The Wonderful Adventures of Nils 1732 Studios

Swedish · The Wonderful Adventures of Nils

Resa till Öland

Journey to Öland

103 sentences · 37 notes

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  1. 1

    The wild geese went out to an island in the skerries to graze.

    Vildgässenthe wild geesevildgässe · proper noun, nominativesubject of skärgårdsö
    forowentforo · noun, nominative, neuter, singulardepends on Vildgässen

    Mistagged as a noun; foro is the plural past tense of fara ("went/traveled").

    utoutut · adverbmodifies Vildgässen
    påtopå · prepositionpreposition marking skärgårdsö
    enaen · determiner, common gender, singulardeterminer of skärgårdsö
    skärgårdsöskerry islandskärgårdsö · noun, nominative, common gender, singularhead of the phrase
    förin orderför · prepositionintroduces the clause of beta
    atttoatt · particleintroduces the clause of beta

    infinitive marker before a verb.

    betagrazebeta · verb, active, infinitiveadverbial clause on skärgårdsö

  2. There they happened to meet some greylag geese, and these were astonished to see them, since they knew very well that their kinsfolk the wild geese preferred to travel over the interior of the land.

  3. They were curious and full of questions and would not be satisfied with less than the wild geese telling them about the persecution they had to endure from Smirre Fox.

  4. When they had finished, a greylag goose who seemed to be just as old and just as wise as Akka herself said: "It was a great misfortune for you that the fox was declared an outlaw in his own country."

  5. He is certain to keep his word and follow you all the way up to Lapland.

  6. If I were you, I would not travel north over Småland, but instead take the outer route to Öland, so that he loses the trail entirely.

  7. To really throw him off the trail, you ought to stay a couple of days on the southern point of Öland.

  8. There is plenty of food there and plenty of company.

  9. I don't think you will regret it, if you travel over there."

  10. 3

    This was truly wise advice, and the wild geese decided to follow it.

  11. As soon as they had eaten themselves well full, they began the journey to Öland.

  12. None of them had ever been there before, but the greylag goose had given them good landmarks.

  13. They only had to travel straight toward the south, until they came upon the great bird migration that passed along outside the coast of Blekinge.

  14. All the birds that had their winter home by the North Sea and now intended to go to Finland and Russia flew along there, and they all used to stop off at Öland in passing to rest.

  15. The wild geese would not have any difficulty finding guides.

  16. 5

    That day it was completely calm and warm as on a summer day, the best weather one could imagine for a sea crossing.

  17. The only worrying thing was that it was not fully clear, but a gray and veiled sky.

  18. Here and there stood enormous cloud masses that hung all the way down toward the sea's surface and blocked the view.

  19. 7

    When the travelers had come out beyond the skerries, the sea spread itself out so smooth and mirror-like that the boy, when he happened to look down, thought that the water had disappeared.

  20. There was no longer any ground beneath him.

  21. He had nothing but cloud and sky around him.

  22. He became completely dizzy and clung fast to the goose's back more anxiously than when he had sat there the first time.

  23. It was as if it were impossible for him to hold on: he had to fall in some direction.

  24. 9

    It grew even worse when they reached the great bird migration that the greylag goose had spoken of.

  25. There, truly, flock after flock came flying in exactly the same direction.

  26. They seemed to be following a marked-out path.

  27. There were ducks and greylag geese, scoters and guillemots, loons and long-tailed ducks, mergansers and grebes, oystercatchers and black scoters.

  28. But when the boy now leaned forward and looked toward the direction where the sea ought to lie, he saw the whole procession of birds reflected in the water.

  29. But he was so dizzy that he did not understand how this came about, but thought that the whole flock of birds was flying with its belly upward.

  30. Still, he did not wonder much about this, for he himself did not know what was up and what was down.

  31. 11

    The birds were worn out and impatient to arrive.

  32. None of them screamed or said a merry word, and that made everything seem so strangely unreal.

  33. 13

    "Just think, if we have journeyed away from the earth!" he said to himself.

  34. "Just think, if we are in the middle of traveling up to heaven!"

  35. 15

    He saw nothing but cloud and birds around him and began to consider it likely that they were traveling toward heaven.

  36. He became glad and wondered what he would get to see up there.

  37. The dizziness passed off all at once.

  38. He grew so terribly glad at the thought that he was traveling up to heaven and leaving the earth behind.

  39. 17

    At that same moment he heard a couple of banging shots and saw a couple of small white columns of smoke rise up.

  40. 19

    There was unrest and commotion among the birds.

  41. "Gunners! Gunners! Gunners in the boats!" they cried.

  42. "Fly high! Fly clear!"

  43. 21

    Then the boy finally saw that they were still traveling along over the sea's surface, and that they were not in heaven at all.

  44. In a long row lay small boats, filled with gunners who kept firing shot after shot.

  45. The foremost flocks of birds had not noticed them in time.

  46. They had kept too low.

  47. Several dark bodies sank down toward the sea, and for each one that fell, loud cries of anguish rose up from the living.

  48. 23

    It was strange for one who a moment ago believed himself to be in heaven to wake up to such terror and lamentation.

  49. Akka shot upward as quickly as she could, and then the flock set off at the greatest possible speed.

  50. The wild geese also got away unharmed, but the boy could not recover from his astonishment.

  51. Just think, that anyone could want to shoot at ones like Akka and Yksi and Kaksi and the gander and the others!

  52. The humans had no idea at all what they were doing.

  53. 25

    So it carried them onward again through the still air, and it was quiet as it had just been before, except that some worn-out birds now and then called out: "Aren't we there soon?

  54. Are you certain that we are keeping to the right way?"

  55. To this the ones flying at the front answered: "We are going straight toward Öland, straight toward Öland."

  56. 27

    The mallards were tired, and the loons went past them.

  57. "Don't be in such a hurry!" the ducks called out then.

  58. "You are eating up all the food ahead of us."

  59. —"There's enough for both you and us," the loons answered.

  60. 29

    Before they had yet gotten so far that they could see Öland, a faint wind came toward them.

  61. It carried with it something that resembled enormous masses of white smoke, exactly as if there were a great fire somewhere.

  62. 31

    When the birds saw the first white swirls, they grew anxious and increased their speed.

  63. But that thing, which was like smoke, billowed forward ever thicker, and at last it enveloped them completely.

  64. No smell could be felt, and the smoke was not dark and dry, but white and damp.

  65. The boy suddenly understood that it was nothing other than fog.

  66. 33

    When the fog grew so thick that one could not see a goose-length ahead, the birds began to behave like real madmen.

  67. All these, who had before traveled along in such good order, began to play about in the fog.

  68. They flew this way and that to lure one another astray.

  69. "Watch out!" they cried.

  70. "Why, you're only going around in circles.

  71. Turn back, by all means!

  72. You won't get to Öland that way."

  73. 35

    Everyone knew very well where the island lay, but they did their best to lead one another astray.

  74. "Look at those long-tailed ducks over there!" a voice sounded in the fog.

  75. "They're going back to the North Sea."

  76. —"Watch out, greylag geese!" someone shrieked from another direction.

  77. "If you keep on like that, you'll end up all the way at Rügen."

  78. 37

    There was, as has been said, no danger that the birds who were used to traveling through here would let themselves be tricked in the wrong direction.

  79. But the ones who had a hard time of it were the wild geese.

  80. The pranksters noticed that they were not sure of the way, and did everything they could to lead them astray.

  81. 39

    "Where are you headed, good folk?" called a swan.

  82. He came straight up to Akka and looked sympathetic and serious.

  83. 41

    "We are going to travel to Öland, but we have never been there before," said Akka.

  84. She thought that this was a bird to be trusted.

  85. 43

    "That is too bad," said the swan.

  86. "Why, they have lured you astray.

  87. You are on your way to Blekinge.

  88. Come along with me now, and I'll show you the right way!"

  89. 45

    And so he set off with them, and when he had led them so far away from the great main route that they heard no calls, he disappeared into the fog.

  90. 47

    Now they traveled about for a while entirely at random.

  91. Scarcely had they managed to find their way back to the birds again, before a duck came up to them.

  92. "It's best that you lie down on the water until the fog goes on its way," said the duck.

  93. "One can certainly tell that you are not used to managing on journeys."

  94. 49

    It was not without success that those rascals managed to make Akka dizzy.

  95. As far as the boy could understand, the wild geese flew around in circles for a long while.

  96. 51

    "Watch out! Don't you see that you're flying upside down?" cried a loon, as he plunged past.

  97. The boy instinctively grabbed hold of the gander's neck.

  98. It was something that he had long dreaded.

  99. 53

    No one can say when they would have arrived, if a dull, rolling shot had not been heard far away.

  100. 55

    Then Akka thrust her neck forward, beat her wings hard, and set off at full speed.

  101. Now she had something to guide herself by.

  102. The greylag goose had just told her that she should not land right out on the southern tip of Öland, because there stood a cannon that people used to fire at the fog with.

  103. Now she knew the direction, and now no one in the world would be able to lure her astray.

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.
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