Produced by David Schaal and PG Distributed Proofreaders
[Transcriber's note: The inconsistent orthography of the original isretained in this etext.]
THE WONDERFUL ADVENTURES of NILS
by
The Boy
Akka from Kebnekaise
The Wonderful Journey of Nils
Glimminge Castle
The Great Crane Dance on Kullaberg
In Rainy Weather
The Stairway with the Three Steps
By Ronneby River
Karlskrona
The Trip to Öland
Öland's Southern Point
The Big Butterfly
Little Karl's Island
Two Cities
The Legend of Småland
The Crows
The Old Peasant Woman
From Taberg to Huskvarna
The Big Bird Lake
Ulvåsa-Lady
The Homespun Cloth
The Story of Karr and Grayskin
The Wind Witch
The Breaking Up of the Ice
Thumbietot and the Bears
The Flood
Dunfin
Stockholm
Gorgo the Eagle
On Over Gästrikland
A Day in Hälsingland
In Medelpad
A Morning in Ångermanland
Westbottom and Lapland
Osa, the Goose Girl, and Little Mats
With the Laplanders
Homeward Bound
Legends from Härjedalen
Vermland and Dalsland
The Treasure on the Island
The Journey to Vemminghög
Home at Last
The Parting with the Wild Geese
_Some of the purely geographical matter in the Swedish original of the"Further Adventures of Nils" has been eliminated from the Englishversion.
The author has rendered valuable assistance in cutting certain chaptersand abridging others. Also, with the author's approval, cuts have beenmade where the descriptive matter was merely of local interest.
But the story itself is intact.
Sunday, March twentieth.
Once there was a boy. He was—let us say—something like fourteen yearsold; long and loose-jointed and towheaded. He wasn't good for much, thatboy. His chief delight was to eat and sleep; and after that—he likedbest to make mischief.
It was a Sunday morning and the boy's parents were getting ready to goto church. The boy sat on the edge of the table, in his shirt sleeves,and thought how lucky it was that both father and mother were goingaway, and the coast would be clear for a couple of hours. "Good! Now Ican take down pop's gun and fire off a shot, without anybody's meddlinginterference," he said to himself.
But it was almost as if father should have guessed the boy's thoughts,for just as he was on the threshold—ready to start—he stopped short,and turned toward the boy. "Since you won't come to church with motherand me," he said, "the