The Wonderful Adventures of Nils 1732 Studios

Swedish · The Wonderful Adventures of Nils

I regnväder

In Rainy Weather

116 sentences · 17 notes

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  1. 1

    It was the first rainy day of the journey.

    Detitden · pronoun, neuter, singularexpletive with regndagen
    varwasvara · auxiliary verb, past, indicative, activecopula linking to regndagen
    denaen · determiner, common gender, singulardeterminer of regndagen
    förstafirsten · adjective, nominativemodifies regndagen

    surfaces are forms of första 'first', not the numeral en.

    regndagenthe rainy dayregndag · noun, nominative, common gender, singularhead of the phrase
    underofunder · prepositionpreposition marking resan
    resanjourneyresa · noun, nominative, common gender, singularoblique complement of regndagen

  2. As long as the wild geese had stayed in the neighborhood of Lake Vomb, they had had fine weather, but on the very day they set out on the journey north, it began to rain, and for several hours the boy had to sit on the goose's back, soaked through and shivering with cold.

  3. 2

    In the morning, when they had set off, it had been clear and calm.

  4. The wild geese had flown high up in the air, steadily and without haste, in strict order with Akka at the head and the rest in two slanting lines behind her.

  5. They had not taken time to shout insults at the animals on the ground, but since they were not able to keep entirely quiet, they sang out ceaselessly, in time with their wingbeats, their usual call: »Where are you?

  6. Here I am.

  7. Where are you?

  8. Here I am.»

  9. 3

    All of them took part in this persistent calling, and they had only broken it off now and then to show the white gander the landmarks they were steering by.

  10. On this stretch of the journey the landmarks were the barren hills of Linderöd Ridge, Ovesholm Manor, the church tower of Kristianstad, Bäckaskog royal estate on the narrow spit between Lake Oppmanna and Lake Ivö, and the steep slope of Ryssberget.

  11. 4

    It had been a monotonous journey, and when the rain clouds began to show themselves, the boy thought it was a real diversion.

  12. In earlier days, when he had only seen the rain clouds from below, he had thought they were grey and dull, but it was quite another thing to be up among them.

  13. Now he saw clearly that the clouds were immense wagons, driving across the sky with towering loads: some of them were laden with huge grey sacks, some with barrels so big they could hold a whole lake, and some with great vats and bottles, stacked to a terrifying height.

  14. And when so many of them had driven up that they filled the whole expanse, it was as if someone had given a signal, for all at once water began pouring down over the earth out of vats, barrels, bottles, and sacks.

  15. 5

    The instant the first spring showers pattered against the ground, such cries of joy rose from all the small birds in the groves and pastures that the whole air rang with them, and the boy jumped for joy where he sat.

  16. »Now we get rain, the rain gives us spring, spring gives us flowers and green leaves, green leaves and flowers give us grubs and insects, grubs and insects give us food; plenty of good food is the best thing there is,» sang the small birds.

  17. 6

    The wild geese, too, grew glad of the rain, which came to wake the plants from their sleep and to break holes in the lakes' ice cover.

  18. They could not manage to stay as solemn as before, but began sending merry cries down over the countryside.

  19. 7

    When they flew over the great potato fields, of which there are so many in the Kristianstad district, and which still lay bare and black, they shouted: »Wake up and be useful!

  20. Here comes what will wake you.

  21. You have been lazy long enough now.»

  22. 8

    When they saw people hurrying to get away from the rain, they admonished them, saying: »Why are you in such a hurry?

  23. Can't you see it's raining sour loaves and spit-cakes, sour loaves and spit-cakes?»

  24. 9

    There was one great, thick cloud that moved swiftly toward the north and followed close behind the geese.

  25. They seemed to imagine they were pulling the cloud along with them, and when just then they saw great gardens beneath them, they cried out quite proudly: »Here we come with anemones, here we come with roses, here we come with apple blossom and cherry buds, here we come with peas and beans and turnips and cabbage.

  26. Whoever wants them may take them, whoever wants them may take them.»

  27. 10

    So it had sounded while the first showers fell, when everyone had still been glad of the rain.

  28. But when it went on falling the whole afternoon, the geese grew impatient and called to the thirsty forests around Lake Ivö: »Haven't you had enough yet?

  29. Haven't you had enough yet?»

  30. 11

    The sky grew more and more uniformly grey, and the sun hid itself so well that no one could tell where it was.

  31. The rain fell thicker, hammered heavily against the wings, and worked its way between the oiled outer feathers all the way in to their bodies.

  32. The earth was veiled in rain-mist; lakes, hills, and forests flowed together into an indistinct jumble, and the landmarks could not be made out.

  33. The journey went ever more slowly, the merry cries fell silent, and the boy felt the cold ever more bitterly.

  34. 12

    But still he had kept up his courage as long as he had been riding on through the air.

  35. And in the afternoon, when they had come down under a small stunted pine out in the middle of a great bog, where everything was wet and everything was cold, where some tussocks were covered with snow and others stuck up bare out of a pool of half-melted ice water, even then he had not felt downhearted, but had run about in good spirits looking for cranberries and frozen lingonberries.

  36. But then evening came, and the darkness sank down so thick that not even eyes like the boy's could see through it, and the wilderness became so strangely eerie and dreadful.

  37. The boy lay tucked under the gander's wing, but could not sleep, because he was cold and wet.

  38. And he heard so much rustling and crackling and creeping footsteps and threatening voices, and felt such terror, that he did not know which way to turn.

  39. He had to get to where there was fire and light, if he was not to be frightened quite to death.

  40. 13

    »What if I were to venture to the people, just for this one night?» thought the boy.

  41. »Only so that I could sit by a fire for a while and get myself a bite to eat.

  42. I could go back to the wild geese again before sunrise.»

  43. 14

    He crept out from under the wing and slid down to the ground.

  44. He woke neither the gander nor any of the other geese, but stole away quietly and unnoticed across the bog.

  45. 15

    He did not rightly know where in the world he was — whether it was in Skåne, in Småland, or in Blekinge.

  46. But just before he had come down onto the bog, he had caught a glimpse of a large village, and he now steered his steps that way.

  47. Nor was it long before he found his way onto a road, and soon he was on the village street, which was long and lined with trees and bordered with farm after farm.

  48. 16

    The boy had come to one of the large church villages that are so common up-country, but that one never sees at all down on the plain.

  49. 17

    The dwelling houses were of wood and very handsomely built.

  50. Most of them had gables and dormers edged with carved moldings, and glassed-in verandas with here and there a colored pane.

  51. The walls were painted with light oil paint, and the doors and window frames shone in blue and green or even in red.

  52. As the boy went along studying the houses, he could hear, all the way out on the road, how the people sitting inside the warm cottages talked and laughed.

  53. He could not make out the words, but he thought it was beautiful to hear human voices.

  54. »I do wonder what they would say if I knocked and asked to be let in,» he thought.

  55. 18

    This, after all, was just what he had meant to do, but now his fear of the dark had passed, once he saw the lit windows.

  56. Instead he now felt again that same shyness that always came over him whenever he was near people.

  57. »I'll look around the village a little longer,» he thought, »before I ask to come in anywhere.»

  58. 19

    On one house there was a balcony.

  59. And just as the boy was passing by, the balcony doors were thrown open, and a yellow light streamed out through fine, light curtains.

  60. Then a beautiful young woman came out onto the balcony and leaned over the railing.

  61. »It's raining — we'll soon have spring now,» she said.

  62. When the boy saw her, he felt a strange anxiety.

  63. It was as if he wanted to cry.

  64. For the first time he grew a little troubled that he had shut himself out from human beings.

  65. 20

    Shortly after, he passed a general store.

  66. Outside the shop stood a red seed drill.

  67. He stopped and looked at it and at last climbed up onto the driver's seat and sat down there.

  68. Once up there, he clicked his tongue and pretended he was sitting there driving.

  69. He thought about how much fun it would be to drive such a splendid machine over a field.

  70. For a moment he had forgotten what he now was, but then he remembered, and he quickly jumped down off the machine.

  71. An ever-greater unease came over him.

  72. There was surely a great deal missed by one who was always to live out among the animals.

  73. People were, after all, quite remarkable and clever.

  74. 21

    He passed the post office and thought then of all the newspapers that come every day with news from the four corners of the world.

  75. He saw the pharmacy and the doctor's house, and he thought about how great people's power was, that they could fight against sickness and death.

  76. He came to the church, and he thought about how people had built it so that there they might hear tell of a world beyond this one they lived in, of God and resurrection and eternal life.

  77. And the longer he walked there, the more he came to like people.

  78. 22

    It is the way with children, that they do not think any further than the nose reaches.

  79. Whatever lies nearest in their way, they want at once, without troubling themselves over what it may cost them.

  80. Nils Holgersson had not had the sense to see what he was losing when he chose to remain a gnome, but now he grew terribly afraid that he might never again get back his true shape.

  81. 23

    How in the world was he to go about becoming human again?

  82. That he would very much like to know.

  83. 24

    He crept up onto a flight of steps and sat there in the middle of the pouring rain, thinking.

  84. He sat there for an hour, for two hours, and he thought so hard that his forehead furrowed.

  85. But he grew no wiser for it.

  86. It was as if his thoughts merely ran around and around in his head.

  87. The longer he sat there, the more impossible he found it to arrive at any solution.

  88. 25

    »This is surely far too hard for one who has learned as little as I have,» he thought at last.

  89. »It will surely come to this, that I must go back to the people after all.

  90. I'll have to ask the parson and the doctor and the schoolteacher and others who are learned and might know a cure for a thing like this.»

  91. 26

    Yes, he resolved to do that at once, and he got up and shook himself, for he was as wet as a dog that has been down in a puddle.

  92. 27

    Just then he saw a large owl come flying and settle in one of the trees that lined the village street.

  93. Shortly after, a tawny owl that sat under the eaves began to stir and called out: »Ku-vitt, ku-vitt!

  94. Are you home again, marsh owl?

  95. How has it been for you abroad?»

  96. 28

    »My thanks to you, tawny owl!

  97. I've had a good time of it,» said the marsh owl.

  98. »Has anything remarkable happened here at home while I've been away?»

  99. 29

    »Not here in Blekinge, marsh owl, but in Skåne it has happened that a boy was transformed by a gnome and made as small as a squirrel, and has since gone off to Lapland with a tame goose.»

  100. 30

    »That was a remarkable piece of news, a remarkable piece of news.

  101. Can he never become human again, tawny owl?

  102. Can he never become human again?»

  103. 31

    »That is a secret, marsh owl, but you shall know it all the same.

  104. The gnome has said that if the boy watches over the tame gander, so that he comes home unharmed and...

  105. 32

    »What else, tawny owl?

  106. What else?

  107. What else?»

  108. 33

    »Fly up with me into the church tower, marsh owl, and you shall know it all!

  109. I'm afraid there may be someone listening here on the village street.»

  110. 34

    With that the owls flew off on their way, but the boy threw his cap high into the air.

  111. »If I only watch over the gander, so that he comes home unharmed, then I get to become human.

  112. Hurrah!

  113. Hurrah!

  114. Then I get to become human!»

  115. 35

    He shouted hurrah so loudly that it was a wonder they did not hear him inside the houses.

  116. But they did not, and he hurried out to the wild geese in the wet bog as fast as his legs could carry him.

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.
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Two whoopie pies and a pine. An inside joke.