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Akka från Kebnekajse

Akka from Kebnekajse

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  1. 1

    THE EVENING.

    KVÄLLENTHE EVENINGKVÄLLEN · proper noun, nominativehead of the phrase
  2. 2

    The big tame gander, who had gone up into the air with them, felt very proud to be flying back and forth over Söderslätt in the company of the wild geese and making a spectacle in front of the tame fowl.

  3. But happy as he was, it couldn't be helped that he began to tire toward afternoon.

  4. He tried to take deeper breaths and beat his wings faster, but even so he fell several goose-lengths behind the others.

  5. 3

    When the wild geese flying last noticed that the tame one couldn't keep up, they began calling to the goose that flew at the point of the wedge and led the train: »Akka from Kebnekajse! Akka from Kebnekajse!»

  6. — »What do you want with me?» asked the lead goose.

  7. — »The white one is falling behind. The white one is falling behind.»

  8. — »Tell him it's easier to fly fast than slow!» called the lead goose, and stretched on as before.

  9. 4

    The gander did try to follow the advice and pick up speed, but in doing so he grew so exhausted that he sank right down toward the pollarded willows that lined the fields and meadows.

  10. 5

    »Akka, Akka, Akka from Kebnekajse!» called those flying last, who saw how hard a time he was having.

  11. — »What do you want now again?» asked the lead goose, sounding terribly cross.

  12. — »The white one is sinking to the ground. The white one is sinking to the ground.»

  13. — »Tell him it's easier to fly high than low!» called the lead goose.

  14. And she did not slacken her speed in the least, but stretched on as before.

  15. 6

    The gander tried to follow this advice too, but when he tried to rise, he grew so short of breath that he nearly burst his chest.

  16. 7

    »Akka, Akka!» called those flying last.

  17. — »Can't you let me fly in peace?» asked the lead goose, sounding even more impatient than before.

  18. — »The white one is about to crash. The white one is about to crash.»

  19. — »Tell him that whoever can't keep up with the flock may turn back home!» called the lead goose.

  20. And it certainly did not occur to her to slacken her speed, but she stretched on as before.

  21. 8

    »So that's how things stand,» thought the gander.

  22. He understood at once that the wild geese had never intended to take him with them up to Lapland.

  23. They had only lured him away from home for sport.

  24. 9

    He felt quite vexed that his strength should fail him now, so that he could not show those vagabonds that a tame goose too could amount to something.

  25. And the most galling thing of all was that he had happened to fall in with Akka from Kebnekajse.

  26. For tame goose though he was, he had heard tell of a lead goose named Akka who was more than a hundred years old.

  27. She had such great standing that the best wild geese to be found used to join themselves to her.

  28. But no one held such contempt for tame geese as Akka and her flock did, and he would gladly have shown them that he was their equal.

  29. 10

    He flew slowly after the others, while he debated with himself whether to turn back or go on.

  30. Then suddenly the little urchin he carried on his back said: »Dear Morten Goosey-Gander, surely you understand that it's impossible for you, who have never flown before, to follow the wild geese all the way up to Lapland.

  31. Shouldn't you turn back home before you ruin yourself?»

  32. 11

    But the crofter's boy was the worst thing the gander knew, and no sooner did he understand that the poor wretch believed he couldn't manage the journey than he resolved to hold out.

  33. »Say one more word about this, and I'll drop you into the first marl-pit we fly over,» he said, and at the same moment got such strength from his indignation that he began to fly almost as well as any of the others.

  34. 12

    He likely could not have kept on that way for long, but there was no need to, for now the sun sank swiftly, and just at sunset the geese made straight down.

  35. And before the boy and the gander knew it, they stood on the shore of Lake Vomb.

  36. 13

    »This must be where we're meant to stay for the night,» thought the boy, and sprang down from the gander's back.

  37. 14

    He stood on a narrow sandy shore, and before him lay a fairly large lake.

  38. It was ugly to look at, for it was almost entirely covered by a crust of ice, blackened and uneven and full of cracks and holes, as spring ice tends to be.

  39. But the ice likely did not have long left.

  40. It had already broken loose from the shore and had around it a broad belt of black, glistening water.

  41. Still it remained, and spread cold and wintry dreariness over the countryside.

  42. 15

    On the other side of the lake there seemed to be open, bright farmland, but where the geese had come down lay a large stand of pine.

  43. And it looked as though the conifer forest had the power to bind winter to itself.

  44. Everywhere else the ground was bare, but beneath the twiggy branches lay snow that had thawed and frozen, thawed and frozen, until it was hard as ice.

  45. 16

    The boy felt that he had come to a wilderness and a land of winter, and he felt so anxious that he could have screamed aloud.

  46. 17

    He was hungry.

  47. He had eaten nothing all day.

  48. But where was he to get food from?

  49. Nothing edible grows on the ground or on trees in the month of March.

  50. 18

    Yes, where was he to get food from, and who would give him shelter, and who would make up his bed, and who would warm him at their fire, and who would protect him from the wild beasts?

  51. 19

    For now the sun was gone, and now cold came off the lake, and darkness sank down from the sky, and dread crept forward in the tracks of dusk, and in the forest a padding and rustling began.

  52. 20

    Now the cheerful spirit the boy had felt while up in the air was gone, and in his anxiety he looked around for his traveling companions.

  53. He had no one else, after all, to turn to.

  54. 21

    Then he saw that the gander was even worse off than he was himself.

  55. He lay still in the same spot where he had come down, and it looked as though he were dying.

  56. His neck lay slack along the ground, his eyes were closed, and his breath came only as a faint hissing.

  57. 22

    »Dear Morten Goosey-Gander,» said the boy, »try to get yourself a sip of water!

  58. It's no more than a couple of steps to the lake.»

  59. 23

    But the gander made not a move.

  60. 24

    The boy had indeed been hard on all animals, and on the gander too, in his former life, but now it seemed to him that the gander was the only support he had, and he grew terribly afraid of losing him.

  61. He at once began to nudge and push him to get him down to the water.

  62. The gander was big and heavy, so it was quite a task for the boy, but in the end he managed it.

  63. 25

    The gander went into the lake head first.

  64. For a moment he lay still in the mud, but soon he stuck up his head, shook the water out of his eyes, and snorted.

  65. Then he swam proudly in among the reeds and the cattails.

  66. 26

    The wild geese were already lying in the lake before him.

  67. They had not looked around either for the gander or for the goose-rider, but had rushed straight down into the water.

  68. They had bathed and preened themselves, and now they lay slurping up half-rotten pondweed and bogbean.

  69. 27

    The white gander had the good fortune to catch sight of a little perch.

  70. He snapped it up quickly, swam in to the shore with it, and laid it before the boy.

  71. »Here, you shall have this, as thanks for helping me down into the water,» he said.

  72. 28

    It was the first time that whole day the boy had heard a kind word.

  73. He grew so glad that he could have thrown his arms around the gander's neck, but he could not bring himself to do it.

  74. And he was glad of the gift too.

  75. At first he thought it would surely be impossible to eat raw fish, but then he found himself wanting to try after all.

  76. 29

    He felt to see whether he had brought his sheath-knife along, and as luck would have it, it still hung there at the back of his trouser button, though it had shrunk so much that it was no longer as long as a matchstick.

  77. Well, it served well enough to scale and clean the fish with, and it was not long before the perch was eaten up.

  78. 30

    Once the boy was full, he felt rather ashamed that he had been able to eat something raw.

  79. »It shows that I am no longer a human being, but a real gnome,» he thought.

  80. 31

    The whole time the boy was eating, the gander stood silently beside him, but when he had swallowed the last bite, he said in a low voice: »The truth is, we've fallen in with a proud lot of geese who despise all tame fowl.»

  81. — »Yes, I've certainly noticed that,» said the boy.

  82. — »It would be a great honor for me if I could go with them all the way up to Lapland and show them that a tame goose can amount to something too.»

  83. — »Yeah,» said the boy, drawing the word out, for he did not believe the gander could pull this off, but he did not want to contradict him.

  84. — »But I don't think I can manage such a journey on my own,» said the gander, »so I want to ask whether you couldn't come along and help me.»

  85. 32

    The boy had, of course, thought of nothing but turning back home as soon as possible, and he was so astonished that he did not know what to answer.

  86. »I thought we were enemies, you and I,» he said.

  87. But the gander seemed to have entirely forgotten that.

  88. He remembered only that the boy had just now saved his life.

  89. 33

    »I really ought to go home to father and mother,» said the boy.

  90. — »Yes, I'll certainly bring you back to them come autumn,» said the gander.

  91. »I won't leave you until I can set you down on the doorstep back home.»

  92. 34

    The boy thought it might be rather good to avoid showing his face to his parents for a while yet.

  93. He was not disinclined to the proposal, and he was just about to say he'd agree to it, when they heard a loud roaring behind them.

  94. It was the wild geese, who had come up out of the lake, all at once, and stood shaking the water off themselves.

  95. Then they formed themselves into a long row with the lead goose at the point, and came forward to them.

  96. 35

    As the white gander now looked the wild geese over, he did not feel altogether at ease.

  97. He had expected them to be more like tame geese, and that he would feel more kinship with them.

  98. They were much smaller than he was, and not one of them was white, but all were gray with a mottling of brown.

  99. And he grew almost afraid of their eyes.

  100. They were yellow and gleamed as though a fire had been burning behind them.

  101. The gander had always been taught that it was most proper to walk slowly and waddling, but these did not walk — they half ran.

  102. But he grew most anxious when he looked at their feet.

  103. They were large, with worn and tattered soles.

  104. It was plain that the wild geese never cared what they trod on.

  105. They took no detours.

  106. They were otherwise very neat and well-groomed, but by their feet one could see that they were poor folk of the wilderness.

  107. 36

    The gander had time only to whisper to the boy: »Answer quickly for yourself now, but don't tell them who you are!»

  108. Then they were upon them.

  109. 37

    When the wild geese had stopped in front of them, they bowed with their necks many times, and the gander did the same, even more times than they did.

  110. As soon as there had been greeting enough, the lead goose said: »Now we should hear what sort you are.»

  111. 38

    »There's not much to say about me,» said the gander.

  112. »I was born in Skanör last spring.

  113. Last autumn I was sold to Holger Nilsson in Västra Vemmenhög, and there I've been ever since.»

  114. — »You don't seem to have any lineage to boast of,» said the lead goose.

  115. »What is it, then, that makes you so high-minded that you want to keep company with wild geese?»

  116. — »It might well be because I want to show you wild geese that we tame ones are good for something too,» said the gander.

  117. — »Yes, it would be a fine thing if you could show us that,» said the lead goose.

  118. »We've already seen how skilled you are at flying, but perhaps you're more capable at some other pursuit.

  119. It may be that you're strong at long-distance swimming.»

  120. — »No, that's not something I can boast of,» said the gander.

  121. He thought he noticed that the lead goose had already made up her mind to send him home, and he no longer cared how he answered.

  122. »I've never swum farther than straight across a marl-pit,» he went on.

  123. — »Then I expect you're a champion at running,» said the goose.

  124. — »I've never seen a tame goose run, and I've never done it myself either,» said the gander, making the matter worse than it was.

  125. 39

    The big white one was now certain that the lead goose would say she could by no means take him along.

  126. He was greatly astonished when she said: »You answer questions boldly, and one who has courage can become a good travel companion, even if he's still ignorant at the start.

  127. What do you say to staying with us a couple of days, until we see what you're made of?»

  128. — »I'm very well content with that,» said the gander, quite delighted.

  129. 40

    Then the lead goose pointed with her beak and said: »But who is it you have with you?

  130. I've never seen the like of him before.»

  131. — »He's my companion,» said the gander.

  132. »He's been a goose-herd his whole life.

  133. He'll likely be useful to have along on the journey.»

  134. — »Well, that could indeed be handy for a tame goose,» answered the wild one.

  135. »What do you call him?»

  136. — »He has several names,» said the gander hesitantly, not knowing what to invent on the spot, for he did not want to betray that the boy had a human name.

  137. »Well, his name is Thumbietot,» he said at last.

  138. — »Is he of gnome stock?» said the lead goose.

  139. — »What time do you wild geese usually settle down to sleep?» said the gander quickly, trying to get away from answering that last question.

  140. »My eyes are falling shut on their own at this hour.»

  141. 41

    It was easy to see that the goose who spoke with the gander was very old.

  142. Her whole plumage was ice-gray, without a single dark streak.

  143. Her head was larger, her legs were coarser, and her feet more worn than anyone else's.

  144. Her feathers were stiff, her shoulders knobby, and her neck thin.

  145. All this was the work of age.

  146. It was only her eyes over which time had gained no power.

  147. They shone more brightly, as though younger, than any of the others'.

  148. 42

    She now turned to the gander very haughtily.

  149. »Know now, gander, that I am Akka from Kebnekajse, and that the goose flying nearest me on the right is Yksi from Vassijaure, and the one on the left is Kaksi from Nuolja!

  150. Know also that the other goose on the right is Kolme from Sarjektjåkko, and the other on the left is Neljä from Svappavaara, and that behind them fly Viisi from Oviksfjällen and Kuusi from Sjangeli!

  151. And know that these, like the six goslings flying last, three to the right and three to the left, are all mountain geese of the finest lineage!

  152. You shall not take us for vagabonds who keep company with just anyone, and you shall not think that we let anyone share our sleeping place who won't say what lineage he's come from.»

  153. 43

    When Akka, the lead goose, spoke in this way, the boy stepped quickly forward.

  154. It had troubled him that the gander, who had answered so readily for himself, gave such evasive answers where he himself was concerned.

  155. »I don't want to keep secret who I am,» he said.

  156. »My name is Nils Holgersson, and I'm the son of a crofter, and up until this very day I've been a human being, but this morning...

  157. 44

    The boy got no further than that.

  158. As soon as he said he was a human being, the lead goose recoiled three steps backward, and the others even more.

  159. And they all stretched out their necks and hissed angrily at him.

  160. 45

    »This I have suspected ever since I first saw you here on the shore,» said Akka.

  161. »And now be off with you at once.

  162. We tolerate no humans among us.»

  163. 46

    »Surely it can't be,» said the gander, in a conciliating tone, »that you wild geese could be afraid of one so small.

  164. Tomorrow he shall certainly set off for home, but for the night you might well let him stay here among us.

  165. None of us could answer for letting such a poor wretch fend for himself against weasel and fox out here tonight.»

  166. 47

    The wild goose now came closer, but it was plain to see that she found it hard to master her fear.

  167. »I've been taught to be afraid of anything called human, be it large or small,» she said.

  168. »But if you, gander, will answer for this one — that he'll do us no harm — then he may stay with us tonight.

  169. But I don't think our night's lodging will suit either you or him, for we intend to settle down to sleep out here on the ice that's broken loose from shore.»

  170. 48

    She rather expected that the gander would grow hesitant when he heard this.

  171. But he let nothing trouble him.

  172. »You're very wise, to know how to choose so safe a sleeping place,» he said.

  173. 49

    »But you're answerable for his setting off for home tomorrow.»

  174. — »Then it will have to be that I leave you too,» said the gander.

  175. »I've promised not to abandon him.»

  176. — »You're free to fly wherever you like,» said the lead goose.

  177. 50

    With this she lifted her wings and flew out over the ice, and one after another the wild geese followed her.

  178. 51

    The boy was distressed that his journey to Lapland could not come to pass, and on top of that he was afraid of the cold night's lodging.

  179. »It just keeps getting worse and worse, gander,» he said.

  180. »For one thing, we're going to freeze to death out on the ice.»

  181. 52

    But the gander was in good spirits.

  182. »There's no danger in that,» he said.

  183. »I only ask you now to quickly gather up as much chaff and grass as you can carry.»

  184. 53

    When the boy had his arms full of dry grass, the gander seized him by the shirt collar, lifted him up, and flew out onto the ice, where the wild geese already stood sleeping with their beaks under their wings.

  185. 54

    »Now spread the grass out on the ice, so I have something to stand on and don't freeze fast!

  186. You help me, and I'll help you!» said the gander.

  187. 55

    The boy did so, and when he was finished, the gander seized him once more by the shirt collar and tucked him in under his wing.

  188. »There I think you'll lie warm and snug,» he said, and pressed down with his wing.

  189. 56

    The boy was so bedded in down that he could not answer, but warm and snug he lay, and tired he was, and asleep he fell within a moment.

  190. 57

    THE NIGHT.

  191. 58

    It is a truth that ice is always faithless and nothing to be relied on.

  192. In the middle of the night the ice floe adrift on Lake Vomb shifted, so that at one spot it came to touch against the shore.

  193. Now it happened that Smirre Fox, who at that time lived on the eastern side of the lake in the park of Övedskloster, caught sight of that spot while he was out on his night hunt.

  194. Smirre had already seen the wild geese that evening, but he had not dared hope he could get at any of them.

  195. He now made his way at once out onto the ice.

  196. 59

    When Smirre was quite close to the wild geese, he happened to slip, so that his claws scraped against the ice.

  197. The geese woke and flapped their wings to throw themselves up into the air.

  198. But Smirre was too quick for them.

  199. He flung himself forward as if he had been hurled, seized a goose by the wing-bone, and dashed back toward land again.

  200. 60

    But this night the wild geese were not alone out on the ice; they had a human among them, small though it was.

  201. The boy had woken at the gander's beating out with his wings.

  202. He had fallen down onto the ice and sat there half-dazed with sleep.

  203. He had understood nothing of all the commotion, until he caught sight of a small, low-legged dog running off across the ice with a goose in its mouth.

  204. 61

    The boy hurried at once after him to take the goose from that dog.

  205. He did hear the gander calling after him: »Watch out, Thumbietot! Watch out!»

  206. But the boy thought he surely need not be afraid of such a small dog, and stormed off.

  207. 62

    The wild goose whom Smirre Fox was dragging along heard the clatter as the boy's clogs struck the ice, and she could hardly believe her ears.

  208. »Does that little urchin mean to take me from the fox?» she wondered.

  209. Wretched as her plight was, a quite comical cackling began deep down in her throat, almost as if she had laughed.

  210. 63

    »The first thing that will happen to him is that he'll tumble down into a crack in the ice,» she thought.

  211. 64

    But dark as the night was, the boy saw clearly every crack and hole that was in the ice, and took bold leaps over them.

  212. That was because he now had the gnomes' good night-eyes and could see in the dark.

  213. He saw both lake and shore just as clearly as if it had been daylight.

  214. 65

    Smirre Fox left the ice where it touched the shore, and just as he was working his way up the slope of the bank, the boy shouted after him: »Put down that goose, you scoundrel!»

  215. Smirre didn't know who it was calling out, and didn't take the time to look around, but only picked up speed.

  216. 66

    The fox now made off into a forest of great, splendid beeches, and the boy followed without a thought that he might be running into any danger.

  217. Instead he kept thinking the whole time of how scornfully he had been received by the wild geese the evening before, and he very much wanted to show them that a human being is, after all, a little superior to everything else created.

  218. 67

    He shouted again and again at that dog to make him put down his prey.

  219. »What sort of dog are you, not ashamed to steal a whole goose?» he said.

  220. »Put her down at once, or you'll find out what a thrashing you'll get!

  221. Put her down, or I'll tell your master how you're carrying on!»

  222. 68

    When Smirre Fox noticed he was being taken for a dog afraid of a beating, he found it so ridiculous that he nearly dropped the goose.

  223. Smirre was a great robber, who was not content with merely hunting rats and voles in the fields, but also ventured up to the farms to steal hens and geese.

  224. He knew he was feared throughout the whole district.

  225. Nothing so absurd had he heard since he was a little cub.

  226. 69

    But the boy ran so fast that he felt the thick beeches glide backward past him, and he gained on Smirre.

  227. At last he was so close to him that he got hold of his tail.

  228. »Now I'll take that goose from you after all,» he shouted, and held on as hard as he could.

  229. But he did not have strength enough to stop Smirre.

  230. The fox dragged him along, so that the dry beech leaves whirled up around him.

  231. 70

    But now Smirre seemed to have worked out how harmless his pursuer was.

  232. He stopped, laid the goose down on the ground, and stood on her with his forepaws so she couldn't fly away.

  233. He was just about to bite through her throat, but before that he couldn't resist teasing the little urchin a bit.

  234. »Hurry off and complain to your master, for now I'm going to bite the goose to death!» he said.

  235. 71

    The one who was astonished, when he saw what a pointed muzzle and heard what a hoarse, angry voice this dog he'd been chasing had, was certainly the boy.

  236. But he grew so annoyed that the fox was making a fool of him that he had no thought of being afraid.

  237. He gripped the tail more firmly, braced his foot against a beech root, and just as the fox held his jaws over the goose's throat, he gave a great yank with all his might.

  238. Smirre was so surprised that he let himself be dragged backward a couple of steps, and the wild goose broke free.

  239. She flapped heavily upward.

  240. One of her wings was injured, so that she could scarcely use it, and besides that, she could see nothing in the dark of the forest at night, being as helpless as a blind creature.

  241. So she could not help the boy in any way, but sought her way up through a hole in the canopy of branches and flew back down to the lake.

  242. 72

    But Smirre lunged at the boy.

  243. »If I can't have the one, then I'll surely have the other,» he said, and one could hear from his voice how furious he was.

  244. — »No, don't you believe you'll get that,» said the boy, quite elated because he had saved the goose.

  245. He kept holding fast to the fox's tail and swung it over to the other side whenever the fox tried to catch him.

  246. 73

    It turned into a dance in the forest, so that the beech leaves whirled.

  247. Smirre spun round and round, but the tail swung too, and the boy held fast to it, so the fox could not seize him.

  248. 74

    The boy was so merry after his success that at first he only laughed and made fun of the fox, but Smirre was persistent, as old hunters tend to be, and the boy began to fear that he would be caught in the end.

  249. 75

    Then he caught sight of a young beech sapling, which had shot up as slender as a stick, soon to reach the open air above the canopy that the old beeches spread out over it.

  250. He let go of the fox's tail all at once and climbed up the sapling.

  251. Smirre Fox was so eager that he kept on dancing after the tail for a good while longer.

  252. »Don't bother dancing anymore!» said the boy.

  253. 76

    But Smirre could not bear the humiliation of failing to master such a small urchin, and he lay down at the foot of the tree to wait him out.

  254. 77

    The boy was not at all comfortable, sitting there astride a weak branch.

  255. The sapling did not yet reach up to the high vault of branches.

  256. He could not get across to another tree, and he dared not go down to the ground.

  257. 78

    He was so cold that he was on the verge of stiffening and letting go of the branch, and he was terribly sleepy, but he dared not fall asleep for fear he would tumble down.

  258. 79

    It was unbelievably eerie to sit there like that at night out in the forest.

  259. He had never before known what it meant for it to be night.

  260. It was as if the whole world had turned to stone and could never come to life again.

  261. 80

    Then day began to break, and the boy was glad, because everything became itself again, though the cold felt even sharper than before during the night.

  262. 81

    When the sun at last rose, it was not yellow, but red.

  263. The boy thought it looked as though it were angry, and he wondered what it was angry about.

  264. Perhaps it was because the night had made things so cold and dreary on the earth while the sun had been gone.

  265. 82

    The sunbeams shot forth in great bundles to see what the night had been up to, and it showed how everything blushed, as if it had a guilty conscience.

  266. The clouds in the sky, the silken-smooth beech trunks, the forest canopy's small interlaced branches, the hoarfrost that covered the beech leaves on the ground — all blazed up and turned red.

  267. 83

    But more and more bundles of light shot through the air, and soon all the night's dreadfulness was driven away.

  268. The turning-to-stone was gone, and remarkably much living thing came forth.

  269. The black woodpecker with the red nape began hammering its beak against a tree trunk.

  270. The squirrel darted out of its hole with a nut, sat down on a branch, and began to peel the nut.

  271. The starling came flying with a root fiber, and the chaffinch sang in the treetop.

  272. 84

    Then the boy understood that the sun had said to all these little creatures: »Wake up now, and come out of your dens!

  273. Now I am here.

  274. Now you need not be afraid of anything.»

  275. 85

    From the lake came the cries of the wild geese as they got themselves ready for flight.

  276. Shortly after, all fourteen geese came flying over the forest.

  277. The boy tried to call out to them, but they flew so high up that his voice could not reach them.

  278. They probably thought the fox had eaten him up long since.

  279. They didn't even bother to search for him.

  280. 86

    The boy was on the verge of weeping from anguish, but the sun now stood in the sky golden-yellow and glad, and put courage into the whole world.

  281. »It's not worth it, Nils Holgersson, for you to be anxious or troubled about anything, so long as I exist,» said the sun.

  282. 87

    Everything remained unchanged in the forest for about as long as it takes a goose to eat its breakfast, but just as morning was turning into midday, a solitary wild goose came flying beneath the dense canopy.

  283. She felt her way forward hesitantly between trunks and branches and flew very slowly.

  284. As soon as Smirre Fox saw her, he left his place beneath the sapling and crept toward her.

  285. The wild goose did not avoid the fox, but flew rather close to him.

  286. Smirre made a high leap after her, but missed her, and the goose flew on down toward the lake.

  287. 88

    It was not long before another wild goose came flying.

  288. She took the same path as the first and flew even lower and slower.

  289. She too flew close past Smirre Fox, and he made so high a leap after her that his ears brushed her feet, but she escaped him unharmed and continued silent as a shadow on her way toward the lake.

  290. 89

    A little while passed, and again a wild goose came.

  291. Still lower and slower she flew, still harder she seemed to find it to feel her way between the beech trunks.

  292. Smirre made a tremendous leap, and it was only a hair's breadth that he failed to seize her, but this goose too saved herself.

  293. 90

    Just after she had vanished, a fourth wild goose came.

  294. Although she flew so slowly and poorly that Smirre reckoned he could catch her without particular difficulty, he was now afraid of failing and intended to let her fly past untouched.

  295. But she took the same path as the others, and just as she came right over Smirre, she dropped so low that he was tempted into leaping after her.

  296. He reached so high that he touched her with his paw, but she flung herself quickly aside and saved her life.

  297. 91

    Before Smirre had caught his breath, three geese appeared in a row.

  298. They flew onward in the same manner as the others, and Smirre made high leaps after all of them, but he did not succeed in catching a single one.

  299. 92

    Then came five geese, but these flew better than the ones before, and although they too seemed to want to tempt Smirre into leaping, he resisted the temptation.

  300. 93

    After quite a long while a solitary goose came.

  301. It was the thirteenth.

  302. It was one so old that she was entirely gray and had not a single dark streak on her body.

  303. She didn't seem quite able to use one wing, and flew pitifully badly and aslant, so that she nearly touched the ground.

  304. Smirre not only made a high leap after her, but pursued her, running and hopping, all the way down to the lake, but that time too he got no reward for his trouble.

  305. 94

    When the fourteenth came, it made a very beautiful sight, because it was white, and it gleamed like a shaft of light in the dark forest as it swung its great wings.

  306. When Smirre saw it, he mustered all his strength and leapt halfway up toward the canopy, but the white one flew past entirely unharmed, just like the others.

  307. 95

    Now it grew still for a while beneath the beeches.

  308. It looked as though the whole flock of wild geese had passed by.

  309. 96

    All at once Smirre remembered his captive and lifted his eyes toward the sapling.

  310. As was to be expected, the urchin was gone and vanished.

  311. 97

    But Smirre had no long time to think about him, for now the first goose came back from the lake and flew slowly as before under the canopy.

  312. Despite all his bad luck, Smirre was glad she had come back, and he flung himself after her with a high leap.

  313. But he had been in too much of a hurry and hadn't taken the time to calculate the leap, and so landed beside her instead.

  314. 98

    After this goose came yet another, and then a third, a fourth, a fifth, until the round ended with the old ice-gray one and the big white one.

  315. They all flew slowly and low.

  316. Just as they hovered along over Smirre Fox, they dropped lower, quite as if they wanted to invite him to catch them.

  317. And Smirre pursued them and made leaps a couple of fathoms high, but was not able to seize a single one among them.

  318. 99

    It was the most dreadful day Smirre Fox had ever lived through.

  319. The wild geese passed ceaselessly over his head, came and went, came and went.

  320. Big, splendid geese, who had fattened themselves on the German fields and heaths, hovered through the forest all day so close to him that he touched them many times, and he could not still his hunger with a single one.

  321. 100

    Winter had scarcely passed yet, and Smirre remembered days and nights when he had had to roam about idle without a single quarry to hunt, when the migratory birds were gone, when the rats hid beneath the frozen earth, and when the hens were shut in.

  322. But all the hunger of winter had not been as hard to endure as this day's disappointment.

  323. 101

    Smirre was no young fox.

  324. He had many a time had the hounds after him and heard the bullets whine about his ears.

  325. He had lain hidden deep in his den while the dachshunds crept through the tunnels and come close to finding him.

  326. But all the anguish Smirre had experienced during the chasing hunt was not to be compared with what he felt every time he failed to catch one of the wild geese.

  327. 102

    In the morning, when the game began, Smirre Fox had been so splendid that the geese had marveled when they saw him.

  328. Smirre loved splendor, and his coat was shining red, his chest white, his muzzle black, and his tail bushy as a plume.

  329. But when evening came that day, Smirre's coat hung in tangled tufts, he was bathed in sweat, his eyes were without luster, his tongue hung far out of his panting jaws, and foam flowed from his mouth.

  330. 103

    By afternoon Smirre was so exhausted that he fell into a daze.

  331. He saw nothing before his eyes but flying geese.

  332. He leapt at patches of sunlight he saw on the ground, and at a poor tortoiseshell butterfly that had come out of its chrysalis too early.

  333. 104

    The wild geese kept on tirelessly flying and flying.

  334. They kept tormenting Smirre the whole day long.

  335. It moved them to no pity that Smirre was ruined, hounded, half-mad.

  336. They continued relentlessly, even though they understood he could hardly see them, that he was leaping at their shadows.

  337. 105

    Only when Smirre Fox sank down onto a heap of dry leaves, utterly powerless and spent, nearly ready to give up the ghost, did they stop mocking him.

  338. 106

    »Now you know, fox, what happens to one who dares to meddle with Akka from Kebnekajse,» they called then into his ear, and with that they left him in peace.

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.