Nils Holgerssons underbara resa. English

by Selma Lagerlöf

whileon this beautiful night.

  Oh, yes! that the boy wanted to do, if the stork would manage it so thathe got back to the wild geese before sunrise. This he promised, so offthey went.

  Again Herr Ermenrich flew straight toward the moon. They rose and rose;the sea sank deep down, but the flight went so light and easy that itseemed almost as if the boy lay still in the air.

  When Herr Ermenrich began to descend, the boy thought that the flighthad lasted an unreasonably short time.

  They landed on a desolate bit of seashore, which was covered with fine,even sand. All along the coast ran a row of flying-sand drifts, withlyme-grass on their tops. They were not very high, but they preventedthe boy from seeing any of the island.

  Herr Ermenrich stood on a sand-hill, drew up one leg and bent his headbackward, so he could stick his bill under the wing. "You can roamaround on the shore for a while," he said to Thumbietot, "while I restmyself. But don't go so far away but what you can find your way back tome again!"

  To start with, the boy intended to climb a sand-hill and see how theland behind it looked. But when he had walked a couple of paces, hestubbed the toe of his wooden shoe against something hard. He stoopeddown, and saw that a small copper coin lay on the sand, and was so wornwith verdigris that it was almost transparent. It was so poor that hedidn't even bother to pick it up, but only kicked it out of the way.

  But when he straightened himself up once more he was perfectlyastounded, for two paces away from him stood a high, dark wall with abig, turreted gate.

  The moment before, when the boy bent down, the sea lay there--shimmeringand smooth, while now it was hidden by a long wall with towers andbattlements. Directly in front of him, where before there had been onlya few sea-weed banks, the big gate of the wall opened.

  The boy probably understood that it was a spectre-play of some sort; butthis was nothing to be afraid of, thought he. It wasn't any dangeroustrolls, or any other evil--such as he always dreaded to encounter atnight. Both the wall and the gate were so beautifully constructed thathe only desired to see what there might be back of them. "I must findout what this can be," thought he, and went in through the gate.

  In the deep archway there were guards, dressed in brocaded and purredsuits, with long-handled spears beside them, who sat and threw dice.They thought only of the game, and took no notice of the boy who hurriedpast them quickly.

  Just within the gate he found an open space, paved with large, evenstone blocks. All around this were high and magnificent buildings; andbetween these opened long, narrow streets. On the square--facing thegate--it fairly swarmed with human beings. The men wore long,fur-trimmed capes over satin suits; plume-bedecked hats sat obliquely ontheir heads; on their chests hung superb chains. They were all soregally gotten up that the whole lot of them might have been kings.

  The women went about in high head-dresses and long robes withtight-fitting sleeves. They, too, were beautifully dressed, but theirsplendour was not to be compared with that of the men.

  This was exactly like the old story-book which mother took from thechest--only once--and showed to him. The boy simply couldn't believe hiseyes.

  But that which was even more wonderful to look upon than either the menor the women, was the city itself. Every house was built in such a waythat a gable faced the street. And the gables were so highly ornamented,that one could believe they wished to compete with each other as towhich one could show the most beautiful decorations.

  When one suddenly sees so much that is new, he cannot manage to treasureit all in his memory. But at least the boy could recall that he had seenstairway gables on the various landings, which bore images of the Christand his Apostles; gables, where there were images in niche after nicheall along the wall; gables that were inlaid with multi-coloured bits ofglass, and gables that were striped and checked with white and blackmarble. As the boy admired all this, a sudden sense of haste came overhim. "Anything like this my eyes have never seen before. Anything likethis, they would never see again," he said to himself. And he began torun in toward the city--up one street, and down another.

  The streets were straight and narrow, but not empty and gloomy, as theywere in the cities with which he was familiar. There were peopleeverywhere. Old women sat by their open doors and spun without aspinning-wheel--only with the help of a shuttle. The merchants' shopswere like market-stalls--opening on the street. All the hand-workers didtheir work out of doors. In one place they were boiling crude oil; inanother tanning hides; in a third there was a long rope-walk.

  If only the boy had had time enough he could have learned how to makeall sorts of things. Here he saw how armourers hammered out thinbreast-plates; how turners tended their irons; how the shoemakers soledsoft, red shoes; how the gold-wire drawers twisted gold thread, and howthe weavers inserted silver and gold into their weaving.

  But the boy did not have the time to stay. He just rushed on, so that hecould manage to see as much as possible before it would all vanishagain.

  The high wall ran all around the city and shut it in, as a hedge shutsin a field. He saw it at the end of every street--gable-ornamented andcrenelated. On the top of the wall walked warriors in shining armour;and when he had run from one end of the city to the other, he came tostill another gate in the wall. Outside of this lay the sea andharbour. The boy saw olden-time ships, with rowing-benches straightacross, and high structures fore and aft. Some lay and took on cargo,others were just casting anchor. Carriers and merchants hurried aroundeach other. All over, it was life and bustle.

  But not even here did he seem to have the time to linger. He rushed intothe city again; and now he came up to the big square. There stood thecathedral with its three high towers and deep vaulted arches filled withimages. The walls had been so highly decorated by sculptors that therewas not a stone without its own special ornamentation. And what amagnificent display of gilded crosses and gold-trimmed altars andpriests in golden vestments, shimmered through the open gate! Directlyopposite the church there was a house with a notched roof and a singleslender, sky-high tower. That was probably the courthouse. And betweenthe courthouse and the cathedral, all around the square, stood thebeautiful gabled houses with their multiplicity of adornments.

  The boy had run himself both warm and tired. He thought that now he hadseen the most remarkable things, and therefore he began to walk moreleisurely. The street which he had turned into now was surely the onewhere the inhabitants purchased their fine clothing. He saw crowds ofpeople standing before the little stalls where the merchants spreadbrocades, stiff satins, heavy gold cloth, shimmery velvet, delicateveiling, and laces as sheer as a spider's web.

  Before, when the boy ran so fast, no one had paid any attention to him.The people must have thought that it was only a little gray rat thatdarted by them. But now, when he walked down the street, very slowly,one of the salesmen caught sight of him, and began to beckon to him.

  At first the boy was uneasy and wanted to hurry out of the way, but thesalesman only beckoned and smiled, and spread out on the counter alovely piece of satin damask as if he wanted to tempt him.

  The boy shook his head. "I will never be so rich that I can buy even ametre of that cloth," thought he.

  But now they had caught sight of him in every stall, all along thestreet. Wherever he looked stood a salesman and beckoned to him. Theyleft their costly wares, and thought only of him. He saw how theyhurried into the most hidden corner of the stall to fetch the best thatthey had to sell, and how their hands trembled with eagerness and hasteas they laid it upon the counter.

  When the boy continued to go on, one of the merchants jumped over thecounter, caught hold of him, and spread before him silver cloth andwoven tapestries, which shone with brilliant colours.

  The boy couldn't do anything but laugh at him. The salesman certainlymust understand that a poor little creature like him couldn't buy suchthings. He stood still and held out his two empty hands, so they wouldunderstand that he had nothing and let him go in peace.

 
; But the merchant raised a finger and nodded and pushed the whole pile ofbeautiful things over to him.

  "Can he mean that he will sell all this for a gold piece?" wondered theboy.

  The merchant brought out a tiny worn and poor coin--the smallest thatone could see--and showed it to him. And he was so eager to sell thathe increased his pile with a pair of large, heavy, silver goblets.

  Then the boy began to dig down in his pockets. He knew, of course, thathe didn't possess a single coin, but he couldn't help feeling for it.

  All the other merchants stood still and tried to see how the sale wouldcome off, and when they observed that the boy began to search in hispockets, they flung themselves over the counters, filled their handsfull of gold and silver ornaments, and offered them to him. And they allshowed him that what they asked in payment was just one little penny.

  But the boy turned both vest and breeches pockets inside out, so theyshould see that he owned nothing. Then tears