The Wonderful Adventures of Nils 1732 Studios

Swedish · The Wonderful Adventures of Nils

I Uppsala

In Uppsala

344 sentences · 16 notes

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  1. 1

    At that time, when Nils Holgersson was traveling through the land with the wild geese, there lived in Uppsala just such a splendid young student.

    Påatpå · prepositionpreposition marking tiden
    denaen · determiner, common gender, singulardeterminer of tiden
    tidentimetid · noun, nominative, common gender, singularoblique complement of fanns
    dåwhendå · subordinating conjunctionintroduces the clause of drog
    NilsNilsNils · proper noun, nominativesubject of drog
    HolgerssonHolgerssonHolgersson · proper noun, nominativedepends on Nils
    drogpulleddra · verb, past, indicative, activerelative clause on tiden
    genomthroughgenom · prepositionpreposition marking landet
    landetlandland · noun, nominative, neuter, singularoblique complement of drog
    medwithmed · prepositionpreposition marking vildgässen
    vildgässenthe wild geesevildgässe · noun, nominative, common gender, singularoblique complement of drog

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

    fannsthere wasfinnas · verb, past, indicativemain verb of the sentence

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

    detitden · pronoun, neuter, singularexpletive with fanns
    iini · prepositionpreposition marking Uppsala
    UppsalaUppsalaUppsala · proper noun, nominativeoblique complement of fanns

    Swedish university city.

    enaen · determiner, common gender, singulardeterminer of student
    sådansuchsån · adjective, nominative, common gender, singularmodifies student

    sån is a colloquial/older form of sådan, glossed to the modern sense.

    präktigsplendidpräktig · adjective, nominative, common gender, singularmodifies student
    ungyoungung · adjective, nominative, common gender, singularmodifies student
    studentstudentstudent · noun, nominative, common gender, singularcomplement of fanns

  2. He lived in a little attic room and was so frugal that people said he lived on next to nothing.

  3. He attended to his studies with zest and pleasure and got through them faster than anyone else.

  4. But he was not for that reason some grind or a stick-in-the-mud, for he also knew how to enjoy himself with his comrades.

  5. He was truly as a student ought to be.

  6. There was nothing at all wrong with him, unless it was that he had been spoiled by good fortune.

  7. But such a thing can happen to the best of men.

  8. Happiness is not so easy to bear, especially in youth.

  9. 2

    One morning, shortly after the student had woken, he lay thinking about how excellently things were going for him.

  10. »Everyone likes me, both comrades and teachers,» he said to himself.

  11. »And how splendidly my studies have gone!

  12. Today I'm to go up for my examination for the last time, and after that I'll soon be done.

  13. And if only I finish in time, I'll get a position at once with a fine salary.

  14. It's remarkable what luck I have.

  15. But then I also manage myself so well that nothing but good fortune can come of it for me.»

  16. 3

    The students in Uppsala do not sit together in classrooms and study like schoolchildren, but study each on his own at home in his room.

  17. When they have finished with a subject, they go to their professors and are examined on the whole subject at once.

  18. Such an examination is called a «tentamen», and it was precisely the last and hardest one that the student had to go through that day.

  19. 4

    As soon as he had dressed and eaten breakfast, he sat down at his writing desk to cast one last glance over his books.

  20. »I daresay it's quite unnecessary, prepared as well as I am,» thought the student, »but I suppose I'll study as long as I can, so that I'll have nothing to reproach myself for.»

  21. 5

    He had not been reading long before there came a knock at the door, and a student came in to him with a thick sheaf of papers under his arm.

  22. It was a student of quite a different sort from the one sitting at the desk.

  23. He was shy and timid, and looked worn and poor.

  24. He was the kind who understood books, but nothing else besides.

  25. It was said of him that he must be very learned, but he was so fearful and shy that he had never dared go up for an examination.

  26. Everyone believed he would become an «överliggare» — one of those who stay on in Uppsala year after year, reading and reading, but who never amount to anything.

  27. 6

    Now his errand was to ask his fellow student to read through a book he had written.

  28. It was not printed, only handwritten.

  29. »You would do me a great service if you would take a look at this,» he said, »and tell me whether it is any good.»

  30. 7

    The student who had such good luck in everything thought to himself: »Isn't it true, as I say, that everyone likes me?

  31. Here now comes that recluse too, who has never been able to bring himself to show his work to anyone else, and wants me to judge it.»

  32. 8

    He promised he would read the manuscript as soon as possible, and the other laid it on the desk before him.

  33. »You must take good care of it,» he said.

  34. »I have worked on this for five years, and if it is lost, I cannot do it over.»

  35. — »No harm shall come to it while it lies here with me,» said the student, and with that the stranger left.

  36. 9

    The student drew the thick sheaf toward him.

  37. »I wonder what he's been sitting and piecing together,» he said.

  38. »Ah — the history of the city of Uppsala!

  39. That doesn't sound so mad.»

  40. 10

    Now this student loved Uppsala more than any other place, and he grew curious to read what the «överliggare» had written about the town.

  41. »When I think it over properly, I might just as well read his history right away,» he mumbled.

  42. »It serves no purpose to sit and cram at the last moment.

  43. It goes no better for it, once you're before the professor.»

  44. 11

    The student read on and did not lift his eyes from the sheets of paper until he had gotten to the last one.

  45. When he had finished, he was thoroughly pleased.

  46. »Well, well!»

  47. he said.

  48. »That was quite a fellow to be learned.

  49. When this book comes out, his fortune is made.

  50. It will be a joy to tell him how good it is.»

  51. 12

    He gathered up all the loose sheets that made up the manuscript and laid them straight on the table.

  52. As he was doing this, he heard a clock strike.

  53. 13

    »There now!

  54. It's time for me to go to the professor,» he said, and hurried out to fetch his black clothes, which hung in a closet out in the attic.

  55. As so often happens when one is in a hurry, both lock and key were balky, and it was a while before he could turn back.

  56. 14

    When he reached the threshold, he gave a cry.

  57. In his haste, when he had gone out, he had left the door open, and the window, beside which the desk stood, was open too.

  58. A strong draft had sprung up, and now the student saw the loose sheets of the manuscript whirling out through the window.

  59. He crossed the floor in a single great stride and laid his hand on the papers, but there was not much left to save.

  60. Only ten or twelve pages remained lying on the desk.

  61. All the rest danced away with the wind, over yards and rooftops.

  62. 15

    The student leaned out of the window and looked after the papers.

  63. A black bird sat on the roof outside the dormer, watching him with mocking solemnity.

  64. »Isn't that a raven?»

  65. thought the student.

  66. »They do say that ravens bode misfortune.»

  67. 16

    He saw a few of the papers still lying on the roofs, and surely he could have saved at least some of what was lost, had he not had his examination to think of.

  68. But he felt he was obliged to attend first and foremost to his own affairs.

  69. »It's my whole future that's at stake,» he thought.

  70. 17

    He threw on his clothes and rushed off to the professor.

  71. On the way, the lost manuscript was all he could think of.

  72. »This is a thoroughly annoying business,» he thought.

  73. »It was a misfortune that I had to be in such a hurry.»

  74. 18

    The professor began to examine him, but he still could not get his thoughts away from the manuscript.

  75. »What was it the poor fellow said?»

  76. he thought.

  77. »Had he worked on the book for five years and had no strength left to write it over?

  78. I don't know how I'll ever find the courage to tell him it's gone.»

  79. 19

    He was so upset over what had happened to him that he could not keep his thoughts together.

  80. All his knowledge seemed blown away.

  81. He did not hear what the professor asked, and he had not the least idea what he himself answered.

  82. The professor was utterly dumbfounded at such ignorance and could do nothing but fail him.

  83. 20

    When the student came out onto the street again, he felt terribly unhappy.

  84. »Now I'll lose my position,» he thought, »and it's the «överliggare's» fault.

  85. Why did he have to come with his manuscript on this very day?

  86. But that's what happens when one is too obliging.»

  87. 21

    At that very moment the student saw the man he was thinking of coming toward him.

  88. He did not want to say that the manuscript was lost until he had made some attempt to get it back, and he meant to slip past him without a word.

  89. But the other man walked along troubled and anxious, wondering what the student would say about his book, and when he saw him hurrying past with only an unfriendly nod, he grew thoroughly frightened.

  90. He caught the student by the sleeve and asked whether he had read anything.

  91. »I've had my examination,» said the student, and wanted to hurry on.

  92. But the other believed he was avoiding him so as not to have to say he was displeased with his book.

  93. He felt his heart would burst, because the work he had labored over for five long years would come to nothing, and in his great sorrow he said to the student: »Remember what I tell you!

  94. If the book is no good, I don't want to see it again.

  95. Read it as fast as you can, and tell me what you think of it!

  96. But if it is no good, you may burn it up.

  97. Then I don't want to see it again.»

  98. 22

    He went off quickly on his way.

  99. The student looked after him, as if he had wanted to call him back, but he thought better of it and went home to his own place.

  100. 23

    There he hurried into his everyday clothes and then ran out to search for the manuscript.

  101. He searched the streets, the squares, and the parks.

  102. He went into the courtyards and even wandered out into the countryside.

  103. But he could not find a single sheet.

  104. 24

    When he had been at it for a couple of hours, he grew so hungry that he had to eat dinner.

  105. But at the eating house he ran into the «överliggare» again.

  106. The latter came forward at once to hear something about the book.

  107. »I'll come up to you this evening and talk about it,» said the student, curtly and dismissively.

  108. He did not want to admit that he had lost it until he was fully certain it could not be found.

  109. The other man turned quite pale.

  110. »Just remember that you're to destroy it, if it's no good!»

  111. he said, and went on his way, now quite certain that the student was displeased with his book.

  112. 25

    The student hurried out into the town again and kept up his search until it grew dark, without finding anything.

  113. On his way home, he met a couple of his comrades.

  114. »Where have you been keeping yourself, since you didn't come to the spring festival?»

  115. they said.

  116. — »Oh, has there been a spring festival?»

  117. said the student.

  118. »I had quite forgotten about it.»

  119. 26

    While he stood talking with his comrades, a young girl he was fond of came walking by.

  120. She did not look at him, but went along talking with another student and smiled at him so terribly kindly.

  121. Then the student remembered that he had asked her to come to the spring festival, so that he might meet her there, and now he himself had not shown up.

  122. What would she think of him?

  123. 27

    He felt a pang in his heart and wanted to hurry after her, but then one of his friends said: »Things are said to be bad with Stenberg, the «överliggare», you know.

  124. He's fallen ill this evening.»

  125. — »It's nothing dangerous, I hope?»

  126. the student said quickly.

  127. — »It was something with his heart.

  128. He's had a nasty attack, and it may come back at any moment.

  129. The doctor thought it was some sorrow weighing on him.

  130. Whether he'd get well depended on whether that sorrow could be lifted.»

  131. 28

    A little while after this the student came in to see the «överliggare».

  132. He lay in his bed, very pale and weak, and was hardly quite himself after the severe attack.

  133. »I've come to talk with you about your book,» said the student.

  134. »It was a splendid piece of work, you know.

  135. I've seldom read anything so good.»

  136. 29

    The «överliggare» sat up and stared at the student.

  137. »Why were you so odd this afternoon?»

  138. — »I was in a foul mood, because I'd been failed in an examination.

  139. I didn't think you cared so much about my opinion.

  140. I was very pleased with your book.»

  141. 30

    The sick man looked at him searchingly and grew ever more certain that the student wanted to hide something from him.

  142. »You're only saying that because you've heard I've fallen ill, and want to comfort me.»

  143. — »Not at all.

  144. It was an excellent piece of work, you may be sure of that.»

  145. — »Have you really not destroyed it, as I asked you to?»

  146. — »I'm not mad, am I?»

  147. — »Bring it here, then!

  148. Show me you haven't destroyed it, and then I'll believe you!»

  149. said the sick man, and sank back onto the pillow, so weak and faint that the student feared he would have another attack.

  150. 31

    The student felt terribly wretched.

  151. He took the sick man's hands between his own and told him that his manuscript had blown away, and told him how unhappy he had felt the whole day, because he had done him such great harm.

  152. 32

    When he had finished, the sick man lay patting his hand.

  153. »You're kind, truly kind.

  154. But don't trouble to make up stories to spare me!

  155. I understand that you've obeyed me and destroyed the manuscript because it was bad, but you won't admit it now.

  156. You think I can't bear it.»

  157. 33

    The student swore and protested that he had spoken the truth, but the other was stubborn and would not believe him.

  158. »If you could give me back the manuscript, I would believe you,» he said.

  159. 34

    He grew steadily worse, and the student was at last forced to go on his way, because he saw that he was only making the other man worse.

  160. 35

    When he came home, he felt such heaviness and weariness upon him that he could barely keep himself upright.

  161. He made tea and then went and lay down.

  162. As he pulled the covers over himself, he thought of how happy he had felt that morning.

  163. Now he had ruined a great deal for himself, but that he could bear.

  164. »The worst of it is that I shall have this to think of my whole life through, that I have brought a man to ruin,» he said.

  165. 36

    He believed he would not sleep a wink that night.

  166. But, strangely enough, he dropped off as soon as he had laid his head on the pillow.

  167. He had not even had time to put out the lamp burning on the nightstand beside him before he fell asleep.

  168. 37

    THE SPRING FESTIVAL.

  169. 38

    But now it happened that, as the student fell asleep, a small little fellow, dressed in yellow leather breeches, a green waistcoat, and a white pointed cap, stood on the roof outside his dormer window, thinking that if he were in the place of the one who now lay in there in his bed, he would be very happy.

  170. 39

    That Nils Holgersson, who a couple of hours earlier had been lying resting on a marsh-marigold tussock by Ekolsund Bay, now found himself in Uppsala, was owing to Bataki the raven, who had lured him along on an adventure.

  171. 40

    The boy himself had not expected anything of the sort.

  172. He had been lying on the tussock staring up at the sky when he saw Bataki come flying among the drifting clouds.

  173. The boy would rather have hidden himself away from him, but Bataki had already caught sight of him, and in a moment he had landed right among the marsh marigolds and begun to chat, as though he and Thumbietot were the best of friends.

  174. 41

    Gloomy and solemn as Bataki looked, the boy had noticed that he still had a mischievous glint in his eye.

  175. He had a feeling that the raven had come to make fun of him in one way or another, and he had resolved not to pay any attention to what he said.

  176. 42

    The raven had said that he had indeed thought about the fact that he owed Thumbietot some compensation, since he had not been able to tell him where the Brother's Portion lay, and that was why he had now come to let him in on another secret.

  177. For Bataki knew how one who had been transformed as he had could become a human being again.

  178. 43

    It is certain that the raven had believed the boy would snap at the bait at once, when he cast out such a lure.

  179. But instead the boy had answered quite dismissively, that he knew he was to become a human being again if he could bring the white gander safely first up to Lapland and then down to Skåne.

  180. 44

    »You know it isn't so easy to bring a gander safely through the country,» Bataki had said.

  181. »You might well need to know of another way out, in case this should fail you.

  182. But if you want to know nothing of it, then I'll say no more.»

  183. And so the boy had replied that he had nothing against Bataki telling him the secret.

  184. 45

    »That I will do too,» Bataki had said, »but not until the right moment.

  185. Get up on my back and come along with me on a little outing, and we'll see whether a suitable occasion doesn't present itself!»

  186. Then the boy had grown doubtful again, for he did not quite know where he stood with Bataki.

  187. »You surely don't dare trust yourself to me,» the raven had said.

  188. But the boy could not bear to hear that he might be afraid of anything, and in the next moment he had been sitting on the raven's back.

  189. 46

    After that Bataki had carried him to Uppsala.

  190. He had set him down on a roof, asked him to look about him, and then asked whom he thought it was that lived and ruled in this town.

  191. 47

    The boy had looked out over the town.

  192. It was fairly large and lay handsomely in the middle of a wide, cultivated plain.

  193. It had many buildings that looked stately and grand, and on a ridge stood a solidly built castle with two massive towers.

  194. »Maybe it's the king and his men who live here?»

  195. he had said.

  196. 48

    »That's not so badly guessed,» the raven had answered.

  197. »This was once a royal city, but that grandeur is over now.»

  198. 49

    The boy had looked around once more, and then he had noticed above all the great cathedral, lying gleaming in the evening light with three tall spires, fine portals, and adorned walls.

  199. »Maybe it's a bishop and his priests who live here?»

  200. he had said.

  201. 50

    »That's not so badly guessed,» the raven had answered.

  202. »Archbishops once lived here, as mighty as kings, and an archbishop still lives here today, but it isn't he who rules here now.»

  203. 51

    »Then I don't know what to guess,» the boy had said.

  204. — »Well, it's learning that lives and rules in this town,» the raven had said, »and the great buildings you see on every side are raised for it and its people.»

  205. 52

    The boy had scarcely been able to think this likely.

  206. »Just come along, and you'll see!»

  207. the raven had said, and so they had gone and looked at the great buildings.

  208. The windows had stood open in several places.

  209. The boy had been able to peer in here and there, and he had seen that the raven was right.

  210. 53

    Bataki had shown him the great library, full of books from the cellar to the rooftop.

  211. He had taken him to the proud university building and shown him the splendid lecture halls.

  212. He had flown past the old building called Gustavianum, and the boy had seen stuffed animals through the windows.

  213. They had flown on over the great greenhouses with their many foreign plants, and they had looked down on the observatory, where the long tube stood pointed at the sky.

  214. 54

    They had also hovered past many windows and seen old gentlemen with spectacles on their noses, who had sat writing or reading in rooms whose walls were lined with books, and they had flown past attic rooms where students lay stretched out on their sofas, struggling with fat bundles of papers.

  215. 55

    At last the raven had settled on a roof.

  216. »Do you see that it's true, as I say, and that learning is master here in this town?»

  217. he had said, and the boy had admitted that he had been right.

  218. »If I weren't a raven,» Bataki had gone on to say, »but only a human being like you, I would settle down here.

  219. I would sit day in and day out in a room full of books and learn everything that stood in them.

  220. Wouldn't you like something of that sort too?»

  221. —

  222. 56

    »No, I do believe I'd rather go around with the wild geese,» the boy had answered.

  223. — »Wouldn't you like to become one who can cure sicknesses?»

  224. the raven had asked.

  225. — »Yes, that might well be so.»

  226. — »Wouldn't you like to become one who knows everything that has happened in the world, who speaks every language, and can tell what paths the sun, moon, and stars run across the sky?»

  227. the raven had said.

  228. — »Yes, that might be fun too.»

  229. — »Wouldn't you like to learn to tell right from wrong, good from evil?»

  230. — »That might well be needed,» the boy had said, »I've noticed that many times.»

  231. — »And wouldn't you like to train for the priesthood and preach in church back home?»

  232. — »Father and mother would be terribly glad if I came that far,» the boy had answered.

  233. 57

    In this way the raven had made the boy understand that they were fortunate who got to lie about in Uppsala and study, though Thumbietot had not yet wished, even so, to be one among them.

  234. 58

    But it had so happened that the great festival in honor of spring, celebrated every year in Uppsala, had taken place that very evening.

  235. 59

    And so Nils Holgersson had gotten to see the students, as they marched off to the Botanical Garden, where the festival was to be held.

  236. They had come in a broad, long procession with white caps on their heads, and the whole street had been like a dark stream, filled with white water lilies.

  237. White, gold-embroidered silk banners they had carried before them, and they had sung spring songs during the march.

  238. But Nils Holgersson had thought it was not they themselves who sang, but that the song had hovered along with them above their heads.

  239. He had thought it was not the students who sang for spring, but that spring itself sat hidden somewhere and sang for the students.

  240. He had not believed that human song could sound like that.

  241. It was like the murmur of needles in spruce tops, like the ring of steel, like the song of wild swans out on the sea's edge.

  242. 60

    When the students had come into the garden, where the lawns stood in bright, tender spring green and the trees' leaves were just bursting their buds, they had halted before a speaker's platform, and a young, stately man had stepped up onto it and spoken to them.

  243. 61

    The platform had been raised on the steps before the great greenhouses, and the raven had set the boy down on the greenhouse roof.

  244. There he had sat in good peace and heard one speech after another.

  245. At last an old man had taken his place on the platform.

  246. The old man had said that the best thing in life was to be young and to get to spend one's years of youth in Uppsala.

  247. He had spoken of the good, peaceful work with books and the rich, bright joy of youth, which could never be enjoyed as it could there in the great circle of comrades.

  248. Again and again he had come back to the theme of the great happiness of living among glad, noble-minded comrades.

  249. It was this that made toil so sweet and sorrow so easily forgotten and hopes so bright.

  250. 62

    The boy had sat looking down at the students, who stood in a half-circle below the platform, and he began to understand that the most glorious thing of all was to belong to their circle.

  251. It was a high honor and happiness.

  252. Each one became something more than he would have been had he stood alone, because he belonged to such a company.

  253. 63

    After the speech the song had risen again, and after the song came new speeches.

  254. The boy had never believed or understood that words could be put together so that they gained the power to move and encourage and delight as these did.

  255. 64

    Nils Holgersson had mostly watched the students, but he noticed well enough that they were not alone in the garden.

  256. There were young girls there in bright dresses and fine spring hats, and many other folk besides.

  257. But it was with them as with himself, that they seemed to have come only to look at the students.

  258. 65

    Now and then there had been pauses between the speeches and the songs, and then the crowds had scattered over the whole garden.

  259. But soon enough a new speaker would appear, and at once the listeners gathered around him.

  260. And in this way it had gone on, until it grew evening.

  261. 66

    When it was all over, the boy had drawn a deep breath and rubbed his eyes, as one does on waking from a sleep.

  262. He had been away in a land he had never visited before.

  263. From all these people, who were glad of life and looked confidently toward the future, mirth and happiness had spread like a contagion, and the boy had been inside the land of gladness, he as much as they.

  264. But when the last song had died away, the boy had felt how wretched his own life was, and it went against the grain for him to return, after this, to his poor traveling companions.

  265. 67

    The raven had been sitting beside the boy, and now he began to croak in his ear.

  266. »Now, Thumbietot, I'll tell you how you're to become human.

  267. You're to wait until you meet someone who says to you that he would gladly like to be in your shoes and go around with the wild geese.

  268. Then you're to seize your chance and say this to him: — — — And now Bataki had taught the boy a couple of words, so strong and dangerous that they could not be spoken aloud, but had to be whispered, unless one truly meant to use them in earnest.

  269. »Yes, no more than this is needed for you to become human,» Bataki had said at last.

  270. 68

    »No, I do believe that,» said the boy, »for anyone who would wish to be in my shoes I shall surely never meet.»

  271. 69

    »That mightn't be so impossible after all,» the raven had said, and thereupon he had carried the boy into the town and set him down on the roof outside a dormer window.

  272. A lamp was burning inside the room, the window stood ajar, and the boy now stood there a good while, thinking about how happy that student must be who lay there asleep.

  273. 70

    THE TEST.

  274. 71

    The student started up out of his sleep and saw that the lamp stood burning on the nightstand.

  275. »There now, I've forgotten to put it out,» he thought, and raised himself on his elbow to turn down the lamp.

  276. But before he had time to do this, he noticed that something was moving over on the desk.

  277. 72

    The room was quite small.

  278. There was not far between the bed and the table, and he could clearly see it, with all the books, papers, writing things, and photographs that cluttered it.

  279. The spirit stove and the tea tray he had left standing there, and those he saw too.

  280. But the strange thing was that, just as clearly as he saw these other things, he saw a little fellow standing bent over the butter dish, busy making himself a sandwich.

  281. 73

    The student had gone through so much the day before that he had grown almost indifferent to whatever happened to him.

  282. He felt neither afraid nor astonished, but thought it a perfectly natural thing that the little fellow had come in to get himself a bite to eat.

  283. 74

    He lay down again without putting out the lamp and lay watching the little fellow with half-closed eyes.

  284. This one had now taken his seat on a letter press and sat there thoroughly content, spreading himself with the leavings of the student's supper.

  285. It was plain that he drew out his eating as long as he possibly could.

  286. He sat rolling his eyes and smacking his tongue.

  287. The dry crusts of bread and the old rind of cheese were rare delicacies indeed for him.

  288. 75

    The student did not want to disturb him as long as he was eating, but when the little fellow no longer seemed able to manage any more, he began to speak to him.

  289. 76

    »Hello there, you!»

  290. he said.

  291. »What sort of a fellow are you?»

  292. 77

    The boy started and sprang toward the window, but when he noticed that the student lay still in his bed and did not chase him, he stopped.

  293. »I am Nils Holgersson from Västra Vemmenhög,» he said, »and I am a human being, just as much as you, but I have been turned into a tomte, and ever since then I've been going about with the wild geese.»

  294. 78

    »That was a strange story,» said the student, and began asking and questioning the boy until he had learned pretty much everything he had gone through since he left home.

  295. 79

    »You have it good indeed,» said the student.

  296. »Whoever could only be in your shoes and get to travel away from every care!»

  297. 80

    Bataki the raven stood outside on the windowsill, and when the student said this, he tapped with his beak against the pane.

  298. The boy understood that he wanted to draw his attention, so that he would not fail to be ready, in case the student should say the right words.

  299. »Oh, I don't think you'd want to trade with me,» said the boy.

  300. »Whoever is a student surely couldn't wish to be anything else.»

  301. 81

    »That's just what I thought this morning, when I woke up,» said the student.

  302. »But you should only know what has happened to me today.

  303. It's truly all up with me.

  304. It would really be the best thing for me if I could get to travel off with the wild geese.»

  305. 82

    The boy heard Bataki tap on the pane again, and he himself felt both dizzy in the head and his heart pounding, for it sounded almost as though the student were about to say the right words.

  306. 83

    »I've told you how things stand with me,» he said to the student.

  307. »Now tell me how things stand with you!»

  308. And the student was glad enough to have a confidant, and told him honestly what had happened to him.

  309. »The rest of it might well come right in the end,» he said at last.

  310. »But what I truly cannot bear is that I have brought a comrade to misfortune.

  311. It would be far better for me if I were in your shoes and could go around with the wild geese.»

  312. 84

    Bataki pecked hard at the pane, but the boy sat still and silent for a long while and only looked straight ahead of him.

  313. 85

    »Wait a little!

  314. You'll soon hear from me,» he said in a low voice to the student, and then he walked with slow, lingering steps across the desk and out through the window.

  315. Just as he came out onto the roof, the sun rose, and the red morning light streamed over Uppsala.

  316. It shone and gleamed from every pinnacle and tower, and the boy had to tell himself once more that this was truly a city of gladness.

  317. 86

    »What's the matter with you?»

  318. said the raven.

  319. »Now you've lost your chance to become human.»

  320. — »I don't care to trade with that student,» said the boy.

  321. »I'd only get trouble for the sake of those blown-away papers.»

  322. 87

    »You needn't worry yourself about them,» said Bataki.

  323. »Those I can get back for you.»

  324. — »I daresay you can,» said the boy, »but I'm not sure that you will.

  325. I want first of all to be certain of that.»

  326. 88

    Bataki said not a word.

  327. He simply spread his wings, flew off, and soon came back with a couple of sheets of paper.

  328. He now flew back and forth for a whole hour, as busy as a swallow gathering clay for her nest, and brought one sheet after another to the boy.

  329. »There now, I believe you have almost the whole of it back,» he said at last, and stood panting on the windowsill.

  330. 89

    »Thank you kindly!»

  331. said the boy.

  332. »Now I'll go in and have a talk with the student.»

  333. At that same moment Bataki glanced in through the window and saw the student standing there arranging and smoothing out the papers.

  334. »You are the biggest fool I have ever come across!»

  335. Bataki burst out at the boy.

  336. »Have you given the student the manuscript?

  337. Then you needn't go in to him.

  338. He will never again say that he wants to be like you.»

  339. 90

    The boy stood staring too at the student, who was so glad that he was dancing around his little room in nothing but his shirt, and then he turned to Bataki.

  340. »I understand it all, Bataki, that you've wanted to put me to the test,» he said.

  341. »You surely thought that I would leave Morten the gander to fend for himself alone on this hard journey, as soon as I myself could have things easy.

  342. But when the student told his story, I came to think how base it would be to betray a comrade, and that I would not do.»

  343. 91

    Bataki began to scratch the back of his neck with his foot and looked almost embarrassed.

  344. He could not bring himself to say anything, but simply flew off with the boy, straight back to the wild geese.

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.