The Wonderful Adventures of Nils: A Classic Swedish Children’s Tale is the preeminent illustrated edition of Nobel Prize-winner Selma Lagerlöf‘s classic Swedish tale, which has been sensitively abridged for young readers. With its engrossing, exciting story and stunning full colour artwork from Lars Klinting, readers of all ages will be transported to the Sweden of over a century ago.
When Nils is transformed from a boy into a tiny gnome, he finds himself on an incredible journey travelling the length of Sweden from Skåne to Lapland. Soaring through the sky on the back of his family’s farmyard goose, Nils discovers the wild and the wondrous: from frozen lakes and snow-topped mountains to lost cities, new friends and dangerous foes including a very wily fox set on revenge.
But, let’s start at the very beginning! Read on to take the first step in Nils’ epic adventure.
Chapter One
Once upon a time there was a boy named Nils Holgersson. He was not a very nice boy: he was lazy, often played tricks on animals and people, and thought only of what he could get from others.
On a Sunday morning, Nils’ parents were going to church. “Good,” he said to himself, “then I can go fishing with Father’s rod without anyone interfering.”
But his father guessed what he was thinking.
“If you don’t want to come with us, then you must read the sermon at home,” he said. The boy’s mother brought the book of sermons and opened it. “Fourteen and a half pages,” she said. “And your father will question you on every single one, so you had better start reading now.”
Nils’ parents set off. It was lovely and fresh outside and the trees were in bud, the water murmured along all the ditches and the coltsfoot was in full flower. Nils’ mother and father would have enjoyed their walk to church if they hadn’t had to think about their troublesome son.
Back at home in the cottage, the boy started to read half-aloud, but the mumbling made him sleepy and he nodded off.
A noise woke him. On the windowsill, right in front of Nils was a little mirror, and in it he saw the lid of his mother’s best chest had been raised. A gnome was sitting on the edge of the chest looking delightedly down at all the fine things inside.
Nils was very surprised, but he was not afraid of anyone so small. He decided it might be fun to play a trick on the little fellow, so he grabbed the fly-net and in a flash had caught the gnome in it. The gnome lay at the bottom pleading to be let out.
“I have been good to you for many years,” the gnome said. “If you let me go, I’ll give you a silver spoon and a gold coin.”
The boy agreed to that, but just as the gnome was about to climb out, it occurred to Nils that he could have asked for more silver and more gold, so he started shaking the net to make the gnome fall back into it. Defending himself, the gnome gave the boy a thump over the ear, and the boy fell to the floor.
When he lifted his head, he was alone again. The lid of the chest was down and the fly-net back in its place.
But his ear was burning hot, so the little gnome had been no dream.
And what was this? The cottage seemed to have grown! He had to climb up onto the chair, and in order to see over the edge of the table, he had to clamber onto the chair’s arm. And to read, he had to stand right in the middle of the book itself.
Nils read a few lines, then happened to glance at himself in the mirror.
“Look!” he cried. “There’s another gnome!” He could quite clearly see a little fellow in trousers and a pixie cap.
“He’s dressed just like me,” said the boy, clapping his hands. But he saw that the person in the mirror was also clapping. He scratched his head and at once the boy in the mirror did the same.
Nils ran round to the back of the mirror to see if anyone was hiding there, but he found no one, and then he really was frightened, because at that moment he realised that the gnome he’d trapped in the fly-net had put a spell on him and he himself was the little fellow in the mirror! “If I wait a while, I’ll turn back into a human again,” he thought, closing his eyes. But no, he stayed just as small.
“I must find that gnome again,” he exclaimed and started searching. He looked behind the cupboard and under the sofa, but he found no gnome. Nils burst into tears, pleading: “I promise never to play tricks again, never to be unkind and never to fall asleep over the sermon! If I become human again, I will be good and hard-working and pay attention to my parents!”
But that didn’t help in the slightest.
Perhaps he could catch the gnome out in the cowshed? The door of the cottage was open a crack, so he slipped through it. On the steps outside he found a tiny little pair of clogs and his heart sank. The gnome must have thought this wretched business was going to last a long time if he had bothered to provide outdoor shoes.
When the boy stepped out into the farmyard, a flock of sparrows caught sight of him and started cheeping.
“Look, look, look at Nils Gooseboy! Look at little Thumbkin! Nils Holgersson Thumbkin!” Then there was a terrible cackling.
“Cockadoodledoo,” crowed the cock. “Serve him right, he who pulls my coxcomb.”
“Cluck-cluck-cluck,” shrieked the hens. “Serve him right. Serve him right!” The boy listened to the animals with astonishment.
“I suppose I can understand what they’re saying now because I’ve been shrunk by the gnome,” he mumbled thoughtfully.
He threw a stone at the hens and shouted, “Shut up, you rabble!” But the hens weren’t afraid of him any longer and they didn’t quieten down until the cat came creeping along.
“Puss,” said the boy. “Please tell me where the gnome is.”
The cat said in a soft voice: “Oh, yes, I know where the gnome lives.” Then he continued, “But why should I help you? You like to pull my tail!”
That made Nils angry and he forgot he was so small. “I’ll pull your tail again!” he shouted and ran straight at the cat. The cat leapt forwards, knocking Nils flat with its paws on his chest, its mouth open and hissing, its eyes as red as fire. The boy thought his last moment had come and cried out for help. But no one came.
The cat held him down a moment or two longer, and then let him go. “There you are,” it said, satisfied. “Now you know which of us is stronger.” And it padded away, now looking like a kindly and generous creature.
From inside the cowshed came the bellowing and stamping of cows.
“Moo! It’s good there’s still some justice in the world,” lowed Mayrose, the eldest cow in the herd, as Nils stepped into the dim room.
“Just you come over here,” said Star. “And I’ll dance you on my horns.”
“Come over here and I’ll pay you back for that wasp you put into my ear!” snapped Lily.
“Come over here and I’ll pay you back for all the times you’ve pulled away the milking stool from under your mother, and all the tears she has cried for you,” bellowed Mayrose.
The boy wanted to say he was sorry and that he would never be anything else but good if they told him where the gnome was. But the cows just tossed their horns angrily. He decided it would be best if he slipped away.
Outside, he felt really rather downhearted, for he realised no one on the farm was going to help him find the gnome, nor would the gnome be likely to help even if he did manage to find him. Nils clambered up onto the wide stone wall that ran round the farm, and sat down to think. “What will happen if I don’t go back to being human size again?” he wondered aloud. “What will Mother and Father think when they come back from church?”
He felt miserable. Just imagine, he was no longer a human being, but an odd little creature who couldn’t play with other children. What kind of future would he have if he couldn’t take over the farm when his parents grew old, and if he would never find anyone to marry him?
He looked around at the farm – small and poor in other people’s eyes perhaps, but to him it was home. Now he would have to live in a little hole, maybe somewhere under the cowshed floor. And he would never be happy about anything again.
Where can Nils go from here? Follow the next steps in his incredible journey across Sweden in The Wonderful Adventures of Nils. Find out more here.
About the creatives
Selma Lagerlöf (1858-1940) was born in Varmland, Sweden. She was the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature. Her work gained acclaim both at home in Sweden and across the world, and has been translated into over 30 languages.
Lars Klinting (1948-2006) was a beloved Swedish author and illustrator. He trained as a carpenter before he wrote and illustrated his first book. Lars created numerous children’s books including the Handy Harvey series, which became popular all over the world, and illustrated books by Astrid Lindgren and Selma Lagerlöf. He won the Elsa Beskow Plaque in 1987.
