It was the first rainy day of the trip. As long as the wild geese had remained 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 to rain, 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 wild geese had flown high up in the air—evenly, and without haste—with Akka at the head maintaining strict discipline, and the rest in two oblique1 lines back of her. They had not taken the time to shout any witty2 sarcasms3 to the animals on the ground; but, as it was simply impossible for them to keep perfectly4 silent, they sang out continually—in rhythm with the wing-strokes—their usual coaxing5 call: "Where are you? Here am I. Where are you? Here am I."
They all took part in this persistent6 calling, and only stopped, now and then, to show the goosey-gander the landmarks7 they were travelling over. The places on this route included Linderödsosen's dry hills, Ovesholm's manor8, Christianstad's church steeple, Bäckaskog's royal castle on the narrow isthmus9 between Oppmann's lake and Ivö's lake, Ryss mountain's steep precipice10.
It had been a monotonous11 trip, and when the rain-clouds made their appearance 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 they were gray and disagreeable; but it was a very different thing to be up amongst them. Now he saw distinctly that the clouds were enormous carts, which drove through the heavens with sky-high loads. Some of them were piled up with huge, gray sacks, some with barrels; some were so large that they could hold a whole lake; and a few were filled with big utensils12 and bottles which were piled up to an immense height. And when so many of them had driven forward that they filled the whole sky, it appeared as though someone had given a signal, for all at once, water commenced to pour down over the earth, from utensils, barrels, bottles and sacks.
Just as the first spring-showers pattered against the ground, there arose such shouts of joy from all the small birds in groves13 and pastures, that the whole air rang with them and the boy leaped high where he sat. "Now we'll have rain. Rain gives us spring; spring gives us flowers and green leaves; green leaves and flowers give us worms and insects; worms and insects give us food; and plentiful14 and good food is the best thing there is," sang the birds.
The wild geese, too, were glad of the rain which came to awaken15 the growing things from their long sleep, and to drive holes in the ice-roofs on the lakes. They were not able to keep up that seriousness any longer, but began to send merry calls over the neighbourhood.
When they flew over the big potato patches, which are so plentiful in the country around Christianstad—and which still lay bare and black—they screamed: "Wake up and be useful! Here comes something that will awaken you. You have idled long enough now."
When they saw people who hurried to get out of the rain, they reproved them saying: "What are you in such a hurry about? Can't you see that it's raining rye-loaves and cookies?"
It was a big, thick mist that moved northward16 briskly, and followed close upon the geese. They seemed to think that they dragged the mist along with them; and, just now, when they saw great orchards17 beneath them, they called out proudly: "Here we come with anemones18; here we come with roses; here we come with apple blossoms and cherry buds; here we come with peas and beans and turnips19 and cabbages. He who wills can take them. He who wills can take them."
Thus it had sounded while the first showers fell, and when all were still glad of the rain. But when it continued to fall the whole afternoon, the wild geese grew impatient, and cried to the thirsty forests around Ivös lake: "Haven't you got enough yet? Haven't you got enough yet?"
The heavens were growing grayer and grayer and the sun hid itself so well that one couldn't imagine where it was. The rain fell faster and faster, and beat harder and harder against the wings, as it tried to find its way between the oily outside feathers, into their skins. The earth was hidden by fogs; lakes, mountains, and woods floated together in an indistinct maze20, and the landmarks could not be distinguished21. The flight became slower and slower; the joyful22 cries were hushed; and the boy felt the cold more and more keenly.
But still he had kept up his courage as long as he had ridden through the air. And in the afternoon, when they had lighted under a little stunted23 pine, in the middle of a large morass24, where all was wet, and all was cold; where some knolls25 were covered with snow, and others stood up naked in a puddle26 of half-melted ice-water, even then, he had not felt discouraged, but ran about in fine spirits, and hunted for cranberries27 and frozen whortleberries. But then came evening, and darkness sank down on them so close, that not even such eyes as the boy's could see through it; and all the wilderness28 became so strangely grim and awful. The boy lay tucked in under the goosey-gander's wing, but could not sleep because he was cold and wet. He heard such a lot of rustling29 and rattling30 and stealthy steps and menacing voices, that he was terror-stricken and didn't know where he should go. He must go somewhere, where there was light and heat, if he wasn't going to be entirely31 scared to death.
"If I should venture where there are human beings, just for this night?" thought the boy. "Only so I could sit by a fire for a moment, and get a little food. I could go back to the wild geese before sunrise."
He crept from under the wing and slid down to the ground. He didn't awaken either the goosey-gander or any of the other geese, but stole, silently and unobserved, through the morass.
He didn't know exactly where on earth he was: if he was in Skåne, in Småland, or in Blekinge. But just before he had gotten down in the morass, he had caught a glimpse of a large village, and thither32 he directed his steps. It wasn't long, either, before he discovered a road; and soon he was on the village street, which was long, and had planted trees on both sides, and was bordered with garden after garden.
The boy had come to one of the big cathedral towns, which are so common on the uplands, but can hardly be seen at all down in the plain.
The houses were of wood, and very prettily33 constructed. Most of them had gables and fronts, edged with carved mouldings, and glass doors, with here and there a coloured pane34, opening on verandas35. The walls were painted in light oil-colours; the doors and window-frames shone in blues36 and greens, and even in reds. While the boy walked about and viewed the houses, he could hear, all the way out to the road, how the people who sat in the warm cottages chattered37 and laughed. The words he could not distinguish, but he thought it was just lovely to hear human voices. "I wonder what they would say if I knocked and begged to be let in," thought he.
This was, of course, what he had intended to do all along, but now that he saw the lighted windows, his fear of the darkness was gone. Instead, he felt again that shyness which always came over him now when he was near human beings. "I'll take a look around the town for a while longer," thought he, "before I ask anyone to take me in."
On one house there was a balcony. And just as the boy walked by, the doors were thrown open, and a yellow light streamed through the fine, sheer curtains. Then a pretty young fru came out on the balcony and leaned over the railing. "It's raining; now we shall soon have spring," said she. When the boy saw her he felt a strange anxiety. It was as though he wanted to weep. For the first time he was a bit uneasy because he had shut himself out from the human kind.
Shortly after that he walked by a shop. Outside the shop stood a red corn-drill. He stopped and looked at it; and finally crawled up to the driver's place, and seated himself. When he had got there, he smacked38 with his lips and pretended that he sat and drove. He thought what fun it would be to be permitted to drive such a pretty machine over a grainfield. For a moment he forgot what he was like now; then he remembered it, and jumped down quickly from the machine. Then a greater unrest came over him. After all, human beings were very wonderful and clever.
He walked by the post-office, and then he thought of all the newspapers which came every day, with news from all the four corners of the earth. He saw the apothecary's shop and the doctor's home, and he thought about the power of human beings, which was so great that they were able to battle with sickness and death. He came to the church. Then he thought how human beings had built it, that they might hear about another world than the one in which they lived, of God and the resurrection and eternal life. And the longer he walked there, the better he liked human beings.
It is so with children that they never think any farther ahead than the length of their noses. That which lies nearest them, they want promptly39, without caring what it may cost them. Nils Holgersson had not understood what he was losing when he chose to remain an elf; but now he began to be dreadfully afraid that, perhaps, he should never again get back to his right form.
How in all the world should he go to work in order to become human? This he wanted, oh! so much, to know.
He crawled up on a doorstep, and seated himself in the pouring rain and meditated40. He sat there one whole hour—two whole hours, and he thought so hard that his forehead lay in furrows41; but he was none the wiser. It seemed as though the thoughts only rolled round and round in his head. The longer he sat there, the more impossible it seemed to him to find any solution.
"This thing is certainly much too difficult for one who has learned as little as I have," he thought at last. "It will probably wind up by my having to go back among human beings after all. I must ask the minister and the doctor and the schoolmaster and others who are learned, and may know a cure for such things."
This he concluded that he would do at once, and shook himself—for he was as wet as a dog that has been in a water-pool.
Just about then he saw that a big owl42 came flying along, and alighted on one of the trees that bordered the village street. The next instant a lady owl, who sat under the cornice of the house, began to call out: "Kivitt, Kivitt! Are you at home again, Mr. Gray Owl? What kind of a time did you have abroad?"
"Thank you, Lady Brown Owl. I had a very comfortable time," said the gray owl. "Has anything out of the ordinary happened here at home during my absence?"
"Not here in Blekinge, Mr. Gray Owl; but in Skåne a marvellous thing has happened! A boy has been transformed by an elf into a goblin no bigger than a squirrel; and since then he has gone to Lapland with a tame goose."
"That's a remarkable43 bit of news, a remarkable bit of news. Can he never be human again, Lady Brown Owl? Can he never be human again?"
"That's a secret, Mr. Gray Owl; but you shall hear it just the same. The elf has said that if the boy watches over the goosey-gander, so that he comes home safe and sound, and—"
"What more, Lady Brown Owl? What more? What more?"
"Fly with me up to the church tower, Mr. Gray Owl, and you shall hear the whole story! I fear there may be someone listening down here in the street." With that, the owls44 flew their way; but the boy flung his cap in the air, and shouted: "If I only watch over the goosey-gander, so that he gets back safe and sound, then I shall become a human being again. Hurrah45! Hurrah! Then I shall become a human being again!"
He shouted "hurrah" until it was strange that they did not hear him in the houses—but they didn't, and he hurried back to the wild geese, out in the wet morass, as fast as his legs could carry him.
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1
oblique
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| adj.斜的，倾斜的，无诚意的，不坦率的 | |
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witty
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| adj.机智的，风趣的 | |
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sarcasms
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| n.讥讽，讽刺，挖苦( sarcasm的名词复数 ) | |
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4
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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5
coaxing
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| v.哄，用好话劝说( coax的现在分词 )；巧言骗取；哄劝，劝诱；“锻炼”效应 | |
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persistent
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| adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的 | |
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7
landmarks
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| n.陆标( landmark的名词复数 )；目标；（标志重要阶段的）里程碑 ~ (in sth)；有历史意义的建筑物（或遗址） | |
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manor
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| n.庄园，领地 | |
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isthmus
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| n.地峡 | |
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precipice
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| n.悬崖，危急的处境 | |
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11
monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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12
utensils
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| 器具，用具，器皿( utensil的名词复数 )； 器物 | |
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groves
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| 树丛，小树林( grove的名词复数 ) | |
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plentiful
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| adj.富裕的，丰富的 | |
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awaken
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| vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起 | |
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16
northward
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| adv.向北；n.北方的地区 | |
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17
orchards
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| （通常指围起来的）果园( orchard的名词复数 ) | |
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anemones
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| n.银莲花( anemone的名词复数 )；海葵 | |
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19
turnips
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| 芜青( turnip的名词复数 )； 芜菁块根； 芜菁甘蓝块根； 怀表 | |
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20
maze
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| n.迷宫，八阵图，混乱，迷惑 | |
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21
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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22
joyful
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| adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的 | |
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23
stunted
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| adj.矮小的；发育迟缓的 | |
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24
morass
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| n.沼泽，困境 | |
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25
knolls
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| n.小圆丘，小土墩( knoll的名词复数 ) | |
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26
puddle
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| n.(雨)水坑，泥潭 | |
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27
cranberries
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| n.越橘( cranberry的名词复数 ) | |
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28
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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29
rustling
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| n. 瑟瑟声，沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的 | |
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30
rattling
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| adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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32
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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33
prettily
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| adv.优美地；可爱地 | |
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34
pane
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| n.窗格玻璃，长方块 | |
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35
verandas
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| 阳台，走廊( veranda的名词复数 ) | |
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36
blues
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| n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐 | |
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37
chattered
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| （人）喋喋不休( chatter的过去式 )； 唠叨； （牙齿）打战； （机器）震颤 | |
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38
smacked
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| 拍，打，掴( smack的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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40
meditated
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| 深思，沉思，冥想( meditate的过去式和过去分词 )； 内心策划，考虑 | |
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41
furrows
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| n.犁沟( furrow的名词复数 )；（脸上的）皱纹v.犁田，开沟( furrow的第三人称单数 ) | |
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42
owl
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| n.猫头鹰，枭 | |
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43
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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44
owls
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| n.猫头鹰( owl的名词复数 ) | |
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45
hurrah
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| int.好哇，万岁，乌拉 | |
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