The Wonderful Adventures of Nils 1732 Studios

Swedish · The Wonderful Adventures of Nils

I Närke

In Närke

337 sentences · 18 notes

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  1. 1

    In Närke there once was something in the world that had no equal anywhere else, and that was a troll called Ysätters-Kajsa.

    Iini · prepositionpreposition marking Närke
    NärkeNärkeNärke · nounoblique complement of fanns
    fannsthere wasfinnas · verb, past, indicativemain verb of the sentence

    existential verb; fanns = 'there was/were, existed.'

    detitden · pronoun, neuter, singularexpletive with fanns
    förrbeforeförr · adverbmodifies fanns
    iini · prepositionpreposition marking världen
    världenworldvärld · noun, nominative, common gender, singularoblique complement of fanns
    någotsomethingnågon · pronoun, neuter, singularmodifies fanns
    somthatsom · pronounoblique complement of hade

    Three of this key's four examples ('som om far skulle...', 'för just som han stod...', 'som de är borta') are actually the conjunctive 'as'/'while' use, not the relative pronoun 'that/which' shown by 'länstolen, som blev köpt...'. The glosser's original senses list (that/who/which) omitted the dominant 'as' reading entirely.

    detheyde · pronoun, nominative, pluralsubject of hade
    intenotinte · particlemodifies hade
    hadehadha · verb, past, indicative, activerelative clause on något
    makethe likemake · noun, nominative, common gender, singulardirect object of hade

    used in 'sett make/maken till' meaning nothing comparable had been seen.

    tillequaltill · prepositionpreposition marking som
    påelsewherepå · prepositionpreposition marking håll
    andraotherannan · adjective, nominative, pluralmodifies håll
    hålldirectionshåll · noun, nominative, neuter, pluraloblique complement of hade
    ochandoch · conjunctionlinks the coordination
    detitden · pronoun, neuter, singularsubject of troll
    varwasvara · auxiliary verb, past, indicative, activecopula linking to troll
    ettaen · determiner, neuter, singulardeterminer of troll
    trolltrolltroll · noun, nominative, common gender, singularcoordinated with fanns
    somthatsom · pronounsubject of hette

    Three of this key's four examples ('som om far skulle...', 'för just som han stod...', 'som de är borta') are actually the conjunctive 'as'/'while' use, not the relative pronoun 'that/which' shown by 'länstolen, som blev köpt...'. The glosser's original senses list (that/who/which) omitted the dominant 'as' reading entirely.

    hettewas namedhette · verb, past, indicative, activein apposition to troll
    Ysätters-KajsaYsätters-KajsaYsätters-Kajsa · noun, nominative, neuter, singulardirect object of hette

    Name of a storm troll in Närke folklore.

  2. 2

    She had gotten the name Kajsa because she had a great deal to do with storm and gale — such wind-trolls are always called that — and the surname because she was said to come from Ysätterskärret in Asker parish.

  3. 3

    It does seem as though her true home must have been in Asker, but she was known to show herself elsewhere too.

  4. Nowhere in all of Närke could one be sure of not running into her.

  5. 4

    She was not some dark and gloomy troll, but merry and playful, and what she liked best of all was a good hard blow of wind.

  6. As soon as there was wind enough, she set out to get herself a dance on the Närke plain.

  7. 5

    Närke really consists of nothing but a plain, which is surrounded on every side by forested highlands.

  8. It is only in the northeastern corner, where Lake Hjälmaren flows out of the province, that there is a gap in the long mountain fence.

  9. 6

    Now when the wind, one morning, has gathered its strength out on the Baltic and sets off inland, it goes fairly unchecked between the hills of Södermanland, and slips without much trouble into Närke over there around Hjälmaren.

  10. Then it rushes straight across the Närke plain, but due west it meets the high wall of the Kilsberg hills and is thrown back.

  11. Then the wind curls itself like a snake and speeds off toward the south.

  12. But there it meets Tiveden forest, which gives the wind a shove, so that it dashes off eastward.

  13. Well, in the east lies Tylöskog forest, and it sends the wind north up toward Käglan hill.

  14. And from Käglan the wind is carried off toward the Kilsberg hills and Tiveden and Tylöskog once again.

  15. It swings and swings in ever smaller circles, until at last it comes to a stand like a spinning top in the middle of the plain and just whirls around.

  16. But on such days, when the whirlwinds swept over the plain, Ysätters-Kajsa had a fine time.

  17. Then she stood in the middle of the whirl and spun.

  18. Her long hair flew about up among the clouds of heaven, her gown's train swept along the ground like a cloud of dust, and the whole plain lay beneath her like one great dance floor.

  19. 7

    In the mornings Ysätters-Kajsa used to sit up in some tall pine on the top of a hill-crag and look out over the plain.

  20. If it was then winter with good sleighing, and she saw many travelers out on the roads, she would hurry to blow up a snowstorm and pile up drifts so high that people could scarcely make it home by evening.

  21. If it was summer and good haymaking weather, Ysätters-Kajsa sat still until the first hay-wagons had been fully loaded, and then she came sweeping in with a couple of downpours that put an end to the work for that day.

  22. 8

    It was certain and true that she seldom thought of anything but making mischief.

  23. The charcoal-burners up in the Kilsberg hills scarcely dared to close an eye, for as soon as she saw an unwatched charcoal-kiln, she came sneaking up and puffed at it, so that it broke into high flame.

  24. And if the ore-drivers from Laxå and Svartå were out late some evening, Ysätters-Kajsa wrapped the road and the countryside in such dark mists that both men and horses lost their way and drove the heavy sledges down into bogs and marshes.

  25. 9

    If the parson's wife in Glanshammar had laid the coffee table out in her garden on a summer Sunday and a gust of wind came that lifted the cloth from the table and knocked over both cups and saucers, then one knew who was behind that prank.

  26. If the mayor of Örebro's hat blew off, so that he had to run after it across the whole square, if the folk of Vinön ran their vegetable boats aground in Hjälmaren, if hung-out washing blew away and got covered in dust, if the smoke one evening beat down into the cottages and did not seem to find its way out through the chimney at all, then it was not hard to know who was out and amusing herself.

  27. 10

    But although Ysätters-Kajsa loved every kind of vexatious prank, there was still nothing truly evil in her.

  28. One could notice that she was hardest on those who were quarrelsome and stingy and unkind, but honest folk and poor little children she often took under her protection.

  29. And old folk tell that once, when Asker church was about to burn, Ysätters-Kajsa came sweeping down, struck in among fire and smoke on the church roof, and averted the danger.

  30. 11

    All the same, the people of Närke were many a time rather tired of Ysätters-Kajsa, but she for her part never tired of stirring up trouble with them.

  31. When she sat up on the edge of a cloud and looked down at Närke, lying friendly and prosperous beneath her, with fine farms on the plain and rich mines and ironworks up in the highlands, with the sluggish river Svartån and the shallow, fish-rich plain lakes, with the good town of Örebro spreading itself around the grave old castle with its solid corner towers, she must surely have thought: 'Here people would have it far too good, if it weren't for me.

  32. They would grow drowsy and dull.

  33. There must be someone like me here, to shake them up and keep them in good spirits.'

  34. 12

    And then she laughed, wild and mocking as a magpie, and swept off, dancing and whirling from one corner of the plain to the other.

  35. And when the man of Närke saw how she dragged her train of dust across the plain, he could not help but smile.

  36. Teasing and tiresome she certainly was, but she had good humor.

  37. It was just as refreshing for the farmers to have dealings with Ysätters-Kajsa as it was for the plain to be lashed by the storm wind.

  38. 13

    Nowadays people claim that Ysätters-Kajsa must be dead and gone, she along with all the other trolls.

  39. But such a thing is almost impossible to believe.

  40. It is as if someone were to come and say that the air would forever after stand still over the plain, and the wind never again dance across it with rustling and roaring and fresh air and downpours.

  41. 14

    Whoever holds that Ysätters-Kajsa is dead and gone may, however, hear how things went in Närke the year that Nils Holgersson traveled through the province, and then he may judge for himself what he believes.

  42. 15

    It was the day before a great cattle market in Örebro, and it rained so hard that it came down in sheets.

  43. It was a rain that no one could get the better of.

  44. Real torrents fell from the clouds, and many a one thought to himself: 'This is exactly like the days of Ysätters-Kajsa.

  45. Never did she have so many pranks afoot as at market time.

  46. It would have been just like her to set up a downpour like this on the eve of the market.'

  47. 16

    The later it got, the worse the rain grew.

  48. Toward evening came real cloudbursts, the roads became utterly bottomless, and people who had set out from home with their cattle to reach Örebro in good time the next morning fared badly.

  49. Cows and oxen grew so weary that they would not move a foot, and several of the poor animals threw themselves down in the middle of the road to show that they could go no farther.

  50. Everyone who lived along the road had to open their doors to the market-goers and shelter them as best they could.

  51. It grew crowded to overflowing, not only in the living rooms, but also in stables and barns.

  52. 17

    Those who could, however, tried to struggle on to the inn, but when they got there, they almost regretted it,

  53. 18

    that they had not stopped at some cottage along the road.

  54. Every stall in the cowshed and every stall in the stable were already taken.

  55. There was nothing for it but to let horses and cows stand out in the rain.

  56. It was as much as their owners could do to get in under a roof themselves.

  57. 19

    There was a wetness and a filth and a crowding on the yard that were dreadful.

  58. Some of the animals stood in veritable puddles and could not even lie down.

  59. There were, to be sure, farmers who got their animals straw to lie on and spread blankets over them, but there were also those who sat inside the inn, drinking and gambling and clean forgetting the creatures they ought to have cared for.

  60. 20

    That evening the boy and the wild geese had come to an islet in Lake Hjälmaren.

  61. It was separated from the mainland only by a narrow, shallow sound, and one might well imagine that it was possible to get across dry-shod when the water was low.

  62. 21

    It rained just as furiously out on the islet as everywhere else.

  63. The boy could not sleep for the drops that kept pattering down on him.

  64. At last he began to walk about the islet.

  65. He thought he felt the rain less when he was moving.

  66. 22

    He had scarcely walked once around the islet before he heard a splashing in the water that separated the islet from the mainland, and shortly after he saw a lone horse come walking among the bushes.

  67. It was an old nag, so wretched and miserable that the boy had never seen its like.

  68. He was broken-down and stiff-legged and so thin that every bone showed beneath his skin.

  69. He wore neither harness nor saddle, only an old halter, from which hung a half-rotten stump of rope.

  70. It was plain that he had had no difficulty at all tearing himself loose.

  71. 23

    The horse walked straight toward the spot where the wild geese stood sleeping, and the boy grew afraid that he would trample them.

  72. 'Where are you going?

  73. Watch where you're going!'

  74. he shouted.

  75. 'Oh, there you are,' said the horse, and came up to the boy.

  76. 'I've walked the whole way to find you.'

  77. 'Have you heard tell of me?'

  78. the boy asked, astonished.

  79. 'I have ears too, old as I am.

  80. There are many who talk about you nowadays.'

  81. 24

    He had lowered his head while he spoke, so as to see better, and the boy noticed that he had a small head with beautiful eyes and a soft, fine muzzle.

  82. 'This must have been a good horse to begin with, though he's come to grief in his old age,' he thought.

  83. 25

    'I wanted you to come with me and help me with something,' said the horse.

  84. The boy thought it risky to go along with one who looked so wretched, and excused himself on account of the bad weather.

  85. 'You'll be no worse off sitting on my back than lying here,' said the horse.

  86. 'But perhaps you daren't go along with such a horse-dealer's hack as I am.'

  87. 'Oh, I daresay I dare,' said the boy.

  88. 'Then wake the geese, so we can settle with them where they're to come and fetch you tomorrow!'

  89. said the horse.

  90. 26

    Shortly after, the boy sat on the horse's back.

  91. The old horse trotted along better than the boy had given him credit for, but it was still a long journey through night and foul weather before they stopped at a large inn.

  92. It looked dreadfully cheerless there.

  93. In the road were rutted tracks so deep that the boy thought he would drown if he fell into one.

  94. At the fence that ran around the yard, some thirty or forty horses and cattle stood tied, with no shelter from the rain, and inside the yard stood carts with high crates, in which sheep and calves, pigs and hens were shut up.

  95. 27

    The horse went and took his place by the fence.

  96. The boy stayed sitting on his back, and with such good night-eyes as he had, he saw clearly how badly off the animals were.

  97. 28

    'How does it come that you're standing out here in the rain?'

  98. he asked.

  99. 'We're on our way to a market in Örebro, but we've had to put up here because of the rain.

  100. This is an inn, but so many travelers have come that we can't get room inside the houses.'

  101. 29

    The boy answered nothing, but sat silent and looked about him.

  102. Not many of the animals were sleeping; from every side he heard complaint and discontent.

  103. They had reason enough to moan, for the weather had grown worse than it had been earlier in the day.

  104. An icy-cold wind had begun to blow, and the rain, which now came sharp and lashing, was mixed with snow.

  105. It was not hard to understand what the horse wanted the boy to help him with.

  106. 30

    'Do you see that there's a fine farm standing here across from the inn?'

  107. asked the horse.

  108. 'Yes,' said the boy, 'I see it, and I can't understand why they haven't asked for shelter for you in there.

  109. Or perhaps it's already full there too?'

  110. 'No, there are no guests there,' said the horse.

  111. 'The people who live on that farm are so stingy and unhelpful that it's not worth anyone's while to ask them for shelter.'

  112. 'Oh, so that's how it is.

  113. Then I suppose you'll just have to stand where you're standing.'

  114. 'But I was born and raised on that very place,' said the horse.

  115. 'I know there's a big stable and a big cowshed there with many empty stalls, and I wondered whether you couldn't arrange it so that we might get in there.'

  116. 'I don't think I dare risk that,' said the boy.

  117. But then he thought it was such a pity for the animals that he wanted to try anyway.

  118. 31

    He ran onto the strange farm and saw at once that all the outbuildings were locked and all the keys taken out.

  119. He stood at a loss and helpless, but he got help from an unexpected quarter.

  120. A gust of wind came rushing by at terrific speed and flung open the door of a big barn right in front of him.

  121. 32

    The boy, of course, was not slow to turn back to the horse.

  122. 'It's not possible to get into the stable or the cowshed,' he said, 'but there's a big, empty hay barn that they've forgotten to shut, and I can bring you in there.'

  123. 'Thank you!'

  124. said the horse.

  125. 'It will be good to sleep once more on the old

  126. 33

    home grounds.

  127. That's the only joy I can still have in this life.'

  128. 34

    In the rich farmhouse across from the inn, however, they had that evening come to sit up much later than usual.

  129. 35

    The farmer there was a man of thirty-five.

  130. He was tall and stately, with a handsome but rather gloomy face.

  131. During the day he had been out in the rain and gotten wet like everyone else, and at supper he had asked his old mother, who was still mistress of the farm, to light a fire in the hearth so he could dry his clothes.

  132. His mother had then made a small, meager fire, for in that house they were not in the habit of wasting firewood, and the farmer had hung his coat on a chair and set it before the fire.

  133. Then he had set one foot up on the hearthstone and rested his arm on his knee, and so he had stood there gazing into the fire.

  134. He had stayed there for a couple of hours and made no movement except now and then to throw a log on the fire.

  135. 36

    The mistress had cleared away the supper things and made his bed, and then she had gone in and sat down in the little chamber.

  136. Now and then she came to the door and looked wonderingly at him, standing there by the fire and not going to bed.

  137. 'It's nothing, mother.

  138. It's only something old I'm thinking about,' he said.

  139. 37

    The matter was this: that when he had passed the inn just a little while before, a horse dealer had come up and asked if he wanted to buy a horse, and had shown him an old broken-down horse so badly used up that he had to ask the fellow if he was mad, trying to foist off such a wreck on him.

  140. 'Oh no, I only thought that since this horse used to belong to you, you might want to give it a peaceful old age, for it needs one,' the horse dealer had answered.

  141. 38

    Then he had looked at the horse and recognized it.

  142. It was one that he himself had raised and broken in.

  143. But it never occurred to him to buy such an old and useless creature on that account.

  144. Oh no, certainly not.

  145. He was not one to throw his money away.

  146. 39

    But all the same, seeing the horse had stirred up many memories in him, and it was those memories that kept him so wide awake that he could not go to bed.

  147. 40

    Yes, that horse had been a fine, handsome, good animal.

  148. Father had let him care for it right from the start.

  149. He had broken it in, and he had loved it more than anything else.

  150. Father had complained that he fed it too well, and he had often had to sneak off to give it oats.

  151. 41

    He had never wanted to walk to church while he had that horse, but had always driven.

  152. It was only to be able to show off the young horse.

  153. He himself came in homespun, home-sewn clothes, and the cart was plain and unpainted, but the horse was the finest that drove up to the churchyard hill.

  154. 42

    Once he had dared speak to Father about buying himself store-bought clothes and having the cart painted.

  155. Father had stood as if turned to stone.

  156. The son had thought the old man would have a stroke.

  157. He had then tried to make Father understand that when he had such a fine horse to drive, he himself ought surely to look like something too.

  158. 43

    Father had said nothing, but a couple of days later he had gone in to Örebro with the horse and sold it.

  159. 44

    It had been cruel, but it was clear that Father had feared that horse would lead him into vanity and waste, and now, so long afterward, he had to admit that Father had been right.

  160. Such a horse could certainly have become a temptation.

  161. But at the time, in the beginning, he had grieved something terrible.

  162. Sometimes he had gone into Örebro just to stand at a street corner and watch the horse drive by, or to sneak in to him in the stable with a lump of sugar.

  163. 45

    'If Father dies and I get the farm,' he had thought, 'buying back my horse will be the first thing I do.'

  164. 46

    Now Father was dead, and he himself had held the farm for a couple of years, but he had not made a single attempt to buy the horse back.

  165. He had not thought of him for a long time, not until this very evening.

  166. 47

    It was strange that he had been able to forget it so completely.

  167. But Father had been a very commanding and strong-willed man, and when the son had grown up and the two of them had always worked together, Father had gained great power over him.

  168. He had then come to believe that Father was right in everything he did.

  169. And since he himself had taken over the farm, he had only tried to act in everything just as Father would have acted.

  170. 48

    He well knew that people said Father was stingy, but surely it was right to keep a tight hold on the purse and not throw money away needlessly.

  171. The good things one had gotten, surely one should not let go to waste.

  172. It was better to be called stingy and sit on a debt-free farm than to have great loans to struggle with, like the other farmers.

  173. 49

    So far had he gotten in his thoughts when he gave a start, because he heard something odd.

  174. It was as though a shrill, mocking voice had repeated exactly what he was thinking: 'It's best to hold tight to the purse.

  175. It's better to be called stingy and sit on a debt-free farm than to be saddled with loans like the other farmers.'

  176. 50

    It sounded as though someone wanted to make fun of his wisdom, and he was about to grow angry when he realized that the whole thing was only a mistake.

  177. The wind had begun to blow now, and he had been standing there and grown so drowsy that he had taken the howling of the wind in the chimney for real speech.

  178. 51

    He turned his eyes toward the wall clock, and it struck eleven heavy strokes just at that moment.

  179. It was dreadfully late, how late it had gotten.

  180. 'It's high time you went to bed,' he thought.

  181. But then he remembered that he had not yet gone around the farm, as he was used to doing every evening, to see that all the doors and shutters were closed and all the lights put out.

  182. He had never neglected that since he had become master there.

  183. He flung on his coat and went out into the storm.

  184. 52

    He found everything as it should be, except that the door of the empty hay barn had been blown open by the wind.

  185. He went in for the key, shut the barn, and put the key in his coat pocket.

  186. Then he made his way back into the main room, took off his coat, and hung it before the fire.

  187. But he did not go to bed even now, but began to walk back and forth in the room.

  188. It was frightful weather out there, with the biting cold wind and the snow-mixed rain.

  189. And his old horse was standing out in this storm without so much as a blanket for shelter!

  190. He really ought to have given his old friend a roof over his head, now that he had come to this part of the country.

  191. 53

    Over there at the inn, the boy heard an old clattering wall clock strike eleven.

  192. Just then he was busy freeing the cattle to lead them to the barn on the farm.

  193. It took quite a long time to get them woken and sorted out, but at last they were ready and filed onto the stingy farm-folk's yard in a long row, with the boy as their guide.

  194. 54

    But while the boy was busy with this, the farmer had gone around the farm and shut the hay barn, so that when the animals came filing along, the door was locked.

  195. The boy stood there quite dismayed.

  196. No, he could not let the cattle stand there!

  197. He would have to go into the house and get hold of the key.

  198. 55

    'Keep them quiet here while I go and fetch the key!'

  199. he said to the old horse, and with that he ran off.

  200. 56

    In the middle of the yard he stopped to figure out how he would get into the house.

  201. While he stood there, he saw a couple of small wayfarers come walking along the road and stop in front of the inn.

  202. 57

    The boy saw at once that they were two little girls, and he ran closer, for he thought he might get help from them.

  203. 58

    'There now, Britta Maja,' said one of them, 'you mustn't cry anymore!

  204. Now we're at the inn.

  205. Here we're sure to be let in.'

  206. 59

    Scarcely had the girl said this before the boy called out to her: 'No, you mustn't try to get into the inn.

  207. It's quite impossible.

  208. But at this farm here they have no guests.

  209. That's where you should go.'

  210. 60

    The little girls heard the words clearly, but they could not see who was speaking to them.

  211. But they did not wonder much at that, for it was pitch-dark night.

  212. The bigger of the two answered at once: 'We don't want to go into that farm, for the people who live there are stingy and unkind.

  213. It's their fault that the two of us have to go begging on the road.'

  214. 61

    'That may well be,' said the boy, 'but you should go there all the same.

  215. You'll see that it goes well for you.'

  216. 62

    'Well, we can try then, though we probably won't even be let in,' said the two little girls, and they went up to the farmhouse and knocked.

  217. 63

    The farmer was standing before the fire again, thinking about the horse, when he heard the knock.

  218. He went out to see what was going on, thinking to himself at the same time that he would not let himself be talked into letting in any wayfarer.

  219. But just as he turned the lock, a gust of wind was at hand and seized its chance.

  220. It tore the door out of his hand and flung it against the wall.

  221. He had to go out onto the porch to pull the door shut, and when he came back into the room, the little girls were already standing inside.

  222. 64

    They were a pair of poor beggar girls, ragged and starved and dirty, two little lasses who walked bent under sacks that were as long as they were tall themselves.

  223. 65

    'What sort of creatures are you, out roaming so late at night?'

  224. said the farmer unkindly.

  225. 66

    The two children did not answer at once, but first set down their sacks.

  226. Then they went up to him and held out their little hands in greeting.

  227. 'We are Anna and Britta Maja from Engärdet,' said the eldest, 'and we'd like to ask for a night's lodging.'

  228. 67

    He did not take the outstretched hands and was just about to drive out the beggar brats, when a new memory rose up in him.

  229. Engärdet — wasn't that a little cottage where a poor widow had lived with her five children?

  230. But the widow had been in debt to his father for a few hundred kronor, and to collect his claim, his father had had her cottage sold.

  231. Afterward the widow had gone up to Norrland with the older children to look for work, but the two youngest had become wards of the parish.

  232. 68

    He grew bitter at heart when he recalled this.

  233. He knew that Father had been much blamed for having called in that money, which was, after all, rightfully his.

  234. 69

    'What have you been up to lately?'

  235. he said to the children in a stern tone.

  236. 'Hasn't the poor relief taken care of you?

  237. Why are you roaming about begging?'

  238. 70

    'It's not our fault,' answered the bigger girl.

  239. 'It's the people we're staying with who have sent us out to beg.'

  240. 71

    'Well, you've gotten your sacks full,' said the farmer, 'you can't complain.

  241. Now the best thing is for you to take out what you've got with you and eat your fill, for here you'll get no food.

  242. All the womenfolk have already gone to bed.

  243. Then you can lie down in the corner by the hearth, so you won't have to freeze.'

  244. 72

    He waved his hand as if to wave them away, and his eyes took on an almost hard expression.

  245. He surely ought to be glad that he had had a father who had been careful with his property.

  246. Otherwise he himself might have had to run about with a beggar's sack in his own childhood, just like these two.

  247. 73

    He had scarcely finished the thought before the shrill, mocking voice that he had heard once already that evening repeated it word for word.

  248. He listened and understood at once that it was nothing: only the wind carrying on in the chimney.

  249. But the strange thing was that when the wind repeated his thoughts like that, they seemed to him so oddly foolish and hard and false.

  250. 74

    The children, meanwhile, had stretched themselves out side by side on the hard floor.

  251. They were not quiet, but lay there murmuring.

  252. 75

    'Will you just be quiet!'

  253. he said.

  254. He was in such an irritable temper that he could have struck them.

  255. 76

    But the murmuring went on regardless, and he called out to them once more to hold their tongues.

  256. 77

    'When mother went away from me,' a small clear voice answered then, 'she made me promise that every evening I would say my evening prayer.

  257. And I must do it, and Britta Maja too.

  258. As soon as we've said ‘God, who holds the children dear’, it will be quiet.'

  259. 78

    The farmer sat perfectly still and heard the little ones say their prayer.

  260. Then he began to walk with long strides back and forth, back and forth, and all the while he wrung his hands, as though he had fallen into great anguish.

  261. 79

    The horse driven out and ruined, and these two children turned into wandering beggars!

  262. And both things his father's doing!

  263. Perhaps, after all, Father had not been so right in what he did.

  264. 80

    He sat down on a chair and leaned his head in his hands.

  265. Suddenly his face began to tremble and quiver, and tears came to his eyes, which he hastened to wipe away.

  266. New tears came, and he was just as quick to get rid of them, but it did no good.

  267. More followed after.

  268. 81

    Now his mother opened the door from the little chamber, and he hurried to swing his chair around so that he turned his back to her.

  269. But she must have noticed something unusual all the same, for she stood a long while still behind him, as though she had been waiting for him to say something to her.

  270. Then she thought about how hard men always find it to bring themselves to speak of what touches them most deeply.

  271. She had better help him along, then.

  272. 82

    She had seen from the little chamber how everything had happened in the room, so that she needed to ask nothing.

  273. She simply went quite quietly up to the two sleeping children, lifted them up, and carried them into her own bed in the little chamber.

  274. Then she went out to her son again.

  275. 83

    'Lars,' she said, without letting on that she saw he was crying, 'you must let me have these children.'

  276. 'What, mother?'

  277. he said, trying to check his tears.

  278. 'They've weighed on my mind for years now, ever since Father took the cottage from their mother.

  279. And it's weighed on yours too.'

  280. 'Yes, but...'

  281. 'I want to keep them here and make good people of them.

  282. They're too good to go about begging.'

  283. 84

    He could answer nothing, for the tears came without check, but he took his mother's old, withered hand and patted it.

  284. 85

    But then he started up, as if he had been frightened by something.

  285. 'What would Father say about this?'

  286. 'Father has had his time to rule,' said his mother, 'now it's yours.

  287. As long as Father lived, one had to obey him.

  288. Now it's you who must show yourself for what you are.'

  289. The son was so astonished at these words that he stopped crying.

  290. 'I do show myself for what I am,' he said.

  291. 'No,' said his mother, 'you don't.

  292. You only try to be like Father.

  293. Father had lived through hard times, and that had made him afraid of becoming poor.

  294. He felt he was bound, first and foremost, to think of himself.

  295. But you have never been through anything hard enough to make you hard.

  296. You have more than you need, and it would surely be unnatural if you did not think of others.'

  297. 86

    When the little girls had come into the house, the boy had crept in after them, and had then kept himself hidden in a dark corner.

  298. It had not been long before he caught sight of the barn key sticking up out of the farmer's coat pocket.

  299. 'When the farmer drives the children out, I'll take the key and run,' he had thought.

  300. 87

    But then the children were not driven out after all, and the boy sat on in his corner, unable to make out what he should do.

  301. 88

    His mother talked for a long time with her son, and while she talked, his weeping quieted, and at last he sat there with such a beautiful expression on his face that he looked like a different person.

  302. He kept patting her old, withered hand all the while.

  303. 89

    'Well, I suppose we'd better go to bed now,' said the old woman, when she saw that he had grown calm again.

  304. 'No,' he said, rising quickly, 'I can't go to bed yet.

  305. There's one more stranger I must give lodging to tonight.'

  306. 90

    He said no more, but quickly threw on his coat, lit a lantern, and went out.

  307. It was the same wind and cold outside, but when he came out onto the porch, he began to hum a little tune.

  308. He wondered whether the horse would recognize him, whether he would be glad to come back into his old stable.

  309. 91

    As he walked across the yard, he heard a door banging and slamming in the wind.

  310. 'That's the barn door blown open again,' he thought, and went to shut it.

  311. 92

    A moment later he stood by the barn and was just about to shut the door when he thought he heard a rustling from inside.

  312. 93

    This came about because the boy had taken the chance to slip out at the same time as him, and had run straight down to the barn where he had left the cattle.

  313. But they were no longer standing outside in the rain.

  314. A strong gust of wind had long since blown the barn door open and helped them get a roof over their heads.

  315. But it was the rustling of the boy running into the barn that the farmer had heard.

  316. 94

    Now he shone his lantern into the barn and saw that sleeping cattle lay all over the floor.

  317. No human being was to be seen.

  318. The animals were not tied up, but had lain down here and there in the straw.

  319. 95

    He grew angry at the intrusion and began to shout and make a racket to wake the sleepers and drive them out.

  320. But the animals lay still, as if they had no wish at all to be disturbed.

  321. The only one that rose was an old horse, which came walking slowly, quite gently, toward him.

  322. 96

    The farmer fell suddenly and utterly silent.

  323. He recognized the horse already by its gait.

  324. He raised the lantern toward him, and the horse came up and laid his head on his shoulder.

  325. 97

    And the farmer began to stroke him.

  326. 'You, my horse, you, my horse!'

  327. he said.

  328. 'What have they done to you?

  329. Yes, dear fellow, I'll buy you back.

  330. You'll never have to leave this farm again.

  331. You'll have things as you like, my horse.

  332. The others you've brought with you can stay here, but you shall come with me to the stable.

  333. Now I can give you as much oats as you can eat, without having to sneak up to it.

  334. You're not altogether ruined either, surely.

  335. The finest horse on the churchyard hill — that's what you'll be again, once more.

  336. There now!

  337. There now!'

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
JSON · Markdown · A guide for agents
Two whoopie pies and a pine. An inside joke.