Nils Holgerssons underbara resa. English

by Selma Lagerlöf

inreturn."

  "Then tell me why you are glad the water-snake is dead," responded theboy.

  "It's a long story," said the raven; "you wouldn't have the patience tolisten to it."

  But the boy insisted that he had, and then the raven told him the wholestory about Karr and Grayskin and Helpless, the water-snake. When he hadfinished, the boy sat quietly for a moment, looking straight ahead. Thenhe spoke:

  "I seem to like the forest better since hearing this. I wonder if thereis anything left of the old Liberty Forest."

  "Most of it has been destroyed," said Bataki. "The trees look as if theyhad passed through a fire. They'll have to be cleared away, and it willtake many years before the forest will be what it once was."

  "That snake deserved his death!" declared the boy. "But I wonder if itcould be possible that he was so wise he could send sickness to thecaterpillars?"

  "Perhaps he knew that they frequently became sick in that way,"intimated Bataki.

  "Yes, that may be; but all the same, I must say that he was a very wilysnake."

  The boy stopped talking because he saw the raven was not listening tohim, but sitting with gaze averted. "Hark!" he said. "Karr is in thevicinity. Won't he be happy when he sees that Helpless is dead!"

  The boy turned his head in the direction of the sound.

  "He's talking with the wild geese," he said.

  "Oh, you may be sure that he has dragged himself down to the strand toget the latest news about Grayskin!"

  Both the boy and the raven jumped to the ground, and hastened down tothe shore. All the geese had come out of the lake, and stood talkingwith an old dog, who was so weak and decrepit that it seemed as if hemight drop dead at any moment.

  "There's Karr," said Bataki to the boy. "Let him hear first what thewild geese have to say to him; later we shall tell him that thewater-snake is dead."

  Presently they heard Akka talking to Karr.

  "It happened last year while we were making our usual spring trip,"remarked the leader-goose. "We started out one morning--Yksi, Kaksi, andI, and we flew over the great boundary forests between Dalecarlia andHaelsingland. Under us we, saw only thick pine forests. The snow wasstill deep among the trees, and the creeks were mostly frozen.

  "Suddenly we noticed three poachers down in the forest! They were onskis, had dogs in leash, carried knives in their belts, but had no guns.

  "As there was a hard crust on the snow, they did not bother to take thewinding forest paths, but skied straight ahead. Apparently they knewvery well where they must go to find what they were seeking.

  "We wild geese flew on, high up in the air, so that the whole forestunder us was visible. When we sighted the poachers we wanted to find outwhere the game was, so we circled up and down, peering through thetrees. Then, in a dense thicket, we saw something that looked like big,moss-covered rocks, but couldn't be rocks, for there was no snow onthem.

  "We shot down, suddenly, and lit in the centre of the thicket. The threerocks moved. They were three elk--a bull and two cows--resting in thebleak forest.

  "When we alighted, the elk bull rose and came toward us. He was themost superb animal we had ever seen. When he saw that it was only somepoor wild geese that had awakened him, he lay down again.

  "'No, old granddaddy, you mustn't go back to sleep!' I cried. 'Flee asfast as you can! There are poachers in the forest, and they are boundfor this very deer fold.'

  "'Thank you, goose mother!' said the elk. He seemed to be dropping tosleep while he was speaking. 'But surely you must know that we elk areunder the protection of the law at this time of the year. Those poachersare probably out for fox,' he yawned.

  "'There are plenty of fox trails in the forest, but the poachers are notlooking for them. Believe me, old granddaddy! They know that you arelying here, and are coming to attack you. They have no guns withthem--only spears and knives--for they dare not fire a shot at thisseason.'

  "The elk bull lay there calmly, but the elk cows seemed to feel uneasy.

  "'It may be as the geese say,' they remarked, beginning to bestirthemselves.

  "'You just lie down!' said the elk bull. 'There are no poachers cominghere; of that you may be certain.'

  "There was nothing more to be done, so we wild geese rose again into theair. But we continued to circle over the place, to see how it would turnout for the elk.

  "We had hardly reached our regular flying altitude, when we saw the elkbull come out from the thicket. He sniffed the air a little, then walkedstraight toward the poachers. As he strode along he stepped upon drytwigs that crackled noisily. A big barren marsh lay just beyond him.Thither he went and took his stand in the middle, where there wasnothing to hide him from view.

  "There he stood until the poachers emerged from the woods. Then heturned and fled in the opposite direction. The poachers let loose thedogs, and they themselves skied after him at full speed.

  "The elk threw back his head and loped as fast as he could. He kicked upsnow until it flew like a blizzard about him. Both dogs and men wereleft far behind. Then the elk stopped, as if to await their approach.When they were within sight he dashed ahead again. We understood that hewas purposely tempting the hunters away from the place where the cowswere. We thought it brave of him to face danger himself, in order thatthose who were dear to him might be left in safety. None of us wanted toleave the place until we had seen how all this was to end.

  "Thus the chase continued for two hours or more. We wondered that thepoachers went to the trouble of pursuing the elk when they were notarmed with rifles. They couldn't have thought that they could succeed intiring out a runner like him!

  "Then we noticed that the elk no longer ran so rapidly. He stepped onthe snow more carefully, and every time he lifted his feet, blood couldbe seen in his tracks.

  "We understood why the poachers had been so persistent! They hadcounted on help from the snow. The elk was heavy, and with every step hesank to the bottom of the drift. The hard crust on the snow was scrapinghis legs. It scraped away the fur, and tore out pieces of flesh, so thathe was in torture every time he put his foot down.

  "The poachers and the dogs, who were so light that the ice crust couldhold their weight, pursued him all the while. He ran on and on--hissteps becoming more and more uncertain and faltering. He gasped forbreath. Not only did he suffer intense pain, but he was also exhaustedfrom wading through the deep snowdrifts.

  "At last he lost all patience. He paused to let poachers and dogs comeupon him, and was ready to fight them. As he stood there waiting, heglanced upward. When he saw us wild geese circling above him, he criedout:

  "'Stay here, wild geese, until all is over! And the next time you flyover Kolmarden, look up Karr, and ask him if he doesn't think that hisfriend Grayskin has met with a happy end?'"

  When Akka had gone so far in her story the old dog rose and walkednearer to her.

  "Grayskin led a good life," he said. "He understands me. He knows thatI'm a brave dog, and that I shall be glad to hear that he had a happyend. Now tell me how--"

  He raised his tail and threw back his head, as if to give himself a boldand proud bearing--then he collapsed.

  "Karr! Karr!" called a man's voice from the forest.

  The old dog rose obediently.

  "My master is calling me," he said, "and I must not tarry longer. I justsaw him load his gun. Now we two are going into the forest for the lasttime.

  "Many thanks, wild goose! I know everything that I need know to diecontent!"

  THE WIND WITCH

  IN NAeRKE

  In bygone days there was something in Naerke the like of which was not tobe found elsewhere: it was a witch, named Ysaetter-Kaisa.

  The name Kaisa had been given her because she had a good deal to do withwind and storm--and these wind witches are always so called. The surnamewas added because she was supposed to have come from Ysaetter swamp inAsker parish.

  It seemed as though her real abode must have been at Asker; but she usedalso to appear at other places.
Nowhere in all Naerke could one be sureof not meeting her.

  She was no dark, mournful witch, but gay and frolicsome; and what sheloved most of all was a gale of wind. As soon as there was wind enough,off she would fly to the Naerke plain for a good dance. On days when awhirlwind swept the plain, Ysaetter-Kaisa had fun! She would stand rightin the wind and spin round, her long hair flying up among the clouds andthe long trail of her robe sweeping the ground, like a dust cloud, whilethe whole plain lay spread out under her, like a ballroom floor.

  Of a morning Ysaetter-Kaisa would sit up in some tall pine at the top ofa precipice, and look across the plain. If it happened to be winter andshe saw many teams on the roads she hurriedly blew up a blizzard, pilingthe