The Wonderful Adventures of Nils 1732 Studios

Swedish · The Wonderful Adventures of Nils

Mot söder! Mot söder!

South! South!

232 sentences · 21 notes

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  1. 1

    The boy sat on the white gander's back and rode along high up in the sky.

    Pojkenboypojke · noun, nominative, common gender, singularsubject of satt
    sattsatsitta · verb, past, indicative, activemain verb of the sentence
    påonpå · prepositiondepends on satt
    denaen · determiner, common gender, singulardeterminer of gåskarlens
    vitawhitevit · adjective, nominative, singularmodifies gåskarlens
    gåskarlensgander'sgåskarl · noun, genitive, common gender, singularpossessor of rygg
    ryggbackrygg · noun, nominative, common gender, singularoblique complement of satt
    ochandoch · conjunctionlinks the coordination
    redrodered · proper noun, nominativecoordinated with rygg

    Past tense of 'rida' (to ride), mistagged as a proper noun.

    framforwardfram · adverbmodifies högt
    högthighhög · adverbmodifies red

    this type bundles the positive, comparative, and superlative degree forms (högt, högre, högst) under one entry.

    uppeup highuppe · adverbmodifies satt
    iini · prepositionpreposition marking skyn
    skynthe skyskyn · nounoblique complement of satt

  2. Thirty-one wild geese flew in orderly formation swiftly toward the south.

  3. It roared in the feathers, and the many wings whipped the air with such a whine that one could hardly hear one's own voice.

  4. Akka from Kebnekaise flew at the head, and after her followed Yksi and Kaksi, Kolme and Neljä, Viisi and Kuusi, Morten Goosey-Gander and Dunfin.

  5. The six young geese who had accompanied the flock the previous autumn had now left it to fend for themselves.

  6. Instead the old geese brought with them twenty-two goslings, who had grown up in the mountain valley that summer.

  7. Eleven flew to the right and eleven to the left, and they did their best to keep even distances from one another just like the grown ones.

  8. 2

    The poor young ones had never before made a long journey, and at first they had trouble keeping up with the swift flight.

  9. "Akka from Kebnekaise! Akka from Kebnekaise!" they cried in a pitiful tone.

  10. —"What's the matter?" asked the leader-goose.

  11. —"Our wings are too tired to move. Our wings are too tired to move," screamed the young ones.

  12. —"It gets better the longer you keep at it," answered the leader-goose, and she did not slacken her pace in the least, but continued as before.

  13. And it really seemed as if she would be proved right in what she had said, for once the goslings had flown a couple of hours, they no longer complained of tiredness.

  14. But in the mountain valley they had been used to eating all day long, and it was not long before they began to long for food.

  15. 3

    "Akka, Akka, Akka from Kebnekaise!" cried the young geese in a pitiful voice.

  16. —"What's the matter now?" asked the leader-goose.

  17. —"We are so hungry that we can't manage to fly any longer," screamed the young ones. "We are so hungry that we can't manage to fly any longer."

  18. —"Wild geese must learn to eat air and drink wind," answered the leader-goose, and she made no halt at all, but continued as before.

  19. 4

    It almost seemed as if the young ones had learned to live on air and wind, for once they had flown a while, they no longer complained of hunger.

  20. The wild goose flock was still up among the mountains, and the old geese called out the names of every peak they passed, so that the young ones might learn what they were called.

  21. But when they had gone on a while calling, "This is Porsotjokko, this is Sarjektjokko, this is Sulitelma," the young ones grew impatient again.

  22. 5

    "Akka, Akka, Akka!" they cried in a heart-rending voice.

  23. —"What's the matter?" asked the leader-goose.

  24. —"We have no room for more names in our heads," screamed the young ones. "We have no room for more names in our heads."

  25. —"The more that goes into a head, the more room there gets to be," answered the leader-goose, and she went on calling out the remarkable names in just the same way.

  26. 6

    The boy thought to himself that it was high time the wild geese set off toward the south, for so much snow had fallen that the ground lay white as far as he could see.

  27. Nor could it be denied that they had had rather a rough time of it in the mountain valley of late.

  28. Rain and storm and fog had followed one another without a break, and whenever it had cleared for a moment, it had at once turned bitterly cold.

  29. The berries and mushrooms the boy had lived on through the summer had frozen or rotted, so that in the end he had been forced to eat raw fish, and he disliked that very much.

  30. The days had grown short, and it had all been slow and tedious through the long evenings and the late mornings for one who was not able to sleep exactly as long as the sun was gone from the sky.

  31. 7

    Now at last the goslings had gotten their wings fully grown, so that the journey south had been able to begin, and the boy was so glad that he both laughed and sang as he rode on the goose's back.

  32. For it was not only because it was dark and cold and food was scarce that he longed to leave Lapland, but it was for something else too.

  33. 8

    During the first weeks he had spent there, he had certainly not longed to leave.

  34. He had thought he had never been in so beautiful and glorious a land, and he had had no other troubles than keeping the swarms of mosquitoes from eating him up.

  35. The boy had not had much company from Morten Goosey-Gander, for the big white one thought only of watching over Dunfin and did not stir a step from her side.

  36. But instead he had kept to old Akka and to Gorgo the eagle, and the three of them had passed many happy hours together.

  37. The birds had taken him with them on long journeys.

  38. The boy had stood on the summit of snow-clad Kebnekaise and looked down on the glaciers spreading out beneath the steep, white cone, and he had visited many other high mountains that had not often, if ever, been trodden by human feet.

  39. Akka had shown him hidden valleys among the mountains and let him look down into rock-hollows where the she-wolves raised their young.

  40. It was likewise certain that he had made the acquaintance of the tame reindeer, which grazed in great herds on the shore of beautiful Lake Torneträsk, and that he had been down at Stora Sjöfallet and greeted the bears living in that region from their kinsmen in Bergslagen.

  41. Wherever he had gone, it had been grand and stately country.

  42. He was very glad to have seen it, but he had not exactly wished to live there.

  43. He had to admit that Akka was right when she said that this land the Swedish settlers might well leave in peace and hand over to the bears and the wolves and the reindeer and the wild geese and

  44. 9

    the snowy owls and the lemmings and the Lapps, who were made to live there.

  45. 10

    One day Akka had taken him to one of the great mining towns, and there he had found little Mats lying shot outside a mine opening.

  46. For the following days the boy had thought of nothing but helping poor Åsa the goose-girl, but once she had found her father again, so that he no longer needed to do anything for her, he had preferred to stay home in the mountain valley.

  47. Ever since then he had gone about longing for the day when he would get to travel home with Morten Goosey-Gander and become human again.

  48. He very much wanted to become the kind of person again that Åsa the goose-girl would dare speak to, and not slam the door in his face.

  49. 11

    Yes, he was very happy now that they were finally off toward the south.

  50. He waved his cap and shouted hurrah when he caught sight of the first spruce forest, and in the same way he greeted the first gray settler's cabin, the first goat, the first cat, and the first hens.

  51. He passed over magnificent waterfalls, and to his right he saw fine mountains, but he was by now so used to such things that he scarcely bothered to look at them.

  52. It was a different matter when, just east of the mountains, he caught sight of Kvikkjokk chapel with its little parsonage and its little church village.

  53. He thought it was so beautiful that tears came to his eyes.

  54. 12

    Continually they met migratory birds, who now came flying in much larger flocks than in the spring.

  55. "Where are you bound for, wild geese?" cried the migratory birds. "Where are you bound for?"

  56. —"We're bound for foreign lands, we as well as you," answered the wild geese. "We're bound for foreign lands."

  57. —"Your young ones aren't fit to fly yet," cried the others. "They'll never get across the sea with such tender wings."

  58. 13

    The Lapps and the reindeer were also busy moving down from the mountains.

  59. They traveled in good order: a Lapp walked at the head of the train, then came the herd with the big bulls in the front ranks, then a row of pack-reindeer carrying the Lapps' tents and baggage, and last of all seven or eight people.

  60. When the wild geese saw the reindeer, they swooped down and cried, "Now our thanks to you for the summer! Now our thanks to you for the summer!"

  61. —"A safe journey, and welcome back!" answered the reindeer.

  62. 14

    But when the bears saw the wild geese, they pointed them out to their cubs and growled, "Look at those, who are so afraid of a little cold that they don't dare stay home in winter!"

  63. And the old wild geese did not fail to answer them, but called to their goslings, "Look at those, who would rather lie asleep half the year than take the trouble to travel south!"

  64. 15

    Down in the spruce forests the young capercaillies sat huddled together, moulting and shivering, watching all the great flocks of birds that in joy and gladness were passing south.

  65. "When will it be our turn?" they asked the capercaillie hen. "When will it be our turn?"

  66. —"You'll just have to stay home with mother and father," said the capercaillie hen. "You'll just have to stay home with mother and father."

  67. 16

    Anyone who has traveled in mountain country knows well enough how troublesome the fogs can be, rolling in and blotting out the view, so that one cannot see anything at all of the beautiful high mountains rising all around.

  68. One can run into fog in the middle of summer, and in autumn it can be said that it is scarcely possible to avoid it.

  69. As for Nils Holgersson, he had had good enough weather as long as he remained in Lapland, but the wild geese hardly had time to call out that they were now entering Jämtland before the fog thickened around him, so that he could not see anything of the land.

  70. He traveled over it a whole day without knowing whether it was a mountain country or a plain country that he had come to.

  71. 17

    Toward evening the wild geese settled down on a green spot that sloped away on every side, so that he understood he was on the top of a hill, but whether it was large or small he could not make out.

  72. He believed they must be in inhabited country, for he thought he heard both human voices and the creaking of vehicles rolling along a road, but he was not certain of this either.

  73. 18

    He would very much have liked to find his way to some farm, but he was afraid of getting lost in the fog and dared not do anything but stay with the wild geese.

  74. Everything was dripping wet and damp.

  75. Little drops hung on every blade of grass and on every small herb, so that he got a real shower of rain over him the moment he stirred.

  76. "This is not much better than up in the mountain valley," he thought.

  77. 19

    But he ventured to take a couple of steps, and now he glimpsed a building close in front of him.

  78. It was not especially large, but it was many storeys high.

  79. He could not see the top of it.

  80. The door was shut, and the whole house seemed to be uninhabited.

  81. He understood that it was nothing else than a lookout tower, and that he could get neither food nor warmth there.

  82. But he hurried back to the wild geese with all speed just the same.

  83. "Dear Morten Goosey-Gander," he said, "take me on your back and carry me up to the top of the tower over there!

  84. It's so wet here that I can't sleep, but up there I'm sure to find a dry place to lie down."

  85. 20

    Morten Goosey-Gander was at once willing to help him.

  86. He left him on the tower balcony, and there the boy lay sleeping peacefully until the morning sun woke him.

  87. 21

    But when he now opened his eyes and looked around, at first he could neither make out what he saw nor where he was.

  88. He had once, at a fair, gone into a tent and seen an enormous circular painting, and he now felt as if he were standing again in the middle of just such a great, round tent, one that had a fine red roof, while the walls and the floor were painted to show a beautiful, wide-stretching landscape with great villages and churches, fields and roads, a railway and even a town.

  89. He soon noticed enough that it was not so, but that he was standing on top of a lookout tower, with the red morning sky above him and real country all around him.

  90. But he was now so unused to seeing anything but wilderness that it was not strange he had taken this, which he now saw and which was a real, great settled country, for nothing more than a painting.

  91. 22

    There was also something else that had caused the boy not to believe that what he saw was real, and that was that nothing had its true and proper color.

  92. The lookout tower where he stood was set on a mountain, the mountain stood on an island, and the island lay near the eastern shore of a large lake.

  93. But this lake was not gray, as lakes usually are, but over a great part of its surface it was as pink as the morning sky, while into the deep bays it gleamed almost black.

  94. The shores around the lake, in turn, were not green, but shone pale yellow thanks to all the mown fields and the yellowed deciduous forest covering them.

  95. Around the yellow there followed a broad belt of black coniferous forest.

  96. Perhaps it was because the deciduous forest had grown lighter, but the boy thought the coniferous forest had never looked so dark as it did this morning.

  97. Beyond the black, pale blue hills could be seen in the east, but all along the western edge of sight ran a long, shimmering arc of jagged, many-shaped mountains, bearing a color so lovely and soft and radiant that he could not call it red, nor white, nor blue.

  98. There was no name for it.

  99. 23

    But the boy turned his gaze from the mountains and the coniferous forest to look more closely at his nearest surroundings.

  100. Around the lake, in the yellow belt, he made out one red village and one white church after another, and straight to the east, on the far side of the narrow strait that separated the island from the mainland, he saw a town.

  101. It spread out along the lakeshore, a mountain stood behind and sheltered it, and all around it lay a rich and well-populated countryside.

  102. "That town certainly knew how to get itself a good position," thought the boy. "I wonder what it might be called."

  103. 24

    At that moment he gave a start and looked around.

  104. He had been so absorbed in looking at the countryside that he had not noticed that visitors had come to the lookout tower.

  105. 25

    They were now running up the stairs at a good pace.

  106. The boy just barely had time to look about for a hiding place and tuck himself away there before they were up.

  107. 26

    They were young people out on a walking tour.

  108. They talked about how they had wandered through the whole of Jämtland.

  109. They were glad they had come to Östersund just the evening before, so that they got to see the great view from Östberget here on Frösön on this clear morning.

  110. Here they could see more than twenty miles in every direction, so that they got a last overview of the whole of their beloved Jämtland before they were to travel away from it.

  111. They pointed out to one another the many churches lying around the lake.

  112. "Down there we have Sunne," they said, "and there lies Marby, and over there lies Hallen.

  113. The one you see due north is Rödön church, and the one rising here beneath us is Frösön church."

  114. Then they began to talk about the mountains.

  115. The nearest were the Ovik mountains.

  116. About that they all agreed.

  117. But then they began to wonder which one might be Klövsjöfjället, and which peak was Anarisfjället, and where Västerfjället and Almåsaberget and Åreskutan lay.

  118. 27

    While they talked about this, a young girl took out a map, spread it on her knee, and began to study it.

  119. Suddenly she looked up.

  120. "When I see Jämtland like this on a map," she said, "I think it looks like one great, proud mountain.

  121. I always expect to hear a story that it once stood upright and pointed straight up at the sky."

  122. —"That would certainly have been a mighty mountain, that," said one of the others, laughing at her.

  123. —"Yes, and that's probably why it was toppled over.

  124. But just look for yourself whether it isn't like a real high mountain, with a broad foot and a pointed summit!"

  125. —"It doesn't suit such a mountain country badly to look like a mountain itself," said one of the other tourists.

  126. "But although I have heard other tales about

  127. 28

    Jämtland, I have never...

  128. —"Have you heard tales about Jämtland?" cried the young girl, not even giving him time to finish speaking.

  129. "Then you must tell them at once.

  130. It could never suit better than up here, where you can see the whole country."

  131. 29

    All the others agreed with her, and their companion did not have to be asked twice, but began at once.

  132. 30

    THE TALE OF JÄMTLAND.

  133. 31

    In the days when there were still giants in Jämtland, it happened once that an old mountain giant stood in the yard outside his dwelling grooming his horses.

  134. Just as he was busy with this, he noticed that the horses began to tremble with fear.

  135. "What's wrong with you, my horses?" said the giant, and looked around to find out what it was that had frightened the animals.

  136. He could discover neither bears nor wolves anywhere nearby.

  137. The only thing he noticed was a traveler, who was not nearly so big and stout as he himself, but who was nonetheless fairly tall and seemed to have good bodily strength, climbing up the path that led to his mountain cabin.

  138. 32

    No sooner had the old mountain giant caught sight of the traveler than he began to tremble from head to foot in just the same way as the horses.

  139. He did not take time to finish his work, but hurried into the great room to the giantess, who sat spinning tow on a distaff.

  140. 33

    "What's the matter?" said his wife. "You're as pale as a snow-covered mountain."

  141. —"Shouldn't I be pale?" said the giant. "There's a traveler coming up the road who's as surely Asa-Thor as you are my wife."

  142. —"Well, that's no welcome guest," said the giant's wife. "Can't you cast a spell on his sight, so that he takes the whole farm for a mountain and passes our door by?"

  143. —"It's too late to work that piece of magic," answered the giant. "I can hear him pushing open the gate and stepping into the yard."

  144. —"Then my advice is that you keep out of the way and let me receive him alone," said the giantess briskly. "I'll try to arrange things so that he won't be in such a hurry to come calling on us again."

  145. 34

    This seemed to the giant an exceedingly good plan.

  146. He went into the little chamber, while his wife stayed sitting on the women's bench in the great room, spinning as calmly as if she knew of no danger at all.

  147. 35

    Now it should be noted that in those days Jämtland looked entirely different from how it looks in our own.

  148. The whole country was nothing but a great, flat expanse of rock, lying so bare and stripped that not even spruce forest could grow on it.

  149. There was no lake, no river, no soil where a plow could pass.

  150. Not even the mountains and mountain-masses that now lie scattered over the land existed there then, but they all stood ranged far away in the west.

  151. Human beings could not live anywhere within the whole wide area, but the giants thrived there all the better for it.

  152. It was probably not without their will and doing that the land lay so desolate and inhospitable, and it was surely with good reason that the mountain giant felt uneasy when he saw Asa-Thor approaching his cabin.

  153. He knew that the gods did not love those who spread cold, darkness, and desolation about them and kept the earth from becoming rich, fertile, and adorned with human dwellings.

  154. 36

    The giantess did not need to wait long before firm footsteps were heard in the yard, and the same traveler the giant had seen on the road flung open the door and stepped into the cabin.

  155. The stranger did not stop at the door, as travelers usually did, but went straight toward the woman, who sat by the gable wall farthest away in the room.

  156. But with that walk it happened that when he thought he had been walking for a good while, he had come only a little way from the door and still had far to go to the hearth, which lay in the middle of the room.

  157. He lengthened his stride, but when he had walked a further while, it seemed to him as if both the hearth and the giantess were farther from him than when he had first come into the room.

  158. The cabin had not, at first, seemed to him especially large.

  159. He only truly understood how vast it was once he had at last come as far as the hearth, for by then he was so tired that he had to lean on his staff to rest.

  160. When the giantess saw that he had stopped, she laid down her distaff, rose from the bench, and in a few steps was at his side.

  161. "We giants like large cabins," she said, "and my husband is always complaining that it's cramped in here.

  162. But I can understand that it must be wearisome to walk through a giant's cabin for one who can't take longer strides than you.

  163. Now tell me who you are, and what you seek among the giants!"

  164. It looked as if the traveler had meant to give a sharp answer, but he surely did not wish to start a quarrel with a woman, and instead he answered quite calmly:

  165. "My name is Handfaste, and I am a champion who has taken part in many adventures.

  166. This past year I have sat at home on my farm, and I had just begun to wonder whether there would never again be anything for me to do, when I heard people saying that you giants take such poor care of the land up here that no one but yourselves can live in it.

  167. I have now come here to speak with your husband about this matter and ask whether he will not see to it that better order is made here."

  168. 37

    "My husband has gone hunting," said the giantess, "and he can answer your questions himself when he comes home.

  169. But I will tell you that one who dares put such questions to a mountain giant ought to be a bigger man than you.

  170. It would surely be best for your honor if you went your way at once without meeting the giant."

  171. —"I'll certainly wait for him, now that I've come this far," said the one who called himself Handfaste.

  172. —"I've advised you as best I know how," said the mistress of the house, "now you must follow your own will.

  173. Sit down here on the bench, and I'll go and fetch you a welcome drink!"

  174. 38

    The woman now took an enormous mead-horn and went to the innermost corner of the room, where the mead-cask lay.

  175. This too did not seem especially large to the guest, but when the woman pulled out the spigot, the mead came crashing down into the horn with a roar, as if an entire waterfall had come into the room.

  176. The horn was soon filled, and the mistress of the house tried to put the spigot back in the cask.

  177. But she did not succeed.

  178. The mead surged forth with force, flung the spigot out of her hand, and streamed down onto the floor.

  179. The giantess made a fresh attempt to put in the spigot, but again failed.

  180. Then she called the stranger to help her.

  181. "You see the mead is running away from me, Handfaste. Come here and put the spigot in the cask!"

  182. The guest hurried at once to help.

  183. He took the spigot and tried to force it into the hole, but the mead shot it out again, threw it far across the room, and went on flooding the floor.

  184. 39

    Time after time Handfaste made the attempt again, but he could not manage it, and he threw the spigot from him.

  185. The whole floor now stood covered with mead, and to make it more bearable in the cabin, the stranger set about tracing deep furrows where the mead could flow.

  186. He made channels for the mead in the hard rock slabs, just as children in springtime make channels in the sand for the snow-water, and here and there he stamped with his foot deep hollows where the liquid could collect.

  187. The giantess stood silent all the while, and had the guest glanced up at her, he would surely have seen that she watched the work with astonishment and dread.

  188. But once he was finished, she said in a mocking voice, "I thank you, Handfaste.

  189. I see that you do as well as you can.

  190. My husband usually helps me put in the spigot.

  191. It's not to be expected that everyone should have his strength, but since you can't manage this, it seems to me best that you set off on your way at once."

  192. —"I won't leave until I've delivered my errand," said the stranger, though he looked ashamed and downcast.

  193. —"Then sit yourself down there on the bench," said the woman, "and I'll put the pot on the fire and cook you some porridge!"

  194. 40

    The mistress of the house did as she had said.

  195. But when the porridge was almost ready, she turned to the guest.

  196. "Now I notice the meal is running low, so I can't get the porridge thick enough.

  197. Would you have the strength to turn the mill standing beside you a couple of turns?

  198. There's grain between the stones.

  199. But you'll have to use all your strength, for the mill doesn't turn easily."

  200. 41

    The guest did not need to be asked twice, but tried to turn the hand-mill.

  201. It did not seem to him especially large, but when he took hold of the handle and tried to turn the stone around, it went so stiffly that he could not budge it.

  202. He had to use all his strength and still could not manage to turn it more than one revolution.

  203. 42

    The giantess watched in astonished silence all the while he worked.

  204. But when he left the mill, she said, "I usually get better help from my husband when the mill won't turn.

  205. But no one can ask you to do more than you have the strength for.

  206. Don't you see for yourself now that it would be best for you to avoid meeting the one who can grind as much as he likes on this mill?"

  207. —"I still think I'd rather wait for him," said Handfaste, speaking quite low and meekly now.

  208. —"Then sit quietly over there on the bench while I make ready a good bed for you," said the giantess, "for you'll likely be forced to stay the night here!"

  209. 43

    She made up the bed with many bolsters and cushions and wished her guest a good night's sleep.

  210. "I'm afraid you'll find the bed rather hard," she said, "but my husband rests on just such a bed every night."

  211. 44

    When Handfaste tried to stretch out on the bed, he felt so many lumps and unevenness beneath him that there was no thought of sleeping.

  212. He tried turning and shifting himself, but could not find any comfort in the bed.

  213. So he set about throwing out the bedclothes, a cushion here and a bolster there, and after that he slept peacefully right through until morning.

  214. 45

    But when the sun shone in through the roof-hole, he rose and left the giants' dwelling.

  215. He walked across the farmyard, out through the gate, and shut it again behind him.

  216. At once the giantess stood beside him.

  217. "I see you mean to be on your way, Handfaste," she said. "That was surely your best course, too."

  218. —"If your husband can sleep on such a bed as you made up for me last night," said Handfaste sullenly, "then I don't want to meet him.

  219. He must be a man of iron, whom no one can get the better of."

  220. 46

    The giantess stood leaning against the gate.

  221. "Now that you're outside my farm, Handfaste," she said, "I want to tell you that your journey up here to us giants has not been so little to your credit as you yourself seem to believe.

  222. It was no wonder that you found the way through our cabin long, for it was the whole expanse of rock called Jämtland that you walked across.

  223. Nor was it remarkable that you had trouble putting the spigot in the cask, for it was all the water rushing down from the snow-mountains that streamed against you.

  224. And when you led the water across our cabin floor, you created the furrows and hollows that are now rivers and lakes.

  225. It was no small proof of strength you gave when you turned the mill one revolution, for between the stones lay not grain but limestone and slate, and with that single turn you ground so much that the whole expanse of rock has become covered with good, fertile soil.

  226. That you could not lie in the bed I had made up for you does not surprise me either, for I had made it up with great, jagged mountain peaks.

  227. These you have now thrown out over half the country, and perhaps people will not be as grateful for this as for the other things you have done.

  228. I now bid you farewell, and I promise you that my husband and I will move away from here to a place where you cannot so easily come and call on us."

  229. 47

    The traveler heard all this with growing anger, and when the giantess had finished speaking, he reached for a hammer he carried in his belt.

  230. But before he had even managed to lift it, the woman had vanished, and where the giants' farm had stood there was nothing to be seen but a gray mountain wall.

  231. But what remained was the mighty rivers and lakes he had made room for on the rocky expanse, and the fertile soil he had crumbled into being.

  232. There remained too the glorious mountains that give Jämtland its beauty, and that grant to all who visit them strength, health, joy, courage, and zest for life, so that none of Asa-Thor's feats seems more splendid than the one he performed when he flung out the mountain masses, all the way from the Frostviken mountains in the north to Helagsfjället in the south, all the way from the Ovik mountains just beyond Storsjön to the Sylarna at the national border.

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.
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Every word of the text, by letter.
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Two whoopie pies and a pine. An inside joke.