The Wonderful Adventures of Nils 1732 Studios

Swedish · The Wonderful Adventures of Nils

Pojken

The Boy

374 sentences · 23 notes

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  1. 1

    Once upon a time there was a boy.

    Detitden · pronoun, neuter, singularsubject of gång
    varwasvara · auxiliary verb, past, indicative, activecopula linking to gång
    enaen · determiner, common gender, singulardeterminer of gång
    gångoncegång · noun, nominative, common gender, singularhead of the phrase
    enaen · determiner, common gender, singulardeterminer of pojke
    pojkeboypojke · noun, nominative, common gender, singulardirect object of gång

  2. He was about fourteen years old, tall and gangly and flaxen-haired.

  3. He was not good for much: what he wanted most of all was to sleep and eat, and after that he liked to get up to mischief.

  4. 2

    Now it was a Sunday morning, and the boy's parents were getting themselves ready to go to church.

  5. The boy himself sat in his shirtsleeves on the edge of the table, thinking how lucky it was that both father and mother were going off, so that he'd get to do as he pleased for a couple of hours.

  6. "Now I can take down father's gun and fire off a shot, without anyone needing to interfere," he said to himself.

  7. 3

    But it was almost as if father had guessed the boy's thoughts, for just as he stood on the threshold, ready to leave, he stopped and turned toward him.

  8. "Since you don't want to go to church with mother and me," he said, "I think you can at least read the sermon at home.

  9. Will you promise me you'll do that?"

  10. 4

    "Yes," said the boy, "I suppose I can do that."

  11. And of course he thought that he wouldn't read any more of it than he felt like.

  12. 5

    The boy thought he had never seen mother in such a hurry.

  13. In an instant she was over at the wall-shelf, took down Luther's postil, and laid it on the table by the window with the day's sermon open.

  14. She also opened the book of Gospels and laid it beside the postil.

  15. Last of all she pulled up to the table the big armchair that had been bought at the auction at the Vemmenhög parsonage the year before, and which otherwise no one but father was allowed to sit in.

  16. 6

    The boy sat thinking that mother was going to far too much trouble with all that laying-out, for he didn't intend to read more than a page or two.

  17. But now, for the second time, it was exactly as if father could see straight through him.

  18. He went up to the boy and said in a stern voice, "Now remember to read it properly!

  19. For when we come back, I'll test you on every single page, and if you've skipped any, it won't go well for you."

  20. 7

    "The sermon is fourteen and a half pages," said mother, as if to make matters worse.

  21. "You'd better sit down and start reading at once, if you're going to get through it."

  22. 8

    With that they finally left, and as the boy stood in the doorway watching them go, he felt he had been caught in a trap.

  23. "Now they're probably off congratulating themselves on having thought up such a fine scheme, that I have to sit hunched over the sermon the whole time they're gone," he thought.

  24. 9

    But father and mother certainly were not off congratulating themselves on anything; instead they were quite troubled.

  25. They were poor cottar folk, and their place was not much bigger than a garden patch.

  26. When they first moved there, the place could support no more than one pig and a couple of hens, but they were unusually hardworking and capable people, and now they had both cows and geese.

  27. They had gotten on tremendously well, and they would have walked to church content and cheerful on that fine morning, if they hadn't had their son to worry about.

  28. Father complained that he was slow and lazy: he had refused to learn anything at school, and he was so useless that he could barely be trusted to herd the geese.

  29. And mother did not deny that this was true, but what troubled her most was that he was wild and unkind, hard on animals and spiteful toward people.

  30. "May God break his wickedness and give him a different nature!" said mother.

  31. "Otherwise he'll become a misfortune, both to himself and to us."

  32. 10

    The boy stood for a long while wondering whether he should read the sermon or not.

  33. But then he decided that this time it was best to be obedient.

  34. He sat down in the parsonage armchair and began to read.

  35. But after he had been mumbling the words half aloud for a while, it was as if that muttering had lulled him to sleep, and he noticed himself nodding off.

  36. 11

    Outside it was the loveliest spring weather.

  37. The year had gotten no further than the twentieth of March, but the boy lived in Västra Vemmenhög parish, far down in southern Skåne, and there spring was already in full swing.

  38. It was not green yet, but it was fresh and budding.

  39. There was water in every ditch, and the coltsfoot stood in bloom along the ditch banks.

  40. All the brushwood growing on the stone wall had turned brown and glossy.

  41. The beech forest far off stood as if swelling, growing denser by the moment.

  42. The sky was high and purely blue.

  43. The cottage door stood ajar, so that the trilling of the larks could be heard inside the room.

  44. The hens and geese walked about the yard, and the cows, who could feel the spring air even in their stalls, now and then let out a low.

  45. 12

    The boy read and nodded and fought against sleep.

  46. "No, I don't want to fall asleep," he thought, "because then I won't get through this all morning."

  47. 13

    But however it happened, he fell asleep.

  48. 14

    He didn't know whether he had slept a little or a long while, but he woke because he heard a faint noise behind him.

  49. 15

    On the very windowsill right in front of the boy stood a small mirror, and in it almost the whole room could be seen.

  50. Just as the boy now lifted his head, he happened to glance in the mirror, and then he saw that the lid of mother's chest had been thrown open.

  51. 16

    The fact was, mother owned a big, heavy, iron-bound oak chest that no one but she herself was allowed to open.

  52. In it mother kept everything she had inherited from her own mother, and which she was especially careful of.

  53. In it lay a couple of old-fashioned peasant women's costumes of red cloth, with a short bodice and pleated skirt and a pearl-trimmed bib.

  54. There were starched white headcloths, and heavy silver buckles and chains.

  55. People no longer wanted to wear such things nowadays, and mother had more than once thought of getting rid of the old things, but then she hadn't had the heart to.

  56. 17

    Now the boy saw quite clearly in the mirror that the lid of the chest stood open.

  57. He could not understand how this had happened, for mother had closed the chest before she left.

  58. It surely would not have happened that mother had left that chest open while he was home alone.

  59. 18

    He grew truly uneasy at heart.

  60. He was afraid that a thief had crept into the cottage.

  61. He didn't dare move, but sat still and stared into the mirror.

  62. 19

    While he sat waiting for the thief to show himself, he began to wonder what kind of black shadow was falling over the edge of the chest.

  63. He looked and looked and would not believe his eyes.

  64. But that which at first was shadow-like grew ever clearer, and soon he noticed that it was something real.

  65. It was nothing less than a tomte sitting astride the edge of the chest.

  66. 20

    The boy had certainly heard people talk about tomtar, but he had never imagined they could be so small.

  67. He was no more than a hand's-breadth tall, the one sitting on the edge of the chest.

  68. He had an old, wrinkled, beardless face, and was dressed in a black frock coat, knee breeches, and a broad-brimmed black hat.

  69. He was very neat and fine, with white lace at his neck and wrists, buckles on his shoes, and garters tied in bows.

  70. He had taken an embroidered bib out of the chest, and sat gazing at the old-fashioned needlework with such devotion that he did not notice the boy had woken.

  71. 21

    The boy was quite astonished to see the tomte, but on the other hand he wasn't especially afraid.

  72. It was impossible to be afraid of someone so small.

  73. And since the tomte sat there so absorbed in his own affairs that he neither saw nor heard, the boy thought it would be amusing to play a trick on him: push him down into the chest and slam the lid shut over him, or something of the sort.

  74. 22

    But the boy was still not brave enough to touch the tomte with his bare hands, so he looked around the cottage for something he could use to poke him.

  75. He let his eyes wander from the settle to the drop-leaf table, and from the table to the stove.

  76. He looked at the pots and the coffee pot standing on a shelf beside the stove, at the water pail by the door, and at the ladles and knives and forks and dishes and plates visible through the half-open cupboard door.

  77. He looked up at father's gun, hanging on the wall beside the portraits of the Danish royals, and at the geraniums and fuchsias blooming in the window.

  78. Last of all his eyes fell on an old fly-net hanging on the window frame.

  79. 23

    Scarcely had he caught sight of the fly-net before he snatched it up, sprang forward, and swept it along the edge of the chest.

  80. And he himself was astonished at the luck he had.

  81. He could hardly understand how he'd managed it, but he had actually caught the tomte.

  82. The poor fellow lay at the bottom of the long net with his head down, and couldn't climb back out of it.

  83. 24

    In the first moment the boy had no idea what to do with his catch.

  84. He was only careful to keep swinging the net back and forth, so the tomte wouldn't get the chance to climb out.

  85. 25

    The tomte began to speak, and begged so earnestly to be set free.

  86. He had done them good for many years, he said, and deserved better treatment.

  87. If the boy would now let him loose, he would give him an old specie-daler, a silver spoon, and a gold coin as big as the case of his father's silver watch.

  88. 26

    The boy didn't think this was much of an offer, but it had happened that, once he had the tomte in his power, he had grown afraid of him.

  89. He realized he had gotten mixed up with something strange and uncanny that did not belong to his world, and he was simply glad to be rid of the creature.

  90. 27

    So he agreed to the bargain at once and held the net still, so the tomte could crawl out of it.

  91. But when the tomte was almost out of the net, it occurred to the boy that he ought to have bargained for great riches and all sorts of good things.

  92. At the very least he should have set the condition that the tomte should have conjured the sermon straight into his head.

  93. "How stupid I was to let him go free!" he thought, and started shaking the net so the tomte would tumble down into it again.

  94. 28

    But the very moment the boy did this, he got such a terrible slap that he thought his head would burst into pieces.

  95. He flew first against one wall, then against the other; finally he sank down onto the floor, and there he lay unconscious.

  96. 29

    When he woke up again, he was alone in the cottage.

  97. He saw no trace of the tomte.

  98. The lid of the chest was closed, and the fly-net hung in its usual place at the window.

  99. If he hadn't felt his right cheek burning from the slap, he would have been tempted to think the whole thing had been a dream.

  100. "Anyway, father and mother will probably claim it was nothing else," he thought.

  101. "They certainly won't give me any allowance in the sermon on the tomte's account.

  102. I'd better sit down and read again."

  103. 30

    But when he now walked toward the table, he noticed something strange.

  104. Surely it couldn't be that the cottage had grown.

  105. But then how was it that he had to take so many more steps than usual to reach the table?

  106. And what was wrong with the chair?

  107. It didn't look any bigger now than it had a moment before, yet he first had to step up onto the rung between the chair legs and then climb to reach the seat.

  108. And it was the same with the table.

  109. He couldn't see over the tabletop without climbing up onto the armrest.

  110. 31

    "What in the world is this?" said the boy.

  111. "I do believe the tomte has bewitched the armchair and the table and the whole cottage."

  112. 32

    The postil lay on the table, and it looked, to all appearances, just as it always did, but there must have been something wrong with it too, for he couldn't manage to read a single word in it without actually standing on the book itself.

  113. 33

    He read a couple of lines, but then happened to glance up.

  114. Just then his eyes fell on the mirror, and he cried out loud, "Look, there's another one!"

  115. 34

    For in the mirror he clearly saw a tiny, tiny little fellow dressed in a pointed cap and leather breeches.

  116. 35

    "Why, that one's dressed exactly like me," said the boy, and clapped his hands together in astonishment.

  117. But then he saw that the little fellow in the mirror did the same thing.

  118. 36

    Then he began to pull his own hair and pinch his own arms and spin himself around, and instantly the one in the mirror imitated him.

  119. 37

    The boy ran around the mirror a couple of times to see whether some little fellow was hiding behind it.

  120. But he found no one there, and then he began to tremble with fear.

  121. For now he understood that the tomte had bewitched him, and that the little fellow whose reflection he saw in the mirror was himself.

  122. 38

    THE WILD GEESE.

  123. 39

    The boy simply could not bring himself to believe that he had been turned into a tomte.

  124. "It's probably just a dream and my imagination," he thought.

  125. "If I wait a few moments, I'll surely be human again."

  126. 40

    He stood in front of the mirror and closed his eyes.

  127. He didn't open them again until a couple of minutes had passed, expecting it to have gone away by then.

  128. But it hadn't, and he remained just as small as before.

  129. Otherwise he was exactly as he had been before.

  130. The white flaxen hair, the freckles across his nose, the patches on his leather breeches, and the darn in his stocking — all of it was just the same, except that it had been shrunk down.

  131. 41

    No, standing still and waiting did no good, he realized.

  132. He would have to try something else.

  133. And the wisest thing he could do, he thought, would be to find the tomte and make peace with him.

  134. 42

    He jumped down onto the floor and began to search.

  135. He looked behind chairs and cupboards, and under the settle, and in the baking oven.

  136. He even crawled down into a couple of rat holes, but he was unable to find the tomte.

  137. 43

    While he searched, he wept and pleaded and promised every imaginable thing.

  138. Never again would he break his word to anyone; never again would he be unkind; never again would he fall asleep and neglect the sermon.

  139. If only he could become human again, he would turn into such a fine, kind, and obedient boy.

  140. But whatever he promised, it didn't help in the least.

  141. 44

    All at once he remembered having heard mother say that the little folk usually lived in the cow shed, and he decided at once to go there and see whether he could find the tomte.

  142. It was lucky that the cottage door stood ajar, for he wouldn't have been able to reach the latch and open it, but now he slipped through without any trouble.

  143. 45

    When he came out into the entryway, he looked around for his clogs, for indoors he had of course been walking in his stocking feet.

  144. He wondered how he'd manage with the big, clumsy clogs, but just then he saw a pair of small shoes standing on the threshold.

  145. When he realized that the tomte had been so thoughtful as to transform the clogs too, he grew even more anxious.

  146. It seemed as though this misery was meant to last a long time.

  147. 46

    On the old oak plank lying in front of the entryway door, a house sparrow was hopping about.

  148. No sooner had he set eyes on the boy than he cried out, "Tee-hee! Tee-hee! Look at Nils the goose boy! Look at Thumbietot! Look at Nils Holgersson Thumbietot!"

  149. 47

    At once both the geese and the hens turned their eyes toward the boy, and there arose a terrible cackling.

  150. "Cock-a-doodle-doo," crowed the rooster, "it serves him right.

  151. Cock-a-doodle-doo, he's pulled my comb."

  152. "Cluck, cluck, cluck, it serves him right," cried the hens, and they kept this up endlessly.

  153. The geese crowded together into a tight cluster, stuck their heads together, and asked, "Who could have done this?

  154. Who could have done this?"

  155. 48

    But the strangest thing about all this was that the boy understood what they said.

  156. He was so astonished that he stood stock-still on the doorstep, listening.

  157. "It must come from my having been turned into a tomte," he said.

  158. "That's surely why I understand bird speech."

  159. 49

    He thought it unbearable that the hens wouldn't stop saying it served him right.

  160. He threw a stone at them and shouted, "Shut up, you rabble!"

  161. 50

    But he hadn't considered that he was no longer the sort the hens needed to be afraid of.

  162. The whole flock of hens rushed at him, gathered around him, and shrieked, "Cluck, cluck, cluck, it serves you right.

  163. Cluck, cluck, cluck, it serves you right."

  164. 51

    The boy tried to get away from them, but the hens ran after him, shrieking so that he nearly lost his hearing.

  165. He would probably never have escaped them, if the house cat hadn't come strolling along.

  166. As soon as the hens saw the cat, they fell silent and pretended to think of nothing but scratching in the dirt for worms.

  167. 52

    The boy ran straight up to the cat.

  168. "Dear Puss," he said, "you must know every nook and hiding place on this farm?

  169. Please be kind and tell me where I can find the tomte."

  170. 53

    The cat didn't answer right away.

  171. He sat down, curled his tail neatly around in front of his paws, and stared at the boy.

  172. He was a big, black cat with a white patch on his chest.

  173. His fur lay sleek and shone in the sunlight.

  174. His claws were drawn in, and his eyes were an even gray with only a thin little slit down the middle.

  175. The cat looked thoroughly good-natured.

  176. 54

    "I certainly know where the tomte lives," he said in a smooth voice, "but it isn't said that I'm willing to tell you."

  177. 55

    "Dear Puss, you must help me," said the boy.

  178. "Can't you see how he has bewitched me?"

  179. 56

    The cat opened his eyes a little, so that a green malice began to shine through.

  180. He purred and buzzed with satisfaction before he answered.

  181. "Should I perhaps help you, seeing as how you've so often pulled my tail?" he said at last.

  182. 57

    Then the boy grew angry and completely forgot how small and powerless he now was.

  183. "I can still pull your tail one more time, I can," he said, and ran at the cat.

  184. 58

    In the next instant the cat had changed so much that the boy could hardly believe it was the same animal.

  185. Every single hair on his body stood on end.

  186. His back had arched, his legs had lengthened, his claws scraped the ground, his tail had become short and thick, his ears lay back, his mouth hissed, and his eyes stood wide open, glowing with red fire.

  187. 59

    The boy refused to let himself be frightened by a cat, and took yet another step forward.

  188. But then the cat made a leap, came down right on top of the boy, knocked him over, and stood over him with his forepaws on his chest and his jaws open above his throat.

  189. 60

    The boy felt the claws pressing through his vest and shirt into his skin, and the sharp canine teeth tickling his throat.

  190. He screamed for help with all his might.

  191. 61

    But no one came, and he was quite certain that his last moment had arrived.

  192. Then he felt the cat draw in its claws and release its hold on his throat.

  193. 62

    "There now," he said, "that's enough.

  194. I'll let you off this time, for the mistress's sake.

  195. I only wanted you to know which of the two of us has the power now."

  196. 63

    With that the cat went on his way, looking just as sleek and gentle as he had when he came.

  197. The boy was so ashamed that he didn't say a word, but simply hurried off to the cow shed to search for the tomte.

  198. 64

    There were no more than three cows in there.

  199. But when the boy came in, there arose such a bellowing and commotion that one might easily have thought there were at least thirty of them.

  200. 65

    "Moo, moo, moo," lowed Majros.

  201. "It's a good thing there's justice in the world after all."

  202. 66

    "Moo, moo, moo," all three struck up together.

  203. He couldn't make out what they were saying, they bellowed so over one another.

  204. 67

    The boy wanted to ask about the tomte, but he couldn't make himself heard, because the cows were in complete uproar.

  205. They were behaving just as they usually did when he let a strange dog in among them.

  206. They kicked with their hind legs, rattled their neck chains, turned their heads outward, and aimed with their horns.

  207. 68

    "Just you come here," said Majros, "and you'll get a kick you won't forget for a long time!"

  208. 69

    "Come here," said Gull-Lilja, "and you'll get to dance on my horns!"

  209. 70

    "Come here, and you'll get to feel what it was like when you threw your clog at me, the way you used to do last summer!" bellowed Stjärna.

  210. 71

    "Come here, and you'll get paid back for the wasp you let loose in my ear!" roared Gull-Lilja.

  211. 72

    Majros was the oldest and wisest of them, and she was angriest of all.

  212. "Come here," she said, "so I can pay you back for every time you've pulled the milking stool out from under your mother, and for every time you've tripped her up when she came carrying the milk pail, and for all the tears she has stood here and wept over you!"

  213. 73

    The boy wanted to tell them that he was sorry for having been unkind to them, and that he would never be anything but kind from now on, if they would only tell him where the tomte was.

  214. But the cows did not listen to him.

  215. They carried on so that he grew afraid one of them might manage to tear herself loose, and he decided it was best to slip quietly out of the cow shed.

  216. 74

    When he came out again, he was quite discouraged.

  217. He could understand that no one on the farm was willing to help him find the tomte.

  218. And it would probably do little good even if he did find him.

  219. 75

    He crawled up onto the broad stone wall that ran around the cottage and was overgrown with thorn and blackberry vines.

  220. There he settled down to think about what would happen if he did not become human again.

  221. When father and mother came home from church now, there would surely be some wondering.

  222. Yes, there would be wondering all over the countryside, and people would come both from Östra Vemmenhög and from Torp and from Skurup; from all of Vemmenhög district folk would come to gawk at him.

  223. And perhaps father and mother would take him along and show him off at the Kivik market.

  224. 76

    No, it was dreadful to think about.

  225. What he wanted most was that no human being should ever see him again.

  226. 77

    It was terrible how unhappy he was.

  227. No one in the whole world was as unhappy as he.

  228. He was no longer a human being, but a monster.

  229. 78

    He began to gradually understand what it meant that he was no longer a human being.

  230. He was cut off from everything now: he could not play with other boys, he could not take over the cottage from his parents, and he certainly could not get any girl to marry him.

  231. 79

    He sat and looked at his home.

  232. It was a small, whitewashed timber-framed house, seemingly pressed down into the ground beneath its tall, steep thatched roof.

  233. The outbuildings were small too, and the little fields were so narrow that a horse could hardly turn around on them.

  234. But small and poor as the place was, it was now much too good for him.

  235. He could ask for no better dwelling now than a hole under the stable floor.

  236. 80

    It was wonderfully beautiful weather.

  237. There was murmuring, and budding, and chirping all around him.

  238. But he sat in such heavy grief.

  239. He would never again be glad of anything.

  240. 81

    He had never seen the sky so blue as today.

  241. And migrating birds came flying by.

  242. They came from abroad and had traveled across the Baltic Sea, heading straight for Smygehuk, and now they were on their way north.

  243. They were certainly of many different kinds, but he recognized none but the wild geese, which came flying in two long lines meeting at an angle.

  244. 82

    Several flocks of wild geese had already passed by.

  245. They flew high up, but he could still hear them crying, "Now off to the mountains.

  246. Now off to the mountains."

  247. 83

    When the wild geese saw the tame geese walking about the yard, they swooped down toward the ground and called, "Come with us!

  248. Come with us!

  249. Now off to the mountains."

  250. 84

    The tame geese couldn't help stretching up their necks and listening.

  251. But they answered quite sensibly, "We're doing fine as we are.

  252. We're doing fine as we are."

  253. 85

    It was, as I said, an immensely beautiful day, with air that must have been a true joy to fly in, so fresh and so light.

  254. And with every new flock of wild geese that flew past, the tame geese grew more and more restless.

  255. A couple of times they flapped their wings, as if they had a mind to go along.

  256. But then an old goose-mother would always say, "Now don't be foolish!

  257. Those ones get to go hungry and freeze."

  258. 86

    There was a young gander who had been given a real urge to travel by the cries of the wild geese.

  259. "If one more flock comes, I'm going along," he said.

  260. 87

    Then a new flock came along and cried out like the others.

  261. Then the young gander answered, "Wait!

  262. Wait!

  263. I'm coming."

  264. 88

    He spread his wings and rose into the air, but he was so unaccustomed to flying that he fell back down to the ground again.

  265. 89

    The wild geese must have heard his cry all the same.

  266. They turned around and flew slowly back to see whether he would come.

  267. 90

    "Wait!

  268. Wait!" he cried, and made a new attempt.

  269. 91

    The boy heard all this, lying there on the stone wall.

  270. "That would be a great shame," he thought, "if the big gander were to go away.

  271. It would be a sorrow for father and mother if he were gone when they come home from church."

  272. 92

    As he thought about this, he again completely forgot that he was small and powerless.

  273. He took a leap straight down into the flock of geese and threw his arms around the gander's neck.

  274. "You just leave off flying away, you," he cried.

  275. 93

    But just at that moment the gander had figured out how to manage lifting himself off the ground.

  276. He couldn't stop himself to shake the boy off, so the boy was carried along up into the air.

  277. 94

    They shot upward so fast that the boy grew dizzy.

  278. Before it occurred to him that he ought to let go of the gander's neck, he was already so high up that he would have killed himself if he had fallen to the ground.

  279. 95

    The only thing he could do to improve his situation was to try to climb up onto the goose's back.

  280. And he did manage to work his way up there, though not without great effort.

  281. Nor was it an easy thing to stay put on the slippery back between the two swinging wings.

  282. He had to grip deep into feathers and down with both hands so as not to tumble to the ground.

  283. 96

    THE CHECKERED CLOTH.

  284. 97

    The boy grew so dizzy that he didn't know what was happening to him for a long while.

  285. The air whined and hissed against him, the wings swung, and it roared in the feathers like a whole storm.

  286. Thirteen geese flew around him.

  287. All of them flapped and cackled.

  288. Everything danced before his eyes, and everything roared in his ears.

  289. He didn't know whether they flew high or low, or where they were headed.

  290. 98

    At last he came enough to his senses to understand that he ought to find out where the geese were carrying him.

  291. But this wasn't so easy, for he didn't know how he'd find the courage to look down.

  292. He was quite certain he would get dizzy if he tried.

  293. 99

    The wild geese did not fly especially high, because their newly arrived travel companion couldn't breathe in the very thinnest air.

  294. For his sake they also flew a little more slowly than usual.

  295. 100

    At last the boy nonetheless forced himself to cast a glance down at the earth.

  296. Then he thought that spread out beneath him lay a great cloth, divided into an incredible number of small and large squares.

  297. 101

    "Wherever in the world have I gotten to?" he wondered.

  298. 102

    He saw nothing but square after square.

  299. Some were slanted and some long and narrow, but everywhere there were corners and straight edges.

  300. Nothing was round, and nothing was crooked.

  301. 103

    "What is this big, checkered piece of cloth I'm looking down at?" said the boy to himself, without expecting anyone to answer.

  302. 104

    But the wild geese flying around him called out at once, "Fields and meadows.

  303. Fields and meadows."

  304. 105

    Then he understood that the great checkered cloth was the flat Scanian land he was passing over.

  305. And he began to understand why it looked so multi-colored and checkered.

  306. The bright green squares he recognized first: those were the rye fields, which had been sown the previous autumn and had stayed green under the snow.

  307. The yellow-gray squares were stubble fields, where grain had grown the previous summer; the brownish ones were old clover leys, and the black ones were empty pastureland or ploughed-up fallow fields.

  308. The squares that were brown with yellow edges must surely be beech woods, for in these the great trees growing in the depths of the forest stand bare in winter, while the young beeches growing at the wood's edge keep their dry, yellowed leaves all the way until spring.

  309. There were also dark squares with gray in the middle: these were the great farmsteads built around a courtyard, with their blackened thatched roofs and paved yards.

  310. And then there were squares that were green in the middle and bordered with brown: these were the gardens, where the lawns had already begun to turn green, though the bushes and trees standing around them were still in their bare, brown bark.

  311. 106

    The boy couldn't help laughing when he saw how checkered everything was.

  312. 107

    But when the wild geese heard him laughing, they called out as if in reproach, "Rich and good land.

  313. Rich and good land."

  314. 108

    The boy had already turned serious.

  315. "That you can laugh, you, who have suffered the very worst thing that can happen to a person," he thought.

  316. 109

    He kept himself serious for a while, but soon he found himself laughing again.

  317. 110

    As he grew used to the ride and the speed, so that he could think of something besides staying put on the goose's back, he began to notice how full the air was of flocks of birds flying north.

  318. And there was shouting and calling from flock to flock.

  319. "So, you've crossed over today," some of them cried.

  320. "Yes, so we have," answered the geese.

  321. "What do you think, how is spring coming along?"

  322. "Not a leaf on the trees and cold water in the lakes," came the answer.

  323. 111

    When the geese flew over a place where tame poultry were out, they called, "What's the farm called?

  324. What's the farm called?"

  325. Then the rooster stretched up his head and answered, "The farm is called Lillgärde, this year as last, this year as last."

  326. 112

    Most of the cottages probably had names after their owners, as is the custom in Skåne, but instead of answering that this was Per Matsson's or Ola Bosson's place, the roosters made up such names as they thought fitting.

  327. Those who lived on poor crofts and cottars' holdings called out, "This farm is called Grynlösa."

  328. And those who belonged to the very poorest cried, "This farm is called Tuggelite, Tuggelite, Tuggelite."

  329. 113

    The big, well-off farms were given fine-sounding names by the roosters, such as Lyckåker, Äggeberga, and Penningby.

  330. 114

    But the roosters at the manor houses were too proud to make up anything jesting.

  331. One of them crowed and called out with such force it seemed he wanted to be heard all the way up to the sun, "This is Dybeck manor.

  332. This year as last.

  333. This year as last."

  334. 115

    And a little farther off stood one that called out, "This is Svaneholm.

  335. Surely the whole world must know that."

  336. 116

    The boy noticed that the geese did not fly their way in a straight line.

  337. They drifted this way and that over all of Söderslätt, as if glad to be back in Skåne and wanting to pay a visit to every single farm.

  338. 117

    They came to a place where there stood a few large, heavy buildings with tall chimneys, and around them a great many smaller houses.

  339. "This is Jordberga sugar mill," called the roosters.

  340. "This is Jordberga sugar mill."

  341. 118

    The boy gave a start where he sat on the goose's back.

  342. He surely ought to have recognized this place.

  343. It wasn't far from his home, and the previous year he had worked here as a herd boy.

  344. But it seemed that nothing looked quite the same when seen from up there.

  345. 119

    And just think!

  346. And just think!

  347. Åsa the goose girl and little Mats, who had been his companions the year before!

  348. The boy would have very much liked to know whether they were still working here.

  349. What would they have said if they had guessed that he was flying high above their heads?

  350. 120

    Then they lost Jordberga from sight and flew onward toward Svedala and Skabersjö, and back over Börringekloster and Häckeberga.

  351. The boy got to see more of Skåne in that one day than he had seen before in all the years he had lived.

  352. 121

    When the wild geese came upon tame geese, they had the most fun of all.

  353. Then they flew along quite slowly and called down, "Now off to the mountains.

  354. Are you coming along?

  355. Are you coming along?"

  356. 122

    But the tame geese answered, "Winter is still in the land.

  357. You're too early.

  358. Go back!

  359. Go back!"

  360. 123

    The wild geese dropped lower so they could be heard better, and called, "Come with us, and we'll teach you to fly and to swim!"

  361. 124

    Then the tame geese grew annoyed and did not answer with so much as a single cackle.

  362. 125

    But the wild geese dropped even lower, so that they nearly grazed the ground, and then shot upward as fast as lightning, as if they had been badly frightened.

  363. "Oh, oh, oh!" they cried.

  364. "Those weren't geese.

  365. Those were only sheep.

  366. Those were only sheep."

  367. 126

    Those on the ground grew absolutely furious and screamed, "May you all be shot, every one of you, every one of you!"

  368. 127

    When the boy heard all this joking, he laughed.

  369. Then he remembered how badly off he was, and so he wept.

  370. But in a little while he was laughing again.

  371. 128

    Never before had he traveled at such a fine speed, and riding fast and wild was something he had always loved.

  372. And of course he had never imagined that it could feel so fresh, as it did, up in the air, and that such a good smell of earth and resin rose up from the ground.

  373. Nor had he ever thought about what it might be like to travel along so high above the earth.

  374. But it was rather like flying away from every worry and sorrow and vexation of every kind imaginable.

The particulars

The text
Nils Holgerssons underbara resa genom Sverige, Selma Lagerlöf. The Wonderful Adventures of Nils.
Translation
Public-domain Swedish (Lagerlöf, d. 1940; published 1906–07). English translation © 2026 1732 Studios, LLC.
Words
Every word of the text, by letter.
Data
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Two whoopie pies and a pine. An inside joke.