The Wonderful Adventures of Nils 1732 Studios

Swedish · The Wonderful Adventures of Nils

Den sköna lustgården

The Beautiful Pleasure Garden

248 sentences · 16 notes

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  1. 1

    The next day the wild geese flew north over Södermanland.

    Nästanextnästa · adjective, nominativemodifies dag
    dagdaydag · noun, nominative, common gender, singularoblique complement of foro
    forowentforo · noun, nominative, neuter, singularhead of the phrase

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

    vildgässenthe wild geesevildgässe · noun, nominative, common gender, singularsubject of foro

    attested only in the plural surface vildgässen; the collective noun for the wild-goose flock.

    norrutnorthwardnorrut · adverbmodifies vildgässen
    överoveröver · prepositionpreposition marking Södermanland
    SödermanlandSödermanlandSödermanland · proper noun, nominativeoblique complement of foro

  2. The boy sat looking down at the landscape and thought to himself that it was not like anything he had seen before.

  3. There were no great plains as in Skåne and Östergötland, and no great, unbroken forest tracts as in Småland, but instead a mixture of everything imaginable.

  4. “Here they've taken a big lake and a big river and a big forest and a big mountain, chopped them into pieces, mixed them all together, and spread them out over the earth with no order at all,” thought the boy, for he saw nothing but little valleys and little lakes and little hills and little patches of woods.

  5. Nothing was allowed to spread out properly.

  6. As soon as a plain started to grow large, a hill would come and plant itself in the way, and if the hill tried to stretch out into a ridge, the plain took over again.

  7. As soon as a lake grew so large that it began to amount to something, it narrowed into a stream, and the stream was not allowed to flow far either before it widened out into a lake.

  8. The wild geese flew along close enough to the coast that the boy could see out over the sea, and he saw that the sea, too, was not allowed to spread its broad surface, but was broken apart by a multitude of islands, and the islands, in turn, were not allowed to grow especially large before the sea took over again.

  9. It was constant change.

  10. Pine forest traded places with leafy forest, fields with bogs, and manor houses with farm cottages.

  11. 2

    There were no people at all out working in the fields; instead they were traveling along roads and paths.

  12. Out of the little forest homesteads on the slopes of Kolmården they came, dressed in black, with hymn book and handkerchief in hand.

  13. “It must be Sunday today,” thought the boy, and sat watching the churchgoers below.

  14. In a couple of places he saw wedding parties driving to church with a great retinue, and in another a funeral procession came slowly along the road.

  15. He saw grand carriages and little farm carts, and he saw boats on the lake, all bound for church.

  16. 3

    The boy flew on over Björkvik church and over Bettna and Blacksta and Vadsbro, and then toward Sköldinge and Floda.

  17. Everywhere he heard the bells ringing.

  18. It sounded wonderfully beautiful up in the heights.

  19. It was as though the whole clear air had turned into tones and sound.

  20. 4

    “Well, one thing is certain,” said the boy, “and that is, that wherever I come in this country, I shall always come upon bells ringing like these.”

  21. And he felt safe at that thought, for even though he was now off in another world, it was as though he could not really go astray so long as the church bells could call him back with their great voices.

  22. 5

    They had come a good way in over Sörmland when the boy caught sight of a black speck moving over the ground beneath them.

  23. At first he thought it was a dog, and he would not have given it another thought, if it had not been that it seemed to be trying to keep the same course as the wild geese.

  24. It raced across open ground and through patches of forest, leapt over ditches, cleared fences, and let nothing stop it.

  25. 6

    “It almost looks as though Smirre the fox is out again,” said the boy, “but, be that as it may, I expect we shall soon fly away from him.”

  26. 7

    Just after that the wild geese set off flying at the strongest speed they could manage, and kept it up as long as the fox was within sight.

  27. When he could no longer see them, they turned and flew in a great, wide arc toward west and south, almost as if they had meant to fly back to Östergötland.

  28. “It must indeed have been Smirre after all,” thought the boy, “since Akka is bending off to the side like this and taking another way.”

  29. 8

    When it drew toward evening that day, the wild geese flew on over an old Sörmland estate called Stora Djulö.

  30. The great white manor house stood with its grove of leafy trees behind it, and before it lay Stora Djulö lake with its jutting points and hilly shores.

  31. It looked old-fashioned and inviting, and it was not without the boy heaving a sigh as he flew over the place, wondering what it would feel like to step into such a house after a day's journey, instead of ending up on a soggy marsh or a cold crust of ice.

  32. 9

    But of course there was no thinking of such a thing.

  33. The wild geese came down instead a little way north of the estate, on a wooded meadow so flooded with water that only a few tussocks stuck up here and there.

  34. It was very nearly the worst night's lodging the boy had had on the whole journey.

  35. 10

    He sat for a while on the gander's back, not knowing quite what to make of himself.

  36. Then he sprang in long leaps from tussock to tussock until he reached firm ground, and hurried off toward where the old estate lay.

  37. 11

    Now it happened that just that evening a few people were sitting in a cottage under Stora Djulö, talking by the fire.

  38. They had talked about the sermon and about the spring farm work and about the weather, but when the topics of conversation began to run dry, they asked an old woman, the cottager's mother, to tell them ghost stories.

  39. 12

    It is well known that nowhere else in the country is there such an abundance of manors and ghost stories as in Sörmland.

  40. The old woman had served at many great estates in her youth, and she knew so many strange things that she could have gone on telling them until morning.

  41. She spoke so convincingly and well that those sitting listening to her were tempted to take it all for truth.

  42. They started with unease when the old woman broke off in the middle of her story a couple of times to ask whether they didn't hear something rustling.

  43. “Can't you hear that there's something creeping about in here!” she said.

  44. But the others noticed nothing.

  45. 13

    When the old woman had told stories about Eriksberg and Vibyholm and Julita and Lagmansö and several other places, someone asked whether anything so strange had ever happened at Stora Djulö itself.

  46. “Well, it hasn't been entirely free of it,” said the old woman.

  47. At once they all wanted to hear what legends there were about their own estate.

  48. 14

    Then the old woman told how there had once stood a castle north of Stora Djulö on a hill, where nowadays there was nothing but forest, and in front of that castle there had once lain a beautiful pleasure garden.

  49. So it had happened once, that a man called Lord Karl, who at that time ruled all of Sörmland, had come traveling to the castle.

  50. And after he had eaten and drunk, he had gone out into the pleasure garden, and stood there a good long while, looking out over Stora Djulö lake and the beautiful shores.

  51. But just as he stood there, delighting in what he saw, and thinking to himself that there was no lovelier land than Sörmland, he heard someone sigh very deeply right behind him.

  52. Then he had turned around and seen an old day-laborer standing bent over his spade.

  53. “Is it you sighing so deeply?” Lord Karl had said.

  54. “What have you to sigh about?” — “I may well sigh, who must go and work in the earth here day in and day out,” the day-laborer had then answered.

  55. But Lord Karl had a hot temper, and he did not like it when people complained.

  56. “Have you nothing else to complain of?” he had shouted.

  57. “I tell you, I would be content if I could go and dig in Sörmland's soil for all my days.” — “Then may it go for your grace just as you wish!” the day-laborer had answered.

  58. 15

    But afterward people said that Lord Karl, for the sake of those words, had found no peace in his grave after death, but every night was in the habit of coming to Stora Djulö and digging in his pleasure garden.

  59. Yes, now there was neither castle nor pleasure garden left over there; where they had once stood there was now only an ordinary wooded hillside.

  60. But if anyone should walk through the forest on a dark night, it might happen that he would catch sight of the pleasure garden.

  61. 16

    Here the old woman stopped and looked off toward a dim corner of the cottage.

  62. “Wasn't that something moving?” she asked.

  63. 17

    “Oh no, mother, do go on and tell it!” said the daughter-in-law.

  64. “I saw yesterday that the rats had made themselves a big hole there in the corner, but I had so much else to do that I forgot to stop it up.

  65. You may as well go on and tell whether anyone has ever seen that pleasure garden.”

  66. 18

    “Well, I'll tell you,” said the old woman, “that my own father once saw it.

  67. He came walking through the forest one summer night, and suddenly he saw beside him a tall garden wall, and above it he glimpsed the rarest trees, so laden with flowers and fruit that the branches hung far out over the wall.

  68. Father walked on very slowly, wondering where the garden could have come from.

  69. Then a gate in the wall opened suddenly, and a gardener came out and asked whether father would not like to see his pleasure garden.

  70. The fellow had a spade in hand and wore a big apron like other gardeners, and father was just about to follow him when he happened to catch a glimpse of his face.

  71. At once father recognized the pointed forelock and the goatee.

  72. It was none other than Lord Karl, just as father had seen him pictured on paintings in every manor house where father had...

  73. 19

    Here there was a fresh interruption in the story.

  74. This time it was a burning log that crackled so that sparks and coals sprayed out across the floor.

  75. The room grew bright in all its dark corners for a moment, and the old woman thought she caught a glimpse of a little tomte sitting beside the rat hole, listening to the story, but now hurrying to get himself out of the way.

  76. 20

    The daughter-in-law took broom and shovel, swept the coals together, and sat back down.

  77. “Now you can go on, mother,” she said.

  78. But the old woman did not want to.

  79. “That will have to be enough for tonight,” she said, and her voice sounded strange.

  80. The others wanted to hear more, but the daughter-in-law saw that the old woman had gone pale and that her hands were trembling.

  81. “No, mother is tired now and must go and lie down,” she said.

  82. 21

    A little while later the boy came back up into the forest to the wild geese.

  83. He walked along chewing a carrot he had found outside the cellar, thought he had eaten a splendid supper, and was pleased to have gotten to sit for several hours inside the warm cottage.

  84. “If only I could get a good night's lodging now!” he thought.

  85. 22

    It occurred to him then that the best thing would be to take his sleeping place in a bushy spruce standing at the edge of the road.

  86. He swung himself up into it and wove together a couple of little twigs so as to get himself a bed to lie on.

  87. 23

    There he lay for a while, thinking about what he had heard in the cottage, and above all about that Lord Karl who was supposed to go wandering here in the Djulö woods, but he soon fell asleep away from it all and would likely have slept until morning, had he not woken to find a pair of creaking iron gates thrown open right beneath him.

  88. 24

    The boy is awake in an instant, rubs the sleep from his eyes, and looks around.

  89. Close beside him is a wall as high as a man, and over the wall he glimpses trees bowed down under fruit.

  90. 25

    At first he thinks this is very strange.

  91. There were no fruit trees here when he fell asleep.

  92. But after a few moments his memory comes back to him, so that he understands what kind of garden this is.

  93. 26

    The strangest thing of all, perhaps, is that he is not at all afraid, but on the contrary feels an indescribably strong desire to go into the garden.

  94. Up where he lies in the spruce, it is dark and chilly, but inside the garden it is bright, and he thinks he sees fruit and roses glowing in strong sunshine.

  95. It would surely be good for him, who has been drifting about so long in cold and foul weather, to feel a little summer warmth.

  96. 27

    Nor does there seem to be the least difficulty in getting into the garden.

  97. There is a gate in the high wall right beside the spruce where the boy lies, and an old gardener has just pushed open the great iron gates.

  98. Now he stands in the gateway, peering into the forest, exactly as though he were waiting for someone.

  99. 28

    In a moment the boy is down out of the tree.

  100. He walks up to the gardener with his cap in his hand, bows, and asks if it is permitted to see the garden.

  101. 29

    “Yes, that's allowed,” answers the gardener in a rather gruff voice.

  102. “Come on in, then!”

  103. 30

    He then draws the gates shut again and locks them with a heavy key, which he tucks into his belt.

  104. Meanwhile the boy stands studying him.

  105. He has a rugged face with a big mustache, a sharp little goatee, and a keen nose.

  106. Had he not been wearing a blue gardener's apron and holding a heavy spade in his hand, the boy would have taken him for an old soldier.

  107. 31

    The gardener walks into the garden with such long strides that the boy has to run to keep up with him.

  108. They walk along a narrow path, and the boy happens to step up onto the edge of the grass.

  109. But at once he gets a reprimand for treading down the grass, and after that he runs along behind his guide.

  110. 32

    The boy senses that the gardener thinks he is far too grand to go about showing the garden to such a changeling as him, and he does not dare ask him about anything, but only runs along.

  111. Now and then the gardener tosses him a word.

  112. Just inside the wall there is a thick hedge, and once they have come through it, he mentions that he calls it Kolmården.

  113. “Well, it certainly is big enough to deserve the name,” answers the boy, but the gardener does not bother in the least to listen to what he says.

  114. 33

    Then they come out from among the bushes, and the boy can see out over a large part of the garden.

  115. He notices at once that it is not especially vast, only a couple of acres.

  116. The high wall shields it to the south and west, but to the north and east it is surrounded by water, so that no fence is needed there.

  117. 34

    The gardener has stopped to tie up a vine, so the boy gets time to look around him.

  118. He has not seen many gardens in his life, but he senses that this one is unlike any other.

  119. It must be laid out in some old-fashioned style, for one did not see nowadays such a swarming abundance of little hills and little flowerbeds and little hedges and little lawns and little arbors.

  120. Nor such a profusion of little ponds and winding canals as he sees here on every side.

  121. 35

    Everywhere stand the proudest trees and the loveliest flowers, and the water in the little canals lies clear and deep green and mirror-still.

  122. And the boy thinks that the whole of it is like a paradise.

  123. He claps his hands together and bursts out: “I have never seen anything so beautiful!

  124. Whatever can this garden be?”

  125. 36

    He shouts this out quite loudly, and at once the gardener turns toward him and says in his gruff voice: “This garden is called Sörmland.

  126. What sort of person are you, not to know that much?

  127. It has always been counted among the finest in the realm.”

  128. 37

    The boy grows a little pensive at the answer, but he has so much to look at that he has no time to work out what it might mean.

  129. As beautiful as it is, with all the flowers and winding waterways, there is still something else that gives him even more pleasure, and that is all the little summerhouses and playhouses set up about the garden.

  130. They are everywhere, but most of all along the edges of the little ponds and canals.

  131. They are not real houses.

  132. They are as small as if they had been built for people no bigger than himself, but they are unbelievably neat and trim.

  133. They are of every conceivable kind: some are like castles with towers and wings, others look like churches, and others like mills or farm cottages.

  134. 38

    They are so beautiful that the boy would like to stop and look closely at every single one, but he does not dare do anything but follow the gardener.

  135. But soon they come to a place grander and more stately than anything they have come upon before.

  136. It is built in three stories with a frontispiece and jutting wings.

  137. It stands on a hill in the middle of a flower garden, and the path leading there crosses one canal after another over little ornate bridges.

  138. 39

    The boy does not dare do anything but follow at the gardener's heels, but when he has to pass by all this, he sighs so heavily that the stern old man hears it and stops.

  139. “This place I call Eriksberg,” he says.

  140. “If you want to go in here, you may, but beware of the Lady of Pintorpa!”

  141. 40

    The one who is not slow to obey that invitation is the boy.

  142. He runs on down the tree-lined avenue, over the little bridges, up through the flower gardens, in through the gate.

  143. Everything seems exactly fitted for someone like him.

  144. The steps are just the right height, and he can open every lock.

  145. But never has he believed he would see so much beauty.

  146. The oak floors gleam polished and shining, the ceilings are plastered and painted all over with pictures.

  147. Along the walls hangs painting after painting, the furniture has gilded frames and is upholstered in silk.

  148. He sees rooms where the walls are lined with books, and he sees rooms where tables and cabinets are crowded with treasures.

  149. 41

    However much he hurries, he does not manage to see half the house before the gardener calls out to him, and when he comes out, the old man is standing biting his mustache with impatience.

  150. 42

    “Well, how did it go?” asks the gardener.

  151. “Did you see the Lady of Pintorpa?”

  152. But the boy has not seen a living creature, and when he answers this, the gardener's face contorts.

  153. “Has the Lady of Pintorpa gotten to rest, and not I!”

  154. 43

    he says, and the boy has never believed that such despair could quiver in a human voice.

  155. 44

    Then the gardener goes on ahead again with long strides, and the boy runs after him, trying all the while to see as much as possible of all the marvels.

  156. They walk around a pond somewhat larger than the rest.

  157. Long white pavilions, like manor houses, poke up everywhere out of the shrubbery and flowerbeds.

  158. The gardener does not stop, but as he walks on ahead, he tosses a word to the boy now and then.

  159. “This pond I call Yngaren.

  160. Here you have Danbyholm.

  161. Here you have Hagbyberga.

  162. Here you have Hovsta.

  163. Here you have Åkerö.”

  164. 45

    Then the gardener reaches, in a couple of enormous strides, a new little pond he calls Båven, but here he hears the boy give a cry of astonishment, and so he stops.

  165. The boy has come to a halt in front of a little bridge leading out to a castle on an island out in the pond.

  166. 46

    “You may run over to Vibyholm and look around, if you have a mind to,” he says.

  167. “But watch out for the White Lady!”

  168. 47

    And the boy is of course not slow to obey.

  169. Inside there are so many portraits on the walls that he thinks it is like a great picture book.

  170. He has such a fine time that he would gladly have stayed there all night, but it is not long before he hears the gardener calling for him.

  171. 48

    “Come now!

  172. Come now!” he shouts.

  173. “I have better things to do than stand here waiting for you, you scamp.”

  174. 49

    When the boy comes running back over the bridge, he calls out to him: “Well, how did it go?

  175. Did you see the White Lady?”

  176. 50

    The boy has not seen a living being, and he says so too.

  177. Then the old man strikes his spade into a stone with such force that the stone splits in two, and says in a voice that comes up from the very depths of the most terrible despair: “Has the White Lady of Vibyholm gotten to rest, and not I!”

  178. 51

    So far they have wandered through the southern part of the garden, but now the gardener heads toward the western part.

  179. Here the grounds are of a different kind.

  180. The ground is leveled into broad lawns, broken up by strawberry beds, cabbage patches, and berry bushes.

  181. The little summerhouses are found here too, but they are mostly painted red, looking most like farm cottages, and are surrounded by hop gardens and cherry groves.

  182. 52

    Here the gardener stops a moment and tosses these words to the boy: “This district I call Vingåker.”

  183. 53

    Just after that he points to a building, built much more plainly than the others and looking most of all like a smithy.

  184. “This here is a great tool workshop,” he says.

  185. “I call it Eskilstuna.

  186. You can go in and look around, if you have a mind to.”

  187. 54

    The boy goes in and sees an immense number of wheels turning, hammers pounding, lathes grinding.

  188. There is so much to look at that he would have liked to stay there all night, had the gardener not called him away.

  189. 55

    After that they wander along the lake on the north side of the garden.

  190. The shore goes in and out: it is point and bay, point and bay all the way along the garden.

  191. Outside the points lie little islands, separated from the mainland by narrow sounds.

  192. The little islands belong to the garden too.

  193. They are tended with the same care as all the rest.

  194. 56

    The boy walks past one beautiful spot after another, but he does not stop until he comes to a stately red church.

  195. It sits quite grandly on a point overshadowed by rich fruit trees.

  196. The gardener would go past as usual, but the boy plucks up his courage and asks leave to go in.

  197. “Oh, go on in then,” he answers, “but beware of Bishop Rogge!

  198. It may well be that he still hangs about here in Strängnäs to this day.”

  199. 57

    So the boy runs into the church and looks at old gravestones and lovely altarpieces.

  200. Above all else he admires a knight in gilded armor that he finds in a chamber beside the porch.

  201. Here too there is so much to see that he would have liked to stay all night, but he must be off so as not to keep the gardener waiting.

  202. 58

    When he comes back out, he notices that the gardener is standing watching an owl hunting a redstart up in the air.

  203. The old man whistles to the redstart, and it comes to him and settles trustingly on his shoulder, and when the owl comes flying after it in its hunting eagerness, he chases her off with the spade.

  204. “He's not as fierce as he looks,” the boy thinks, seeing how tenderly the old man protects the poor little songbird.

  205. 59

    But as soon as the gardener catches sight of the boy, he turns toward him and asks whether he saw Bishop Rogge.

  206. And when the boy answers no, he says with the greatest grief: “Has Bishop Rogge gotten to rest, and not I!”

  207. 60

    Soon after, they come to the grandest of the many dollhouses.

  208. It is a brick-built stronghold with three sturdy round towers, joined by long ranges of buildings.

  209. 61

    “Go in and look around, if you have a mind to!” says the gardener.

  210. “This is Gripsholm, and here you must beware of King Erik.”

  211. 62

    The boy goes through a deep gateway and comes into a large triangular courtyard surrounded by low buildings.

  212. They do not look especially grand, and the boy does not bother going into them.

  213. He merely hops over a couple of long cannons standing there and then runs on further.

  214. He goes through yet another deep gateway and comes to yet another courtyard, surrounded by splendid buildings, and here he goes in.

  215. He comes to great old-fashioned rooms, with crossbeams visible in the ceiling and all the walls covered with tall, dark paintings in which solemn gentlemen and ladies are pictured in strange, stiff costumes.

  216. 63

    One flight higher up he finds brighter, more cheerful rooms.

  217. Now he truly notices that he is in a royal castle, for he sees nothing but splendid portraits of kings and queens on the walls.

  218. But one flight higher still there is a great attic, and around it lie all sorts of rooms.

  219. There

  220. 64

    are bright rooms with fine white furniture, and there is a little theater, and right beside it a real prison: a room with bare stone walls and barred slits and a floor worn by the heavy steps of prisoners.

  221. 65

    There is so much to see that the boy thinks he would gladly have stayed there for many days, but the gardener calls to him, and he does not dare do anything but obey.

  222. 66

    “Did you see King Erik?” he asks when the boy comes out.

  223. But the boy has seen nothing, and then the old man says, as is his way, but with even deeper despair: “Has King Erik gotten to rest, and not I!”

  224. 67

    So they go on to the eastern part of the garden.

  225. They pass a bathhouse the gardener calls Södertälje, and an old castle he calls Hörningsholm.

  226. There is not much else to see here.

  227. It is full of cliffs and skerries, growing ever more desolate and bare the farther out they lie.

  228. 68

    They now turn south, and the boy recognizes that hedge called Kolmården, and understands that they are drawing near the exit.

  229. 69

    He is glad of everything he has gotten to see, and as he now nears the great iron gate, he would gladly thank the gardener.

  230. But the old man does not listen to him at all, but goes straight to the gate.

  231. There he turns to the boy and hands him his spade.

  232. “Here,” he says, “hold this while I unlock the gate!”

  233. 70

    But the boy is already so anxious over all the trouble he has caused the gruff old fellow that he wants to spare him further effort.

  234. “You needn't open this heavy gate for my sake,” he says, and with that he slips out through the ironwork.

  235. It is no difficulty at all for one so small as he.

  236. 71

    He does this with the very best of intentions, and he is quite astonished when he hears the gardener roar in anger behind him, stamp on the ground, and shake the gate violently.

  237. 72

    “What is it?

  238. What is it?” says the boy.

  239. “I only wanted to spare the gardener trouble.

  240. Why are you so angry?”

  241. 73

    “I may well be angry,” says the old man.

  242. “It would have taken no more than for you to have taken my spade, and you would have gotten to stay here and tend the garden, but I would have been relieved of my post.

  243. Now I don't know how much longer I shall have to go about here.”

  244. 74

    He stands there shaking the gate, looking terribly angry, but the boy cannot help feeling sorry for him, and wants to comfort him.

  245. 75

    “You mustn't be sad about this, Lord Karl of Södermanland,” he says, “for there is no one who would tend your pleasure garden as well as you do.”

  246. 76

    When the boy says this, the old gardener grows quite still and silent, and the boy thinks a brightening passes over the hard features.

  247. But he cannot see properly, for at the same moment the whole figure grows pale and vanishes like a mist.

  248. And not only he, but the whole garden grows pale and vanishes, with its flowers and fruit and sunshine, and where it has stood there is nothing to be seen now but wild, poor woodland.

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.