The Wonderful Adventures of Nils 1732 Studios

Swedish · The Wonderful Adventures of Nils

Dalälven

The Dal River

164 sentences · 14 notes

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  1. 1

    This day Nils Holgersson got to see southern Dalarna.

    Dennathisdenna · determiner, common gender, singulardeterminer of dag
    dagdaydag · noun, nominative, common gender, singulardirect object of fick
    fickgot to seefå · verb, past, indicative, activeauxiliary of se
    NilsNilsNils · proper noun, nominativesubject of se
    HolgerssonHolgerssonHolgersson · proper noun, nominativedepends on Nils
    seseese · verb, active, infinitivemain verb of the sentence
    södrasouthernsödra · adjective, nominative, singularmodifies Dalarna
    DalarnaDalarnaDalarna · noun, nominative, common gender, pluraldirect object of se

    Swedish province.

  2. The wild geese's flight passed over Grängesberg's immense mining fields, over the great works at Ludvika, over the Ulvshyttan ironworks and Grängshammar's old, abandoned forge, on to the plains of Stora Tuna and the Dalälven.

  3. At the start of the journey, when the boy saw the works' chimneys poking up behind every ridge, he thought that everything looked just as it had in Västmanland, but when he came to the great river, he had something new to look at.

  4. It was the first real river the boy had ever seen, and he marveled when he saw this great, broad mass of water come gliding through the countryside.

  5. 2

    When the wild geese had reached the timber-float bridge at Torsång, they turned and flew northwest along the river, as if they meant to use it as their guide.

  6. The boy sat and looked down at the banks, which were quite covered with buildings for long stretches ahead.

  7. He saw the great falls at Domnarvet and Kvarnsveden, and the great works that they had to drive.

  8. He saw the timber bridges that rested on the river, the ferries it had to carry, the logs it rolled onward, the railways that followed it and crossed it, and he began to grasp, just a little, what a great and remarkable body of water this was.

  9. 3

    The river made a long bend toward the north.

  10. Up in the bend it was desolate and empty of people, and the wild geese settled down on a meadow to graze.

  11. The boy ran off from them to the riverbank, so that he could look down at the river, which flowed in a broad channel deep below him.

  12. Close by, a country road ran down to the river, and travelers crossed it there on a ferry.

  13. This was new to the boy, and he enjoyed watching it, but all at once a terrible weariness came over him.

  14. "I have to sleep a while.

  15. I've hardly had a wink of sleep all night," he thought, crept down into a thick tuft of grass, hid himself as best he could under grass and straw, and fell asleep.

  16. 4

    He woke because people were sitting and talking beside him.

  17. They were travelers on the road who could not be ferried across the river, because great chunks of ice came floating down it and were blocking the ferry.

  18. While they waited, they had climbed up onto the embankment and sat there talking about how hard a time they had with the river.

  19. 5

    "I wonder if there'll be as bad a flood this year as last," said a farmer.

  20. "That time the river rose as high as the telephone poles back home, and it tore our whole timber-float bridge away with it."

  21. 6

    "Last year it didn't do all that much damage in our parish," said another, "but the year before it took a whole haybarn from me."

  22. 7

    "I'll never forget that night it went storming against the great bridge at Domnarvet," broke in a railway worker.

  23. "No one in the whole works got a wink of sleep."

  24. 8

    "Yes, the river is certainly a terrible destroyer," said a big, stately fellow, "but when I hear you all sitting here talking ill of it like this, I can't help thinking of the parson back home.

  25. There was a party at the parsonage, and people sat complaining about the river, just as you're doing now, but then the parson got quite worked up and said he wanted to tell us a story.

  26. And when he had finished, there wasn't one of us who could say a bad word about the Dalälven, and I wonder if it wouldn't have gone the same way with you too, if you had been there."

  27. 9

    When those waiting heard this, they all wanted to know what the parson had said about the river, and the farmer then told the story, as well as he could remember it.

  28. 10

    "There was a mountain lake up by the Norwegian border.

  29. Out of it flowed a stream that was swift and eager from the very start.

  30. Small as it was, it was called Storån, because it looked as though it might come to something worthwhile.

  31. 11

    When it had only just come out of the lake and cast a glance around to see which way it ought to steer its course, the sight that met it was anything but encouraging.

  32. To the right, to the left, and straight ahead there was nothing but wooded ridges, which gradually gave way to bare mountains, and bare mountains, which gradually rose up into high peaks.

  33. 12

    Storån turned its gaze to the west.

  34. There it had Långfjället with Djupgravstöten, Barfröhågna, and Storvätteshågna.

  35. It looked to the north.

  36. There it had Näsfjäll; to the east stood Nipfjället, and to the south, Städjan.

  37. It did wonder whether it might not be best simply to go back down into the lake.

  38. But then it thought all the same that it ought at least to make an attempt to find its own way to the sea, and so it set off.

  39. 13

    It's easy to understand that it was hard work for it to cut itself a path through the wilderness.

  40. Forest stood in its way, if nothing else did.

  41. It meant tearing down pine after pine to win a clear passage.

  42. It was mightiest and strongest in spring, when first the home-flood came and filled it with snowmelt from the neighboring forests, and then the mountain-flood came with water from the peaks.

  43. Then it seized its chance and pushed forward with great force, clearing away stone and soil and digging its way through sand ridges.

  44. And in autumn too it could likewise do a good day's work, once it had risen after the autumn rains.

  45. 14

    One fine day, while Storån was busy cutting its way as usual, it heard a roaring and a babbling off to its right, far away in the forest.

  46. It began to listen so eagerly that it very nearly stood still.

  47. "Whatever in the world can that be?" it said.

  48. The forest, standing all around, could not help making fun of the brook.

  49. "You must think you're alone in the world, you," it said.

  50. "But I'll tell you this: the one you hear roaring is none other than Grövelån, from Grövelsjön.

  51. It has just now dug its way through a lovely valley, and it's likely to reach the sea just as soon as you."

  52. 15

    But Storån had a temper all its own, and when it heard this, it said to the forest without pausing to think for a moment: "That Grövelån is surely just a poor wretch who can't help itself.

  53. Tell it that Storån from Vånsjön is on its way to the sea, and that I will take it under my care and help it get there, if it wants to fall in with me!"

  54. 16

    "You're a bold one, you are, small as you are," said the forest.

  55. "I'll pass along the greeting, all right, though I don't think Grövelån will be pleased with it."

  56. 17

    But the next day the forest stood there and brought greetings from Grövelån, and said that it had had such a hard time that it was glad of the help, and would come and join with Storån as soon as ever it could.

  57. 18

    After this, things naturally went faster for Storån, and in time it had come so far that it caught sight of a narrow, lovely lake that lay mirroring Idreberget and Städjan.

  58. 19

    "What sort of thing is this?" it said, and once again it very nearly stopped short in astonishment.

  59. "Surely I can't have gone so badly astray that I've come back to Vånsjön?"

  60. 20

    But the forest, which in those days was on hand everywhere, answered at once: "Oh no, you haven't come back to Vånsjön.

  61. This is Idresjön, which has been filled with water by Sörälven.

  62. That's a fine, capable river.

  63. It's only just now finished with the lake, and is busy making itself an outlet from it."

  64. 21

    When Storån heard this, it said at once to the forest: "You, who reach everywhere, may as well greet Sörälven for me, and say that Storån from Vånsjön has arrived.

  65. If it lets me pass through the lake, then in return I'll take the river along with me down to the sea, and it need never again worry about how it's to get there — I'll see to that."

  66. 22

    "I can certainly pass along your proposal," said the forest, "but I don't think Sörälven will agree to it, for it is just as mighty as you are."

  67. 23

    But the next day the forest reported that Sörälven too had grown weary of cutting its own path alone, and that it was ready to join with Storån.

  68. 24

    The brook now ran straight through the lake, and then went back to struggling with forest and mountain just as before.

  69. This went on for a while, but just as things stood, it ran into a mountain valley so closed in that it could find no way out.

  70. Storån lay roaring with rage, and when the forest heard how furious it was, it asked: "Is this the end of you, then, after all?"

  71. 25

    "It is not the end of me," said Storån.

  72. "I am only busy with a great work.

  73. I'm going to make a lake, I too, just as Sörälven did."

  74. 26

    So it began filling Särnasjön, and that was a whole summer's work.

  75. As the water rose in the lake, Storån was lifted higher, and at last it found a way to break through toward the south.

  76. 27

    When it had happily made its way out of this anguish, it heard one day a strong roaring and murmuring off to its left.

  77. It had never before heard so mighty a roar in the forest, and it asked at once what it was.

  78. 28

    The forest stood ready to answer, as always.

  79. "That's Fjätälven," it said.

  80. "You hear how it roars and rushes, as it makes its own way to the sea."

  81. 29

    "If you can reach far enough to make yourself heard by the river," said Storån, "then you may greet it and tell that poor river that Storån from Vånsjön offers to take it along to the sea, in exchange for its taking my name and following obediently in my channel."

  82. 30

    "I don't think Fjätälven wants to give up making the journey on its own," said the forest.

  83. But the next day it had to admit that Fjätälven too had grown weary of digging its own way, and that it was ready to join with Storån.

  84. 31

    Storån kept right on advancing.

  85. It still wasn't as large as one might have expected, given that it had drawn so many helpers to itself.

  86. But proud it certainly was.

  87. It went forward in an almost constant rapids and with a loud roar, and called to itself everything that streamed and murmured in the forest, even if it was only a little spring brook.

  88. 32

    One day Storån heard a river roaring far, far off to the west.

  89. And when it asked the forest who that was, it answered that it was Fuluälv, which gathered water from Fulufjäll and had already managed to dig itself a long, broad channel.

  90. 33

    As soon as Storån learned this, it sent its usual greeting, and the forest undertook, as before, to carry it.

  91. The next day it came back with an answer from Fuluälv.

  92. "Tell Storån," the river had answered, "that I want no help at all!

  93. It would have suited me better than the brook to send such a greeting, since I am the mightier of the two of us, and it's likely I who will reach the sea first."

  94. 34

    Hardly had Storån received the greeting when it already had its answer ready.

  95. "Tell Fuluälv this instant," it called to the forest, "that I challenge it to a race!

  96. If it considers itself mightier than I am, let it prove it by racing me.

  97. The winner will be whichever of us reaches the sea first."

  98. 35

    When Fuluälv heard the greeting, it answered:

  99. 36

    "I have nothing to settle with Storån, and it would have suited me best to go my own way in peace.

  100. But I have so much help to expect from Fulufjäll that it would be cowardly of me not to take up the race."

  101. 37

    With this the two streams began their race.

  102. They rushed onward with even greater haste than before, and had no rest, neither summer nor winter.

  103. 38

    But it seemed as though Storån would soon come to regret its boldness in challenging the river, for it met an obstacle that threatened to prove too much for it.

  104. It was a mountain lying straight across its path, and there it could get through only by way of a narrow crack.

  105. It squeezed itself together and pushed forward in a raging rapids, but for many years it had to wear and file away before it managed to widen the crack into a somewhat broad ravine.

  106. 39

    During this time the brook asked the forest, at least once every half year, how things were going with Fuluälv.

  107. 40

    "With the river things go nothing but well," answered the forest.

  108. "It has now joined with Görälven, which takes in water from the Norwegian mountains."

  109. 41

    Another time, when the brook asked after the river, the forest answered:

  110. 42

    "You need have no worries about that one.

  111. It has only just now taken Horrmundsjön to itself."

  112. 43

    But Storån itself had intended to seize Horrmundsjön.

  113. When it heard that it had gone to Fuluälv instead, it grew so furious that at last it broke right through Trängslet, and came bursting out of it so wild and roaring that it tore along with it more forest and soil than it really needed.

  114. It was just spring, and it flooded the whole tract between Hyckjeberget and Väsaberget, and before it settled down again, it had created the region called Älvdalen.

  115. 44

    "I wonder what Fuluälv will say about this," said Storån to the forest.

  116. 45

    Fuluälv, meanwhile, had dug out Transtrand and Lima, but now it had long stood still in front of Limed, searching for a way around, because it did not dare hurl itself down the steep mountain there.

  117. But when it heard that Storån had broken through Trängslet and dug out Älvdalen, it said that now things would just have to go however they would.

  118. It could not stand still any longer.

  119. And so it flung itself down the Limed rapids.

  120. 46

    The falls were high, but the river came down them well enough, and after that things went along in fine style.

  121. It dug out Malung and Järna, and there it managed to persuade Vanån to join with it, even though Vanån was fully ten Swedish miles long and had dug out a lake as great as Vänjan all on its own.

  122. 47

    Now and then it thought it heard a remarkably strong roaring.

  123. 48

    "Now I think I hear Storån on the point of throwing itself into the sea," it said.

  124. 49

    "No," said the forest, "it's Storån you hear, all right, but it isn't at the sea yet.

  125. It has now taken Skattungen and Orsasjön to itself, and grown so proud over it that it has taken it upon itself to fill the whole of Siljan."

  126. 50

    This was glad news for Fuluälv.

  127. It understood that if Storån had strayed down into the Siljan valley, it would be shut in there as in a prison.

  128. And now it could be certain of reaching the sea before the brook.

  129. 51

    After this, Fuluälv began to move forward more leisurely.

  130. In spring it did its best work.

  131. It rose then high over the forest tops and the sand ridges, and wherever it had passed, it left behind a cleared valley.

  132. In this way it made its way from Järna to Nås, and from Nås to Floda.

  133. From Floda it came to Gagnef.

  134. Here the land was already quite flat.

  135. The mountains had drawn far off, and Fuluälv found it so easy going that it set aside all haste and began playfully winding itself into curves and bends, almost as if it had been a little young stream.

  136. 52

    But if Fuluälv had forgotten Storån, Storån had not forgotten Fuluälv.

  137. Every day it labored to fill the Siljan valley so as to find some way out of it, but the valley lay before the brook like an immense vat, and seemed as if it could never be filled.

  138. Storån sometimes thought it would be forced to put the very Gesundaberget under water in order to get out of its prison.

  139. It tried to break through at Rättvik, but there Lerdalsberget stood in its way.

  140. So at last it came out down by Leksand.

  141. 53

    "Don't tell Fuluälv that I've broken loose!" said the brook to the forest, and the forest promised it would keep silent.

  142. 54

    Storån took Insjön along with it in passing, and so went on, proud and mighty, through Gagnef.

  143. 55

    When Storån came near Mjälgen in Gagnef, it caught sight of a river coming along broad and splendid, with bright, shining water, thrusting aside forest and sand ridges that lay in its way as easily as if it were mere play.

  144. 56

    "What splendid river is that?" said Storån.

  145. 57

    But now it happened that Fuluälv was asking just the same thing.

  146. "What river is that, coming so proud and mighty from the north?

  147. I never thought I'd see a river move through the land with so much strength and power."

  148. 58

    Then the forest said, so loudly that both rivers heard it: "Since you've now spoken such fine words of one another, Storå and Fuluälv, it seems to me you shouldn't mind joining together and seeking your way to the sea side by side."

  149. 59

    This seemed to please both rivers.

  150. But what stood between them was that neither wanted to give up its own name and take the other's.

  151. 60

    For that reason no union between them might ever have come about, if the forest had not suggested that they take a new name that belonged to neither of them.

  152. 61

    At this both agreed, and they took the forest as their name-giver.

  153. It then decided that Storån should lay aside its name and call itself the Eastern Dalälven, and that Fuluälv should lay aside its own and call itself the Western Dalälven.

  154. Once they had joined together, they should simply be called the Dalälven.

  155. 62

    And now, when both rivers had joined together, they began to move forward with a might that nothing could withstand.

  156. They leveled the ground at Stora Tuna, so that it became as flat as a farmyard.

  157. They rushed down the falls at Kvarnsveden and Domnarvet without hesitation.

  158. When they came near the lake Runn, they drew it into themselves and forced every watercourse nearby to join with them.

  159. Then they drew eastward toward the sea with little resistance, and spread out into lakes.

  160. They won great glory at Söderfors and great glory at Älvkarleby, and at last they reached the sea.

  161. 63

    When they were about to plunge into the sea, they came to think of their long race, and of all the hardship they had suffered.

  162. 64

    They now felt tired and old, and it amazed them that in their youth they had been so glad of struggle and rivalry.

  163. And they wondered what it had all been for.

  164. 65

    To this they got no answer, for the forest had stayed high up on the shore, and they themselves could not turn back into their own channel and see how people had pressed forward where they had cleared the way, how settlement had sprung up along the lakes of the Eastern Dalälven and in the valleys of the Western Dalälven, how in the whole region there was nothing but wild forests and mountains, except where they had passed through in their great race."

The particulars

The text
Nils Holgerssons underbara resa genom Sverige, Selma Lagerlöf. The Wonderful Adventures of Nils.
Translation
Public-domain Swedish (Lagerlöf, d. 1940; published 1906–07). English translation © 2026 1732 Studios, LLC.
Words
Every word of the text, by letter.
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Two whoopie pies and a pine. An inside joke.