The Wonderful Adventures of Nils 1732 Studios

Swedish · The Wonderful Adventures of Nils

Stockholm

Stockholm

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  1. 1

    Some years ago there was at Skansen, the great garden outside Stockholm where they have gathered together so many remarkable things, a little old man named Klement Larsson.

    Föragoför · prepositionpreposition marking år
    någrasomenågon · determiner, pluraldeterminer of år
    åryearsår · noun, nominative, neuter, pluraloblique complement of fanns
    sedanthensedan · adverbdepends on år
    fannsthere wasfanns · verb, past, indicativemain verb of the sentence
    påatpå · prepositionpreposition marking Skansen
    SkansenSkansenSkansen · proper noun, nominativeoblique complement of fanns
    denaen · determiner, common gender, singulardeterminer of trädgården
    storabigstor · adjective, nominative, singularmodifies trädgården

    weak/definite form (stora), used with a singular definite noun, e.g. den stora länstolen.

    trädgårdengardenträdgård · noun, nominative, common gender, singularcoordinated with fanns
    utanföroutsideutanför · prepositionpreposition marking Stockholm
    StockholmStockholmStockholm · proper noun, nominativemodifies trädgården
    därtheredär · adverbmodifies samlat
    mantheyman · pronoun, nominative, common gender, singularsubject of har
    harhasha · auxiliary verb, present, indicative, activeauxiliary of samlat
    samlatgatheredsamla · verb, active, supinerelative clause on trädgården
    ihoptogetherihop · adverbdepends on samlat
    såsoså · adverbmodifies märkvärdigt
    mycketmanymycket · adverbmodifies märkvärdigt
    märkvärdigtremarkablemärkvärdig · adjective, nominative, neuter, singularadverbial clause on samlat
    enaen · determiner, common gender, singulardeterminer of gubbe
    litensmallliten · adjective, nominative, common gender, singularmodifies gubbe
    gubbeold mangubbe · noun, nominative, common gender, singularin apposition to fanns
    somwhosom · 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 · proper noun, nominativeclause modifying gubbe

    Past tense of heta ("to be called"), not a proper noun.

    KlementKlementKlement · proper noun, nominativedirect object of hette

    Proper name, Klement Larsson.

    LarssonLarssonLarsson · proper noun, nominativedepends on Klement

    Surname, Klement Larsson.

  2. He was from Hälsingland, and to Skansen he had come to play folk dances and other old tunes on his fiddle.

  3. But it was of course mostly in the afternoons that he performed as a fiddler.

  4. In the mornings he used to sit and keep watch in one of the fine farmhouses that had been moved to Skansen from every part of the country.

  5. 2

    Klement thought at first that he had gotten it better in his old age than he had ever dared dream, but after a while he began to grow terribly weary of it, especially during the watch-keeping.

  6. It went well enough when people came into the cottage to look at it, but sometimes Klement sat for many hours all alone.

  7. Then he longed for home to such a degree that he feared he would be forced to give up his position.

  8. He was very poor, and he knew that back home he would fall to the parish's charge.

  9. So he tried to hold out as long as he could, though he felt more unhappy with every passing day.

  10. 3

    One beautiful afternoon in early May, Klement had gotten a couple of hours off and was on his way down the steep hill leading down from Skansen, when he met a skerry fisherman coming along with a creel on his back.

  11. It was a young, brisk fellow who used to come to Skansen and offer for sale seabirds he had managed to catch alive, and Klement had run into him many times before.

  12. 4

    The fisherman stopped Klement to ask him whether the director at Skansen was at home, and when Klement had answered this, he asked in his turn what rare thing it was that the fisherman had in his creel.

  13. "You can see what I've got, Klement," the fisherman then answered, "if in thanks you'll give me some good advice and tell me what I can ask for it."

  14. 5

    He stretched the creel out toward Klement.

  15. This one looked down into it once, then once more, and then quickly drew back a couple of steps.

  16. "What in all my days, Åsbjörn!" he said.

  17. "How did you get hold of that?"

  18. 6

    He remembered that when he was a child in the world, his mother had used to talk about the little folk who lived under the cottage floor.

  19. He was not allowed to scream and not to be naughty, so as not to provoke the little folk.

  20. Once he had grown up, he had believed that his mother had invented that about the tomtar in order to keep him in check.

  21. But it could not have been just a fancy of his mother's, for there in Åsbjörn's creel lay one of the little folk.

  22. 7

    Something of his childhood fright still sat in Klement, and he felt a shiver run down his spine when he looked at the creel.

  23. Åsbjörn noticed that he was afraid, and started to laugh, but Klement took the matter deeply seriously.

  24. "Tell me, Åsbjörn, where you got hold of him!" he said.

  25. — "I haven't been lying in wait for him, believe me," said Åsbjörn.

  26. "It was he who came to me.

  27. I had gone out early this morning and taken the gun with me in the boat.

  28. I'd hardly gotten away from land before I caught sight of a few wild geese coming from the east with a terrible screeching.

  29. I gave them a shot, but got none of them.

  30. Instead this fellow came falling down and fell into the water so close to the boat that I only had to reach out my hand to get hold of him."

  31. — "You surely haven't shot him, Åsbjörn?"

  32. — "Oh no, he's whole and sound.

  33. But when he first came down, he wasn't quite himself, and then I took the chance and bound a couple of lengths of sail-twine round his feet and hands, so that he couldn't run off.

  34. See, I thought at once that this would be something for Skansen."

  35. 8

    Klement grew strangely anxious when the fisherman told this.

  36. All that he had heard in childhood about the little folk, about their vengefulness toward enemies and helpfulness toward friends, rose up before him.

  37. It had never gone well for those who had tried to keep one of them captive.

  38. "You ought to have let him loose at once, Åsbjörn," he said.

  39. 9

    "It wasn't far from it, that I was forced to set him free," said the fisherman.

  40. "For you should know, Klement, that the wild geese followed me all the way home, and then cruised over the skerry the whole morning and screamed as if they wanted him back.

  41. And not only that, but the whole company out there with us, gulls and terns and others not worth a shot of powder, came and swooped down on the skerry and made a racket, and when I went out, they flapped around me so that I had to turn back inside again.

  42. My wife begged me to set him free, but I had set my mind on his coming here to Skansen.

  43. And so I put one of the little ones' dolls in the window, hid the tomte deep down in the creel, and went off.

  44. And the birds must have believed it was he who stood in the window, for they let me get away without pursuing me."

  45. 10

    "Doesn't he say anything?" asked Klement.

  46. — "Oh yes, at first he tried to call to the birds, but I wouldn't have that, so I put a gag on him."

  47. — "But, Åsbjörn," said Klement, "that you do so to him!

  48. Don't you understand that he's something supernatural?"

  49. — "I don't know what sort of thing he might be," said Åsbjörn calmly.

  50. "Let others puzzle that out.

  51. I'm content as long as I get well paid for him.

  52. And tell me now, Klement, what you think the Doctor at Skansen might want to give me!"

  53. 11

    Klement was slow to answer for a long while.

  54. But such an anxiety had come over him for the tomte's sake.

  55. He truly felt as if his mother stood beside him telling him that he should always be good to the little folk.

  56. "I don't know what the Doctor up there might want to pay you, Åsbjörn," he said.

  57. "But if you'll leave him to me, I'll give you twenty kronor for him."

  58. 12

    Åsbjörn looked at the fiddler with enormous astonishment when he heard the great sum.

  59. He thought that Klement believed the tomte had some secret power and could be of use to him.

  60. He certainly wasn't sure that the Doctor thought so highly of him and would pay so high a price.

  61. And so he accepted Klement's offer.

  62. 13

    The fiddler tucked his purchase down into one of his wide pockets, went back to Skansen, and went into one of the shieling cottages, where there were neither visitors nor keepers.

  63. He drew the door shut behind him, took out the tomte, who was still bound at hands and feet and had his mouth stopped up, and laid him carefully down on a bench.

  64. 14

    "Listen now to what I tell you!" said Klement.

  65. "I well know that ones like you don't care to be seen by people, but want to go about and putter and manage on your own.

  66. So I've thought to set you free, but it must be on the promise that you'll stay in this garden until I give you leave to go from here.

  67. If you agree to this, nod your head three times!"

  68. 15

    Klement looked expectantly at the tomte, but he held himself motionless.

  69. 16

    "You shall not have it hard," said Klement.

  70. "I'll set out food for you every day, and I believe you'll have so much to do here that time won't seem long to you.

  71. But you may not go to any other place until you get leave from me.

  72. We'll agree on a sign.

  73. As long as I set out your food in a white bowl, you're to stay.

  74. When I set it out in a blue one, you may go."

  75. 17

    Klement fell silent again and waited for the tomte to give the sign, but he did not stir.

  76. 18

    "I see," said Klement, "then there'll be no other counsel but that I show you to the master here at the place.

  77. And then you'll be put in a glass case, and all the people in the great city of Stockholm will come to look at you."

  78. 19

    But this seemed to have frightened the tomte, and no sooner said than he made the sign.

  79. 20

    "That was right," said Klement, and took his knife and cut the cord that bound the tomte's hands.

  80. Then he went quickly toward the door.

  81. 21

    The boy loosened the bonds around his ankles and pushed away the gag before he thought of anything else.

  82. When he then turned to Klement Larsson to thank him, the man was already gone.

  83. 22

    Klement had scarcely gotten outside the door when he met a stately and handsome old gentleman who seemed to be on his way to a beautiful viewpoint nearby.

  84. Klement could not recall having seen the stately old gentleman before, but he must certainly have noticed Klement at some time when he had been playing the fiddle, for he stopped and began to speak to him.

  85. 23

    "Good day, Klement!" he said.

  86. "How are things with you?

  87. You're surely not ill?

  88. I think you've pined away of late."

  89. 24

    There was such an indescribable kindness about the old gentleman that Klement took courage and told him how hard he found his homesickness.

  90. 25

    "What?" said the stately old gentleman.

  91. "You're longing, when you're in Stockholm?

  92. That can surely never be possible."

  93. 26

    And the stately old gentleman looked almost offended.

  94. But then he considered that it was only a poor ignorant old fellow from Hälsingland he was talking with, and he resumed his kindly manner.

  95. 27

    "You've surely never heard how the city of Stockholm came into being, Klement.

  96. If you had, you'd understand that it's only a fancy of yours that you long from here.

  97. Come with me to the bench over there, and I'll tell you a little about Stockholm!"

  98. 28

    When the stately old gentleman had seated himself on the bench, he first looked for a moment down over Stockholm, which in all its splendor spread out beneath him, and he drew a deep breath, as if he had wanted to breathe in all the beauty of the region.

  99. Then he turned to the fiddler.

  100. 29

    "Look now, Klement!" he said, and began to draw a little map on the gravel path before them as he spoke.

  101. "Here now lies Uppland, and here a headland juts down toward the south, torn into shreds by a great many bays.

  102. And here Sörmland meets it with another headland, just as jagged, running straight toward the north.

  103. And here comes a lake from the west, filled with islands: that is Mälaren.

  104. And here comes from the east another water, which can scarcely force its way forward among islands and skerries: that is the Baltic.

  105. And here, Klement, where Uppland meets Sörmland and Mälaren meets the Baltic, runs a short strait, and in the middle of it lie four little islets that divide the strait into several arms, and of them one is now called Norrström, but it used to be called Stocksund.

  106. 30

    These islets were at first just ordinary leafy holms, such as there are plenty of in Mälaren even today, and they lay uninhabited for long ages.

  107. It might seem that they had a good position, lying as they did between two waters and two provinces, but no one took notice of this.

  108. Year after year passed.

  109. People settled both on the islands of Mälaren and out in the archipelago, but these islets in the Strömmen got no inhabitants.

  110. Now and then it happened that some seafarer put in at one of them and pitched his tent there for the night.

  111. But no one settled there in earnest.

  112. 31

    One day a fisherman who lived on Lidingö out in the Saltsjön had steered his boat inward into Mälaren, and there he'd had such good luck with the fishing that he'd forgotten to go home in time.

  113. He hadn't gotten farther than the four islets when it was already quite dark, and then he thought he could do no better than to step ashore on one of them and wait there till later in the night, when the moon would rise, for that he knew would happen.

  114. 32

    It was late summer, and the weather was still warm and fine, though the evenings had begun to grow dark.

  115. The fisherman drew his boat up on land, lay down beside it with his head against a stone, and fell asleep.

  116. When he woke, the moon had long since risen.

  117. It stood right above him and shone so splendidly that it was almost broad daylight.

  118. 33

    The fellow sprang up and was just about to put the boat in the water when he saw a great many black specks moving out in the current.

  119. It was a great herd of seals coming toward the islet at full speed.

  120. When the fisherman saw that the seals seemed to intend to crawl up onto land, he bent down to search for the spear he always carried with him in the boat.

  121. But when he stood up again, he saw no more seals, but instead there stood on the shore the loveliest young maidens, dressed in green, trailing silken garments and with pearl crowns on their heads.

  122. Then the fisherman understood that these were mermaids who lived on the desolate skerries far out at sea and had now put on sealskins in order to come in toward land and enjoy themselves in the moonlight on the green islets.

  123. 34

    Quite still he laid down the spear, and when the maidens went up onto the islet to play, he crept after them and watched them.

  124. He had heard that the sea-maidens were said to be so fair and lovely that no one could see them without being enchanted by their beauty, and he had to say to himself that this had not been said of them too strongly.

  125. 35

    When he had watched them dance for a while under the trees, he went down to the shore, took one of the sealskins that lay there, and hid it under a stone.

  126. Then he went back to his boat, lay down beside it, and pretended to be asleep.

  127. 36

    Soon he saw the young maidens come down to the shore to put on the sealskins.

  128. All was play and merriment at first, but then there arose wailing and lament, because one of them could not find her sealskin.

  129. They all ran back and forth on the shore and helped her search, but they found nothing.

  130. In the midst of the searching they noticed that the sky was beginning to pale and day was approaching.

  131. Then they seemed unable to stay any longer, and they swam away, all of them, except the one who was without a sealskin.

  132. She stayed behind on the shore and wept.

  133. 37

    The fisherman felt sorry enough for her, but he forced himself to lie still until it was full daylight.

  134. Then he rose and put the boat in the water, and it looked as if he had just happened to catch sight of her when he had already lifted the oars.

  135. "What sort of creature are you?" he called out.

  136. "Are you a shipwrecked woman?"

  137. 38

    She rushed toward him and asked whether he had seen her sealskin, but the fisherman pretended as if he did not even understand what she was asking after.

  138. Then she sat down and wept again, but now he suggested that she come along with him in his boat.

  139. 'Come home with me to my cottage,' he said, 'and mother will take care of you!

  140. You surely can't stay here on the islet, where you can get neither a bed nor a meal.'

  141. And he spoke so persuasively that he got her to come along in the boat.

  142. 39

    Both the fisherman and his mother were immensely good to the poor mermaid, and she seemed to thrive well with them.

  143. She grew happier with every day, helped the old woman with her chores, and was just like any other skerry girl, except that she was far lovelier than all the others.

  144. One day the fisherman asked her if she would be his wife, and to this she had nothing against, but said yes at once.

  145. 40

    So they made ready for a wedding, and when the mermaid was to dress herself as a bride, she put on the green, trailing gown and the shimmering pearl crown that she had worn when the fisherman had seen her for the first time.

  146. But there was neither priest nor church in the archipelago in those days, so the wedding party set off in their boats to row inward into Mälaren and be married in the first church they should happen upon.

  147. 41

    The fisherman had the bride and the mother in his boat, and he sailed so well that he came ahead of all the others.

  148. When he had gotten so far that he saw the islet in the Strömmen where he had won the bride, who now sat proud and adorned beside him, he could not help smiling to himself.

  149. 'What are you smiling at?' she asked.

  150. — 'Oh, I'm thinking of that night when I hid the sealskin from you,' the fisherman answered, for now he felt so sure of her that he no longer thought he needed to hide anything.

  151. — 'What are you saying?' said the bride.

  152. 'Surely I never owned a sealskin.'

  153. It seemed as though she had forgotten it all.

  154. 'Don't you remember how you danced with the mermaids?' he asked.

  155. — 'I don't know what you mean,' said the bride.

  156. 'I think you must have dreamed a strange dream last night.'

  157. 42

    'If I show you your sealskin, will you believe me then?' said the fisherman, and turned the boat at once toward the islet.

  158. They stepped ashore, and he fetched out the sealskin from under the stone where he had hidden it.

  159. 43

    But no sooner had the bride seen the sealskin than she snatched it to herself and threw it over her head.

  160. It closed about her as if it had had life, and she flung herself at once into the Strömmen.

  161. 44

    The bridegroom saw her glide away, he ran out into the water after her, but could not reach her.

  162. In his despair, when he saw that he could not stop her in any other way, he seized the spear and flung it.

  163. He struck truer than he had intended, for the poor mermaid gave a wailing cry and vanished into the depths.

  164. 45

    The fisherman stood on the shore and waited for her to show herself again.

  165. But then he noticed that the water around him began to take on a soft radiance.

  166. There came a beauty over it such as he had never seen before.

  167. It glittered and shone in pink and white, as color plays on the inside of shells.

  168. 46

    When the glittering water beat against the shores, the fisherman felt that these too were changing.

  169. They began to bloom and give off fragrance.

  170. A gentle shimmer settled over them, so that they gained a loveliness they had not had before.

  171. 47

    And he understood how all this had come about.

  172. For with mermaids it is such that whoever sees them must find them lovelier than all others, and now that the mermaid's blood had mingled with the water and bathed the shores, her beauty passed over to them, and it became their inheritance that all who saw them must love them and be drawn to them with longing."

  173. 48

    When the stately old gentleman had gotten so far in his story, he turned toward Klement and looked at him, and Klement nodded gravely to him, but said nothing so as not to cause any interruption in the story.

  174. 49

    "Now you must take note, Klement," the old gentleman went on, and got at once a little roguish gleam in his eyes, "that from this time on people began to move to the islets.

  175. At first it was only fishermen and farm folk who settled there, but others too were drawn there, and then one fine day the king and his jarl came sailing up through the Strömmen.

  176. They began at once to talk about those islets, and they took note that they lay so that every ship wanting to travel inward into Mälaren had to pass by them.

  177. And the jarl thought that here one ought to set a lock on the fairway, one that could be opened and closed as one pleased: letting merchant ships in and shutting robber fleets out.

  178. 50

    "And that became a serious matter," said the old gentleman, and rose and began again to draw in the sand with his cane.

  179. "On the largest of the islands, here, you see, the jarl raised up a stronghold with a strong keep, which was called Kärnan.

  180. And all around the islet the inhabitants drew up walls in this fashion.

  181. Here toward north and toward south they made gates in the wall and set strong towers above them.

  182. They built bridges over to the other islets and furnished these too with high towers.

  183. And out in the water, all around everything, they set out a ring of stakes with bars that could be opened and closed, so that no ship could sail past without permission.

  184. 51

    Thus you see, Klement, that the four islets, which had lain so long unnoticed, had soon become strongly fortified.

  185. But it did not stop there.

  186. These shores and sounds draw people to themselves, and soon folk came from every direction and wanted to settle on the islets.

  187. Then they began, for their own sake, to build a church, which was later called the Great Church.

  188. Here it stood, right beside the stronghold, and here, within the walls, stood the little cottages that the newcomers built for themselves.

  189. There was not much to them, but no more was needed in those days for it to count as a town.

  190. And the town was called Stockholm and is still so called to this very hour.

  191. 52

    There came a day, Klement, when the jarl, who had set the work going, had to lay his head to rest, but Stockholm was not therefore left without a builder.

  192. Here came monks to the land, called the Grey Brothers, and Stockholm drew them to itself, so that they asked leave to build a monastery there.

  193. Then they got from the king a small islet, one of the smaller ones, the one here that faces Mälaren.

  194. There they built, and so it was afterward called Gråmunkeholmen.

  195. But there came other monks, called the Black Brothers.

  196. They too asked for the right to build in Stockholm, and their monastery was raised on Stadsholmen, a way from the south gate.

  197. On this one, the larger of the islets north of the town, a Hospital of the Holy Spirit, or infirmary, was set up; on the other, industrious men built a mill; and by the skerries nearby the monks fished.

  198. As you know, there's now only one islet there, since the channel between the two has grown over, but it's still called Helgeandsholmen to this day.

  199. 53

    Now, Klement, the little leafy islets were already covered with houses, but people kept streaming in, for these shores and waters are, as you know, such that they draw people to themselves.

  200. Here came pious women of the Order of Saint Clare and asked for building ground.

  201. For them there was no other course but to settle on the northern shore, on Norrmalm, as it was called.

  202. Surely they were not very pleased with this, for over Norrmalm ran a high ridge, and on it the town had its gallows hill, so that it was a scorned place.

  203. The Clare sisters built their church and their long cloister houses on the shore below the ridge all the same.

  204. And once they had settled in that district, they soon got followers.

  205. Here far up in the north, on the ridge itself, a hospital was built with a church consecrated to Saint George, and here below the ridge a church was raised to Saint Jacob.

  206. 54

    And on Södermalm too, where the mountain rose steeply from the shore, people began to build.

  207. There they raised a church to Saint Mary.

  208. 55

    But you mustn't think, Klement, that it was only monastery folk who moved to Stockholm.

  209. There were many others too.

  210. Above all there were a great many German merchants and craftsmen.

  211. They were more skilled than the Swedes and were well received.

  212. They settled in the town within the walls, tore down the small wretched houses that stood there before, and built high, splendid ones of stone.

  213. But there was little room inside there.

  214. They had to set the houses close together, with the gables turned toward the narrow streets.

  215. 56

    Yes, you see, Klement, that Stockholm could draw people."

  216. 57

    Here another gentleman now appeared, who came quickly forward along the path toward them.

  217. But the one who was talking with Klement waved with his hand, and the other remained standing at a distance.

  218. The stately old gentleman now went and sat down on the bench beside the fiddler.

  219. 58

    "Now you must do me a service, Klement," he said.

  220. "I have no time to talk more with you, but I shall have a book about Stockholm sent to you, and you shall read it through from beginning to end.

  221. Now I have, so to speak, laid the foundation of Stockholm for you, Klement.

  222. Study on further yourself now, and find out how the town has lived and changed!

  223. Read about how the small, cramped, walled-in town on the islets has spread out into this great sea of houses that we see below us!

  224. Read about how, on the dark tower's site where Kärnan stood, the fair, bright palace here below us has been raised, and how the Grey Friars' church has become the burial place of the Swedish kings!

  225. Read about how islet after islet has been filled with buildings!

  226. Read about how the kitchen gardens on Söder and Norr have become fair parks or built-up quarters!

  227. Read about how the ridges have been leveled and the sounds filled in!

  228. Read about how the kings' closed hunting park has become the people's dearest place of refuge!

  229. You shall make yourself at home here, Klement.

  230. This town does not belong only to the people of Stockholm.

  231. It belongs to you and to all of Sweden.

  232. 59

    And when you read about Stockholm, Klement, remember that I have spoken truly, and that it has the power to draw everyone to itself!

  233. First the king moved here, then the noble lords built their palaces here.

  234. Then one after another was drawn here, so that now, you see, Klement, Stockholm is no longer a town for itself or for the nearest district.

  235. It has become a town for the whole realm.

  236. 60

    You know, Klement, that assemblies are held in every parish, but in Stockholm a parliament is held for the whole people.

  237. You know that there are judges in every judicial district the country over, but in Stockholm there's a court that rules over all the others.

  238. You know that there are barracks and troops everywhere in the land, but in Stockholm sit those who command over the whole army.

  239. Everywhere in the land the railways run, but from Stockholm the whole great enterprise is managed.

  240. Here there is governance for priests, for teachers, for physicians, for bailiffs and sheriffs.

  241. Here is this country's center point, Klement.

  242. From here comes the money you carry in your pocket, and the stamps we put on our letters.

  243. From here comes something to every Swede, and here every Swede has something to attend to.

  244. Here no one need feel a stranger and long for home.

  245. Here every Swede is home.

  246. 61

    And when you read of everything that has gathered here to Stockholm, Klement, think also of the last thing it has drawn to itself!

  247. It is these old cottages at Skansen.

  248. It is old dances, old costumes, and old household things.

  249. It is fiddlers and storytellers.

  250. All that is good and old, Stockholm has drawn here to Skansen to honor it, and so that with new honor it shall rise up again out among the people.

  251. 62

    But first and last, Klement, remember that when you read about Stockholm, you shall sit here on this very spot!

  252. You shall see how the waves glitter in playful joy, and how the shores shimmer with beauty.

  253. You shall see to it that you come under the enchantment, Klement."

  254. 63

    The handsome old gentleman had raised his voice, so that it rang strong and mightily commanding, and his eyes flashed.

  255. Now he rose and went from Klement with a small motion of his hand.

  256. And Klement understood at once that the one who had spoken with him must be a great lord, and he bowed as deeply as he could after him.

  257. 64

    The next day a royal footman came with a large red book and a letter to Klement, and in the letter it said that the book was from the king.

  258. 65

    After this, the little old man Klement Larsson was as if dizzy in the head for several days, and it was almost impossible to get a sensible word out of him.

  259. When a week had passed, he went to the Doctor and gave notice.

  260. He had no choice but to go home.

  261. "Why must you go home?

  262. Can't you learn to be content here?" said the Doctor.

  263. — "Oh, I am content," said Klement, "that's no longer the trouble now, but I must go home all the same."

  264. 66

    Klement had been in a hard predicament, for the king had said that he should get to know Stockholm and be content there, but Klement could not rest until he had told the people back home that the king had said this to him.

  265. He could not do without standing on the church hill back home and telling high and low that the king had been so good to him that he had sat beside him on the same bench and sent him a book, and that he had given his time to talk with him, an old, poor fiddler, a whole hour, in order to cure him of his homesickness.

  266. It was a great thing to tell this here at Skansen to the Lapp men and the Dala girls, but what was that against being able to tell it back home?

  267. 67

    Even if Klement should end up in the poorhouse, it would not be so hard after this.

  268. He was quite another man now than before, and would be respected and honored in quite another way.

  269. 68

    And this new longing became too much for Klement.

  270. He had had to go up to the Doctor and say that he was forced to go home.

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.