Nils Holgersson's Journey Across Sweden
Photo: Gerhard Heilmann, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Nils Holgersson's wonderful journey across Sweden (Swedish: Nils Holgerssons underbara resa genom Sverige) also simply known as The Wonderful Adventures of Nils, is a 1906 novel by the Swedish author Selma Lagerlöf (1858–1940). The novel, originally written in order to teach school children Swedish geography, follows the young boy Nils, who is magically turned into a small "tomte" and joins a flock of wild geese on their annual migration North.
Nils' journey starts on the 20th of March 1898 and is concluded as he returns home on the 8th of November, later the same year. The journey starts in Scania in the far south of Sweden and makes a counter clock-wise route around Sweden (with some detours), following the eastern shore of Sweden northward to Kiruna and then the western parts of Sweden back south. During his journey Nils visits all the 25 traditional provinces of Sweden, except for Halland which is merely seen from afar and frowned upon. All in all Nils travels more than 4,000 km — as the goose flies!
The novel has been translated to some 60 languages and was included among Le Monde's 100 Books of the [20th] Century. It also earned Selma Lagerlöf the Nobel Prize in Literature 1909 — The first ever awarded to a woman.
UnderstandNils Holgersson is a boy of 14 years of age who lives on a farm in Västra Vemmenhög, Scania on the southern tip of Sweden.
PrepareWhile getting a pet goose shouldn't be too much of a haggle, shrinking to a height of a few inches and attaining the ability to talk to animals might be somewhat more difficult.
Get inNils starts his voyage at Västra Vemmenhög, Skurup, Scania, which is only a stone's throw from Malmö Airport (provided that you can throw a stone 13 km).
Nils' journey
Go nextThe area surrounding Lagerlöf's childhood home Mårbacka, located in Sunne, has also been used as a model for several other novels by Lagerlöf.
Sources and licences
- Guide text adapted from the Wikivoyage article "Nils Holgersson's Journey Across Sweden" by its contributors, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikivoyage · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Photo: Gerhard Heilmann, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons