The Wonderful Adventures of Nils

All at once the wild geese became strangely quiet and withdrew from him, as if to say:

"Alas! he is a man. He does not understand us: we do not understand him!"

Then the boy rose and went over to Akka; he stroked her and patted her. He did the same to Yksi and Kaksi, Kolme and Neljä, Viisi and Kuusi – the old birds who had been his companions from the very start.

After that he walked farther up the strand. He knew perfectly well that the sorrows of the birds do not last long, and he wanted to part with them while they were still sad at losing him.

As he crossed the shore meadows he turned and watched the many flocks of birds that were flying over the sea. All were shrieking their coaxing calls – only one goose flock flew silently on as long as he could follow it with his eyes. The wedge was perfect, the speed good, and the wing strokes strong and certain.

The boy felt such a yearning for his departing comrades that he almost wished he were Thumbietot again and could travel over land and sea with a flock of wild geese.

TABLE OF PRONUNCIATION

The final e is sounded in Skåne, Sirle, Gripe, etc.

The å in Skåne and Småland is pronounced like o in ore.

j is like the English y. Nuolja, Oviksfjällen, Sjangeli, Jarro, etc., should sound as if they were spelled like this: Nuolya, Oviksfyellen, Syang [one syllable] elee, Yarro, etc.

g, when followed by e, i, y, ä, ö, is also like y. Example, Göta is pronounced Yöta.

When g is followed by a, o, u, or å, it is hard, as in go.

k in Norrköping, Linköping, Kivik (pronounced Cheeveek), etc., is like ch in cheer.

k is hard when it precedes a, o, u, or å. Example, Kaksi, Kolmi, etc.

ä is pronounced like ä in fare. Example, Färs.

There is no sound in the English language which corresponds to the

Swedish ö. It is like the French eu in jeu.

Gripe is pronounced Greep-e.

In Sirle, the first syllable has the same sound as sir, in sirup.

The names which Miss Lagerlöf has given to the animals are descriptive.

Smirre Fox, is cunning fox.

Sirle Squirrel, is graceful, or nimble squirrel.

Gripe Otter, means grabbing or clutching otter.

Mons is a pet name applied to cats; like our tommy or pussy. Monsie house-cat is equivalent to Tommy house-cat.

Mårten gåskarl (Morten Goosie-gander) is a pet name for a tame gander, just as we use Dickie-bird for a pet bird.

Fru is the Swedish for Mrs. This title is usually applied to gentlewomen only. The author has used this meaning of "fru."

A Goa-Nisse is an elf-king, and corresponds to the English Puck or Robin

Goodfellow.

VELMA SWANSTON HOWARD.