I had to meet short little Nils Holgersson and his goose squadron three times. In the sense of getting to know each other again. The first acquaintance, of course, was the wonderful 1955 Soviet cartoon “The Enchanted Boy.”
Next in line was a translation of the fairy tale, or rather, not a translation, but a free retelling made by Z. Zadunaiskaya and A. Lyubarskaya. I learned about how free he was when I was already an adult, when I finally got my hands on the full version of the book translated by L. Braude. The question immediately arose: how many children do we have who can master this version, where at every step we have to wade through detailed descriptions of Swedish provinces, local realities and natural sketches? Why does the favorite fairy tale of Swedish children turn out to be so heavy for our children? The reasons for this are directly related to the history of the book’s creation...
A teacher becomes a writer
The dream of becoming a writer haunted the Swedish girl Selma Ottilia Luvisa Lagerlöf (b. 11/20/1858) from the age of seven. The development of her wild imagination was facilitated by circumstances that were not of the most pleasant nature. From the age of 3, Selma was paralyzed, and, bedridden, the girl could spend hours listening to fairy tales told by her beloved grandmother.
And then an event occurred in Selma’s life that was quite comparable to a fairy tale. At the age of nine she was sent to Stockholm for treatment. And the capital’s doctors manage to do the impossible - the girl began to walk again, although she had been limping for the rest of her life.
Writing, as we know, is an unreliable business, so Selma graduated from a pedagogical school and began working at a girls’ school in Landskrona. In 1885, grief overtook her again - not just one, but two. The beloved father died, and the family estate of the Lagerlöf family - Morbakka - was immediately sold for debts.
Oddly enough, it was a childhood dream that helped improve the teacher’s financial well-being. In 1891, she took part in a literary competition and wrote the novel “The Saga of Göst Berlige.” The romantic work sounded so fresh against the backdrop of the dominance of the realistic style that “Saga” quickly won the love of readers and enthusiastic praise from critics. Just five years later, Selma felt wealthy enough to quit teaching and devote herself entirely to creativity. However, she was also tormented by doubts.
Selma Lagerlof:
“I moved forward too quickly. I don’t know if I can maintain my place in literature, let alone go further.”
However, the real triumph of the writer was yet to come...
The textbook becomes a fairy tale
“...suddenly the boy clearly imagined his school. …He,
Nils, standing at the geographical map and must answer
to some questions about Blekinge. Time passes, but he is silent.
The teacher's face darkens. For some reason he would like
the students knew geography better than all other subjects.”
(S. Lagerlöf “The Amazing Journey of Nils...”)
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the head of the General Union of Public School Teachers, Alfred Dalin, initiated a bold pedagogical experiment. He thought: what if we created school textbooks not in the usual dry style, but similar to fascinating literary works?
According to the plan, each textbook was to be written by two people: the writer himself and a specialist in the subject. It is not surprising that among the first applicants capable of realizing this difficult idea was Selma Lagerlöf. She was both a teacher and a writer in one, so she immediately refused to collaborate.
Selma Lagerlöf:
“If I take on some work, then I should feel the full extent of responsibility for it.
...Mentally I asked myself a question: what should a child know first of all, what should he have a fresh, vivid idea about? And the answer, of course, suggested itself: the first thing the kids should learn is their own country.”
In a word, the writer took up a textbook on Swedish geography. However, she did not refuse outside help. The same Alfred Dahlin sent out questionnaires to different parts of Sweden in order to obtain interesting local material on ethnography and folklore. Work on the book began in 1904, and at first progress was difficult.
From letters from Lagerlöf to Dahlin:
“Until now, working on the textbook has perhaps only convinced me of how little we know about our country; True, perhaps I should say: how little I know about her. I read whatever I have to in geology, zoology, botany, history! All sciences have stepped forward so incredibly since I graduated from school!
...I will think about the form of the book that would most effectively help to put wisdom about our country into these small heads. Perhaps old legends will help us...”
The material was accumulating, but Selma did not want the book to appear in the form of disparate fragments. She needed a connecting storyline on which, like a thread, geographical information and local legends could be strung. In search of inspiration, the writer personally travels around Sweden - visiting the provinces of Småland, Blöking, Norrland and even going down into the Falun mine.
On her tour, she could not pass by the beautiful province of Vörmland, where her native and lost Morbakka was located.
Selma Lagerlof:
“There is something extraordinary in the air of Morbakka. Energy is born here, but it disappears as soon as you go out into the big world. And in Morbakka it lies like a fallow field.”
According to the writer herself, it was during a visit to Morbakka that she had an epiphany. Suddenly, she thought she saw a tiny boy who was trying to be grabbed by an owl. Later, this “story” will go straight into a fairy tale along with Lagerlöf herself.
Rice. — V. Kupriyanov.
“At first, the woman could not move from her place in amazement. But the baby screamed more and more pitifully; then she hastened to intervene and separated the combatants. The owl flew up a tree, and the baby remained on the path, not even trying to hide or run away.
... - Shall I show you where to spend the night? Aren't you from here?
“Yeah, you thought I was from a small people,” said the short one. “But I’m the same person as you, even though the brownie bewitched me!”
The second starting point of the plot was a real memory of an amazing incident that occurred in Morbakka of her childhood. One day, a white domestic goose escaped from the Lagerlöf estate along with a flock of wild geese, and after a while returned... with a goose and a brood of goslings!
Still from the film “The Enchanted Boy” (1955).
And finally, the last - decisive - influence on the plot of the fairy tale was the works of Kipling with his talking animals.
From a letter from Lagerlöf to Dahlin:
“Among all my searches and attempts to make descriptions of hills and swamps, shores and mountains attractive to nine-year-old children, the animalistic books of the English writer Kipling came to my mind. ...it was his example that tempted me to try, by placing animals in some kind of landscape, to revive it.”
Thus was born the long-awaited central plot thread. The boy, turned by a brownie into a midget, makes a dizzying journey with a wild flock of geese across Sweden on the back of Morten's pet goose. He observes different provinces, cities, villages, factories, gets acquainted with the local residents and their customs, listens to legends and stories. And at the same time, of course, he himself constantly experiences dangerous and exciting adventures.
Map of Niels's route 1947 in the memorial museum in Morbakka:/ 
However, Nils' journey is not just an adventure. During trials, a harmful and even cruel boy learns to love, empathize, help others and forgive. He can no longer substitute another person, even in order to remove the spell from himself. And at the end of the book, Nils helps the eternal enemy of the goose flock, the fox Smirra, to free himself from captivity. It is not for nothing that in one of the questionnaires the question “What is your favorite virtue?” Christian Lagerlöf replied: “Mercy.”
Rice. — B. Diodorov.
The writer is interested not only in people. A huge number of pages of the book are devoted to the nature of Sweden. Not only animals talk here, but even rivers, rocks and forests. Selma was one of the first to make people think about ecology, about preserving the natural environment from human encroachment.
Selma Lagerlöf "The Amazing Journey of Nils...":
“If you learned something good from us, Little Shorty, then maybe you don’t think that people should own everything on earth,” the leader goose began speaking. - Think about it, you people have such large lands, so much land! Can’t you really leave a few bare skerries, a few shallow lakes, swamp bogs, a few deserted rocks and remote forests for us, so that we, poor birds and animals, can live there in peace and quiet!”
Rice. — V. Kupriyanov.
On November 24, 1906, the first volume of Nils Holgersson's Amazing Wild Geese Journey through Sweden appeared on store shelves. A year later the second one arrived. The country was just undergoing a spelling reform, and the book became one of the first works printed according to the new rules of vocabulary.
I’ll say right away that not all Swedish critics were delighted with the fairy tale. Many of those who looked at the work from an educational and pedagogical point of view accused the writer of geographical and biological inaccuracies, reproached the fact that the province of Småland was depicted as too wretched, and the province of Holland was only mentioned at all. There was a grain of truth in this - “Nils” was not very suitable for a full-fledged school textbook. Rather, it was a wonderful supplementary reading aid.
Rice. John Bauer from the 1906 edition
However, the majority of Swedish readers did not bother with scientific subtleties and loved the book with all their hearts. The Swedish poet Karl Snoilsky wrote enthusiastically that this fairy tale inspired “life and colors in the dry desert sand of a school lesson”. Swedish researcher Nils Afzelius echoed him: “Instead of writing a reference book for university students, she gave children a stimulus for knowledge.”.
Selma Lagerlöf:
“I think and hope that fairy tales will make a child interested in the true state of things. …As long as kids have fun reading this book, it will be a winner.”
After “Nils,” Selma Lagerlöf’s fame first acquired a national and then a worldwide scale. In 1909, the writer became the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, which she was awarded as “a tribute to the high idealism, vivid imagination and spiritual penetration that distinguish all her works.” In 1914, Lagerlöf again became the first female member of the Swedish Academy.
Selma Lagerlöf in 1906
Having received the bonus, Selma immediately bought back her native estate Morbakku, where she lived until the end of her days (she died on March 16, 1940). After the death of the writer, Morbakka turns into a museum, Nils riding a goose becomes one of the unofficial symbols of Sweden, and in 1991, portraits of the writer and her heroes adorned the 20 Swedish krona banknote.
Nils becomes Russian
“...in Sweden, in 1969, I wanted to translate Selma’s book
Lagerlöf on Nils Holgersson. However, this turned out to be completely
not easy and took almost 7 years of hard work.
I had to, like the writer herself, study geography,
Geology and folklore of Sweden, zoology and botany."
(L. Braude, from the preface to the translation of “Nils” 1982)
Nils “scattered” all over the world. He also looked into the Soviet Union. Interestingly, there are at least three “Nils” in our culture, and they are all very different.
Although the first Russian translation of the fairy tale was made by Lyudmila Khavkina back in 1908, it was not very successful and did not gain success among readers. In reality, “Nils” became ours only in the Soviet era. At the same time, the attitude towards Lagerlöf herself in the USSR was ambiguous for some time. On the one hand, the writer was a conscious anti-fascist. Literally before her death, she managed to help the poet Nellie Sachs, persecuted by the regime, emigrate from Germany to Sweden. On the other hand, during the Soviet-Finnish War, Lagerlöf sympathized with the Finns and even donated her Nobel medal to help Finland.
Portrait of Selma Lagerlöf by Carl Larsson. 1908
However, this did not stop Z. Zadunaiskaya and A. Lyubarskaya from releasing their version of the fairy tale in 1940, entitled “The Wonderful Journey of Nils with the Wild Geese.” True, the translators treated the original very freely.
The volume of the book was shrunk by 6 times - instead of 55 chapters, only 17 remained. The reduction was due to the culling of most geographical descriptions and ethnographic details. Many side legends and stories that Lagerlöf carefully strung into the main thread of the plot also disappeared.
As a result, the very spirit of the fairy tale changed. The lyrics disappeared from it, the writer’s personal attitude to what was happening disappeared. The landscape, painted in watercolor, turned into bright pictures. All that remains is the central adventure plot - and that one has been considerably shortened and rewritten.
The first edition of the retelling by Z. Zadunaiskaya and A. Lyubarskaya.
But this “Nils” immediately gained enormous popularity, and is still one of our favorite children’s books.
The popularity of the retelling led to the fact that in 1955, at the Soyuzmultfilm studio, Vladimir Polkovnikov and Alexandra Snezhno-Blotskaya filmed the film “The Enchanted Boy,” thanks to which millions already learned about Nils.
I still remember the string of rats walking after Nils’s pipe, and the heavy tread of the king’s statue, which terrified me (I did not yet know about Pushkin’s “The Bronze Horseman” and “The Stone Guest”). And, of course, the exclamation immediately entered our vocabulary: “You’re still a strong old man, Rosenbohm!”.
Needless to say, the plot of the cartoon was further shortened and changed (just remember the credits “And nothing special happened in Lapland either”). The animators also took liberties with the images of the characters. Thus, the artists gave the leader of the rats the features and habits of Hitler, and the statues of the king and Rosenbom acquired an external resemblance to the actors voicing them - Alexei Konovalov and Georgy Vitsin.
Speech of the leader of the rats from the film:
“My brave warriors! I brought you here, and I will lead you further! We have taken possession of the basement of Glimmingen Castle, we have taken possession of grain that will last us a lifetime! But this is not enough! The whole castle should belong to us!!! And most importantly, we will tear apart the bats - these pathetic traitors who have the audacity to call themselves mice!
In 1958, the USSR already organized a whole evening dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the writer. But we had to wait a long time for a complete translation of her tale.
It was published only in 1982 through the efforts of Lydia Braude, a specialist in Scandinavian literature and a champion of adequate translations. Naturally, with comments. It turned out that in the original the tale of Nils is completely, completely different - not so dynamic and cheerful, reminiscent of a tree with numerous branches and many signs with unfamiliar names - the university town of Uppsala, the province of Skåne, the island of Gotland, the Linnaeus Botanical Garden, etc. We learn that the goose's name is not Martin, but Morten, and the name of the leader goose - Kebnekaise - is the name of the highest mountain peak in Sweden.
Edition 1982 in trans. L. Braude.
Naturally, a complete translation is extremely important for understanding what Lagerlöf wanted to convey to the reader. I’m just afraid that, despite the additional number of interesting legends and adventures, our child is unlikely to master all this Swedish ethnography. Unlike Swedish children, she is not close to him and, accordingly, of little interest.
To better understand the differences between the versions of “Nils,” let’s take a few scenes that are present in both the original, the retelling, and the cartoon.
1) TIE
In the original, Nils' parents go to church, and the boy is forced to read the Sunday sermon. In the 1940 retelling, all religious trappings have disappeared - the parents go to the fair, and Nils teaches ordinary lessons.
The brownie who bewitched the boy becomes, in the retelling, a more familiar gnome. If in the books, he reduces Nils arbitrarily, punishing him for greed, then in the mf Nils himself makes a mistake, declaring that he wants to become like the dwarf. Of course, the boy had magical abilities in mind, but the dwarf fulfilled his wish in his own way.
Still from the film “The Enchanted Boy” (1955).
2) EXILICATION OF RATS
I think it’s no secret to anyone that expelling rats from Glimmingen Castle with the help of a magic pipe is a variation on the theme of the German, who rid the city of Gammeln of rats, and when they refused to pay him, he took all the Gammeln children away from the city.
Stills from the film “The Enchanted Boy” (1955).
Unlike the magic pipe, Glimmengheus Castle is not a figment of fantasy. This unprepossessing, gloomy building with thick walls first belonged to the Danes, and then was conquered by the Swedes - along with the entire province of Skåne, where Nils was from.
The real Glimmenghuis Castle.
In the retelling and mf, the story with the pipe looks simple and clear: rats are evil, and the boy drowns them in the lake. In the original, there are two types of rats: black (old-timers of the castle) and gray (new invaders). Therefore, in essence, Nils stands on the side of some rats against the other. His goal is not to kill the gray rats, but to take them away from the castle so that the black rats have time to return and protect their haven. By the way, gray rats actually came to Europe from Asia only in the Middle Ages and significantly displaced the previously dominant black variety.
3) TWO STATUES
The port city where Nils met the two animated statues is called Karlskrona (Swedish: “Crown of Charles”). It was founded by the great Swedish king Charles XI back in 1680 with the aim of establishing a naval base here. It is clear that there is a statue of Karl in the city - it is this statue that Nils so thoughtlessly teases.
The second character - the wooden statue of Old Man Rusenbom (Rosenbom) - was also not invented by the writer. She represents an old boatswain and actually stands at the Admiral's Church (the oldest stave church in Sweden). True, due to wear and tear (it was wood, after all), the old statue was replaced with a new one after a while. There is a hole cut in Rosenbom's hat for coins, and the statue plays the role of a kind of begging mug. In the mf the church is not mentioned, and the boatswain stands at the inn.
Real monuments to Karl and Rosenbom in Karlskrona.
But the end of the story is very different in all three versions. In the original, the statues simply disappear with the first rays of the sun. In the retelling, the bronze king also disappeared, but before that he managed to break the statue of Rosenbom with his cane in a rage (they decided to once again remind Soviet children of the cruelty of monarchs). However, Rosenbom was spared, and the king escaped because he had to return to his pedestal at exactly three o’clock.
Rosenbohm and the King from the 1955 cartoon
4) DENOUNCMENT
The retelling of the story with the lifting of the spell was no less varied. In the original, Nils learns that he can be removed if someone else wants to become as small as him. However, the boy will not want to use this method (by deceiving people at their word), and the spell at the end of the book subsides on its own - as a reward for good deeds.
In the 1940 retelling, Nils still casts a spell on the gosling, who does not want to become an adult (for some reason, the translators decided that leaving the goose small is not such an evil thing).
In the mf, everything is brought to more traditional fairy tale motifs. The dwarf sets several conditions for Nils - “when the castle is saved by the pipe, when the king takes off his hat.” Well, the last condition actually turns out to be a test - can the boy sacrifice Martin’s life to save himself? Nils makes the right moral choice, and it is for his sacrifice in the name of his friend that the dwarf frees him from the spell.
Monument to Niels in Karlskrona.
As you can see, each of the three Russian guises of Nils has its own advantages and disadvantages. Of course, children will love mf and retelling for a long time. But the full translation will be of interest to older people - especially those who are interested in Sweden, its history and folklore. Perhaps, over time, one of the translators will dare to make another retelling that will simplify the geographical component for our reader, but will not greatly distort the plot, leave many interesting stories and preserve the lyrical spirit of the fairy tale of the great Swedish writer.
Selma Lagerlöf
Nils' Wonderful Journey with the Wild Geese
Chapter I. FOREST GNOME
In the small Swedish village of Vestmenheg, there once lived a boy named Nils. In appearance - a boy like a boy.
And there was no trouble with him.
During lessons, he counted crows and caught twos, destroyed birds' nests in the forest, teased geese in the yard, chased chickens, threw stones at cows, and pulled the cat by the tail, as if the tail was a rope from a doorbell.
He lived like this until he was twelve years old. And then an extraordinary incident happened to him.
That's how it was.
One Sunday, father and mother gathered for a fair in a neighboring village. Nils couldn't wait for them to leave.
“Let’s go quickly! - Nils thought, looking at his father’s gun, which was hanging on the wall. “The boys will burst with envy when they see me with a gun.”
But his father seemed to guess his thoughts.
Look, not a step out of the house! - he said. - Open your textbook and come to your senses. Do you hear?
“I hear,” Nils answered, and thought to himself: “So I’ll start spending Sunday on lessons!”
Study, son, study,” said the mother.
She even took out a textbook from the shelf herself, put it on the table and pulled up a chair.
And the father counted out ten pages and strictly ordered:
So that by the time we return he knows everything by heart. I'll check it myself.
Finally, father and mother left.
“It’s good for them, they walk so merrily! - Nils sighed heavily. “I definitely fell into a mousetrap with these lessons!”
Well, what can you do! Nils knew that his father was not to be trifled with. He sighed again and sat down at the table. True, he was looking not so much at the book as at the window. After all, it was much more interesting!
According to the calendar, it was still March, but here in the south of Sweden, spring had already managed to outdo winter. Water ran merrily in the ditches. The buds on the trees have swelled. The beech forest straightened its branches, numb in the winter cold, and now stretched upward, as if it wanted to reach the blue spring sky.
And right under the window, chickens walked with an important air, sparrows jumped and fought, geese splashed in muddy puddles. Even the cows locked in the barn sensed spring and mooed loudly, as if asking: “You-let us out, you-let us out!”
Nils also wanted to sing, and scream, and splash in puddles, and fight with the neighboring boys. He turned away from the window in frustration and stared at the book. But he didn't read much. For some reason, the letters began to jump before his eyes, the lines either merged or scattered... Nils himself did not notice how he fell asleep.
Who knows, maybe Nils would have slept all day if some rustling had not woken him up.
Nils raised his head and became wary.
The mirror that hung above the table reflected the entire room. There is no one in the room except Nils... Everything seems to be in its place, everything is in order...
And suddenly Nils almost screamed. Someone opened the lid of the chest!
The mother kept all her jewelry in the chest. There lay the outfits that she wore in her youth - wide skirts made of homespun peasant cloth, bodices embroidered with colored beads; starched caps as white as snow, silver buckles and chains.
Mother did not allow anyone to open the chest without her, and she did not let Nils come close to it. And there’s nothing to even say about the fact that she could leave the house without locking the chest! There has never been such a case. And even today - Nils remembered this very well - his mother returned from the threshold twice to tug on the lock - did it latch well?
Who opened the chest?
Maybe while Nils was sleeping, a thief got into the house and is now hiding somewhere here, behind the door or behind the closet?
Nils held his breath and peered into the mirror without blinking.
What is that shadow there in the corner of the chest? Here it moved... Now it crawled along the edge... A mouse? No, it doesn't look like a mouse...
Nils couldn't believe his eyes. There was a little man sitting on the edge of the chest. He seemed to have stepped out of a Sunday calendar picture. On his head is a wide-brimmed hat, a black caftan is decorated with a lace collar and cuffs, stockings at the knees are tied with lush bows, and silver buckles glitter on red morocco shoes.
“But it’s a gnome! - Nils guessed. “A real gnome!”
Mother often told Nils about gnomes. They live in the forest. They can speak human, bird, and animal. They know about all the treasures that were buried in the ground at least a hundred or a thousand years ago. If the gnomes want it, the flowers will bloom in the snow in winter; if they want it, the rivers will freeze in the summer.
Well, there’s nothing to be afraid of the gnome. What harm could such a tiny creature do?
Moreover, the dwarf did not pay any attention to Nils. He seemed to see nothing except a velvet sleeveless vest, embroidered with small freshwater pearls, that lay in the chest at the very top.
While the gnome was admiring the intricate ancient pattern, Nils was already wondering what kind of trick he could play with his amazing guest.
It would be nice to push it into the chest and then slam the lid. And here's what else you can do...
Without turning his head, Nils looked around the room. In the mirror she was all there in front of him in full view. A coffee pot, a teapot, bowls, pots were lined up in strict order on the shelves... By the window there was a chest of drawers filled with all sorts of things... But on the wall - next to my father's gun - was a fly net. Just what you need!
Nils carefully slid to the floor and pulled the net off the nail.
One swing - and the gnome hid in the net like a caught dragonfly.
His wide-brimmed hat was knocked to one side, his feet were entangled in the skirts of his caftan. He floundered at the bottom of the net and waved his arms helplessly. But as soon as he managed to rise a little, Nils shook the net, and the gnome fell down again.
Listen, Nils,” the dwarf finally begged, “let me go free!” I'll give you a gold coin for this, as big as the button on your shirt.
Nils thought for a moment.
Well, that’s probably not bad,” he said and stopped swinging the net.
Clinging to the sparse fabric, the gnome deftly climbed up. He had already grabbed the iron hoop, and his head appeared above the edge of the net...
Then it occurred to Nils that he had sold himself short. In addition to the gold coin, he could demand that the dwarf teach his lessons for him. You never know what else you can think of! The gnome will now agree to everything! When you're sitting in a net, you can't argue.
And Nils shook the net again.
But then suddenly someone gave him such a slap in the face that the net fell out of his hands, and he rolled head over heels into a corner.
For a minute Nils lay motionless, then, groaning and groaning, he stood up.
The gnome is already gone. The chest was closed, and the net hung in its place - next to his father's gun.
“I dreamed all this, or what? - thought Nils. - No, my right cheek is burning, as if an iron was passed over it. This gnome hit me so hard! Of course, father and mother will not believe that the gnome visited us. They will say - all your inventions, so as not to learn your lessons. No, no matter how you look at it, we must sit down to read the book again!”
Nils took two steps and stopped. Something happened to the room. The walls of their small house moved apart, the ceiling went high, and the chair on which Nils always sat rose above him like an impregnable mountain. To climb it, Nils had to climb the twisted leg, like a gnarled oak trunk. The book was still on the table, but it was so huge that Nils could not see a single letter at the top of the page. He lay down on his stomach on the book and crawled from line to line, from word to word. He was literally exhausted while reading one phrase.
What is this? So you won’t even get to the end of the page by tomorrow! - Nils exclaimed and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve.
And suddenly he saw that a tiny man was looking at him from the mirror - exactly the same as the gnome who was caught in his net. Only dressed differently: in leather pants, a vest and a plaid shirt with large buttons.
Hey you, what do you want here? - Nils shouted and shook his fist at the little man.
The little man also shook his fist at Nils.
Nils put his hands on his hips and stuck out his tongue. The little man also put his hands on his hips and also stuck his tongue out at Nils.
Nils stamped his foot. And the little man stamped his foot.
Nils jumped, spun like a top, waved his arms, but the little man did not lag behind him. He also jumped, also spun like a top and waved his arms.
Then Nils sat down on the book and cried bitterly. He realized that the dwarf had bewitched him and that the little man who looked at him from the mirror was himself, Nils Holgerson.
“Or maybe this is a dream after all?” - thought Nils.
He closed his eyes tightly, then - to wake up completely - he pinched himself as hard as he could and, after waiting a minute, opened his eyes again. No, he wasn't sleeping. And the hand he pinched really hurt.
Nils got close to the mirror and buried his nose in it. Yes, it's him, Nils. Only now he was no bigger than a sparrow.
“We need to find the gnome,” Nils decided. “Maybe the dwarf was just joking?”
Nils slid down the leg of the chair onto the floor and began to search all the corners. He crawled under the bench, under the closet - now it was not difficult for him - he even climbed into a mouse hole, but the gnome was nowhere to be found.
There was still hope - the gnome could hide in the yard.
Nils ran out into the hallway. Where are his shoes? They should stand near the door. And Nils himself, and his father and mother, and all the peasants in Vestmenheg, and in all the villages of Sweden, always leave their shoes at the doorstep. The shoes are wooden. People wear them only on the street, but rent them at home.
But how can he, so small, cope?
Select chapter
And how they walk! Jumping, skipping, stepping anywhere, without looking at their feet.
Martin even spread his wings in surprise. Is this how decent geese walk? You need to walk slowly, step on your entire paw, and hold your head high. And these ones hobble around like lame people.
An old, old goose walked ahead of everyone. Well, she was a beauty too! The neck is skinny, bones stick out from under the feathers, and the wings look like someone has chewed them off. But her yellow eyes sparkled like two burning coals. All the geese looked at her respectfully, not daring to speak until the goose was the first to say her word.
It was Akka Kebnekaise herself, the leader of the pack. She had already led the geese from south to north a hundred times and returned with them from north to south a hundred times. Akka Kebnekaise knew every bush, every island on the lake, every clearing in the forest. No one knew how to choose a place to spend the night better than Akka Kebnekaise; no one knew better than she how to hide from the cunning enemies who lay in wait for the geese on the way.
Akka looked at Martin for a long time from the tip of his beak to the tip of his tail and finally said:
Our flock cannot accept the first comers. Everyone you see in front of you belongs to the best goose families. And you don't even know how to fly properly. What kind of goose are you, what family and tribe are you?
“My story is not long,” Martin said sadly. - I was born last year in the town of Svanegolm, and in the fall I was sold to Holger Nilsson
To the neighboring village of Vestmenheg. That's where I lived until today.
How did you get the courage to fly with us? - asked Akka Kebnekaise.
“You called us pathetic chickens, and I decided to prove to you, wild geese, that we, domestic geese, are capable of something,” Martin answered.
What are you, domestic geese, capable of? - Akka Kebnekaise asked again. - We’ve already seen how you fly, but maybe you’re an excellent swimmer?
And I can’t boast about that,” Martin said sadly. “I only ever swam in the pond outside the village, but, to tell the truth, this pond is only a little larger than the largest puddle.”
Well, then you're a master of jumping, right?
Jump? No self-respecting domestic goose would allow itself to jump,” Martin said.
And suddenly he came to his senses. He remembered how wild geese bounce funny, and realized that he had said too much.
Now Martin was sure that Akka Kebnekaise would immediately drive him out of his pack.
But Akka Kebnekaise said:
I love that you speak so boldly. He who is brave will be a faithful comrade. Well, it’s never too late to learn what you don’t know how to do. If you want, stay with us.
Really want to! - Martin answered. Suddenly Akka Kebnekaise noticed Nils.
Who else is with you? I have never seen anyone like him.
Martin hesitated for a minute.
This is my friend... - he said uncertainly. Then Nils stepped forward and declared decisively:
My name is Nils Holgerson. My father, Holger Nilsson, is a peasant, and until today I was a man, but this morning...
He failed to finish. As soon as he said the word “man,” the geese backed away and, stretching out their necks, angrily hissed, cackled, and flapped their wings.
“There is no place for a man among wild geese,” said the old goose. - People were, are and will be our enemies. You must leave the pack immediately.
Now Martin could no longer stand it and intervened:
But you can’t even call him a human being! Look how small he is! I guarantee that he will not do you any harm. Let him stay at least one night.
Akka looked searchingly at Nils, then at Martin, and finally said:
Our grandfathers, great-grandfathers and great-great-grandfathers bequeathed to us never to trust a person, be he small or big. But if you vouch for him, then so be it - today let him stay with us. We spend the night on a large ice floe in the middle of the lake. And tomorrow morning he must leave us.
With these words she rose into the air. The whole flock flew after her.
Listen, Martin,” Nils asked timidly, “are you going to stay with them?”
Well, of course! - Martin said proudly. “It’s not every day that a domestic goose has the honor of flying in Akki Kebnekaise’s flock.
And what about me? - Nils asked again. “There’s no way I can get home alone.” Now I’ll get lost in the grass, let alone in this forest.
I don’t have time to take you home, you understand,” Martin said. - But here’s what I can offer you: we’ll fly with everyone else. Let's see what kind of Lapland this is, and then we'll return home. I’ll somehow persuade Akka, but if I don’t persuade her, I’ll deceive her. You are small now, it is not difficult to hide you. Well, enough talking! Gather some dry grass quickly. Yes, more!
When Nils picked up a whole armful of last year's grass, Martin carefully picked him up by the collar of his shirt and carried him onto a large ice floe. The wild geese were already sleeping, their heads tucked under their wings.
Lay out the grass,” Martin commanded, “otherwise, without any bedding, my paws will freeze to the ice.”
Although the litter turned out to be somewhat liquid (how much grass could Nils carry away!), it still somehow covered the ice.
Martin stood on top of her, grabbed Nils by the collar again and pushed him under his wing.
Good night! - Martin said and pressed the wing tighter so that Nils wouldn’t fall out.
Good night! - said Nils, burying his head in the soft and warm goose down.
Chapter III. NIGHT THIEF
When all the birds and animals were fast asleep, the fox Smirre came out of the forest.
Every night Smirre went out hunting, and it was bad for the one who carelessly fell asleep without having time to climb a tall tree or hide in a deep hole.
With soft, silent steps, the fox Smirre approached the lake. He had long tracked down a flock of wild geese and was licking his lips in advance, thinking about the delicious goose.
But a wide black strip of water separated Smirre from the wild geese. Smirre stood on the shore and clicked his teeth in anger.
And suddenly he noticed that the wind was slowly, slowly pushing the ice floe towards the shore.
“Yeah, the prey is mine after all!” - Smirre grinned and, sitting down on his hind legs, began to wait patiently.
He waited for an hour. I waited two hours... three...
The black strip of water between the shore and the ice floe became narrower and narrower.
The goose spirit reached the fox.
Smirre swallowed his saliva.
With a rustling sound and a slight ringing, the ice floe hit the shore...
Smirre contrived and jumped onto the ice.
He approached the flock so quietly, so carefully that not a single goose heard the approach of the enemy. But old Akka heard. Her sharp cry echoed over the lake, woke up the geese, and lifted the entire flock into the air.
And yet Smirre managed to grab one goose.
Martin also woke up from Akki Kebnekaise's scream. With a strong flap, he opened his wings and quickly flew up. And Nils flew down just as quickly.
He hit the ice and opened his eyes. Nils, half asleep, did not even understand where he was or what had happened to him. And suddenly he saw a fox running away with a goose in its teeth. Without thinking for a long time, Nils rushed after him.
The poor goose, caught in Smirra’s mouth, heard the clatter of wooden shoes and, arching his neck, looked back with timid hope.
“Oh, that’s who it is! - he thought sadly. - Well, that means I'm missing. How can someone like that deal with a fox!”
And Nils completely forgot that the fox, if he wanted, could crush him with one paw. He ran on the heels of the night thief and repeated to himself:
Just to catch up! Just to catch up! The fox jumped onto the shore - Nils followed him. The fox rushed towards the forest - Nils followed him - Let go of the goose now! Do you hear? - Nils shouted. “Otherwise I’ll give you such a hard time that you won’t be happy!”
Who's that squeaking there? - Smirre was surprised.
"Nils's Wonderful Journey with the Wild Geese"(“The Wonderful Journey of Nils Holgersson in Sweden”, Swedish. Nils Holgerssons underbara resa genom Sverige) is a fairy tale story written by Selma Lagerlöf.
Encyclopedic YouTube
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Initially, the book was conceived as a fascinating guide to the geography of Sweden in literary form for first grade students, 9-year-old children. In Sweden, a “State Reading Book” already existed since 1868, but, innovative for its time, it lost relevance by the end of the 19th century.
One of the leaders of the General Union of Public School Teachers, Alfred Dahlin, proposed creating a new book on which teachers and writers would work together. His choice fell on Selma Lagerlöf, already famous for her novel "The Saga of Jöst Berling", and besides, she was a former teacher. Lagerlöf agreed to Dahlin's proposal, but refused to collaborate. She began work on the book in the summer of 1904.
The writer believed that it was necessary to create several textbooks for schoolchildren of different ages: the first grade should have received a book on the geography of Sweden, the second - on native history, the third and fourth - descriptions of other countries of the world, discoveries and inventions, the social structure of the country. Lagerlöf’s project was eventually implemented, and the first in a series of textbook books was "The Amazing Journey of Nils...". Then they went out "The Swedes and their leaders" Werner von Heidenstam and "From Pole to Pole" Sven Hedin.
At Lagerlöf’s suggestion, Alfred Dahlin, wanting to obtain as complete information as possible on the lifestyle and occupations of the population in different parts of the country, as well as ethnographic and folklore materials, compiled and sent out questionnaires to public school teachers in the summer of 1902.
Lagerlöf was working on a novel at the time "Jerusalem" and was getting ready to travel around Italy:
...I will think about the form of the book that would most effectively help to put wisdom about our country into these small heads. Perhaps old legends will help us... And that’s why I would like to start by looking at the materials that you managed to obtain. (From a letter from Lagerlöf to Dahlin)
Studying the collected material, the writer, by her own admission, realized how little she knew about the country:
All sciences have stepped forward so incredibly since I graduated from school!
To increase her knowledge, she traveled to Blekinge, Småland, Norrland and the Falun mine. Returning to work on the book, Lagerlöf was looking for a plot that would help her create a coherent work of art from a huge amount of information. The solution was suggested to her:
- books by Rudyard Kipling, where talking animals were the main characters;
- story by August Strindberg "The Journey of Lucky Feather";
- fairy tale by Richard Gustafson "Unknown Paradise" about a boy from Scone who flew around the country with birds.
The first volume was published in Stockholm on November 24, 1906, the second in December 1907. The work became the most read in Scandinavia. By showing the country in the perception of a child and originally combining geography and fairy tales in one work, Lagerlöf, as the poet Karl Snoilsky said, infused “life and color into the dry desert sand of a school lesson.”
Nils, out of habit, grabs Morten's neck and ends up flying away with him. After some time, he decides that traveling to Lapland is much more interesting than his old life, and so refuses when the brownie informs him that he will make him human again if Nils decides to return home at this point. Later, he accidentally learns that the brownie will return him to his previous appearance if Nils makes every effort to ensure that Morten returns home alive in the fall.
1
In the small Swedish village of Vestmenheg, there once lived a boy named Nils. In appearance - a boy like a boy.
And there was no trouble with him.
During lessons, he counted crows and caught twos, destroyed birds' nests in the forest, teased geese in the yard, chased chickens, threw stones at cows, and pulled the cat by the tail, as if the tail was a rope from a doorbell.
He lived like this until he was twelve years old. And then an extraordinary incident happened to him.
That's how it was.
One Sunday, father and mother gathered for a fair in a neighboring village. Nils couldn't wait for them to leave.
“Let’s go quickly! – Nils thought, looking at his father’s gun, which was hanging on the wall. “The boys will burst with envy when they see me with a gun.”
But his father seemed to guess his thoughts.
- Look, not a single step from the house! - he said. - Open your textbook and come to your senses. Do you hear?
“I hear you,” Nils answered, and thought to himself: “So I’ll spend Sunday studying!”
“Study, son, study,” said the mother.
She even took out a textbook from the shelf herself, put it on the table and pulled up a chair.
And the father counted out ten pages and strictly ordered:
“So that he knows everything by heart by the time we return.” I'll check it myself.
Finally, father and mother left.
“It’s good for them, they walk so merrily! – Nils sighed heavily. “I definitely fell into a mousetrap with these lessons!”
Well, what can you do! Nils knew that his father was not to be trifled with. He sighed again and sat down at the table. True, he was looking not so much at the book as at the window. After all, it was much more interesting!
According to the calendar, it was still March, but here in the south of Sweden, spring had already managed to outdo winter. Water ran merrily in the ditches. The buds on the trees have swelled. The beech forest straightened its branches, numb in the winter cold, and now stretched upward, as if it wanted to reach the blue spring sky.
And right under the window, chickens walked with an important air, sparrows jumped and fought, geese splashed in muddy puddles. Even the cows locked in the barn sensed spring and mooed loudly, as if asking: “You-let us out, you-let us out!”
Nils also wanted to sing, and scream, and splash in puddles, and fight with the neighboring boys. He turned away from the window in frustration and stared at the book. But he didn't read much. For some reason, the letters began to jump before his eyes, the lines either merged or scattered... Nils himself did not notice how he fell asleep.
Who knows, maybe Nils would have slept all day if some rustling had not woken him up.
Nils raised his head and became wary.
The mirror that hung above the table reflected the entire room. There is no one in the room except Nils... Everything seems to be in its place, everything is in order...
And suddenly Nils almost screamed. Someone opened the lid of the chest!
The mother kept all her jewelry in the chest. There lay the outfits that she wore in her youth - wide skirts made of homespun peasant cloth, bodices embroidered with colored beads; starched caps as white as snow, silver buckles and chains.
Mother did not allow anyone to open the chest without her, and she did not let Nils come close to it.
And there’s nothing to even say about the fact that she could leave the house without locking the chest! There has never been such a case. And even today - Nils remembered this very well - his mother returned from the threshold twice to pull the lock - did it click well?
Who opened the chest?
Maybe while Nils was sleeping, a thief got into the house and is now hiding somewhere here, behind the door or behind the closet?
Nils held his breath and peered into the mirror without blinking.
What is that shadow there in the corner of the chest? Here it moved... Now it crawled along the edge... A mouse? No, it doesn't look like a mouse...
Nils couldn't believe his eyes. There was a little man sitting on the edge of the chest. He seemed to have stepped out of a Sunday calendar picture. On her head is a wide-brimmed hat, a black caftan is decorated with a lace collar and cuffs, stockings at the knees are tied with lush bows, and silver buckles glitter on red morocco shoes.
“But it’s a gnome! – Nils guessed. “A real gnome!”
Mother often told Nils about gnomes. They live in the forest. They can speak human, bird, and animal. They know about all the treasures that were buried in the ground at least a hundred or a thousand years ago. If the gnomes want it, flowers will bloom in the snow in winter; if they want it, the rivers will freeze in the summer.
Well, there’s nothing to be afraid of the gnome. What harm could such a tiny creature do?
Moreover, the dwarf did not pay any attention to Nils. He seemed to see nothing except a velvet sleeveless vest, embroidered with small freshwater pearls, that lay in the chest at the very top.
While the gnome was admiring the intricate ancient pattern, Nils was already wondering what kind of trick he could play with his amazing guest.
It would be nice to push it into the chest and then slam the lid. And here's what else you can do...
Without turning his head, Nils looked around the room. In the mirror she was all there in front of him in full view. A coffee pot, a teapot, bowls, pots were lined up in strict order on the shelves... By the window there was a chest of drawers filled with all sorts of things... But on the wall - next to my father's gun - was a fly net. Just what you need!
Nils carefully slid to the floor and pulled the net off the nail.
One swing - and the gnome hid in the net like a caught dragonfly.
His wide-brimmed hat was knocked to one side, his feet were entangled in the skirts of his caftan. He floundered at the bottom of the net and waved his arms helplessly. But as soon as he managed to rise a little, Nils shook the net, and the gnome fell down again.
“Listen, Nils,” the dwarf finally begged, “let me go free!” I'll give you a gold coin for this, as big as the button on your shirt.
Nils thought for a moment.
“Well, that’s probably not bad,” he said and stopped swinging the net.
Clinging to the sparse fabric, the gnome deftly climbed up. He had already grabbed the iron hoop, and his head appeared above the edge of the net...
Then it occurred to Nils that he had sold himself short. In addition to the gold coin, he could demand that the dwarf teach his lessons for him. You never know what else you can think of! The gnome will now agree to everything! When you're sitting in a net, you can't argue.
And Nils shook the net again.
But then suddenly someone gave him such a slap in the face that the net fell out of his hands, and he rolled head over heels into a corner.
2
For a minute Nils lay motionless, then, groaning and groaning, he stood up.
The gnome is already gone. The chest was closed, and the net hung in its place - next to his father's gun.
“I dreamed all this, or what? – thought Nils. - No, my right cheek is burning, as if an iron was passed over it. This gnome hit me so hard! Of course, father and mother will not believe that the gnome visited us. They will say - all your inventions, so as not to learn your lessons. No, no matter how you look at it, we must sit down to read the book again!”
Nils took two steps and stopped. Something happened to the room. The walls of their small house moved apart, the ceiling went high, and the chair on which Nils always sat rose above him like an impregnable mountain. To climb it, Nils had to climb the twisted leg, like a gnarled oak trunk. The book was still on the table, but it was so huge that Nils could not see a single letter at the top of the page. He lay down on his stomach on the book and crawled from line to line, from word to word. He was literally exhausted while reading one phrase.
- What is this? So you won’t even get to the end of the page by tomorrow! – Nils exclaimed and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve.
And suddenly he saw that a tiny man was looking at him from the mirror - exactly the same as the gnome who was caught in his net. Only dressed differently: in leather pants, a vest and a plaid shirt with large buttons.
- Hey, what do you want here? – Nils shouted and shook his fist at the little man.
The little man also shook his fist at Nils.
Nils put his hands on his hips and stuck out his tongue. The little man also put his hands on his hips and also stuck his tongue out at Nils.
Nils stamped his foot. And the little man stamped his foot.
Nils jumped, spun like a top, waved his arms, but the little man did not lag behind him. He also jumped, also spun like a top and waved his arms.
Then Nils sat down on the book and cried bitterly. He realized that the dwarf had bewitched him and that the little man who looked at him from the mirror was himself, Nils Holgerson.
“Or maybe this is a dream after all?” – thought Nils.
He closed his eyes tightly, then - to wake up completely - he pinched himself as hard as he could and, after waiting a minute, opened his eyes again. No, he wasn't sleeping. And the hand he pinched really hurt.
Nils got close to the mirror and buried his nose in it. Yes, it's him, Nils. Only now he was no bigger than a sparrow.
“We need to find the gnome,” Nils decided. “Maybe the dwarf was just joking?”
Nils slid down the leg of the chair onto the floor and began to search all the corners. He crawled under the bench, under the closet - now it was not difficult for him - he even climbed into a mouse hole, but the gnome was nowhere to be found.
There was still hope - the gnome could hide in the yard.
Nils ran out into the hallway. Where are his shoes? They should stand near the door. And Nils himself, and his father and mother, and all the peasants in Vestmenheg, and in all the villages of Sweden, always leave their shoes at the doorstep. The shoes are wooden. People wear them only on the street, but rent them at home.
But how will he, so small, cope now with his large, heavy shoes?
And then Nils saw a pair of tiny shoes in front of the door. At first he was happy, and then he was afraid. If the dwarf even bewitched the shoes, it means that he is not going to lift the spell from Nils!
No, no, we need to find the gnome as soon as possible! We must ask him, beg him! Never, never again will Nils hurt anyone! He will become the most obedient, most exemplary boy...
Nils put his feet into his shoes and slipped through the door. It's good that it was slightly open. Would he be able to reach the latch and push it aside!
Near the porch, on an old oak board thrown from one edge of the puddle to the other, a sparrow was jumping. As soon as the sparrow saw Nils, he jumped even faster and chirped at the top of his sparrow throat. And - amazing thing! – Nils understood him perfectly.
- Look at Nils! - the sparrow shouted. - Look at Nils!
- Cuckoo! - the rooster crowed cheerfully. - Let's throw him into the river!
And the chickens flapped their wings and clucked vyingly:
- It serves him right! It serves him right!
The geese surrounded Nils on all sides and, stretching their necks, hissed in his ear:
- Good! Well, that's good! What, are you afraid now? Are you afraid?
And they pecked him, pinched him, gouged him with their beaks, pulled him by the arms and legs.
Poor Nils would have had a very bad time if a cat had not appeared in the yard at that time. Noticing the cat, the chickens, geese and ducks immediately scattered and began to rummage in the ground, looking as if they were not interested in anything in the world except worms and last year’s grains.
And Nils was delighted with the cat as if it were his own.
“Dear cat,” he said, “you know all the nooks and crannies, all the holes, all the holes in our yard.” Please tell me where I can find the gnome? He couldn't have gone far.
The cat did not answer immediately. He sat down, wrapped his tail around his front paws and looked at the boy. It was a huge black cat, with a large white spot on its chest. His smooth fur glistened in the sun. The cat looked quite good-natured. He even retracted his claws and closed his yellow eyes with a tiny, tiny stripe in the middle.
- Mrr, mrr! “Of course, I know where to find the gnome,” the cat spoke in a gentle voice. - But it remains to be seen whether I will tell you or not...
- Kitty, cat, golden mouth, you have to help me! Can't you see that the dwarf has bewitched me?
The cat opened his eyes slightly. A green, angry light flashed within them, but the cat still purred affectionately.
- Why should I help you? - he said. “Maybe because you put a wasp in my ear?” Or because you set my fur on fire? Or because you pulled my tail every day? A?
“And I can still pull your tail!” - Nils shouted. And, forgetting that the cat was twenty times larger than himself, he stepped forward.
What happened to the cat? His eyes sparkled, his back arched, his fur stood on end, and sharp claws emerged from his soft fluffy paws. It even seemed to Nils that it was some kind of unprecedented wild animal that jumped out of the forest thicket. And yet Nils did not back down. He took another step... Then the cat knocked Nils over with one jump and pinned him to the ground with his front paws.
- Help, help! – Nils shouted with all his might. But his voice was now no louder than that of a mouse. And there was no one to help him out.
Nils realized that the end had come for him and closed his eyes in horror.
Suddenly the cat retracted its claws, released Nils from its paws and said:
- Okay, that's enough for the first time. If your mother had not been such a good housewife and had not given me milk morning and evening, you would have had a bad time. For her sake I will let you live.
With these words, the cat turned and walked away as if nothing had happened, purring quietly, as befits a good house cat.
And Nils stood up, shook the dirt off his leather pants and trudged to the end of the yard. There he climbed onto the ledge of the stone fence, sat down, dangling his tiny feet in tiny shoes, and thought.
What will be next?! Father and mother will be back soon! How surprised they will be to see their son! The mother, of course, will cry, and the father may say: that’s what Nils needs! Then neighbors from all over the area will come and start looking at it and gasping... What if someone steals it to show it to onlookers at the fair? The boys will laugh at him!.. Oh, how unfortunate he is! How unfortunate! In the whole wide world, there is probably no more unhappy person than him!
His parents’ poor house, pressed to the ground by a sloping roof, had never seemed so big and beautiful to him, and their cramped courtyard had never seemed so spacious.
Somewhere above Nils' head, wings began to rustle. Wild geese were flying from south to north. They flew high in the sky, stretched out in a regular triangle, but when they saw their relatives - domestic geese - they descended lower and shouted:
- Fly with us! Fly with us! We're flying north to Lapland! To Lapland!
The domestic geese became agitated, cackled, and flapped their wings, as if they were trying to see if they could fly. But the old goose - she was the grandmother of a good half of the geese - ran around them and shouted:
- You've gone crazy! You've gone crazy! Don't do anything stupid! You are not some tramps, you are respectable domestic geese!
And, raising her head, she screamed into the sky:
- We’re good here too! We feel good here too!
The wild geese descended even lower, as if looking for something in the yard, and suddenly - all at once - soared into the sky.
- Ha-ha-ha! Ha-ha-ha! - they shouted. -Are these geese? These are some pathetic chickens! Stay in your coop!
Even the eyes of the domestic geese turned red from anger and resentment. They had never heard such an insult before.
Only a young white goose, lifting its head up, quickly ran through the puddles.
- Wait for me! Wait for me! - he shouted to the wild geese. - I'm flying with you! With you!
“But this is Martin, my mother’s best goose,” thought Nils. “Good luck, he’ll actually fly away!”
- Stop, stop! – Nils shouted and rushed after Martin.
Nils barely caught up with him. He jumped up and, wrapping his arms around the long goose neck, hung on it with his whole body. But Martin didn’t even feel it, as if Nils wasn’t there. He flapped his wings vigorously - once, twice - and, without expecting it, he flew.
Before Nils realized what had happened, they were already high in the sky.
Chapter II. Riding a goose
1
Nils himself didn’t know how he managed to get onto Martin’s back. Nils never thought that geese were so slippery. He grabbed the goose feathers with both hands, shrank all over, buried his head in his shoulders and even closed his eyes.
And the wind howled and roared around, as if it wanted to tear Nils away from Martin and throw him down.
- I’ll fall now, I’ll fall now! - Nils whispered.
But ten minutes passed, twenty minutes passed, and he did not fall. Finally he gained courage and opened his eyes a little.
The gray wings of wild geese flashed to the right and left, clouds floated above Nils’s head, almost touching him, and far, far below the earth darkened.
It didn't look like earth at all. It seemed as if someone had spread a huge checkered scarf underneath them. There were so many cells here! Some cells are black, others are yellowish-gray, and others are light green.
Black cells are freshly plowed soil, green cells are autumn shoots that have overwintered under the snow, and yellowish-gray squares are last year’s stubble, through which the peasant’s plow has not yet passed.
The cells around the edges are dark, and in the middle they are green. These are gardens: the trees there are completely bare, but the lawns are already covered with the first grass.
But the brown cells with a yellow border are the forest: it has not yet had time to dress itself in greenery, and the young beeches at the edge are turning yellow with old dry leaves.
At first, Nils even had fun looking at this variety of colors. But the further the geese flew, the more anxious his soul became.
“Good luck, they will actually take me to Lapland!” - he thought.
- Martin, Martin! - he shouted to the goose. - Turn home! Enough, let's attack!
But Martin didn't answer.
Then Nils spurred him with all his might with his wooden shoes.
Martin turned his head slightly and hissed:
- Listen, you! Sit still, or I’ll throw you off...
I had to sit still.
2
All day long the white goose Martin flew at a par with the whole flock, as if he had never been a domestic goose, as if all his life he had done nothing but fly.
“And where does he get such agility?” – Nils was surprised.
But by evening Martin began to give in. Now everyone would see that he flies for almost a day: sometimes he suddenly lags behind, sometimes he rushes ahead, sometimes he seems to fall into a hole, sometimes he seems to jump up.
And the wild geese saw it.
– Akka Kebnekaise! Akka Kebnekaise! - they shouted.
- What you want from me? - asked the goose, flying ahead of everyone.
- White is behind!
– He should know that flying fast is easier than flying slowly! - the goose shouted without even turning around.
Martin tried to flap his wings harder and more often, but his tired wings became heavy and pulled him down.
- Akka! Akka Kebnekaise! - the geese screamed again.
- What you need? - responded the old goose.
“White can’t fly that high!”
– He should know that flying high is easier than flying low! - Akka answered.
Poor Martin strained his last strength. But his wings were completely weakened and could barely support him.
– Akka Kebnekaise! Akka! White is falling!
“Whoever can’t fly like us should stay at home!” Tell that to the white man! – Akka shouted, without slowing down her flight.
“It’s true, it would be better for us to stay at home,” Nils whispered and clung tighter to Martin’s neck.
Martin fell as if shot.
It was lucky that along the way they came across some skinny willow tree. Martin caught himself on the top of a tree and hung among the branches. That's how they hung. Martin's wings went limp, his neck dangled like a rag. He was breathing loudly, opening his beak wide, as if he wanted to grab more air.
Nils felt sorry for Martin. He even tried to console him.
“Dear Martin,” Nils said affectionately, “don’t be sad that they abandoned you.” Well, judge for yourself where you can compete with them! Let's better go home!
Martin himself understood: he should return. But he so wanted to prove to the whole world that domestic geese are worth something!
And then there’s this nasty boy with his consolations! If he had not been sitting on his neck, Martin might have flown to Lapland.
With anger, Martin immediately gained more strength. He flapped his wings with such fury that he immediately rose almost to the very clouds and soon caught up with the flock.
Luckily for him, it began to get dark.
Black shadows lay on the ground. Fog began to creep in from the lake over which the wild geese were flying.
Akki Kebnekaise's flock came down for the night.
3
As soon as the geese touched the coastal strip of land, they immediately climbed into the water. The goose Martin and Nils remained on the shore.
As if from an ice slide, Nils slid down Martin's slippery back. Finally he is on earth! Nils straightened his numb arms and legs and looked around.
Winter here was receding slowly. The entire lake was still under ice, and only the water appeared at the shores - dark and shiny.
Tall spruce trees approached the lake itself like a black wall. Everywhere the snow had already melted, but here, near the gnarled, overgrown roots, the snow still lay in a dense thick layer, as if these mighty spruce trees were holding winter by force.
The sun was already completely hidden.
From the dark depths of the forest some crackling and rustling was heard.
Nils felt uneasy.
How far they have flown! Now, even if Martin wants to return, they still won’t find their way home... But still, Martin is great!.. But what’s wrong with him?
- Martin! Martin! – Nils called.
Martin didn't answer. He lay as if dead, his wings spread on the ground and his neck stretched out. His eyes were covered with a cloudy film. Nils was scared.
“Dear Martin,” he said, bending over the goose, “take a sip of water!” You will see, you will immediately feel better.
But the goose didn't even move. Nils went cold with fear...
Will Martin really die? After all, Nils now did not have a single close soul except this goose.
- Martin! Come on, Martin! – Nils bothered him. The goose didn't seem to hear him.
Then Nils grabbed Martin by the neck with both hands and dragged him towards the water.
It was not an easy task. The goose was the best on their farm, and his mother fed him well. And Nils is now barely visible from the ground. And yet, he dragged Martin all the way to the lake and stuck his head straight into the cold water.
At first Martin lay motionless. But then he opened his eyes, took a sip or two, and with difficulty stood up on his paws. He stood for a minute, swaying from side to side, then climbed up to his neck into the lake and slowly swam between the ice floes. Every now and then he plunged his beak into the water, and then, throwing back his head, greedily swallowed algae.
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