Nils Holgerssons underbara resa. English

by Selma Lagerlöf

and colt's-foot.

  He was hardly hidden before the young man picked the box up, hung itaround his neck, and slammed down the cover.

  Then the teacher came back, and said that they had been givenpermission to enter the castle. At first he conducted them no fartherthan the courtyard. There he stopped and began to talk to them aboutthis ancient structure.

  He called their attention to the first human beings who had inhabitedthis country, and who had been obliged to live in mountain-grottoes andearth-caves; in the dens of wild beasts, and in the brushwood; and thata very long period had elapsed before they learned to build themselveshuts from the trunks of trees. And afterward how long had they not beenforced to labour and struggle, before they had advanced from the logcabin, with its single room, to the building of a castle with a hundredrooms--like Vittskoevle!

  It was about three hundred and fifty years ago that the rich andpowerful built such castles for themselves, he said. It was very evidentthat Vittskoevle had been erected at a time when wars and robbers made itunsafe in Skane. All around the castle was a deep trench filled withwater; and across this there had been a bridge in bygone days that couldbe hoisted up. Over the gate-arch there is, even to this day, awatch-tower; and all along the sides of the castle ran sentry-galleries,and in the corners stood towers with walls a metre thick. Yet the castlehad not been erected in the most savage war time; for Jens Brahe, whobuilt it, had also studied to make of it a beautiful and decorativeornament. If they could see the big, solid stone structure at Glimminge,which had been built only a generation earlier, they would readily seethat Jans Holgersen Ulfstand, the builder, hadn't figured upon anythingelse--only to build big and strong and secure, without bestowing athought upon making it beautiful and comfortable. If they visited suchcastles as Marsvinsholm, Snogeholm and Oevid's Cloister--which wereerected a hundred years or so later--they would find that the times hadbecome less warlike. The gentlemen who built these places, had notfurnished them with fortifications; but had only taken pains to providethemselves with great, splendid dwelling houses.

  The teacher talked at length--and in detail; and the boy who lay shut upin the box was pretty impatient; but he must have lain very still, forthe owner of the box hadn't the least suspicion that he was carrying himalong.

  Finally the company went into the castle. But if the boy had hoped fora chance to crawl out of that box, he was deceived; for the studentcarried it upon him all the while, and the boy was obliged to accompanyhim through all the rooms. It was a tedious tramp. The teacher stoppedevery other minute to explain and instruct.

  In one room he found an old fireplace, and before this he stopped totalk about the different kinds of fireplaces that had been used in thecourse of time. The first indoors fireplace had been a big, flat stoneon the floor of the hut, with an opening in the roof which let in bothwind and rain. The next had been a big stone hearth with no opening inthe roof. This must have made the hut very warm, but it also filled itwith soot and smoke. When Vittskoevle was built, the people had advancedfar enough to open the fireplace, which, at that time, had a widechimney for the smoke; but it also took most of the warmth up in the airwith it.

  If that boy had ever in his life been cross and impatient, he was givena good lesson in patience that day. It must have been a whole hour nowthat he had lain perfectly still.

  In the next room they came to, the teacher stopped before an old-timebed with its high canopy and rich curtains. Immediately he began to talkabout the beds and bed places of olden days.

  The teacher didn't hurry himself; but then he did not know, of course,that a poor little creature lay shut up in a botanist's box, and onlywaited for him to get through. When they came to a room with gildedleather hangings, he talked to them about how the people had dressedtheir walls and ceilings ever since the beginning of time. And when hecame to an old family portrait, he told them all about the differentchanges in dress. And in the banquet halls he described ancient customsof celebrating weddings and funerals.

  Thereupon, the teacher talked a little about the excellent men and womenwho had lived in the castle; about the old Brahes, and the oldBarnekows; of Christian Barnekow, who had given his horse to the king tohelp him escape; of Margareta Ascheberg who had been married to KjellBarnekow and who, when a widow, had managed the estates and the wholedistrict for fifty-three years; of banker Hageman, a farmer's son fromVittskoevle, who had grown so rich that he had bought the entire estate;about the Stjernsvaerds, who had given the people of Skane betterploughs, which enabled them to discard the ridiculous old wooden ploughsthat three oxen were hardly able to drag. During all this, the boy laystill. If he had ever been mischievous and shut the cellar door on hisfather or mother, he understood now how they had felt; for it was hoursand hours before that teacher got through.

  At last the teacher went out into the courtyard again. And there hediscoursed upon the tireless labour of mankind to procure for themselvestools and weapons, clothes and houses and ornaments. He said that suchan old castle as Vittskoevle was a mile-post on time's highway. Here onecould see how far the people had advanced three hundred and fifty yearsago; and one could judge for oneself whether things had gone forward orbackward since their time.

  But this dissertation the boy escaped hearing; for the student whocarried him was thirsty again, and stole into the kitchen to ask for adrink of water. When the boy was carried into the kitchen, he shouldhave tried to look around for the goosey-gander. He had begun to move;and as he did this, he happened to press too hard against the lid--andit flew open. As botanists' box-lids are always flying open, the studentthought no more about the matter but pressed it down again. Then thecook asked him if he had a snake in the box.

  "No, I have only a few plants," the student replied. "It was certainlysomething that moved there," insisted the cook. The student threw backthe lid to show her that she was mistaken. "See for yourself--if--"

  But he got no further, for now the boy dared not stay in the box anylonger, but with one bound he stood on the floor, and out he rushed.The maids hardly had time to see what it was that ran, but they hurriedafter it, nevertheless.

  The teacher still stood and talked when he was interrupted by shrillcries. "Catch him, catch him!" shrieked those who had come from thekitchen; and all the young men raced after the boy, who glided awayfaster than a rat. They tried to intercept him at the gate, but it wasnot so easy to get a hold on such a little creature, so, luckily, he gotout in the open.

  The boy did not dare to run down toward the open _allee,_ but turned inanother direction. He rushed through the garden into the back yard. Allthe while the people raced after him, shrieking and laughing. The poorlittle thing ran as hard as ever he could to get out of their way; butstill it looked as though the people would catch up with him.

  As he rushed past a labourer's cottage, he heard a goose cackle, and sawa white down lying on the doorstep. There, at last, was thegoosey-gander! He had been on the wrong track before. He thought no moreof housemaids and men, who were hounding him, but climbed up thesteps--and into the hallway. Farther he couldn't come, for the door waslocked. He heard how the goosey-gander cried and moaned inside, but hecouldn't get the door open. The hunters that were pursuing him camenearer and nearer, and, in the room, the goosey-gander cried more andmore pitifully. In this direst of needs the boy finally plucked upcourage and pounded on the door with all his might.

  A child opened it, and the boy looked into the room. In the middle ofthe floor sat a woman who held the goosey-gander tight to clip hisquill-feathers. It was her children who had found him, and she didn'twant to do him any harm. It was her intention to let him in among herown geese, had she only succeeded in clipping his wings so he couldn'tfly away. But a worse fate could hardly have happened to thegoosey-gander, and he shrieked and moaned with all his might.

  And a lucky thing it was that the woman hadn't started the clippingsooner. Now only two quills had fallen under the shears' when the doorwas opened--and the boy stood on the door-sill. But a creature
likethat the woman had never seen before. She couldn't believe anything elsebut that it was Goa-Nisse himself; and in her terror she dropped theshears, clasped her hands--and forgot to hold on to the goosey-gander.

  As soon as he felt himself freed, he ran toward the door. He didn't givehimself time to stop; but, as he ran past him, he grabbed the boy by theneck-band and carried him along with him. On the stoop he spread hiswings and flew up in the air; at the same time he made a graceful sweepwith his neck and seated the boy on his smooth, downy back.

  And off they flew--while all Vittskoevle stood and stared after them.

  IN OeVID CLOISTER PARK

  All that day, when the wild geese played with the fox, the boy lay andslept in a deserted squirrel nest. When he awoke, along toward evening,he felt very uneasy. "Well, now I shall soon be sent home again! ThenI'll have to exhibit myself before father and mother,"