Nils Holgerssons underbara resa. English

by Selma Lagerlöf

her--such as he was!

  The night after the burial of little Mats, Osa straightway shut herselfin her hut.

  She sat alone recalling, one after another, things her brother had saidand done. There was so much to think about that she did not go straightto bed, but sat up most of the night. The more she thought of herbrother the more she realized how hard it would be to live without him.At last she dropped her head on the table and wept.

  "What shall I do now that little Mats is gone?" she sobbed.

  It was far along toward morning and Osa, spent by the strain of her hardday, finally fell asleep.

  She dreamed that little Mats softly opened the door and stepped into theroom.

  "Osa, you must go and find father," he said.

  "How can I when I don't even know where he is?" she replied in herdream.

  "Don't worry about that," returned little Mats in his usual, cheery way."I'll send some one to help you."

  Just as Osa, the goose girl, dreamed that little Mats had said this,there was a knock at the door. It was a real knock--not something sheheard in the dream, but she was so held by the dream that she could nottell the real from the unreal. As she went on to open the door, shethought:

  "This must be the person little Mats promised to send me."

  She was right, for it was Thumbietot come to talk to her about herfather.

  When he saw that she was not afraid of him, he told her in a few wordswhere her father was and how to reach him.

  While he was speaking, Osa, the goose girl, gradually regainedconsciousness; when he had finished she was wide awake.

  Then she was so terrified at the thought of talking with an elf that shecould not say thank you or anything else, but quickly shut the door.

  As she did that she thought she saw an expression of pain flash acrossthe elf's face, but she could not help what she did, for she was besideherself with fright. She crept into bed as quickly as she could and drewthe covers over her head.

  Although she was afraid of the elf, she had a feeling that he meant wellby her. So the next day she made haste to do as he had told her.

  WITH THE LAPLANDERS

  One afternoon in July it rained frightfully up around Lake Luossajaure.The Laplanders, who lived mostly in the open during the summer, hadcrawled under the tent and were squatting round the fire drinkingcoffee.

  The new settlers on the east shore of the lake worked diligently to havetheir homes in readiness before the severe Arctic winter set in. Theywondered at the Laplanders, who had lived in the far north for centurieswithout even thinking that better protection was needed against cold andstorm than thin tent covering.

  The Laplanders, on the other hand, wondered at the new settlers givingthemselves so much needless, hard work, when nothing more was necessaryto live comfortably than a few reindeer and a tent.

  They only had to drive the poles into the ground and spread the coversover them, and their abodes were ready. They did not have to troublethemselves about decorating or furnishing. The principal thing was toscatter some spruce twigs on the floor, spread a few skins, and hang thebig kettle, in which they cooked their reindeer meat, on a chainsuspended from the top of the tent poles.

  While the Laplanders were chatting over their coffee cups, a row boatcoming from the Kiruna side pulled ashore at the Lapps' quarters.

  A workman and a young girl, between thirteen and fourteen, stepped fromthe boat. The girl was Osa. The Lapp dogs bounded down to them, barkingloudly, and a native poked his head out of the tent opening to see whatwas going on.

  He was glad when he saw the workman, for he was a friend of theLaplanders--a kindly and sociable man, who could speak their nativetongue. The Lapp called to him to crawl under the tent.

  "You're just in time, Soederberg!" he said. "The coffee pot is on thefire. No one can do any work in this rain, so come in and tell us thenews."

  The workman went in, and, with much ado and amid a great deal oflaughter and joking, places were made for Soederberg and Osa, though thetent was already crowded to the limit with natives. Osa understood noneof the conversation. She sat dumb and looked in wonderment at the kettleand coffee pot; at the fire and smoke; at the Lapp men and Lapp women;at the children and dogs; the walls and floor; the coffee cups andtobacco pipes; the multi-coloured costumes and crude implements. Allthis was new to her.

  Suddenly she lowered her glance, conscious that every one in the tentwas looking at her. Soederberg must have said something about her, fornow both Lapp men and Lapp women took the short pipes from their mouthsand stared at her in open-eyed wonder and awe. The Laplander at her sidepatted her shoulder and nodded, saying in Swedish, "bra, bra!" (good,good!) A Lapp woman filled a cup to the brim with coffee and passed itunder difficulties, while a Lapp boy, who was about her own age,wriggled and crawled between the squatters over to her.

  Osa felt that Soederberg was telling the Laplanders that she had justburied her little brother, Mats. She wished he would find out about herfather instead.

  The elf had said that he lived with the Lapps, who camped west of LakeLuossajaure, and she had begged leave to ride up on a sand truck to seekhim, as no regular passenger trains came so far. Both labourers andforemen had assisted her as best they could. An engineer had sentSoederberg across the lake with her, as he spoke Lappish. She had hopedto meet her father as soon as she arrived. Her glance wandered anxiouslyfrom face to face, but she saw only natives. Her father was not there.

  She noticed that the Lapps and the Swede, Soederberg, grew more and moreearnest as they talked among themselves. The Lapps shook their heads andtapped their foreheads, as if they were speaking of some one that wasnot quite right in his mind.

  She became so uneasy that she could no longer endure the suspense andasked Soederberg what the Laplanders knew of her father.

  "They say he has gone fishing," said the workman. "They're not sure thathe can get back to the camp to-night; but as soon as the weather clears,one of them will go in search of him."

  Thereupon he turned to the Lapps and went on talking to them. He did notwish to give Osa an opportunity to question him further about JonEsserson.

  THE NEXT MORNING

  Ola Serka himself, who was the most distinguished man among the Lapps,had said that he would find Osa's father, but he appeared to be in nohaste and sat huddled outside the tent, thinking of Jon Esserson andwondering how best to tell him of his daughter's arrival. It wouldrequire diplomacy in order that Jon Esserson might not become alarmedand flee. He was an odd sort of man who was afraid of children. He usedto say that the sight of them made him so melancholy that he could notendure it.

  While Ola Serka deliberated, Osa, the goose girl, and Aslak, the youngLapp boy who had stared so hard at her the night before, sat on theground in front of the tent and chatted.

  Aslak had been to school and could speak Swedish. He was telling Osaabout the life of the "Samefolk," assuring her that they fared betterthan other people.

  Osa thought that they lived wretchedly, and told him so.

  "You don't know what you are talking about!" said Aslak curtly. "Onlystop with us a week and you shall see that we are the happiest people onearth."

  "If I were to stop here a whole week, I should be choked by all thesmoke in the tent," Osa retorted.

  "Don't say that!" protested the boy. "You know nothing of us. Let metell you something which will make you understand that the longer youstay with us the more contented you will become."

  Thereupon Aslak began to tell Osa how a sickness called "The BlackPlague" once raged throughout the land. He was not certain as to whetherit had swept through the real "Sameland," where they now were, but inJaemtland it had raged so brutally that among the Samefolk, who lived inthe forests and mountains there, all had died except a boy of fifteen.Among the Swedes, who lived in the valleys, none was left but a girl,who was also fifteen years old.

  The boy and girl separately tramped the desolate country all winter insearch of other human beings. Finally, toward spring, the tw
o met.Aslak continued: "The Swedish girl begged the Lapp boy to accompany hersouthward, where she could meet people of her own race. She did not wishto tarry longer in Jaemtland, where there were only vacant homesteads.I'll take you wherever you wish to go,' said the boy, 'but not beforewinter. It's spring now, and my reindeer go westward toward themountains. You know that we who are of the Samefolk must go where ourreindeer take us.' The Swedish girl was the daughter of wealthy parents.She was used to living under a roof, sleeping in a bed, and eating at atable. She had always despised the poor mountaineers and thought thatthose who lived under the open sky were most unfortunate; but she wasafraid to return to her home, where there were none but the dead. 'Atleast let me go with you to the mountains,' she said to the boy, 'sothat I sha'n't have to tramp about here all alone and never hear thesound of a human voice.'

  "The