The Wonderful Adventures of Nils

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Nils Holgerssons underbara resa genom Sverige book cover
Nils Holgerssons underbara resa genom Sverige book cover

The Wonderful Adventures of Nils (Orig. Nils Holgerssons underbara resa genom Sverige) is a famous work of fiction by the Swedish author Selma Lagerlöf, published in two parts in 1906 and 1907. The background for publication was a commission from the National Teachers Association in 1902 to write a geography reader for the public schools.

"She devoted three years to Nature study and to familiarizing herself with animal and bird life. She has sought out hitherto unpublished folklore and legends of the different provinces. These she has ingeniously woven into her story." (From translator Velma Swanston Howard's introduction.)

Selma Lagerlöf, like many leading Swedish intellectuals of her time, was a friend of Swedish spelling reform. When published in 1906, this book was one of the first to adopt the new spelling mandated by a government resolution on April 7, 1906 (see Svenska Akademiens Ordlista under History).

Contents

[edit] Plot introduction

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 is 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 a white farm goose attempts to join the wild ones. In an attempt to salvage something before his family returns, Nils holds on to the bird's neck as it 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 him 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 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.

[edit] Film adaptations

[edit] Soviet

Main article: The Enchanted Boy

A Soviet traditionally-animated feature film called The Enchanted Boy (Russian: Заколдо́ванный ма́льчик, Zakoldovanyy Malchik) was released in 1955. It was directed by Vladimir Polkovnikov and Aleksandra Snezhko-Blotskaya and produced at the Soyuzmultfilm studio in Moscow.

[edit] Anime

An anime adaptation (ニルスのふしぎな旅 Nirusu no Fushigi na Tabi) consisting of fifty-two 25-minute episodes was broadcast on NHK from January 8, 1980—March 17, 1981. The anime was also broadcast in the Arab World (as "مغامرات نيلز" Nils' Adventures), Canada, France, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Iceland (as "Nilli Hólmgeirsson") Belgium, Greece, The Netherlands, Poland (as "Nils and the wild geese"), Portugal, Spain, Hungary, Israel, Turkey (as "Uçan Kaz" ("The Flying Goose")), Italy, Hong Kong (dubbed into Cantonese), Mainland China and South Africa (Translated to Afrikaans), but in some countries it was cut to allow for commercials. The anime was produced by Studio Pierrot (Mamoru Oshii). The anime was mostly fairly true to the original, apart from the appearance of the hamster, and the great role allowed to the fox Smirre.

In Germany, the animated series episodes were also combined into one full feature animated movie (~ 1h 22min in length) in 1981; the same release has also been dubbed and released in Estonia on DVD & VHS.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Trivia

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The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • A motif from the book, with Nils Holgersson on the back of a goose flying over the plains of Scania, is featured on the reverse side of the Swedish 20 krona banknote.
  • 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.[1]
  • Nils is depicted in the logo of the digital map company Tele Atlas.
  • The sights Nils sees as he and his goose roam the provinces of Sweden are depicted in a series of Julen (Christmas)plates produced by Rorstrand Pottery. The series began in 1968 and continues until at least 1996. The plates illustrate the topography, architecture, industry, and wildlife of Sweden, and the borders show local plants as well.

[edit] External links

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ Chapter IX. Karlskrona