thewild geese rode first over Monksjopaper mills .

The noon rest hour w a s just over, and the bigworkmenwere streaming d0wn to the mill

gate . When they heard the wild geese , theystopped a moment to listen ‘

to them .

“Wherea re you . g oing ? Where are you going ?

”

called the workmen . The wild geese under‘

stood nothing ofw hat they said , but the boyanswered for them : There , where thereare neither machines nor steam-boxes . Whenthe workmen heard the answer, they believed


ca ckle sound like human speech . Takeus along

'

with you ! ” “Not this year,

”

answered the boy .

“Not this year .”

Next , the g eese rode over the well-knownmatch factory, which lies on the ' shores of

Vettern—large as a fortress—and ’

. lif ts itshigh chimneys toward the sky. Not a Soulmoved out in the yards ; but in a

' la rge hallyoung working-women sa t and filled matchboxes . They had opened a window on

account of the beautiful weather , a nd throughit came the wild geese ’s call . The one whosa t nearest the window, leaned out with amatch -box in her hand , and cried : Whereare you going ? Where are you going ? ”

To that land where there is no ‘

need of eitherlight or matches ,

”said the boy.

”Th e girlthought that wha t she had heard ; wa s onlygoose-cackle ; but since

‘

she thought Shehad distinguished a couple of words , She calledout in answer : Take lme.a long

'with you !”

“ Not this year, replied the’boy .

“Not this

year .East of the factories risesJonkoping , on the

ADVENTURES OF NILS

sorrow nor sickness , answered . the boy .

“ Take us along with you !” said the sick

ones . “ Not this year , answered the boy.

“ Not this year .

”

When they had travelled still farther on ,

they came to Huskvarna . It lay in a valley:The mountains around it were steep andbeautifully formed . A river rushed alongthe heights in long and n arrow falls . Bigworkshops and factories lay below the mountain walls ; and scattered over the valleybottom were the work ingm en

’

s homes,

encircled by little gardens ; and in the centreof the valley lay the Schoolhouse“ Just asthe wild geese came along, a bell rang ,

and acrowd of school childrenmarched out in line .

They were so numerous that the whole school

ya rd/

wa s filled with them .

“Where are yougoing ? Where are you going ? the childrenshouted when they heard the wild geese.

“Where there are neither books nor lessonsto .be found ,

”answered the boy

‘

.

' “ Takeus along ! ” shrieked the children. Not thisyear , but next ,

”cried the boy. Not this

THE BIG BIR D -LAKE

JARRO , THE WILD DUCK

N THE eastern shore of Vettern liesMount Omberg ; east of Omberg lies

Da gmosse ; east of D a gm osse lies Lake Takern .

Around the whole of Takern Spreads the big,

even Ostergota plain .

Takern is a pretty large lake and in oldentimes it must have been still larger . But thenthe people thought it covered entirely too

much of the fertile plain ,so they attempted

to drain the water from it , that they mightsow and reap on the lake-ibottom . But th evdid not succeed in laying waste the entirelake—which had evidently been their intention - therefore it still hides a lot of land .

Since the dra in ing ~ the lake has bec omeso Shallow that hardly at any point is itmore than a couple of metres deep . The

377


Shores have become marshy and muddyand out in the lake , little mud- islets stick upabove the water ’s surface .

Now , there is one who loves to stand withhis feet in the water , i f he can just keep h isbody and head in the air , and that is thereed . And it cannot find a better placeto grow upon

,than the long

,Shallow

Takern Shores , and around the little'mud

islets . It thrives so well that it growstaller than a man ’s height

,and so thick that

it is almost impossible to push a boat throughit . It forms a broad green enclosur e aroundthe whole lake , so that it is only accessiblein a few places where the people have takenaway the reeds .But if the reeds shut the people out , they

give,in return , Shelter and protection to many

other things . In the reeds there are a lot oflittle dams and canals with green , still water ,where duckweed and pondweed run to seed ;and where gnat-eggs and b la c kfish and wormsare hatched out in uncountable masses . Anda ll along the Shores of these little dams andc anals , there are many well-concea led plac es ,


At the time when Nils Holgersson travelledaround with the wild geese , there lived atTakern a wild duck named Jarro . He wa s

a young bird , who had only lived one summer ,one fall

,and a winter ; now, it w a s his first

spring . He had just returned from SouthAfrica , and had reached Takern in such goodseason that the ice was still on the lake .

One evening , when he and the other youngwild ducks played at racing backward andforward over the lake , a hunter fired a coupleof shots at them , and Jarro was wounded inthe breast . He thought he should die ; butin order that the one who had Shot himshouldn ’t get him into his power , he continuedto fly as long as he possibly could . Hedidn ’t think whither he was directing hiscourse

,but only struggled to get far away .

When his strength failed him ,so that he

could not fly any farther , he was no longer onthe lake . He had flown a bit inland , and

now he sank down before the entrance to oneof the big farms which lie along the shores ofTakern .

A moment later a young farm-ha nd

ADVENTURES OF NILS

happened along .

‘ He saw Jarro , and cameand lifted him up . But Jarro , who asked for

nothing but to be let die in pea ce , gatheredhis last powers and nipped the farm-hand inthe finger

,so he should let go of him .

Jarro didn ’t succeed in freeing himself .The encounter had this good in it at any ratethe farm-hand noticed that the bird wa s

alive . He carried him very gently into thecottage , and Showed him to the mistress of

the house —a young woman With a kindlyface . At once She took Jarro from the farmhand

,stroked him on the back and wiped

away the blood which trickled down throughthe neck-feathers . She looked him over verycarefully ; and when sh e saw how pretty hewas

,with his dark-green , shining head , his

white neck-band , his brownish-red back, a nd

his blue wing-mirror, sh e must have thoughtthat it was a pity for him to die . She promptlyput a basket in order , and tucked the bird

All the while Jarro fluttered and struggledto get loose ; but when he understood thatthe people didn ’t intend to kill h im , he


settled down in the basket with a sensepleasure . Now it was evident howhe was from pain and loss of blood .

mistress carried the basket across theto place i t in the corner by the fireplace ;before sh e put it down Jarro was alreadfast asleep .

In a little’

while Jarro wa s awakened bsomeone who nudged him gently . Whenopened his eyes he experienced such an awfulShock that he almost lost his senses . Nowhe was lost ! for there stood the one who wasmore dangerous than either human beings orbirds of prey . It was no less a

'

thing thanCaesar himself— the long-hairednosed around him inquisitively.

How pitifully scared had he not beensummer

,when he w a s still a little

down duckling , every . time it hadover the reed- stems : Caesar is comCaesar is

‘

coming ! ” When he had seen thebrown and white Spotted dog with the teethfilled jowls come wading through the reeds , hehad believed that he beheld death itself . He ‘

had always hoped that he would never have .


extreme lassitude came over ’him , . and he fellasleep anew .

The next time Jarro awoke,he saw that a

dish with grain and water stood before him .

He was still quite ill,but he felt .hungry

nevertheless , and began to eat . When themistress saw that he ate

,sh e came up and

petted him , and looked pleased . After that ,Jarro fell asleep again . For several days hedid nothing bu t . eat and sleep .

One morning Jarro felt so well that hestepped from the basket and wandered alongthe floor. But he hadn ’t gone very far beforehe l keeled over , and lay there . Then cameCaesar , opened his big jaw s and grabbed him .

Ja rro believed , of course, that the dog w a s

going to bite him to death ; but Cmsa r carriedhim back to the basket without harming him .

Becau se of this , Jarro acquired such a confidenc e in the dog Cmsa r , that on his nextwalk in the cottage

,he went over to the dog

a nd lay down beside him . Thereafter Caesarand he became good friends , and every day,for several hours , Jarro lay and slept betweenCaesa r ’s paws .


But an even greater aff ection than he felt

Ce sa r , did Jarro feel toward his mistress .

her he had not the least fear ; but rubbedhead against her hand when she came andhim . Whenever She went out of theage he sighed with regret ; and when She

he cried welcome to her in his own

Jarro forgot entirely how -afraid he had beenboth dogs and humans in other days . Heought now that they were gentle and kind

,

he loved them . He wished that he wereso he could fly down to Takern andthe wild ducks that their enemies weredangerous , and that they need not fear

He had observed that the human beings,

well as Caesar , had calm eyes , which it didgood to look into . The '

only one in theage whose glance he d id not care to meet

,

Claw in a , the house cat . She did him noeither , but he couldn

’t place any c on

e in her . Then , too , sh e quarrelledbecause he loved humanthey protect you because

3 8d ADVENTURES OF NILS

th a re fond of you , said Claw ina . You

jut wait until you are fat enough ! Thenth

’

11 i ng the nec k off you . I know them,

I d .

i r e] when he heard this . He couldn ’timgine that his mistress would wish to wring

k off him, nor could he believe anyboy who sat

eside h babbled andthat both of

he had


they are fond of you , said Claw ina .

jus t wait until you a re fat enough !they ’ll wring the neck off you . I know tI do .

Jarro , like all birds , had a tenderaffectionate heart ; a nd he was unutterdistressed when he heard this . Heimagine that his mistress would wishthe ‘ neck off him, nor could he believesuch thing of her son , the little boy whofor hours besid e his basket , and babbledchattered . He seemed to think that boththem had the same love for him that

“he h

One day . when Jarro and Caesar lay onusual spot before the fire , Clawm a sat onhearth and began to tease the wild duck .

I wonder,Jarro , what you wild ducks

do next year , when Takern is drainedturned into grain fields ? ” said ClWhat ’s that you say , Claw ina ? cried

a nd jumped up—sc ared through and thro“ I always forget , Jarro , that you do

understand human Speech , like Caesarm yself ,

” answered the cat .

“ Or else


surely would have heard how the men , who

were here in the cottage yesterday , said that

a ll the water wa s going to be drained fromTakern

,and that next year the lake-bottom

would be a s dry a s a house-floor . And nowI wonder where you wild ducks will go .

”

When Jarro heard this talk he was so furiousthat he hissed like a snake .

“You are just

a s mean a s a common coot ! ” he screamed atClaw ina . You only want to incite meagainst human beings . I don ’t believe theywant to do anything of the sort . They mustknow that Takern is the wild ducks ’ property .

Why should they make so many birds homeless and unhappy ? You have certainly hitupon all this to scare me . I hope that youmay be torn in pieces by Gorgo , the eagle !I hope that my mistress will chop off yourwh iskers !

”

But Jarro couldn ’t shut Claw ina up withthis outburst . So you think I ’m lying

,

said sh e .

“Ask Caesar , then ! He was also inthe house last night . Caesar never lies .

”

Caesar;said Jarro , you understand

human Speech much better tha n Claw ina .


Say that she hasn ’t heard aright ! Thhow it

"

would be if the people drained

Then there would be no more pond-weedduck- food for the grown wild ducks , andbla c kfish or worms or gnat-eggs for thlings . Then the reed-banks would dis

- where now the ducklings concealselves until they are able to fly . Allwould be compelled to move away fromand Seek another home . But where shallfind a retreat like Takern ? Caesar , sa

'

yClaw ina has not heard arightIt w a s extraordinary to watch Caesar

behavi our during this conversation . Hebeen wide-awake the whole t ir

'

ne before,

now , when Jarro turned to him , he panted ,laid his long nose on h is forepaws

, a nd wa s

sound asleep within the wink of an eyelid .

The cat looked down at Caesar w ith a knowing smile . I believe that Caesar doesn ’t careto a nswer you ,

” She said to Jarro . It iswith him as with all dogs ; ~ they 3w ill never

Butyou c a n rely upon my word , at any rate.

3 90 ADVENTURES or N1Ls

take no stock whatever . For how would itgo with the game if Takern were laid waste .

You ’re a donkey to gloat over a thing like that .

What will you and I have to amuse our selveswith , when there are no more birds on

THE DECOY-DUCK

Sunda y , April sev enteenth .

A COUPLE of days later Jarro was so wellthat he could fly a ll about the house . ThenheWa s petted a good deal by the mistress , andthe little boy ran out in the yard and pluckedth e first grass-blades for him which hadsprung up . When the mistress caressed h im

,

Jarro thought that , although he was now so

strong that he could fly down to Takern atany time , he shouldn

’t care to be separated

from the human be ings . He had no objection

0 remaining with them all his l ife .

But early one morning the mistress placed1 halter , or noose , over Jarro , which preventedhim from using his wings , and th en

’

sh e turned

h im over to the farm-hand who had found

h im in the yard . The farm-hand poked h im


under his arm , and went down to Takernwith him .

The ice had melted away while Jarro hadbeen ill . The old , dry fall leaves still stoodalong the Shores and i slets , but a ll the watergrowths had begun to take root down in thedeep ; a nd the green stems had a lrea d v reachedthe surface . And now nearly all the migratory b irds were at home . The curlews ’

hooked bills peeped out from the reeds . Thegrebes glided about with new feather-collarsaround the neck ; and the jack-snipes weregathering straws for their nests .

The far m-hand got into a scow, laid Jarroin the bottom of the boat , and began to polehimself out on the lake . Jarro , who had nowaccustomed himself to expect only good of

human beings , said to Caesar , who was also inthe party , that he was very grateful towardthe farm-hand for taking him out on the lake .

But there was no need to keep him so closelyguarded

,for he d id not intend to fly away .

To this Caesar made no reply . He was veryclose-mouthed that morning .

The only thing which struck Jarro a s being

ADVENTURES OF NILS

a bit peculiar was that the farm-hand hadtaken his gun along . He couldn ’t believethat any of the good folk in the cottagewouldwant to shoot birds . And , bes ide j Caesarhad told

“

him that the people didn ’t hunt atthis time of the year . It is a prohibitedtime

,

” he had said ,“ although this doesn ’t

concern me ; of course .

”

The farm-hand went over to one of thelittle reed- enclosed mud- islets . There hestepped from the boat , gathered some old

reeds into a pile , and lay down behind it .

Jarro was permitted to wander around on

the ground , with the halter over his wings ,and tethered to the boat , w ith

‘

a long string.

Suddenly Jarro caught Sight of some youngducks and drakes , in whose company he hadformerly raced backward and forward over thelake . They were a long wa y off , but Jarrocalled them to him with a couple of loudshouts . They responded , and a large andbeautiful flock approached . Before they gotthere , Jarro began to tell them about hismarvellous rescue , and of the kindness of

human beings . Just then , two Shots sounded

3 94 ADVENTUR ES OF NILS

although h e detested them because theycrowded the ducks ou t of their best hi dingplaces . But he did not wish that any birdShould meet with misfortune on his account .

And,thanks to Jarro ’s vigilance

,the farm

hand had to go home without firing off a smgleShot .

Despite this fact , Caesar looked less displeased than on the previous day ; a nd whenevening came he took Jarro in his mouth

,

carried him over to the fireplace , and let himsleep between - his forepaws .

Nevertheless Jarro was no longer contentedin the cottage , but was grievously unhappy .

His heart suff ered at the thought that humansnever had loved him . When the mistress ,or the little boy, came forwa rd to caress him ,

he stuck his bill under h lS wmg and pretendedthat he Slept .

For several days Jarro continued his d istressful watch-service ; and already he wasknown all over Takern . Then it happen edone morning , while he called as usual : “Havea care , birds ! Don

’

t come near me ! I ’m onlya decoy-duck , that a grebe-nest came floating


toward the shallows where he wa s tied .

This was nothing especially remarkable . Itwas a nest from the year before ; and since

grebe-nests are built in such a way that theycan move on water like boats , it often happensthat they drift out toward the lake . StillJarro ‘ stood there and stared at the nest ,because it came so straight toward the isletthat it looked as though someone had steeredits course over the water .

As the nest came nearer , Jarro saw that alittle human being— the tiniest he had everseen—sat in the nest and rowed it forwardwith a pair of sticks . And this little humancalled to him :

“Go as near the water as youcan , Jarro , and be ready to fly . You shallsoon be freed .

A few seconds later the grebe-nest lay nea rland , but the little oarsman did not leave it ,but sa t huddled up between branches andstraw. Jarro too held himself almost immovable . He was actually paralysed with fearlest the rescuer should be discovered .

The next thing which occurred w a s that aflock of wild geese came along . Then Jarro


woke up to business , and warned the m withloud shrieks ; but in Spite of this they flewbackward and forward over the . shallowsseveral times . They held themselves so highthat they were beyond shooting distance ; stillthe farm-hand let himself be tempted to fire acouple of shots at them . These Shots werehardly fired before the little creature ran upon land ,

drew a tiny knife from its sheath,a nd

,

with a couple of quick strokes , cut looseJarro ’s halter .

“ Now fly away, Ja rroj b efore

the man has time to load again ! ” cried h e ,

while he himself ran down to th e'

greb e-nest

a nd poled away from the shore .

The hunter had had his gaze fixed upon thegeese

,and hadn ’t observed that Jarro had

been freed ; but Caesar had followed more carefully that which happened ; and just a s j arroraised hiswings ,he dashed forward and grabbedhim by the neck .

Jarro cried pitifully ; and the boy who hadfreed him said quietly to Caesar : “ If you arejust as honourable as you look ,

surely youcannot wish to force a good bir d to sit here andentice others into trouble .

”


while he lay still in his basket , and hewas certain that the duck understood him .

He begged his mother to take him down tothe lake that he might find j arro , and persuade him to come back to them . Motherwouldn ’t listen to this ; but the little one didn

’tgive up his plan on that account .The day after Jarro had disappeared

,Per

Ola was running about in the yard . Hepla yed by himself as usual , but Cmsa r layon the stoop ; and when mother let the boyout , she said :

“ Take care of Per Ola , Caesar !Now if all had been as usual

,Caesar would

also have obeyed the command , and the boywould have been so well gua rded that hecouldn ’t have run the least risk . But Caesarwas not like himself these days . He knewthat the farmers who lived along Takernhad held frequent conf erences about the lowering of the lake ; and that they had almostsettled the matter . The ducks must leave

,

and Caesar Should nevermore behold a glor ions chase . He was so pr eoccupied withthoughts of this misfortune , that he did not

remember to watch over Per Ola .


And the little one had scarcely been alonein the yard a minute , before he realised thatnow the right moment was come to go downto Takern and talk with Jarro . He Openeda gate , and wandered down toward the lakeon the narrow path which ran along the banks .

As long a s he could be seen from the house,

he walked slowly ; but afterward he increasedhis pace . He was very much afraid thatmother

,or someone else, should call to him

that he couldn ’t go . He didn ’t wish to doanything naughty , only to persuade Jarro tocome home ; but he felt that those at homewould not have approved of the undertaking .

When Per Ola came down to the lakeShore

,he called Jarro several t irnes . There

upon he stood for a long time and waited,

but no Jarro appeared . He saw several birdsthat resembled the wild duck , but they flew

by without noticing him , and he could understand that none among them wa s the right

one .

When Jarro didn’

t come to him , the little

boy thought that it would be easier to findhim if he went out on the lake . There were


several good craft lying along the shore , butthey were tied . The one that lay loose , a ndat liberty

,wa s an old leaky scow which was

so unfit that no one thought of using it .

But'

Per Ola scrambled up in it withoutcaring that the whole bottom was filled withwater . He had not strength enough to use

the oars,but instead , he seated

.

himself toswing and rock in the scow. Certainly nogrown person would have succeeded in m ov

ing !

a scow out on Takern in that mannerbut when th e tide is high—and ill- luck to thefore—little children have ama rVellous 'fa c ultyfor getting out to sea . Per Ola wa s soonriding around on Takern , and calling for

Jarro .

When the old scow was rocked like this—out to sea—its cracks opened wider “

andwider , and the water actually streamed intoit . Per Ola didn ’t pay the slightest attentionto this . He sa t upon the little bench ' in frontand called to every b ird he saw

,and won

dered why Jarro didn ’t appear .At last Jarro caught sight of Per Ola ; He

heard that someone ca lled h im by the nam e

ADVENTURES OF NILS

obeyed him, and he and the tiny creature ,together , steered the scow . With a coupleof strokes they were on a little reed- encircledisland , and now Per Ola was told that hemust step on land . An d just the very momentthat Per Ola set foot on land , the scow wa s

filled with water , and sank to the bottom .

When Per Ola saw this he was sur e thatfather and mother would be very angry withhim . He would have started in to cry ifhe hadn ’t found something else to thinkabout soon ; namely, a flock of big, graybirds , who lighted on the island . The littlemidget took him up to them, a nd toldhim their names , and what they said . Andthis was so funny that Per x Ola forgot every!

thing else .

Meanwhile the folks on the farmhad discovered that the boy had disappeared , a nd

had started to search for him . They searchedthe outhouses , looked in the well , and huntedthrough the cellar . Then they went out intothe highways and by-paths ; wandered to th eneighbouring farm to find out if he h a dstrayed over there, and searched for him also

DVENTUR ES or NILS 403

down by Takern . But no matter how mucht hey sought they did not find him .

Caesar , the dog , understood very well thatthe farmer- folk were looking for Per Ola

,but

he did nothing to lead them on the r ighttrack ; instead , he lay still as though thematter didn ’t concern him .

Later in the day,Per Ola ’s footprints were

discovered down by th e boat- landing . Andthen came the thought that the old

, leakyscow was no longer on the strand . Then one

began to understand how the whole a ffairhad come about .The farmer and his helpers immediately

took out the boats and went in search of theboy . They rowed around on Takern untilway late in the evening , without seeing theleast shadow of him . They couldn ’t helpbelieving that the old scow had gone down ,

and that the little one lay dead on the lakebottom .

In the evening , Per Ola’s mother hunted

around on the strand . Everyone else wasconvinced that the boy w a s drowned ,

butsh e c ould not bring herself to believe this .


She searched all the while . She searchedbetween reeds and bulrushes ; tramped andtramped on the muddy shore , never thinkingof how deep her foot sank , and how wet Shehad become . She wa s unspeakably desperate .

Her heart ached in her breast . She did notweep , but wrung her hands and called for

her child in loud piercing tones .

Round about her sh e heard swans ’ a nd.

ducks ’ and curlews ’ . shrieks. She thoughtthat they followed her , and moaned andwailed—Lth ey too . Surely , they, too , mustbe in trouble, since they moan so, thoughtSh e . Then She remembered : these were onlybirds that sh e heard complain . They surelyhad no worries .

It was strange that they d id not qui etdown after sunset . But sh e heard all theseuncountable bird- throngs , which lived alongTakern

,send forth cry upon cry . Several of

them followed her wherever sh e went ; otherscame rustling past on light wings . All the airwas filled with moans and lamentations .

But the anguish which sh e herself was

suff er ing ,opened her heart . She thought


Was it God ’s mean ing that sorrow Shouldcome and Open her hea rt—just to-daybefore it was too late to avert the cruel act ?She walked rapidly up to the house

,and

began to talk with her husband about this .

She Spoke of the lake , and of the birds,and

said that sh e believed it was God ’s judgmenton them both . And sh e soon found thathe was of the same Opinion .

They already owned a large place,but if

the lake-draining was carried into eff ect,such

a goodlyI

portion of the lake -bottom wouldfall to their share that their property wouldbe nearly doubled . For this reason theyhad been more eager for the undertaking thanany of the other Shore owners . The othershad been worried about expenses , and anxiouslest the draining Should not prove

‘

any moresuccessful this tim e than it was the last .

Per Ola ’s father k new in his heart that itwas he who

,had influenced them to under

take the work . He had exercised all h iseloquence

,so that he might leave to his son

a farm as large again as his father had leftto him .


He stood and pondered if God ’s hand wasback of the fact that Takern had taken hisson from him on the day before he was todraw up the contract to lay it waste Thewife didn

’t have to say many words to him ,

before he answered : It may be that Goddoes not want us to interfere with His order .

I’

ll talk with the others about this to-morrow,

and I think we ’ll conclude that all mayremain as it is .

”

While the farmer- folk were talking thisover, Caesar lay before the fire . He raisedhis head and listened very a ttentively. Whenhe thought that he was sure of the outcome

,

he walked up to the mistress , took her bythe Skirt

,and led her to the door .

“ ButCaesar ! ” said She , and wanted to breakloose . Do you know where Per Ola is ?sh e exclaimed . Caesar barked j oyfully, andthrew himself against th e door . She Openedit

,and Caesar dashed down toward Takern .

The mistress was so positive he knew wherePer Ola was , tha t sh e ru shed after h im .

And no sooner had they reached the shore

than they heard a child’s cry out on the lake .

408 ADVENTURE S OF NILS

Per Ola had had the best day of his l ife , incompany with Thumb ietot and the birds ;but now he had begun to cry because hewas hungry and afraid of the darkness . An d

he was glad when father a nd mother a nd

Caesar c ame for


One sa t at the oars , and the other stood on

a bench in the stern and held in h is hand a

short Spea r which was coarsely barbed .

The one who rowed was apparently a poorfisherman . He was sma ll , dried-up andweather-beaten , and wore a thin , threadbarecoat . One could see that he was so used tobeing out in all sorts of weather that hedidn ’t mind the cold . The other wa s wellfed and well dressed , and looked like a pros

perous and self-complacent farmer .

stop ! ” said the farmer , when theywere Opposite the island where the boy lay .

At the same time he plunged the spear intothe water When he drew it out again ,

along , fine eel came with it .

“ Look at that ! ” said he a s he relea sedthe eel from the Spear . That was one whowa s worth while . Now I think we haveso many that we can turn back .

”

His comrade did not lift the oars , but sa tand looked around . It is lovely out hereon the lake to-night , said he . And so itwas . It was absolutely st ill , so that the

entire water-surface lay in undisturbed rest


with the exception of the streak where theboat had gone forward . This lay like apath of gold , and shimmered in the fireligh t .

The sky was clear and dark blue and thicklystudded with stars . The shores were hiddenby the reed islands except toward the west .

There“

Mount Omberg loomed up high anddark

,much more impressive than usual

,

and cut away a big, three-cornered piece of

the vaulted heavens .

The other one turned his head to get thelight out of his eyes , and looked about him .

“Yes

,it is lovely here in Ostergylln ,

” said he .

Still the best thing about the province isnot i ts bea uty “ Then what is it that ’sbest ? ” asked the oarsman . That it hasalways been a respected and honoured province .

“ That may be true enough . Andthen this , that one knows it will always c on~

t inue to be so .

” “ But how in the world canone know this ? ” said the one who sat at theoars .The farmer straightened up where he

stood and braced himself with the spea r .Th ere is an old story which h a s been ha nded


down from father to son in my family ; andin it one learns what will happen to Oster

gOtla nd .

“ Then you may as well tell itto me , said the oarsman . We do not tellit to anyone and everyone , but I do not wishto keep it a secret from

'

a n old comrade .

“ At Ulvasa ,

’

here‘

in Ostergotland,he

continued (and one could tell by the tone ofhis Voice that he talked of som ethmg whichhe had heard from others , and knew by heart),many

,many years ago , there lived a lady

w ho had the gift of looking into the future,

and telling people what was going to happento them—just as certainly and accuratelyas though it had already occurred . For

this sh e became widely noted ; and it is easyto understand that people would come to her

,

both from far and near , to find out whatthey were going to pass through of good or

One day , when Ulvasa - lady sa t in her halla nd spun , as was customary in former days ,a poor peasant came into the room andsea ted himself on the bench nea r the door .

‘I wonder wha t you are s itt ing and


state his errand . He said that he ha d cometo a sk how it would go with Ostergotla nd inthe future . There w a s nothing which wasso dear to him as his native province , and hefelt that he should be happy until his dyingday if he could get a satisfactory reply tohis query .

‘Oh ! is that all you wish to know,

’ sa idthe W1se lady ;

‘then I think that you will becontent . For here where I now s it

, I can tellyou that it will be like this with OstergOtla nd :it will always have something to boast of

ahead of other provinces .

’

‘Yes,that was a good answer , dear lady,

’

said the peasant,

‘and now I would beentirely at peace if I could only comprehendhow such a thing Should be possible .

’

‘Why should it not be possible ? ’ said

Ulvasa - lady .

‘Don ’t you know that Oster

gotla nd is already renowned ? Or think youthere is any place in Sweden that can boastOf own ing , at the same t ime, two such Cloistersas the ones in Alva stra and Vreta , and sucha beautiful cathedral as the one in Linkoping ?

’

‘That may be so,

’ said the peasant . ‘But


I ’m an old man , and I know that people’s

minds are changeable . I fear that there willcome a time whet; they won

’t want to giveus any glory , either for Alva stra or Vretaor for the cathedral . ’

‘Herein you may be right ,’ said Ulvésa

lady,

‘but you need not doubt prophecy on

that account . I shall now build up a newCloister on Vadstena , and that will becomethe most celebrated in the North . Thitherboth the high and the lowly Shall make pilgrimages

,and all shall Sing the s

pra ises of theprovince because it has such a holy placewithin its confines .

’

“The pea san t replied that he wa s rightglad to know this . But he also knew

, of

c ourse , that everything was per ishable ; andhe wondered much what would give distinotion to the province, if Vadstena Cloistershould onc e fall into disrepute .

‘

You are not easy to satisfy,’ said Ulvasa

lady ,‘but surely I can see so far ahead tha t

I can tell you , before Vadstena Cloister sha llhave lost its splendour , there will be a castleerec ted c lose by, which will be the most


magn ificent of its period . Kings and dukeswill be guests there , and it shall be accountedan honour to the whole proy inc e , that it ownssuch an ornament .

”

This I am also glad to hear ,’ said the peas

ant .

‘But I ’m a n old man , a nd I know howit generally turns out with this world ’s glories .

And if the c a stle goes to ruin , I wonder muchwhat there will be that can attract the people ’sattention to this province .

’

‘It ’s not a little that you want to know ,

’

said Ulvasa- lady ,

‘but , certainly , I can lookfa r enough into the future to see that therewill be life and movement in the forests aroundFinspangf I see how cabins and smithiesarise there

,a nd I believe that the whole

provm c e shall be renowned because iron willbe mouldedwithin its confines .

’

“Th e peasant didn

’

t deny that he wasdelighted to hear this .

‘But if it Should goso badly that even Finspang ’s foundry wentdown In 1mpOrta nc e , then it would hardly

be possible that any new thing c ould ariseof which Ostergotland might boast .

’

‘

You a re not easy to please,’ said Ulvasa .


I see that the rapids in Mota la streambegin .to draw wheels ,

’ said Ulvas a -ladyand now two bright red Spots came to h er

cheeks , for sh e began to be impatient—‘

I

hear hammers resou nd in Motala , and loomsclatter in Norrkoping .

’

“ ‘

Yes , that’s good to know,

’ said the

peasant,

‘but everything is perishable , andI ’m afraid that even this can be forgotten

,

and go into oblivion .

’

When the peasant was not satisfied evennow

,there was an end to the lady ’s patience .

‘You sa y that everything is perishable ,’ said

sh e ,‘but now I shall still name something

which will always be like itself ; and that isthat such arrogant and pig-headed peasantsas you w ill

'

a lwa ys be found in this province—until the end of t i in e.

’

“Hardly had Ulvasa -lady said this before

thanked her for‘

a good answer . Now ,at

Verily , I understand now how you looka t it ,

’ then said Ulva sa -lady.

_

‘W ,ell 1 look at it in this wa y, dea r lady?


aid the peasant ,‘that everything which kings

and priests and noblemen and merchantsbuild and accomplish

,can only endure for a

few years . But when you tell me that inOstergotland there will always be peasantswho are honour- loving and persevering , thenI know also that it will be able to keep itsancient glory . For it is only those who gobent under the eternal labour with the soil,who can hold this land in good repute a nd

honour—from one time to another . ’

THE HOMESPUN CLOTH

Sa turda y, Apr il tw enty-third .

HE boy rode forward—way up in the a ir .

He had the great Ostergotland plainunder him, and sat and counted the manywhi te churches which towered above the smallleafy groves around them . It wasn ’t longbefore he had counted fif ty . After that hebecame confused and couldn ’t keep trac k of

Nearly all the farms were built up withlarge , whitewashed two-story houses , whichlooked so imposing that the boy couldn ’thelp admiring them .

“There can ’t be anypeasants in this land , he said to himself,Since I do not see any peasant farms .

”

Immediately all the wild geese shriekedHere the peasants live like gentlemen . Herethe peasants live like gentlemen .

”

On the plains the ic e a nd snow a d


touchy , knocked over the small boys , chasedthe shepherd dog into his kennel , and thenstrutted about as though he alone were lord ofthe whole place . R amm ie , r amm ie , whathave you done with your wool ? ” asked thewild geese

,who rode by up in the air .

“ ThatI have sent to Drag ’s woollen m ills in Norrkoping

,

” replied the ram with a long,drawn

Out bleat . R amm ie ,r amm ie , what have

you done with your horns ?” asked the geese .

But any horns the r amm ie had never possessed

,to his sorrow , and one couldn ’t offer

him a greater insult than to ask after them .

He ran around a long time, and butted at thea ir , so furious was he .

On the country road came a man whodrove a flock of Skane pigs that were not morethan a few weeks old , and were going to besold up country . They trotted along bravely

,

a s little as they were , and kept close together—as if they sought protection .

“ Nuff , nufl ,

nuff , we came away too soon from father andmother . Nu ff , nuff , nuff , how will it go withus poor children ? ” said the little pigs . The

wild geese didn’t have the heart to tease such


poor little creatures . It will be better foryou than you can ever believe , they cried asthey flew past them .

The wild geese were never so merry aswhen they flew over a flat country . Thenthey did not hurry themselves

,but flew from

farm“

to farm , and joked with the tame

As the boy rode over the plain , he happenedto think of a legend which he had heard a longti me ago . He didn ’t remember it exactly

,

but it was something about a petticoat

half of which was made of gold-woven velvet,

and half of gray homespun cloth . But theone

‘

who owned the petticoat adorned thehomespun cloth with such a lot of pearls andprecious stones that it looked richer a nd moregorgeous than the gold-cloth .

He remembered this about the homespuncloth, as he looked down on Ostergotland ,because it was made up of a large plain , whichlay wedged in between two mountainousforest-tracts—one to the north , the other tothe south . The two forest-heights lay there,a lovely blue

,and shimmered in the morning


light , as if they were decked with gold en veils ;

a nd the plain ,which Simply Spread out one

winter-naked field after another , w a s , in andof itself , prettier to look upon than grayhomespun .

But the people must have been contentedon .the plain , bec ause it was generous a nd k ind ,and they had tried to decorate it in th e bestway possible . High up

—where the boy rod eby—h e thought that cities and farms

,

churches and factories , castles and ra ilwaystations were scattered over it , like la rge andsmall trinkets . It shone on the roofs , and thewindow -panes glittered like jewels . Yellowcountry roads, shining railway-tracks a nd

blue canals ran along between the districtslike embroid ered loops . Li nkop ing layaround its cathedral like a pearl- setting arounda precious stone ; and the gardens in the

coun try were like little brooches a nd buttons .There was not much regulation in the pattern ,but it wa s a display of grandeu r whi ch one

c ould never tire of looking at .

The geese had left Oberg distric t, and

tra velled towa rd the ea st along Gota Ca na l.


upward again ! It is too late . I cannot getmy Shoe back again .

Down on the road stood Osa , the goosegirl

,and her brother

,little Mats , looking

at a tiny wooden Shoe that had fallen fromthe Skies .Osa

,the goose-girl , stood Silent a long

while,and pondered over the find . At last

sh e said , Slowly and thoughtfully : Do youremember

,little Mats

,that when we went

past Ovid Cloister,we heard that the folks in

a farmyard had seen an elf .who was dressedin leather breeches

,and had wooden shoes on

his feet , like any other Working man ? Anddo you recollect when we came to VittskOvle,a girl told us that sh e had seen a Goa-Nissewith wooden shoes

,who flew away on th e

back of a goose ? And when we ourselves camehome to our cabin ,

little Mats , we saw a goblinwho was dressed in the same way

,and who

a lso straddled the back of a goose—and flewaway . Maybe it was the same one whorode along on his goose up here in the air anddropped his wooden Shoe .

”

Yes, it must have been, said little Ma ts .

APPEND I !

TABLE OF PR ONUNCIATION

The final a is sounded in Skane , S irls ,Gripe , etc .

The 51 in Skane and Smaland is pronouncedlike 0 in ore .

j is like the English y. Nuolja , Ov ik s

fja llen , Sjangeli , j arro , etc .

,should sound as

if they were Spelled like this : Nuolya , Ov ik s

fyellen , Sya ng[one sylla b le]elee ,Yarro , etc .

g, when followed by e,i, y,

ii,6, is also like

Example , GOta is pronounced Yota .

When g is followed by a ,0, u ,

or O, it is hard,a s in go .

It in Norrkoping, Linkoping , Kivik (pronounc ed Ch eeveek), etc .

, is lik e ch in cheer .k is hard when it precedes a , 0, u ,

or 51.

Example , Kaksi , Kolmi , etc .

6 is pronounced like d in fare . Example,Ea rs .

There is no sound in the English langua ge42 9

43° ADVENTURES OF NILS

which corresponds to the Swed ish 5 .

like the French 6 14 in jeu .

Gripe is pronounced Greep-e .

In S irle , the first syllable h as the Sam.

sound as 5 17 , m S 1rup .

The names which Miss Lagerlofto the animals are descriptive .

Sm irre Fox , is cunning fox .

S irle Squirrel , is graceful , or nimble squirrel .Gripe Otter , means grabbing or clutching

otter .Mons is a pet name applied to cats ; lik e our

tommy and pussy . Mousie house-cat is equiva lent to Tommy house-cat .Marten gask a r l (Morten Goos ie-gander) is a

pet name for a tame gander, just a s we use

Dickie-bird for a pet bird.

Fru is the Swedish for Mrs . This title 18

usually applied to gentlewomen only . Theauthor has used this meaning of - fru .

”

A Goa-Nisse is an elf-king , and correspondsto the English Puck or Robin Goodf ellow .

VELMA SWANSTONHOWARD .

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