The Wonderful Adventures of Nils Selma Lagerlöf (i wanna iguana read aloud .txt) đ
- Author: Selma Lagerlöf
Book online «The Wonderful Adventures of Nils Selma Lagerlöf (i wanna iguana read aloud .txt) đ». Author Selma Lagerlöf
But the gander was in a good humour. âThereâs no danger,â said he. âOnly make haste, I beg of you, and gather together as much grass and litter as you can well carry.â
When the boy had his arms full of dried grass, the goosey-gander grabbed him by the shirt-band, lifted him, and flew out on the ice, where the wild geese were already fast asleep, with their bills tucked under their wings.
âNow spread out the grass on the ice, so thereâll be something to stand on, to keep me from freezing fast. You help me and Iâll help you,â said the goosey-gander.
This the boy did. And when he had finished, the goosey-gander picked him up, once again, by the shirt-band, and tucked him under his wing. âI think youâll lie snug and warm there,â said the goosey-gander as he covered him with his wing.
The boy was so imbedded in down that he couldnât answer, and he was nice and comfy. Oh, but he was tired!â âAnd in less than two winks he was fast asleep.
NightIt is a fact that ice is always treacherous and not to be trusted. In the middle of the night the loosened ice-cake on Vomb Lake moved about, until one corner of it touched the shore. Now it happened that Mr. Smirre Fox,2 who lived at this time in Ăvid Cloister Parkâ âon the east side of the lakeâ âcaught a glimpse of that one corner, while he was out on his night chase. Smirre had seen the wild geese early in the evening, and hadnât dared to hope that he might get at one of them, but now he walked right out on the ice.
When Smirre was very near to the geese, his claws scraped the ice, and the geese awoke, flapped their wings, and prepared for flight. But Smirre was too quick for them. He darted forward as though heâd been shot; grabbed a goose by the wing, and ran toward land again.
But this night the wild geese were not alone on the ice, for they had a human being among themâ âlittle as he was. The boy had awakened when the goosey-gander spread his wings. He had tumbled down on the ice and was sitting there, dazed. He hadnât grasped the whys and wherefores of all this confusion, until he caught sight of a little long-legged dog who ran over the ice with a goose in his mouth.
In a minute the boy was after that dog, to try and take the goose away from him. He must have heard the goosey-gander call to him: âHave a care, Thumbietot! Have a care!â But the boy thought that such a little runt of a dog was nothing to be afraid of and he rushed ahead.
The wild goose that Smirre Fox tugged after him, heard the clatter as the boyâs wooden shoes beat against the ice, and she could hardly believe her ears. âDoes that infant think he can take me away from the fox?â she wondered. And in spite of her misery, she began to cackle right merrily, deep down in her windpipe. It was almost as if she had laughed.
âThe first thing he knows, heâll fall through a crack in the ice,â thought she.
But dark as the night was, the boy saw distinctly all the cracks and holes there were, and took daring leaps over them. This was because he had the elfâs good eyesight now, and could see in the dark. He saw both lake and shore just as clearly as if it had been daylight.
Smirre Fox left the ice where it touched the shore. And just as he was working his way up to the land-edge, the boy shouted: âDrop that goose, you sneak!â
Smirre didnât know who was calling to him, and wasted no time in looking around, but increased his pace. The fox made straight for the forest and the boy followed him, with never a thought of the danger he was running. All he thought about was the contemptuous way in which he had been received by the wild geese; and he made up his mind to let them see that a human being was something higher than all else created.
He shouted, again and again, to that dog, to make him drop his game. âWhat kind of a dog are you, who can steal a whole goose and not feel ashamed of yourself? Drop her at once! or youâll see what a beating youâll get. Drop her, I say, or Iâll tell your master how you behave!â
When Smirre Fox saw that he had been mistaken for a scary dog, he was so amused that he came near dropping the goose. Smirre was a great plunderer who wasnât satisfied with only hunting rats and pigeons in the fields, but he also ventured into the farmyards to steal chickens and geese. He knew that he was feared throughout the district; and anything as idiotic as this he had not heard since he was a baby.
The boy ran so fast that the thick beech-trees appeared to be running past himâ âbackward, but he caught up with Smirre. Finally, he was so close to him that he got a hold on his tail. âNow Iâll take the goose from you anyway,â cried he, and held on as hard as ever he could, but he hadnât strength enough to stop Smirre. The fox dragged him along until the dry foliage whirled around him.
But now it began to dawn on Smirre how harmless the thing was that pursued him. He stopped short, put the goose on the ground, and stood on her with his forepaws, so she couldnât fly away. He was just about to bite off her neckâ âbut then he couldnât resist the desire to tease the boy a little. âHurry off and complain to the master, for now Iâm going to bite the goose to death!â said he.
Certainly the one who was surprised when he saw what a pointed nose, and heard
Comments (0)