![Book Cover of The Wonderful Adventures of Nils](/image/book/the-wonderful-adventures-of-nils.webp)
The Wonderful Adventures of Nils
'The Wonderful Adventures of Nils' Summary
The book is about a young lad, Nils Holgersson, whose "chief delight was to eat and sleep, and after that he liked best to make mischief". He takes great delight in hurting the animals in his family farm. Nils captures a tomte in a net while his family are at church and have left him home to memorize chapters from the Bible. The tomte proposes to Nils that if Nils frees him, the tomte will give him a huge gold coin. Nils rejects the offer and the tomte turns Nils into a tomte, which leaves him shrunken and able to talk with animals, who are thrilled to see the boy reduced to their size and are angry and hungry for revenge. While this is happening, wild geese are flying over the farm on one of their migrations, and Martin, the farm's white goose attempts to join the wild ones. In an attempt to salvage something before his family returns, Nils holds on to Martin's neck as he successfully takes off and joins the wild birds.
The wild geese, who are not pleased at all to be joined by a boy and a domestic goose, eventually take them on an adventurous trip across all the historical provinces of Sweden observing in passing their natural characteristics and economic resources. At the same time the characters and situations he encounters make him a man: the domestic goose needs to prove his ability to fly like the experienced wild geese, and Nils needs to prove to the geese that he would be a useful companion, despite their initial misgivings. During the trip, Nils learns that if he proves he has changed for the better, the tomte might be disposed to change him back to his normal size.
The book also includes various subplots, concerning people and animals whose lives are touched in one way or another by Nils and the wild geese. For example, one chapter centers on a provincial man who feels lonely and alienated in the capital Stockholm, is befriended by a nice old gentleman who tells him (and the reader) about the city's history - and only later finds that it was none other than the King of Sweden, walking incognito in the park.
The book was criticized for the fact that the goose and boy don't make any stop in the province Halland. In chapter 53 they fly over Halland on the way back to Scania, but they aren't impressed by the sight and they don't stop. However, such a chapter has been added to some translations of the book. In depictions Nils is usually wearing a red cap, although this is erroneous as he is described in the original Swedish edition as wearing a white cap.
Book Details
Author
![Selma Lagerlof image](/thumbs/image/author/selma-lagerlof.webp)
Selma Lagerlof
Sweden
Selma Ottilia Lovisa Lagerlöf was a Swedish author and teacher. She published her first novel, Gösta Berling's Saga, at the age of 33. She was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Liter...
More on Selma LagerlofDownload eBooks
Listen/Download Audiobook
Related books
![A Tale of Two Cities Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/a-tale-of-two-cities.webp)
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Its immortal opening lines, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." set the stage for a sweeping narrative that combines drama, glory...
![Initiation Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/initiation.webp)
Initiation by Robert Hugh Benson
It is a captivating novel that explores the spiritual journey of a young protagonist. The book delves into themes of faith, self-discovery, and the se...
![Aurora Floyd Volume 2 Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/aurora-floyd-volume-2.webp)
Aurora Floyd Volume 2 by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
The story follows the protagonist, Aurora Floyd, as she navigates the complexities of Victorian society and confronts the consequences of her past act...
![The Junior Classics Volume 4: Heroes and Heroines of Chivalry Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/the-junior-classics-volume-4-heroes-and-heroines-of-chivalry.webp)
The Junior Classics Volume 4: Heroes and Heroines of Chivalry by William Patten
The purpose of The Junior Classics is to provide, in ten volumes containing about five thousand pages, a classified collection of tales, stories, and...
![The Burglar and the Blizzard Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/the-burglar-and-the-blizzard.webp)
The Burglar and the Blizzard by Alice Duer Miller
This is an engaging and thrilling novel set in a snowy backdrop. This captivating novel, takes readers on an exciting journey through the unexpected e...
![The Tenant of Wildfell Hall Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/the-tenant-of-wildfell-hall.webp)
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is the second and final novel written by English author Anne Brontë. It was first published in 1848 under the pseudonym Ac...
![Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/kwaidan-stories-and-studies-of-strange-things.webp)
Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things by Lafcadio Hearn
Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things, often shortened to Kwaidan ("ghost story"), is a 1904 book by Lafcadio Hearn that features several Jap...
![Las Fábulas de Esopo, Vol 4 Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/las-fabulas-de-esopo-vol-4.webp)
Las Fábulas de Esopo, Vol 4 by Aesop
The classic Aesop’s Fables have been translated to every language for hundreds of years. The fables, told in the form of allegories, give us universa...
![Dr. Heidenhoff's Process Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/dr-heidenhoffs-process.webp)
Dr. Heidenhoff's Process by Edward Bellamy
This thought-provoking book, first published in 1880, takes readers on a compelling journey into the realm of psychological experimentation and the c...
![Gargantua and Pantagruel, Book II Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/gargantua-and-pantagruel-book-ii.webp)
Gargantua and Pantagruel, Book II by Francois Rabelais
The Life of Gargantua and of Pantagruel is a pentalogy of novels written in the 16th century by François Rabelais,a telling the adventures of two gian...
Reviews for The Wonderful Adventures of Nils
No reviews posted or approved, yet...