The Wonderful Adventures of Nils | Page 7

resist the temptation to raise their heads and
listen, but they answered very sensibly: "We're pretty well off where
we are. We're pretty well off where we are."
It was, as we have said, an uncommonly fine day, with an atmosphere
that it must have been a real delight to fly in, so light and bracing. And
with each new wild geese-flock that flew by, the tame geese became
more and more unruly. A couple of times they flapped their wings, as if
they had half a mind to fly along. But then an old mother-goose would
always say to them: "Now don't be silly. Those creatures will have to
suffer both hunger and cold."
There was a young gander whom the wild geese had fired with a
passion for adventure. "If another flock comes this way, I'll follow
them," said he.
Then there came a new flock, who shrieked like the others, and the
young gander answered: "Wait a minute! Wait a minute! I'm coming."
He spread his wings and raised himself into the air; but he was so
unaccustomed to flying, that he fell to the ground again.

At any rate, the wild geese must have heard his call, for they turned and
flew back slowly to see if he was coming.
"Wait, wait!" he cried, and made another attempt to fly.
All this the boy heard, where he lay on the hedge. "It would be a great
pity," thought he, "if the big goosey-gander should go away. It would
be a big loss to father and mother if he was gone when they came home
from church."
When he thought of this, once again he entirely forgot that he was little
and helpless. He took one leap right down into the goose-flock, and
threw his arms around the neck of the goosey-gander. "Oh, no! You
don't fly away this time, sir!" cried he.
But just about then, the gander was considering how he should go to
work to raise himself from the ground. He couldn't stop to shake the
boy off, hence he had to go along with him--up in the air.
They bore on toward the heights so rapidly, that the boy fairly gasped.
Before he had time to think that he ought to let go his hold around the
gander's neck, he was so high up that he would have been killed
instantly, if he had fallen to the ground.
The only thing that he could do to make himself a little more
comfortable, was to try and get upon the gander's back. And there he
wriggled himself forthwith; but not without considerable trouble. And
it was not an easy matter, either, to hold himself secure on the slippery
back, between two swaying wings. He had to dig deep into feathers and
down with both hands, to keep from tumbling to the ground.
THE BIG CHECKED CLOTH
The boy had grown so giddy that it was a long while before he came to
himself. The winds howled and beat against him, and the rustle of
feathers and swaying of wings sounded like a whole storm. Thirteen
geese flew around him, flapping their wings and honking. They danced
before his eyes and they buzzed in his ears. He didn't know whether
they flew high or low, or in what direction they were travelling.
After a bit, he regained just enough sense to understand that he ought to
find out where the geese were taking him. But this was not so easy, for
he didn't know how he should ever muster up courage enough to look
down. He was sure he'd faint if he attempted it.
The wild geese were not flying very high because the new travelling
companion could not breathe in the very thinnest air. For his sake they

also flew a little slower than usual.
At last the boy just made himself cast one glance down to earth. Then
he thought that a great big rug lay spread beneath him, which was made
up of an incredible number of large and small checks.
"Where in all the world am I now?" he wondered.
He saw nothing but check upon check. Some were broad and ran
crosswise, and some were long and narrow--all over, there were angles
and corners. Nothing was round, and nothing was crooked.
"What kind of a big, checked cloth is this that I'm looking down on?"
said the boy to himself without expecting anyone to answer him.
But instantly the wild geese who flew about him called out: "Fields and
meadows. Fields and meadows."
Then he understood that the big, checked cloth he was travelling over
was the flat land of southern Sweden; and he began to comprehend why
it looked so checked and multi-coloured. The bright green checks he
recognised first; they