In 1907, Selma Lagerlöf wrote a fairy-tale textbook for Swedish children, "The Adventure of Niels with Wild Geese." The author told a lot of interesting things about the history of Sweden, its geography, wildlife. From each page of the book flows love for his native country, set out in an entertaining way. This was immediately appreciated by readers, and in 1909 by members of the Nobel Committee on Literature, who presented her with a prize for the children's book "The Adventure of Niels with the Wild Geese." A summary of the chapters can be found below.
How Niels poisoned on a trip
In a remote Swedish village there lived a boy named Niels Holgerssson. He loved to bully, even often evil. At school, he was lazy and getting bad grades. At home he pulled a cat by the tail, chased chickens, ducks, geese, kicked and offended cows.
We began to get acquainted with the abridged version of the fairy tale book, to present its summary. "The Adventure of Niels with the Wild Geese" is a work where miracles begin on the first pages. On Sunday, his parents went to a nearby village to a fair, and Niels was given the opportunity to read The Instructions, a thick book that told how good it was to be good and how bad it was to be bad. Behind a long book, Niels dozed off, and woke up from a rustle and found that the chest in which mother kept all the most valuable was open. There was no one in the room, and Niels remembered that before leaving, mom checked the castle. He noticed a little funny man sitting on the edge of the chest and looking at its contents. The boy grabbed the net and caught the man in it.
He turned out to be a gnome and asked Nils to let him go. For this, he promised a gold coin. Niels released the gnome, but immediately regretted that he had not asked for a hundred coins and waved the net again. But he got hit and fell to the floor.
We have provided only a very brief summary. The Adventures of Niels with Wild Geese is a book by a Swedish writer who has long become a brand.
When Niels came to his senses, everything in the room miraculously changed everything. All familiar things have become terribly large. Then Niels realized that he himself had become as small as a dwarf. He went out into the courtyard and was surprised to learn that he understood the language of birds and animals. Everyone mocked him and said that he deserved such a punishment. The cat, whom Niels politely asked to say where the dwarf lives, refused him because the boy often offended him.
At this time, a flock of wild gray geese flew from the south . As a mockery, they began to call home with them. The favorite of Nils's mother, Martin, ran after them, and Nils grabbed his neck to hold him, so they flew away from the yard. By evening, Martin began to lag behind the pack, flew in last when everyone got a place to sleep. Niels dragged the weakened Martin to the water, and he got drunk. Thus began their friendship.
Insidious Smirre
In the evening, the flock moved to a large ice floe in the middle of the lake. All geese were against the man who travels with them. The wise Akka Kebnekaise, the leader of the pack, said that she would make a decision on whether to fly Niels further with them in the morning. Everyone fell asleep.
We continue to retell the work of Selma Lagerlöf and give a brief summary of it. The Adventure of Niels with the Wild Geese shows what changes are happening with Niels. At night, the boy woke up from the flapping of wings - the whole flock soared up. Smirre, the red fox, remained on the ice. He held a gray goose in his teeth and moved to the shore to eat it.
Niels was so painfully pricked with a penknife into the tail of a fox that he released the goose, which immediately flew away. The whole flock flew to save Niels. The geese outwitted Smirre and took the boy with them. Now no one said that a man in a flock of geese is a great danger.
Niels saves everyone from rats
A flock of geese stopped to spend the night in an old castle. People have not lived in it for a long time, but only animals and birds. It became known that huge angry rats want to populate him. Akka Kebnekaise handed Nils a pipe. He played on it, and all the rats, lined up in a chain, obediently followed the musician. He led them to the lake, got on a boat and swam, the rats one after another followed him and drowned. So they were gone. The castle and its inhabitants were saved.
Here is just a brief summary. “The Niels Adventure with Wild Geese” is a very interesting and exciting story, which is best read in the author's version.
In the ancient capital
There was more than one adventure with Nils and the geese. Later, the pack stopped for the night in the old city. Niels decided to take a walk at night. He met a wooden boatswain and a bronze king, who came down from the pedestal and chased after the boy who teased him. The boatswain hid him under his hat. And then morning came, and the king went to his place. The work "The Adventure of Niels with Wild Geese" continues to unfold before you. A summary without entertaining details describes all the events.
Lapland
After many adventures, when, for example, people caught Martin and almost ate, the flock reached Lapland. All geese began to make nests and acquire offspring. The short northern summer ended, the goslings grew up, and the whole flock began to gather south. Soon, Niels's adventure with the wild geese will soon end. The summary of the work that we cover is still not as interesting as the original.
Homecoming, or How Niels Turned into an Ordinary Boy
Flying over the house of Nils's parents, the goose Martin wanted to show his children his own bird's yard. He couldn’t tear himself away from the oats feeder and kept saying that there was always such delicious food here. Gusyat and Nils rushed him. Suddenly, Niels' mother came in and was glad that Martin was back, and he could be sold at the fair in two days. The boy’s parents grabbed the unfortunate goose and were about to kill him. Niels courageously promised Martin to save him and rushed after his parents.
Suddenly, the knife fell out of the hands of his father, and he released the goose, and his mother exclaimed: "Niels, dear, how did you grow up and prettier." It turned out that he turned into an ordinary person.
The wise book of S. Lagerlöf “The Adventure of Niels with Wild Geese,” the contents of which we briefly retold, suggests that while the boy had a petty, evil soul, he was a dwarf. When the soul became large, open for good deeds, the dwarf returned to him the original human form.