Nils Holgerssons underbara resa. English

by Selma Lagerlöf

there was no tree for themto light on, they rushed down on the playground, where the heather stoodso high that only their beautifully turned tail-feathers and theirthick bills were visible--and they began to sing: "Orr, orr, orr."

  Just as the black grouse began to compete with the brown grouse,something unprecedented happened. While all the animals thought ofnothing but the grouse-game, a fox stole slowly over to the wild geese'sknoll. He glided very cautiously, and came way up on the knoll beforeanyone noticed him. Suddenly a goose caught sight of him; and as shecould not believe that a fox had sneaked in among the geese for any goodpurpose, she began to cry: "Have a care, wild geese! Have a care!" Thefox struck her across the throat--mostly, perhaps, because he wanted tomake her keep quiet--but the wild geese had already heard the cry andthey all raised themselves in the air. And when they had flown up, theanimals saw Smirre Fox standing on the wild geese's knoll, with a deadgoose in his mouth.

  But because he had in this way broken the play-day's peace, such apunishment was meted out to Smirre Fox that, for the rest of his days,he must regret he had not been able to control his thirst for revenge,but had attempted to approach Akka and her flock in this manner.

  He was immediately surrounded by a crowd of foxes, and doomed inaccordance with an old custom, which demands that whosoever disturbs thepeace on the great play-day, must go into exile. Not a fox wished tolighten the sentence, since they all knew that the instant theyattempted anything of the sort, they would be driven from theplayground, and would nevermore be permitted to enter it. Banishment waspronounced upon Smirre without opposition. He was forbidden to remain inSkane. He was banished from wife and kindred; from hunting grounds,home, resting places and retreats, which he had hitherto owned; and hemust tempt fortune in foreign lands. So that all foxes in Skane shouldknow that Smirre was outlawed in the district, the oldest of the foxesbit off his right earlap. As soon as this was done, all the young foxesbegan to yowl from blood-thirst, and threw themselves on Smirre. For himthere was no alternative except to take flight; and with all the youngfoxes in hot pursuit, he rushed away from Kullaberg.

  All this happened while black grouse and brown grouse were going on withtheir games. But these birds lose themselves so completely in theirsong, that they neither hear nor see. Nor had they permitted themselvesto be disturbed.

  The forest birds' contest was barely over, before the stags fromHaeckeberga came forward to show their wrestling game. There were severalpairs of stags who fought at the same time. They rushed at each otherwith tremendous force, struck their antlers dashingly together, so thattheir points were entangled; and tried to force each other backward. Theheather-heaths were torn up beneath their hoofs; the breath came likesmoke from their nostrils; out of their throats strained hideousbellowings, and the froth oozed down on their shoulders.

  On the knolls round about there was breathless silence while the skilledstag-wrestlers clinched. In all the animals new emotions were awakened.Each and all felt courageous and, strong; enlivened by returning powers;born again with the spring; sprightly, and ready for all kinds ofadventures. They felt no enmity toward each other, although, everywhere,wings were lifted, neck-feathers raised and claws sharpened. If thestags from Haeckeberga had continued another instant, a wild strugglewould have arisen on the knolls, for all had been gripped with a burningdesire to show that they too were full of life because the winter'simpotence was over and strength surged through their bodies.

  But the stags stopped wrestling just at the right moment, and instantlya whisper went from knoll to knoll: "The cranes are coming!"

  And then came the gray, dusk-clad birds with plumes in their wings, andred feather-ornaments on their necks. The big birds with their talllegs, their slender throats, their small heads, came gliding down theknoll with an abandon that was full of mystery. As they glided forwardthey swung round--half flying, half dancing. With wings gracefullylifted, they moved with an inconceivable rapidity. There was somethingmarvellous and strange about their dance. It was as though gray shadowshad played a game which the eye could scarcely follow. It was as ifthey had learned it from the mists that hover over desolate morasses.There was witchcraft in it. All those who had never before been onKullaberg understood why the whole meeting took its name from thecrane's dance. There was wildness in it; but yet the feeling which itawakened was a delicious longing. No one thought any more aboutstruggling. Instead, both the winged and those who had no wings, allwanted to raise themselves eternally, lift themselves above the clouds,seek that which was hidden beyond them, leave the oppressive body thatdragged them down to earth and soar away toward the infinite.

  Such longing after the unattainable, after the hidden mysteries back ofthis life, the animals felt only once a year; and this was on the daywhen they beheld the great crane dance.

  IN RAINY WEATHER

  _Wednesday, March thirtieth_.

  It was the first rainy day of the trip. As long as the wild geese hadremained in the vicinity of Vomb Lake, they had had beautiful weather;but on the day when they set out to travel farther north, it began torain, and for several hours the boy had to sit on the goose-back,soaking wet, and shivering with the cold.

  In the morning when they started, it had been clear and mild. The wildgeese had flown high up in the air--evenly, and without haste--with Akkaat the head maintaining strict discipline, and the rest in two obliquelines back of her. They had not taken the time to shout any wittysarcasms to the animals on the ground; but, as it was simply impossiblefor them to keep perfectly silent, they sang out continually--in rhythmwith the wing-strokes--their usual coaxing call: "Where are you? Heream I. Where are you? Here am I."

  They all took part in this persistent calling, and only stopped, now andthen, to show the goosey-gander the landmarks they were travelling over.The places on this route included Linderoedsosen's dry hills, Ovesholm'smanor, Christianstad's church steeple, Baeckaskog's royal castle on thenarrow isthmus between Oppmann's lake and Ivoe's lake, Ryss mountain'ssteep precipice.

  It had been a monotonous trip, and when the rain-clouds made theirappearance the boy thought it was a real diversion. In the old days,when he had only seen a rain-cloud from below, he had imagined that theywere gray and disagreeable; but it was a very different thing to be upamongst them. Now he saw distinctly that the clouds were enormous carts,which drove through the heavens with sky-high loads. Some of them werepiled up with huge, gray sacks, some with barrels; some were so largethat they could hold a whole lake; and a few were filled with bigutensils and bottles which were piled up to an immense height. And whenso many of them had driven forward that they filled the whole sky, itappeared as though someone had given a signal, for all at once, watercommenced to pour down over the earth, from utensils, barrels, bottlesand sacks.

  Just as the first spring-showers pattered against the ground, therearose such shouts of joy from all the small birds in groves andpastures, that the whole air rang with them and the boy leaped highwhere he sat. "Now we'll have rain. Rain gives us spring; spring givesus flowers and green leaves; green leaves and flowers give us worms andinsects; worms and insects give us food; and plentiful and good food isthe best thing there is," sang the birds.

  The wild geese, too, were glad of the rain which came to awaken thegrowing things from their long sleep, and to drive holes in theice-roofs on the lakes. They were not able to keep up that seriousnessany longer, but began to send merry calls over the neighbourhood.

  When they flew over the big potato patches, which are so plentiful inthe country around Christianstad--and which still lay bare andblack--they screamed: "Wake up and be useful! Here comes something thatwill awaken you. You have idled long enough now."

  When they saw people who hurried to get out of the rain, they reprovedthem saying: "What are you in such a hurry about? Can't you see thatit's raining rye-loaves and cookies?"

  It was a big, thick mist that moved northward briskly, and followedclose upon the geese. They seemed to think that they dragged the mistalong with them; and,
just now, when they saw great orchards beneaththem, they called out proudly: "Here we come with anemones; here we comewith roses; here we come with apple blossoms and cherry buds; here wecome with peas and beans and turnips and cabbages. He who wills can takethem. He who wills can take them."

  Thus it had sounded while the first showers fell, and when all werestill glad of the rain. But when it continued to fall the wholeafternoon, the wild geese grew impatient, and cried to the thirstyforests around Ivoes lake: "Haven't you got enough yet? Haven't you gotenough yet?"

  The heavens were growing grayer and grayer and the sun hid itself sowell that one couldn't imagine where it was. The rain fell faster andfaster, and beat harder and harder against the wings, as it tried tofind its way between the oily outside feathers, into their skins. Theearth was hidden by fogs; lakes, mountains, and woods floated