The Wonderful Adventures of Nils 1732 Studios

Swedish · The Wonderful Adventures of Nils

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The Ironworks

289 sentences · 21 notes

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  1. 1

    A strong west wind blew almost the whole day that the wild geese flew over the Bergslagen mining country, and as soon as they tried to steer north, they were flung back east.

    Detitden · pronoun, neuter, singularexpletive with rådde
    råddeprevailedrå · verb, past, indicative, activemain verb of the sentence
    starkstrongstark · adjective, nominative, common gender, singularmodifies västanvind
    västanvindwest windvästanvind · noun, nominative, common gender, singularsubject of rådde
    nästanalmostnästan · adverbmodifies hela
    helawholehel · adjective, nominative, singularmodifies dagen
    denaen · determiner, common gender, singulardeterminer of dagen
    dagendaydag · noun, nominative, common gender, singularoblique complement of rådde
    dåwhendå · subordinating conjunctionmodifies foro
    vildgässenthe wild geesevildgässe · noun, nominative, common gender, singularpossessor of foro

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

    forotraveledforo · noun, nominative, common gender, singularrelative clause on dagen

    Archaic past plural of fara ('to travel/fly'); lemma tagged as noun but is a verb form.

    överoveröver · prepositionpreposition marking Bergslagerna
    BergslagernaBergslagenBergslagerna · proper noun, nominativeoblique complement of foro

    Historical name of Sweden's central mining district, here in an older plural-looking form.

    ochandoch · conjunctionlinks the coordination
    såasså · adverbmodifies snart
    snartsoonsnart · adverbmodifies sökte
    somassom · subordinating conjunctionintroduces the clause of sökte
    detheyde · pronoun, nominative, pluralsubject of sökte
    söktetriedsöka · verb, past, indicative, activecoordinated with rådde
    styrato steerstyra · verb, active, infinitivecomplement of sökte
    norrutnorthwardnorrut · noun, nominative, common gender, singularmodifies styra

    Adverb meaning 'to the north', tagged as a noun.

    blevobecameblevo · verb, active, supinecoordinated with rådde

    lemma should be bli 'to become'; blevo is the archaic plural past tense (they became).

    detheyde · pronoun, nominative, pluraldeterminer of kastade
    kastadethrewkasta · verb, past, indicative, activecomplement of blevo
    moteastmot · prepositionpreposition marking öster
    östereastöster · noun, nominative, common gender, singularoblique complement of blevo

  2. But Akka believed that Smirre Fox was running along through the eastern part of the country.

  3. For that reason she did not want to go that way, but turned again and again and struggled wearily back westward.

  4. In this way the wild geese made only slow headway and were still in the Västmanland mining district as late as the afternoon.

  5. Toward evening the wind dropped suddenly, and the tired travelers began to hope they would get an easy stretch of flying before sunset.

  6. But then a violent gust of wind came tearing along.

  7. It flung the geese before it like balls, and the boy, who had been sitting carefree and expecting no danger, was lifted off the goose's back and hurled out into empty space.

  8. 2

    Small and light as the boy was, he could not simply drop straight to the ground in such a violent wind, but was first carried along with it a way, and then sank downward slowly and in fits and starts, the way a leaf falls from a tree.

  9. 3

    "Well, this won't be so dangerous," thought the boy, even while he was falling.

  10. "I'm dropping to the ground as slowly as if I were a scrap of paper.

  11. Morten Goosey-Gander will surely come hurrying at once and pick me up."

  12. 4

    The first thing he did, once he had come down to the ground, was to tear his cap off his head and wave it, so that the big white gander would see where he was.

  13. "Here I am, where are you?

  14. Here I am, where are you?" he shouted, and was almost surprised that Morten Goosey-Gander was not already standing beside him.

  15. 5

    But the big white one was nowhere to be seen, nor did he see the flock of wild geese outlined against the sky.

  16. It was just as if it had vanished.

  17. 6

    He thought this was a little odd, but he was not frightened or worried.

  18. It never occurred to him for a second that folk like Akka and Morten Goosey-Gander would abandon him.

  19. The violent gust of wind had surely carried them off with it.

  20. As soon as they managed to turn around, they would surely come back and fetch him.

  21. 7

    But what was this now?

  22. Where in the world was he?

  23. Until now he had only stood looking up at the sky after the geese, but now he happened to glance around him.

  24. He had not fallen onto level ground, but into a deep and wide cleft in the rock, or whatever it might be.

  25. It was a chamber as big as a church, with almost sheer rock walls on every side and no roof at all.

  26. On the ground lay a few large boulders, and between them grew moss and lingonberry sprigs and small low birches.

  27. Here and there were ledges jutting from the walls, and from these hung a few broken ladders.

  28. On one side a black opening gaped, which looked as though it led far into the mountain.

  29. 8

    The boy had not flown over the Bergslagen country for a whole day for nothing.

  30. He understood at once that the great cleft had come about because people, in olden days, had quarried ore out of the mountain at this very spot.

  31. "But I had better try to climb back up to the surface at once," he thought, "for otherwise I'm afraid my traveling companions won't find me."

  32. 9

    He was just about to walk up to the rock wall when someone grabbed hold of him from behind, and he heard a gruff voice growl close to his ear: "What sort of a thing are you?"

  33. 10

    The boy spun around quickly, and in his first astonishment he thought he had before him a great boulder,

  34. 11

    clad in brownish-gray hanging moss, but then he noticed that the boulder had broad feet to walk on, a head, eyes, and a big, growling mouth.

  35. 12

    He could not bring himself to answer, and the great animal did not seem to expect one either.

  36. It knocked him over, rolled him back and forth with its paw, and sniffed at him.

  37. It seemed just about ready to swallow him whole, but then it changed its mind and called out: "Murre and Brumme, my cubs, come here, you shall have something good to taste!"

  38. 13

    At once a pair of shaggy cubs came rushing up, unsteady on their feet and soft in the skin like puppies.

  39. 14

    "What is it you've come across, mother bear?

  40. Let us see, let us see?" cried the cubs.

  41. 15

    "So it's bears I've fallen in with," thought the boy.

  42. "Then I'm afraid Smirre Fox needn't trouble himself any more to hunt after me."

  43. 16

    The she-bear pushed the boy toward the cubs with her paw, and one of them snatched him up and ran off with him.

  44. But he did not bite hard, for he was playful and wanted to amuse himself with Thumbietot a while before killing him.

  45. The other came after to snatch the boy for himself, and however he came lumbering along, he happened to fall right down on top of the one carrying the boy.

  46. Then they rolled over each other, bit at one another, clawed, and growled.

  47. 17

    During this the boy got loose, ran over to the rock wall, and began climbing up it.

  48. Then both bear cubs rushed after him, climbing quickly and nimbly up the rock, caught up with him, and threw him down onto the moss like a ball.

  49. "Now I know how a poor little rat feels when it has fallen into the cat's claws," thought the boy.

  50. 18

    He tried several times to flee.

  51. He ran deep into the old mine gallery, hid behind the boulders, and climbed up into the birches, but the bear cubs found him out wherever he got to.

  52. As soon as they had caught him, they let him loose again, so that he would run off anew and they could amuse themselves catching him.

  53. 19

    At last the boy grew so tired and weary of it all that he threw himself down flat on the ground.

  54. "Run away," growled the bear cubs, "or else we'll eat you up!"

  55. — "Well, you'll just have to," said the boy, "I haven't the strength to run any more."

  56. At once both cubs tumbled off to the she-bear.

  57. "Mother bear, mother bear, he won't play anymore!" they complained.

  58. — "Then you'll just have to divide him evenly between you," said mother bear.

  59. But when the boy heard this, he grew so frightened that he at once started the game again.

  60. 20

    When it was time to lie down and the she-bear called the cubs to come creep close to her and sleep, they had had such fun that they wanted to keep up the same game the next day.

  61. They took the boy between them and laid their paws over him, so that he could not move without waking them.

  62. They fell asleep at once, and the boy thought that in a little while he would try to slip away from them.

  63. But never in his whole life had he been so thrown about and rolled and chased and spun, and he was so thoroughly worn out that he fell asleep too.

  64. 21

    When some time had passed, father bear came climbing down the rock wall.

  65. The boy woke at the sound of loose stone and gravel being scraped free as he came sliding down into the old mine.

  66. The boy hardly dared move much, but he stretched and turned himself so that he could see the bear.

  67. It was a terribly massive and powerfully built old male with enormous paws, big glistening fangs, and small, wicked eyes.

  68. The boy could not help a shudder or two running through him when he saw the old king of the forest.

  69. 22

    "There's a smell of human here," said father bear, as soon as he came up to mother bear, growling like thunder.

  70. 23

    "How can you imagine anything so foolish?" said mother bear, lying calmly where she was.

  71. "It's agreed, after all, that we're not to do people any harm any longer.

  72. But should one of them show up here, where I and the cubs keep to, there wouldn't be enough left of her for you to smell at all."

  73. 24

    Father bear lay down beside mother bear, but did not seem quite satisfied with the answer, for he could not help sniffing and testing the air.

  74. 25

    "Stop that sniffing about!" said mother bear.

  75. "You must surely know me well enough to know I don't let anything dangerous come near the cubs.

  76. Tell me instead what you have been up to!

  77. I haven't seen you all week."

  78. 26

    "I've been out looking around for a new dwelling place," said father bear.

  79. "First I went over to Värmland to find out from the relatives in Ekshärad how things were for them in that country, but it was needless trouble.

  80. They were all gone.

  81. There wasn't a single bear's den left in the whole forest."

  82. 27

    "I believe people want to be alone on the earth," said mother bear.

  83. "Even if one leaves livestock and folk in peace and lives only on lingonberries and ants and greens, one still isn't allowed to stay on in the forest.

  84. I do wonder where we're to move to, to be left in peace."

  85. 28

    "Here in this old mine shaft we've had it excellent for many years," said father bear.

  86. "But I can't feel at home here any longer, now that that great noisy works has been put up right in our neighborhood.

  87. Just now I've been out looking around east of the Dal River, over toward Garpenberg.

  88. There too there were plenty of old mine pits and other good hiding places, and it seemed to me that one might go about there fairly undisturbed by people...

  89. 29

    Just as father bear said this, he got up and sniffed the air around him.

  90. "It's strange that whenever I speak of people, I catch that smell again," he said.

  91. 30

    "Go and look for yourself, if you don't believe me!" said mother bear.

  92. "I do wonder just where a human being could lie hidden down here."

  93. 31

    The bear went all around the den, sniffing.

  94. At last he came and lay down without saying a word.

  95. "Wasn't that just what I knew?" said mother bear.

  96. "But of course you think no one but you has a nose or ears."

  97. 32

    "One can't be careful enough with the sort of neighbors we have," said father bear, quite calmly.

  98. But then he sprang up with a roar.

  99. It had so happened, unluckily, that one of the bear cubs had shifted its paw over Nils Holgersson's face, so that the poor fellow could not breathe and had begun to sneeze.

  100. Now there was no way for mother bear to keep father bear still any longer.

  101. He tossed the cubs aside right and left and caught sight of the boy before the latter had managed to get up.

  102. 33

    He would have swallowed him at once, had mother bear not thrown herself between them.

  103. "Don't touch him!

  104. He belongs to the cubs," she said.

  105. "They've had such fun with him all evening that they couldn't bring themselves to eat him up, but wanted to save him for the morning."

  106. But the male bear shoved the she-bear aside.

  107. "Don't meddle in what you don't understand!" he roared.

  108. "Can't you tell he smells of human a mile off?

  109. That one I'm going to eat up at once, or else he'll play us some nasty trick."

  110. 34

    He opened his jaws again, but by now the boy had gotten a little time, and in great haste had torn his sulfur matches out of his knapsack, which were the only means of defense he owned.

  111. He struck a light against his leather breeches and thrust the burning match into the bear's open jaws.

  112. 35

    Father bear snorted when he caught the smell of sulfur, and with that the flame was out.

  113. The boy stood ready with a new match, but, oddly enough, father bear did not repeat the attack.

  114. 36

    "Can you light many of those little blue roses?" asked father bear.

  115. 37

    "I can light so many that they could put an end to the whole forest," answered the boy, for he thought that in this way he might be able to frighten the bear.

  116. 38

    "Perhaps you could set fire to house and farm too?" said father bear.

  117. 39

    "That would be no trick at all for me," boasted the boy, hoping the bear would come to respect him for it.

  118. 40

    "That's good, that," said father bear.

  119. "Then you shall do me a service.

  120. Now I'm truly glad I didn't get around to eating you up."

  121. 41

    With that father bear took the boy quite carefully and gently between his teeth and began climbing up out of the pit.

  122. It went incomprehensibly easily and smoothly for him, big and heavy as he was, and as soon as he got up top, he set off running into the forest.

  123. It went at a good pace too.

  124. It was plain that father bear seemed made for pushing his way through thick forest.

  125. His heavy body shot through the thickets like a boat through water.

  126. 42

    Father bear tramped on until he came to a rise at the edge of the forest, from where he could see the great ironworks.

  127. There he lay down, set the boy in front of him, and held him fast with both paws.

  128. 43

    "Now take a look down at this great noisy works!" he said to the boy.

  129. 44

    The great ironworks rose up with many tall, large buildings at the edge of a waterfall.

  130. Tall chimneys sent out black clouds of smoke, the blast furnaces' flames blazed, and light shone from every window and opening.

  131. Inside, the hammers and rolling mills were running, and they worked with such force that the air rang with clattering and roaring.

  132. Around the workshop buildings themselves lay huge coal sheds, great slag heaps, packhouses, timber stacks, and tool sheds.

  133. A little way further off were long rows of workers' dwellings, handsome villas, schoolhouses, assembly halls, and shops.

  134. But all this other part was quiet and seemed to be asleep.

  135. The boy did not look that way, but thought only of gazing at the ironworks buildings.

  136. The ground was black around them, the sky arched beautifully dark blue above the furnace flames, the rapids swept past them white with foam, and the buildings themselves stood sending out light and smoke and fire and sparks.

  137. It was the mightiest sight he had ever seen.

  138. 45

    "You wouldn't want to claim you could set fire to a great works like this one too?" said the bear.

  139. 46

    The boy stood there pinned between the bear's paws, and he thought the only thing that could save him would be for the bear to form a high opinion of his power and ability.

  140. "It makes no difference to me whether it's big or small," he said, therefore.

  141. "I can make it burn down all the same."

  142. 47

    "Then I'll tell you something," said father bear.

  143. "My forefathers have kept to these parts ever since forest first began to grow in this land, and I have inherited hunting grounds and grazing grounds and dens and hiding places from them, and have lived here in good peace all my life.

  144. At first I was not much disturbed by the people.

  145. They went about hacking at the mountain and picking up a bit of ore, and down here by the rapids they had a hammer forge and a smelting house.

  146. But the hammer only pounded a couple of times a day, and the furnace was not fired for more than a month or two at a stretch.

  147. That was no more than I could put up with.

  148. But now, in the last few years, since they have put up this noisy works, which runs at the same pace both night and day, I can no longer feel at home.

  149. In the old days it was only an ironmaster and a couple of smiths who lived here, but now it is so full of people that I can never go about safe from them.

  150. I thought I would be forced to move away from here, but now I have thought of a better plan."

  151. 48

    The boy wondered to himself what father bear had thought up, but he did not get the chance to ask, for now the bear took him between his teeth again and shuffled off down the slope with him.

  152. The boy could see nothing, but he understood from the growing noise that they were nearing the ironworks.

  153. 49

    Father bear knew the ironworks well enough.

  154. He had gone about there many a dark night, taking note of what went on inside and wondering whether the work would ever come to a stop.

  155. He had tested the walls with his paw and wished he had been strong enough to bring the whole building down to the ground with a single blow.

  156. 50

    He was not easy to make out against the black ground, and when he also kept to the shadow beneath the walls, there was not much danger of his being discovered.

  157. Now he walked without fear among the workshops and climbed up onto a slag heap.

  158. Here he stood himself upright, took the boy between his forepaws, and stretched them up.

  159. "See if you can look in through the building!" he said.

  160. 51

    Inside the ironworks they were in the middle of a Bessemer blow.

  161. Into a great black round vessel, which hung up under the roof and was filled with molten iron, they were forcing a powerful stream of air.

  162. And when the air, with a terrible roar, forced its way into the mass of iron, great swarms of sparks shot up out of it.

  163. The sparks came in sheaves, in bunches, in long clusters; they were of many colors, big and small, flew toward one wall, and scattered out across the whole great room.

  164. Father bear let the boy watch the splendid spectacle, right until the blow was finished and the red, liquid, beautifully glowing steel was poured out of the round vessel down into a pair of ladles.

  165. The boy thought what he saw was so splendid that he was quite entranced and almost forgot he was being held captive between a pair of bear paws.

  166. 52

    Father bear let the boy look in at the rolling mill too.

  167. There a worker fetched a short, thick, white-hot piece of iron out of a furnace opening and thrust it in under a roller.

  168. When the piece of iron came out from under the roller, it was pressed flat and drawn out.

  169. At once another worker took hold of it and thrust it in under a narrower roller, which made it even longer and thinner.

  170. So it was carried from roller to roller, stretched and squeezed, until at last it coiled away over the floor as a red-glowing wire many meters long.

  171. But while the first piece of iron was still being pressed out, a new one had been fetched from the furnace and laid under the rollers, and when that one was some way along, a third was fetched.

  172. Unceasingly, new red wires wound their way over the floor like hissing snakes.

  173. The boy thought it was fine to watch the iron, but even finer was it to watch the workers, who nimbly and deftly seized the glowing snakes with their tongs and forced them in under the rollers.

  174. It was like a game for them, handling the hissing iron.

  175. "I must say, this is real man's work," said the boy to himself.

  176. 53

    The bear let him look in at the smelting house and the bar-iron forge too, and the boy grew more and more astonished as he watched how the smiths handled fire and iron.

  177. "These people have no fear of heat and flame," he thought.

  178. Sooty and black they were too.

  179. He thought they were like a kind of fire-folk.

  180. That was why they could bend and shape the iron however they pleased.

  181. He could not believe it was ordinary folk who had such power.

  182. 54

    "That's how they keep on, day after day, night after night," said father bear, and lay down on the ground.

  183. "You can understand that one grows sick of such a thing.

  184. It's a good thing, then, that I can now put an end to it."

  185. 55

    "Oh, so you can?" said the boy.

  186. "How do you mean to go about it, then?"

  187. 56

    "Well, I thought you would set fire to these buildings," said father bear.

  188. "That way I would get peace from this constant work and could go on living in my home country."

  189. 57

    The boy turned as cold as ice all over.

  190. So that was why father bear had carried him there.

  191. 58

    "If you set fire to the noisy works, I promise you that you shall keep your life," said father bear.

  192. "But if you don't do as I want, it will soon be all over for you."

  193. 59

    The great workshops were built of brick, and the boy thought to himself that father bear could order all he liked, it was impossible to obey him all the same.

  194. But just after that he saw it might not be so impossible after all.

  195. Close beside him lay a heap of straw and wood shavings, which he could easily set fire to; beside the shaving heap was a timber stack, and the timber stack reached almost right up against the great coal shed.

  196. But the coal shed reached up to the workshops, and if it caught fire, the flames would soon leap across to the ironworks' roof.

  197. Everything flammable there was would catch fire, the walls would crack from the heat, and the machines would be destroyed.

  198. 60

    "Well, will you, or won't you?" said father bear.

  199. 61

    The boy knew he ought to answer at once that he would not, but he also knew that then the bear paws holding him would crush the life out of him with a single squeeze.

  200. "I'll just have to think it over a little," he said, for that reason.

  201. 62

    "Well, all right, you may," said father bear, "but I'll tell you, it is precisely iron that has given people such an advantage over us bears, that I too, for that very reason, would gladly see an end put to the work here."

  202. 63

    The boy thought he would use the reprieve to think up some way of getting away, but he was so anxious that he could not steer his thoughts where he wanted, and instead he began thinking about what great help people had from iron.

  203. They needed iron for everything, after all.

  204. There was iron in the plow that turned the field, in the axe that built the house, in the scythe that reaped the grain, in the knife that could be used for all manner of things.

  205. There was iron in the bit that guided the horse, in the lock that shut the door, in the nails that held the furniture together, in the sheet metal that covered the roof.

  206. The gun that had wiped out the wild beasts was made of iron, and so was the pick that had broken open the mine.

  207. Iron plated the warships he had seen at Karlskrona, on iron rails the locomotives rolled across the country, of iron was the needle that sewed the coat, the shears that sheared the sheep, the pot that cooked the food.

  208. Great or small, everything that was useful and indispensable was made of iron.

  209. Father bear was probably right that it was iron which had given people their mastery over the bears.

  210. 64

    "Well, will you, or won't you?" said father bear.

  211. 65

    The boy started up out of his thoughts.

  212. Here he stood thinking about perfectly unnecessary things, and had not yet found any way to save himself.

  213. "You mustn't be so impatient," he said.

  214. "This is an important matter for me, and I must be allowed time to think it over."

  215. 66

    "Well, think it over a while longer then!" said father bear.

  216. "But I will tell you, it is because of iron that people have become so much cleverer than us bears, and for that reason alone I should be glad to see an end to the work here."

  217. 67

    When the boy had gotten the new reprieve, he wanted to use it to think up a plan of rescue.

  218. But his thoughts went their own way that night, and they took up again with iron.

  219. He seemed gradually to grasp what people must have had to think and ponder before they figured out how to smelt it out of the ore, and he seemed to see old blackened smiths standing bent over the forge, brooding over how best to handle it.

  220. It was perhaps because they had brooded so much over iron that understanding had grown in people, until at last they had come far enough to build works as great as this one.

  221. It was certainly true that people had iron to thank for more than they themselves knew.

  222. 68

    "Well, how's it going?" said father bear.

  223. "Will you, or won't you?"

  224. 69

    The boy gave a start.

  225. Here he stood thinking useless thoughts, and still did not know how he should manage to get away.

  226. "It's not so easy to choose as you think," he said.

  227. "You must allow me more time to think."

  228. 70

    "A while longer I can wait for you," said father bear.

  229. "But after that you'll get no further delay.

  230. You should know it is iron's fault that people can live here in bear country, and so you can well understand that I want an end to the work here."

  231. 71

    The boy meant to use this last reprieve to think out some rescue, but anxious and confused as he was, his thoughts went their own way, and they now began to dwell on all he had seen while flying over the Bergslagen country.

  232. It was certainly remarkable that there was so much life and activity, so much work, out there in the wilderness.

  233. Just think how poor and desolate it would have been here, if there had been no iron!

  234. He thought about this works, which had given work to so many ever since it began to be built, and which had now gathered around itself so many houses full of people, and which had drawn to itself railways and telegraph wires, and which sent out...

  235. 72

    "Well, how's it going?" said the bear.

  236. "Will you, or won't you?"

  237. 73

    The boy passed his hand over his forehead.

  238. He had thought out no rescue, but this much he knew: that he did not want to do anything against iron, which was such a good help to rich and poor alike, and which gave bread to so many people in this land.

  239. 74

    "I won't," he said.

  240. 75

    Father bear squeezed him a little harder between his paws without saying anything.

  241. 76

    "You shall not be able to get me to destroy an ironworks," said the boy.

  242. "For iron is such a great blessing that one cannot go about laying hands on it."

  243. 77

    "Then I suppose you don't expect to live much longer either?" said the bear.

  244. 78

    "No, I don't expect that," said the boy, looking father bear straight in the eyes.

  245. 79

    Father bear squeezed still harder with his paws.

  246. It hurt so much that the boy's eyes filled with tears, but he was silent and said nothing.

  247. 80

    "Well, so be it then!" said father bear, and raised one paw slowly, for he hoped right to the last that the boy would give in.

  248. 81

    Just then the boy heard something click close beside them, and he saw a shiny gun barrel gleaming a few steps away.

  249. Both he and father bear had been so taken up with their own affair that they had not noticed a person creeping right up close to them.

  250. 82

    "Father bear!" screamed the boy.

  251. "Don't you hear a gun hammer clicking?

  252. Run!

  253. Or else you'll be shot."

  254. 83

    Father bear was in a great hurry, but still took time to bring the boy along with him.

  255. A couple of shots cracked out as he dashed off, and the bullets whined about his ears, but he got away safely.

  256. 84

    Hanging there outside the bear's jaws, the boy thought he had probably never been so foolish as this night.

  257. If only he had kept quiet, the bear would have been shot, and he himself would have gotten free.

  258. But he had grown so used to helping the animals that he did it entirely without thinking.

  259. 85

    When father bear had gone some way into the forest, he stopped and set the boy down on the ground.

  260. "You have my thanks, little fellow!" he said.

  261. "Those bullets would surely have found their mark better, if not for you.

  262. And now I want to do you a service in return.

  263. If you should ever run into a bear again, just tell him this, which I'm now going to whisper to you, and he won't touch you!"

  264. 86

    Then father bear whispered a couple of words in the boy's ear and hurried on, for he thought he heard dogs and hunters in pursuit of him.

  265. 87

    But the boy stood there alone in the forest, free and unhurt, and could hardly believe himself how this was possible.

  266. 88

    The wild geese had flown back and forth the whole evening, scanning and calling, but had not been able to find Thumbietot.

  267. They kept on searching long after the sun had gone down, and when at last it had grown so dark that they had to settle down to sleep, they were very downhearted.

  268. There was not one of them who did not believe that the boy had been killed in the fall and now lay dead down on the forest floor, where they could not see him.

  269. 89

    But the next morning, when the sun came up over the mountains and woke the wild geese, the boy lay as usual sleeping in the midst of them, and he could not help laughing when he woke and heard them shrieking and cackling in their astonishment.

  270. 90

    They were so eager to find out what had happened to him that they refused to go off to graze until he had told the whole story.

  271. The boy related the whole bear adventure quickly and eagerly, but after that he did not seem to want to go on.

  272. "How I got back to you, you must know already," he said.

  273. — "No, we know nothing.

  274. We thought you had killed yourself."

  275. — "That's strange," said the boy.

  276. "Well, when father bear left me, I climbed up into a spruce and fell asleep.

  277. But at first light I woke to find an eagle come swooping over me, seize me in its claws, and carry me off.

  278. I thought, of course, that now it was all over for me.

  279. But he did nothing to me, just flew straight here to you and dropped me down right among you."

  280. 91

    "Didn't he tell you what he was?" asked the big white one.

  281. 92

    "He was gone before I even had time to say thank you.

  282. I thought mother Akka had sent him to fetch me."

  283. 93

    "This is a strange business," said the white gander.

  284. "Are you sure it was an eagle?"

  285. 94

    "Well, I've never seen an eagle before," said the boy.

  286. "But he was so big that I can't give him any lesser name."

  287. 95

    Morten Goosey-Gander turned to the wild geese to hear what they thought about this.

  288. But they stood looking up into the air and looked as though they were thinking about entirely different things.

  289. 96

    "We really mustn't quite forget to eat breakfast today," said Akka, and quickly lifted her wings to fly.

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.