by Selma Lagerlöf
I don’t know what to say about this. Because I don’t know how to elaborately express that I liked almost everything about this, it was one of the prettiest books I’ve ever read.
I was first acquainted with The Wonderful Adventures of Nils Holgersson when I was a kid and I used to watch the animated series on television. I don’t remember much about it, aside from a few bits and pieces like the living statues and magpies? Though, there were no magpies in the book.
So I thought I’d finally read the book too. And well, I thought it was pretty.
Nils starts the book off as a bully. I wonder why it’s always boys who start the fairy tales as bullies, as if girls can’t be every bit as much bullies or worse? He’s dull, lazy, cruel to animals and ill-willed towards humans. But as he travels with the wild geese, he becomes the sweetest kid there is; kind, helpful, resourceful and stupidly conscientious as well.
Like, Nils, you don’t have to actually honour a promise of your own capture and imprisonment.
Also, I almost forgot what character development feels like. *side-eyes Harry Potter*
The story starts when one day — after his parents have left for the church and he’s alone in the house — he sees an elf and captures it. He strikes up a bargain with the elf in exchange for his freedom, but then thinks he should’ve asked for more and doesn’t let the elf go after all. This obviously makes the elf mad and in retaliation he bewitches Nils into Thumbietot, a human the size of an elf.
As you can see, Nils gets into trouble because of his own behaviour. Instead of having someone else’s behaviour imposed on him like in so many mediocre stories.
There’s also a white goosey-gander on his farm, Morten, who wants to show that he can fly as well as the wild geese who fly over their farm every year. Nils ends up on his back and goes along with the wild geese to Lapland.
The story doesn’t strictly focus on just Nils. Often we would hear and see the stories of other people and animals as well, and how they tie to Nils’ adventures with the geese.
Selma Lagerlöf wrote this to be read in schools, and I think she did a wonderful job of writing something that is both fun, touching and educational. Even though I’m not so familiar with Sweden that I could place the locations mentioned geographically, I felt that I could still “see” them and feel the thawing of spring. There were also several bits of information about these places, their history and Swedish folklore which were lovely.
Which actually brings me to another point: a love story does not have to be either about romance or sex. Because this is very much a love story of Sweden and nature.
If there is one complaint I have, then it would be that I could’ve lived without the occasional lip service to christianity. But regardless of these brief mentions of christianity, the story… just isn’t christian. It’s very much European. And perhaps in the future, we can finally have stories just for us, about us and by us again.
Another thing I would’ve liked to see was a brief epilogue of Nils as a human again. Did he meet the wild geese again? Did he go into nature conservation? Did he marry Osa, the goose girl? I would like to think the answer to each is yes.
And last but not least, the wild geese were named after Finnish words: Yksi, Kaksi, Kolme, Neljä, Viisi, Kuusi and Akka. These translate to: One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six and Crone. And how freaking cute is that?
As always I feel a bit empty after finishing something I thought was moving and pretty.
Hiraeth 