Nils Holgerssons underbara resa. English

by Selma Lagerlöf

inclined to be a littlesuspicious."

  The safest refuge for water-fowl in the whole Maelar district is HjaelstaBay. It has low shores, shallow water and is also covered with reeds.

  It is by no means as large as Lake Takern, but nevertheless Hjaelsta is agood retreat for birds, since it has long been forbidden territory tohunters.

  It is the home of a great many swans, and the owner of the old castlenearby has prohibited all shooting on the bay, so that they might beunmolested.

  As soon as Akka received word that the swans needed her help, shehastened down to Hjaelsta Bay. She arrived with her flock one evening andsaw at a glance that there had been a great disaster. The big swans'nests had been torn away, and the strong wind was driving them down thebay. Some had already fallen apart, two or three had capsized, and theeggs lay at the bottom of the lake.

  When Akka alighted on the bay, all the swans living there were gatherednear the eastern shore, where they were protected from the wind.

  Although they had suffered much by the flood, they were too proud to letany one see it.

  "It is useless to cry," they said. "There are plenty of root-fibres andstems here; we can soon build new nests."

  None had thought of asking a stranger to help them, and the swans had noidea that Smirre Fox had sent for the wild geese!

  There were several hundred swans resting on the water. They had placedthemselves according to rank and station. The young and inexperiencedwere farthest out, the old and wise nearer the middle of the group, andright in the centre sat Daylight, the swan-king, and Snow-White, theswan-queen, who were older than any of the others and regarded the restof the swans as their children.

  The geese alighted on the west shore of the bay; but when Akka saw wherethe swans were, she swam toward them at once. She was very muchsurprised at their having sent for her, but she regarded it as an honourand did not wish to lose a moment in coming to their aid.

  As Akka approached the swans she paused to see if the geese who followedher swam in a straight line, and at even distances apart.

  "Now, swim along quickly!" she ordered. "Don't stare at the swans as ifyou had never before seen anything beautiful, and don't mind what theymay say to you!"

  This was not the first time that Akka had called on the aristocraticswans. They had always received her in a manner befitting a greattraveller like herself.

  But still she did not like the idea of swimming in among them. She neverfelt so gray and insignificant as when she happened upon swans. One oranother of them was sure to drop a remark about "common gray-feathers"and "poor folk." But it is always best to take no notice of such things.

  This time everything passed off uncommonly well. The swans politely madeway for the wild geese, who swam forward through a kind of passageway,which formed an avenue bordered by shimmering, white birds.

  It was a beautiful sight to watch them as they spread their wings, likesails, to appear well before the strangers. They refrained from makingcomments, which rather surprised Akka.

  Evidently Daylight had noted their misbehaviour in the past and had toldthe swans that they must conduct themselves in a proper manner--sothought the leader-goose.

  But just as the swans were making an effort to observe the rules ofetiquette, they caught sight of the goosey-gander, who swam last in thelong goose-line. Then there was a murmur of disapproval, even ofthreats, among the swans, and at once there was an end to their gooddeportment!

  "What's this?" shrieked one. "Do the wild geese intend to dress up inwhite feathers?"

  "They needn't think that will make swans of them," cried another.

  They began shrieking--one louder than another--in their strong, resonantvoices. It was impossible to explain that a tame goosey-gander had comewith the wild geese.

  "That must be the goose-king himself coming along," they saidtauntingly. "There's no limit to their audacity!"

  "That's no goose, it's only a tame duck."

  The big white gander remembered Akka's admonition to pay no attention,no matter what he might hear. He kept quiet and swam ahead as fast hecould, but it did no good. The swans became more and more impertinent.

  "What kind of a frog does he carry on his back?" asked one. "They mustthink we don't see it's a frog because it is dressed like a humanbeing."

  The swans, who but a moment before had been resting in such perfectorder, now swam up and down excitedly. All tried to crowd forward to geta glimpse of the white wild goose.

  "That white goosey-gander ought to be ashamed to come here and paradebefore swans!"

  "He's probably as gray as the rest of them. He has only been in a flourbarrel at some farm house!"

  Akka had just come up to Daylight and was about to ask him what kind ofhelp he wanted of her, when the swan-king noticed the uproar among theswans.

  "What do I see? Haven't I taught you to be polite to strangers?" he saidwith a frown.

  Snow-White, the swan-queen, swam out to restore order among hersubjects, and again Daylight turned to Akka.

  Presently Snow-White came back, appearing greatly agitated.

  "Can't you keep them quiet?" shouted Daylight.

  "There's a white wild goose over there," answered Snow-White. "Is it notshameful? I don't wonder they are furious!"

  "A white wild goose?" scoffed Daylight. "That's too ridiculous! Therecan't be such a thing. You must be mistaken."

  The crowds around Morten Goosey-Gander grew larger and larger. Akka andthe other wild geese tried to swim over to him, but were jostled hitherand thither and could not get to him.

  The old swan-king, who was the strongest among them, swam off quickly,pushed all the others aside, and made his way over to the big whitegander. But when he saw that there really was a white goose on thewater, he was just as indignant as the rest.

  He hissed with rage, flew straight at Morten Goosey-Gander and tore outa few feathers.

  "I'll teach you a lesson, wild goose," he shrieked, "so that you'll notcome again to the swans, togged out in this way!"

  "Fly, Morten Goosey-Gander! Fly, fly!" cried Akka, for she knew thatotherwise the swans would pull out every feather the goosey-gander had.

  "Fly, fly!" screamed Thumbietot, too.

  But the goosey-gander was so hedged in by the swans that he had notroom enough to spread his wings. All around him the swans stretchedtheir long necks, opened their strong bills, and plucked his feathers.

  Morten Goosey-Gander defended himself as best he could, by striking andbiting. The wild geese also began to fight the swans.

  It was obvious how this would have ended had the geese not received helpquite unexpectedly.

  A red-tail noticed that they were being roughly treated by the swans.Instantly he cried out the shrill call that little birds use when theyneed help to drive off a hawk or a falcon.

  Three calls had barely sounded when all the little birds in the vicinitycame shooting down to Hjaelsta Bay, as if on wings of lightning.

  These delicate little creatures swooped down upon the swans, screechedin their ears, and obstructed their view with the flutter of their tinywings. They made them dizzy with their fluttering and drove them todistraction with their cries of "Shame, shame, swans!"

  The attack of the small birds lasted but a moment. When they were goneand the swans came to their senses, they saw that the geese had risenand flown over to the other end of the bay.

  THE NEW WATCH-DOG

  There was this at least to be said in the swans' favour--when they sawthat the wild geese had escaped, they were too proud to chase them.Moreover, the geese could stand on a clump of reeds with perfectcomposure, and sleep.

  Nils Holgersson was too hungry to sleep.

  "It is necessary for me to get something to eat," he said.

  At that time, when all kinds of things were floating on the water, itwas not difficult for a little boy like Nils Holgersson to find a craft.He did not stop to deliberate, but hopped down on a stump that haddrifted in amongst the reeds. Then he picked up a little sti
ck and beganto pole toward shore.

  Just as he was landing, he heard a splash in the water. He stoppedshort. First he saw a lady swan asleep in her big nest quite close tohim, then he noticed that a fox had taken a few steps into the water andwas sneaking up to the swan's nest.

  "Hi, hi, hi! Get up, get up!" cried the boy, beating the water with hisstick.

  The lady swan rose, but not so quickly but that the fox could havepounced upon her had he cared to. However, he refrained and insteadhurried straight toward the boy.

  Thumbietot saw the fox coming and ran for his life.

  Wide stretches of meadow land spread before him. He saw no tree that hecould climb, no hole where he might hide; he just had to keep running.

  The boy was a good runner, but it stands to reason that he could notrace with a fox!

  Not far from the bay