The Wonderful Adventures of Nils 1732 Studios

Swedish · The Wonderful Adventures of Nils

I Medelpad

In Medelpad

108 sentences · 31 notes

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  1. 1

    The eagle and the boy were out in good time the next morning, and Gorgo felt sure that he would get far up into Västerbotten that day.

    Örnenthe eagleÖrnen · noun, nominative, common gender, singularsubject of voro
    ochandoch · conjunctionlinks the coordination
    pojkenboypojke · noun, nominative, common gender, singularcoordinated with Örnen
    vorowerevoro · verb, past, indicative, activemain verb of the sentence
    uteoutsideute · adverbmodifies morgon
    iini · prepositionpreposition marking tid
    godgoodgod · adjective, nominative, common gender, singularmodifies tid
    tidtimetid · noun, nominative, common gender, singularoblique complement of morgon
    nästanextnästa · adjective, nominativemodifies morgon
    morgonmorningmorgon · noun, nominative, common gender, singularoblique complement of voro
    ochandoch · conjunctionlinks the coordination
    GorgoGorgoGorgo · adjective, nominative, pluralsubject of tänkte

    Proper name (a wild goose/duck character) mistagged as an adjective.

    tänktethoughttänka · verb, past, indicative, activecoordinated with voro
    nogsurenog · adverbmodifies tänkte
    attthatatt · subordinating conjunctionintroduces the clause of hinna
    hanhehan · pronoun, nominative, common gender, singularsubject of hinna
    skullewouldskola · auxiliary verb, past, indicative, activeauxiliary of hinna
    hinnato have time tohinna · verb, active, infinitiveadverbial clause on tänkte
    långtfarlångt · adverbmodifies uppåt
    uppåtupwarduppåt · adverbmodifies hinna
    VästerbottenVästerbottenvästerbott · pronoun, accusative, common gender, singulardirect object of hinna
    denaen · determiner, common gender, singulardeterminer of dagen
    dagendaydag · noun, nominative, common gender, singularmodifies Västerbotten

  2. But as luck would have it, he heard the boy say to himself that in a land like the one he was flying over now, it was surely impossible for people to live.

  3. 2

    The land that lay beneath them was southern Medelpad, and there was nothing there at all but desolate forests.

  4. But when the eagle heard the boy's words, he called out at once: »Up here they have the forest for a field.»

  5. 3

    The boy thought about what a difference there was between the bright, golden rye fields with their slender stalks, which shot up in a single summer, and the dark evergreen forest with its solid trunks, which needed years to ripen into a harvest.

  6. »It takes a good deal of patience for whoever is to get his harvest in from a field like this one,» he said.

  7. 4

    No more was said until they came to a place where the forest had been felled, so that the ground was covered with nothing but stumps and cut-off brush twigs.

  8. As they flew on over the stump-covered ground, the eagle heard the boy say to himself that this was a rather ugly and poor place.

  9. 5

    »That is a field that was mown last winter,» the eagle called out at once.

  10. 6

    The boy thought about how the harvesters in his own district drove out on their reaping machines in the beautiful, bright summer mornings and in a short time mowed down a whole large field.

  11. But the forest-field was harvested in winter.

  12. The timber-cutters went out into the wilderness, where the snow lay deep and the cold was at its harshest.

  13. It was hard work just to fell a single tree, and to clear a stretch of forest as large as this one, they must surely have had to camp out in the woods for several weeks.

  14. »They must be capable people, who can mow down a field like this one,» he said.

  15. 7

    When the eagle had made a couple of wingbeats, they caught sight of a small hut that lay at the edge of the stump-covered ground.

  16. It was built of coarse, unbarked logs, was without windows, and had only a couple of loose boards for a door.

  17. The roof had once been covered with bark and twigs, but it had now fallen apart, so that the boy could see that inside the hut there were only a few large stones that had served as a hearth, and a couple of wide wooden benches.

  18. As they flew on over the hut, the eagle heard the boy wonder who could have lived in such a wretched cabin.

  19. 8

    »The harvesters who have mowed the forest-field have lived here,» the eagle called out at once.

  20. 9

    The boy thought about how the harvest folk back home in his district returned from work happy and cheerful, and how the best that mother kept in the pantry was heaped up for them.

  21. Here, after the hard work, they would have to go to rest on hard benches in a hut that was worse than an outhouse.

  22. And what they got to eat, that he simply could not fathom.

  23. »I'm afraid there are no harvest-feasts held for these workers,» he said.

  24. 10

    A little further on they saw below them a dreadfully wretched road that wound through the forest.

  25. It was narrow and crooked, hilly and winding, stony and rutted, and cut through by streams in several places.

  26. As they flew on over the forest road, the eagle heard the boy wonder what could have been hauled along such a road.

  27. 11

    »It is along this road that the harvest has been carried to the stack,» said the eagle.

  28. 12

    Again the boy thought of what a merry life it was back home, when the great harvest wagons, drawn by two strong horses, hauled the grain away from the field.

  29. The man who was driving sat proudly on top of the load, the horses pranced and showed off, and the village children, who had been given leave to climb up on the sheaves, sat there shouting and laughing, half delighted and half frightened.

  30. But here heavy logs were hauled down and up steep, plunging slopes.

  31. The horse must have been all but torn apart, and the driver surely felt himself in despair many a time.

  32. »I'm afraid there hasn't been much merriment heard along this road,» said the boy.

  33. 13

    The eagle swung himself forward with mighty wingbeats, and after a little while they came to a riverbank.

  34. Here they saw a spot that was entirely covered with wood shavings, chips, and bark.

  35. The eagle heard the boy wonder why it looked so littered down there.

  36. 14

    »It is here that the harvest has been stacked,» the eagle called out.

  37. 15

    The boy thought about how the grain-stacks in his district were set up close by the farmhouses, as if they were their finest ornament.

  38. Here the harvest was hauled down to a desolate riverbank and left there.

  39. »I wonder if anyone comes out here into the wilderness, counts his stacks, and compares them with his neighbor's,» he said.

  40. 16

    A little while later they reached the great river Ljungan, which flowed through a broad valley.

  41. At once everything was so changed that they could believe themselves to have come to another country.

  42. The dark evergreen forest had stayed behind on the slopes above the valley, and the hillsides were clothed with pale-trunked birches and aspens.

  43. The valley was so broad that the river, in many places, could widen out into lakes.

  44. Along the banks lay a large, rich countryside with splendid, well-built farms.

  45. As they flew on over the valley, the eagle heard the boy wonder how the meadows and fields that were there could possibly suffice for so large a population.

  46. 17

    »Here live the harvest folk who mow down the forest-field,» the eagle called out.

  47. 18

    The boy thought of the low cottages and the enclosed farmyards of Skåne.

  48. Here the farmers lived in veritable manor houses.

  49. »It looks as though it must pay to work in the forest,» he said.

  50. 19

    The eagle had intended to fly straight north, but when he had gone some distance out over the river, he heard the boy wondering who took care of the timber once it had been piled up at the riverbank.

  51. Then Gorgo swung about and flew eastward down along the Ljungan.

  52. »It is the river that takes care of it and carries it to the mill,» he called out.

  53. 20

    The boy thought about how careful they were back home that not a single grain should be spilled and lost.

  54. Here now great masses of timber came floating down the river, without anyone troubling to look after them.

  55. He could not believe that more than half of the logs arrived where they were supposed to.

  56. Some floated in the middle of the current, and for them everything went well, but others traveled along the shore, and they struck against headlands or were left lying in the still water of the coves.

  57. In the lakes the logs gathered in such quantity that they covered their entire surface.

  58. There they seemed to lie resting for however long they pleased.

  59. At the bridges they got stuck; at the waterfalls it happened that they were snapped clean in two; in the rapids they stopped in front of the rocks and built themselves up into tall, tottering piles.

  60. »I really do wonder how long this harvest needs to reach the mill,» said the boy.

  61. 21

    The eagle kept on slowly flying down along the Ljungan.

  62. Over many places he held himself still with outspread wings, so that the boy would have time to see how this kind of harvest work was carried out.

  63. 22

    After a while they came to a place where the log-drivers were working.

  64. And the eagle heard the boy wondering to himself what sort of people these were, running along the banks.

  65. 23

    »Those are the ones who look after all the harvest that has been delayed along the way,» the eagle called out.

  66. 24

    The boy thought about how calmly and peacefully people carried their grain to the mill back home.

  67. Here men ran along the riverbank with long boat-hooks in their hands, and with toil and trouble they helped set the timber right.

  68. They waded out into the water by the shore, so that they got wet from head to toe.

  69. They leapt from rock to rock far out in the rapids; they walked about on the rocking heaps of timber as calmly as if they had been walking on flat ground.

  70. They were bold and resourceful people.

  71. »When I see this, I must think of the smiths in Bergslagen, who handled fire as though it were altogether harmless,» said the boy.

  72. »These log-drivers play with the water as though they were its masters.

  73. They seem to have tamed it, so that it doesn't dare harm them.»

  74. 25

    Little by little they had drawn near to the river's mouth, and the Gulf of Bothnia lay before them.

  75. But Gorgo did not go on straight ahead; instead he flew north along the coast.

  76. He had not flown far before they saw below them a sawmill as large as a small town.

  77. As the eagle circled back and forth above it, he heard the boy say to himself that this was a fine, large, and splendid place.

  78. 26

    »Here you have the great timber mill that is called Svartvik,» the eagle called out.

  79. 27

    The boy thought of the windmills back home in his district, which lay so peacefully nestled in greenery and turned their sails so slowly.

  80. This mill, where the forest-harvest was to be ground, lay close by the coast.

  81. On the water in front of it swam a great many logs, which one after another were dragged with iron chains up a sloping ramp into a building that resembled a great barn.

  82. What happened to them in there the boy could not see, but he heard a loud rattling and roaring, and from the other side of the building small wagons came running out, loaded full with white planks.

  83. The wagons ran on shining rails away to the lumberyard, where the planks were stacked up in piles that formed streets, just like the houses in a town.

  84. In one spot new piles were being built up, in another the old ones were being taken down, and the planks were carried on board a couple of great ships that lay waiting for cargo.

  85. The place was swarming full of workers, and behind the lumberyard, up toward the forest, lay their dwellings.

  86. »Here they work so hard that they must mean to saw up all the forest in Medelpad,» said the boy.

  87. 28

    The eagle stirred his wings a little, and at once they saw a new large sawmill, much like the previous one, with sawhouse, lumberyard, loading dock, and workers' dwellings.

  88. 29

    »Here you have another of the great mills.

  89. It is called Kubikenborg,» the eagle called out.

  90. 30

    »I see that more harvest comes out of the forest than I could have believed,» said the boy.

  91. »But now surely there's an end to the timber mills.»

  92. 31

    The eagle moved his wings slowly, flew past yet another couple of sawmills, and came to a large city.

  93. When the eagle heard the boy wondering what city this was, he called out: »This is Sundsvall.

  94. It is the chief seat of the timber country.»

  95. 32

    The boy thought of the towns down in Skåne, which looked so gray and old and solemn.

  96. Up here in the raw north, the town of Sundsvall lay deep within a beautiful bay and looked new and cheerful and radiant.

  97. There was something especially amusing about it when seen from above, for in the middle stood a cluster of tall stone houses, so splendid that there was hardly their equal in Stockholm.

  98. Around the stone houses was an empty space, and then followed a ring of wooden houses, which lay pleasant and cheerful in their small gardens, but which seemed to know themselves to be far inferior to the stone houses, and dared not venture near them.

  99. »This must be both a rich and a mighty city,» he said.

  100. »Can it be possible that it is the poor forest land that gives rise to all this?»

  101. 33

    The eagle stirred his wings and flew across to Alnön, which lay opposite Sundsvall.

  102. Here the boy fell into the greatest astonishment at all the sawmills that lined the shores.

  103. They stood on Alnön one beside another, and they stood on the mainland opposite, mill after mill, lumberyard after lumberyard.

  104. He counted at least to forty, but he believed there were surely even more.

  105. »It is truly wonderful that it can look like this up here,» he said.

  106. »Such life and such bustle I have not seen anywhere else during the whole journey.

  107. It is a remarkable country that we have.

  108. Wherever I go, there is always something for people to live on.»

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
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Two whoopie pies and a pine. An inside joke.