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Nils Holgersson #1

Cuộc phiêu lưu kỳ diệu của Nils

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Nils là một đứa trẻ hư, hay bắt nạt súc vật và những sinh linh yếu ớt hơn mình. Cũng vì thế mà Nils bị trừng phạt; bị biến thành người tý hon cho các con vật bắt nạt. Không còn lựa chọn, Nils ra đi trên lưng những con ngỗng trời ngao du vòng quanh đất nước Thụy Điển. Chính những con ngỗng trời đã dạy cho Nils tính nhân hậu và lòng dũng cảm, trước khi quay lại cuộc sống bình thường.

Những cuộc phiêu lưu của Nils là một tác phẩm kinh điển của Selma Lagerlof. Sách viết cho trẻ nhỏ nhưng có khả năng thức tỉnh cho cả những người không còn trẻ nữa.

550 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1906

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About the author

Selma Lagerlöf

1,329 books687 followers
Selma Ottilia Lovisa Lagerlöf (1858-1940) was a Swedish author. In 1909 she became the first woman to ever receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, "in appreciation of the lofty idealism, vivid imagination and spiritual perception that characterize her writings". She later also became the first female member of the Swedish Academy.

Born in the forested countryside of Sweden she was told many of the classic Swedish fairytales, which she would later use as inspiration in her magic realist writings. Since she for some of her early years had problems with her legs (she was born with a faulty hip) she would also spend a lot of time reading books such as the Bible.

As a young woman she was a teacher in the southern parts of Sweden for ten years before her first novel Gösta Berling's Saga was published. As her writer career progressed she would keep up a correspondance with some of her former female collegues for almost her entire life.

Lagerlöf never married and was almost certainly a lesbian (she never officially stated that she was, but most later researchers believe this to be the case). For many years her constant companion was fellow writer Sophie Elkan, with whom she traveled to Italy and the Middle East. Her visit to Palestine and a colony of Christians there, would inspire her to write Jerusalem, her story of Swedish farmers converting into a evangelical Christian group and travelling to "The American Colony" in Jerusalem.

Lagerlöf was involved in both women issues as well as politics. She would among other things help the Jewish writer Nelly Sachs to come to Sweden and donated her Nobel medal to the Finnish war effort against the Soviet union.

Outside of Sweden she's perhaps most widely known for her children's book Nils Holgerssons underbara resa genom Sverige (The Wonderful Adventures of Nils).

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 720 reviews
Profile Image for Lisa.
1,104 reviews3,293 followers
September 16, 2017
Cross-curricular teaching and entertainment in one Nobel volume.

These days, interdisciplinary projects and cross-curricular interlinking of learning are all the fashion, and stressed teachers sigh in frustration over the tour de force of teaching not only their own subject, but of successfully implementing relevant connections to other areas as well in order to make learning more meaningful to an increasingly lazy, naughty and careless student body.

Some might think this is a recent issue - both the emphasis on interdisciplinary learning, and the hopeless attitude of our youth. Think again - or read Selma Lagerlöf, and you will be pleased to discover that:

a) your interdisciplinary project combining a learning unit in geography, biology, history, literature, ethics, Nordic mythology and life skills is offered to you on a Nobel silver plate.

b) students have been lazy, naughty and prone to falling asleep over their chores or homework at least since 1906, when this novel was written to be used in the Swedish school system.

Following young Nils Holgersson on his magical journey through the various landscapes of Sweden is a special experience, as it combines features of a fairy tale adventure with genuine geography and biology knowledge.



Nils is cursed by a Swedish house spirit, a"tomte", for his cruel and treacherous behaviour, and is turned into a a tiny "tomte" himself. Deprived of his physical superiority, he faces the animals on his parents' farm, whom he has treated in a particularly nasty way. He discovers that he has received the ability to understand their communication as a compensation for his lost power, and he has to hear some unpleasant opinions about himself, as well as protect himself against the mistreated animals' righteous anger.

Fleeing the farm on the back of a goose, he travels through all of Sweden. The journey widens his perspective and broadens his mind, and the hardship he faces makes him grow as a human being, -
despite or because of his tiny size. He learns to respect nature and living creatures by slowly gaining deeper understanding of the diversity of lifeforms in Sweden.

He returns home more caring and knowledgeable, and vows to be a better leader of the environment for which he is responsible. The curse is gone, and he resumes his human shape.

Apart from the purely subject-related content, offering a panorama of Swedish flora and fauna, it is a universal story of power and responsibility, and of the importance of knowledge to develop empathy. To respect others, you need to know about their situation, and about their needs and feelings and customs.

Recommended to teachers, students and learners for life!
Profile Image for Manny.
Author 46 books16k followers
April 26, 2016
This children's classic, published in 1906 by future Nobel Prize winner Selma Lagerlöf, is so famous in Scandinavia that everyone knows the plot; but until now I'd never read it. Nils Holgersson, a good-for-nothing kid in late nineteenth century Skåne, angers the local tomte (a kind of Swedish leprechaun), who magically transforms him into another tomte. Nils, who's now the size of a thumb, is fortunately adopted by a flock of geese who take him to their summer nesting grounds in Lapland and back again. En route, they conveniently traverse all of Sweden, giving the author ample opportunity for an extended series of geography lessons. It sounded dull, but I was pleased to discover that in fact it's nothing of the kind. The geography is always firmly in the service of the narrative, the lead characters are well drawn, and the style is moving and poetic. But what surprised me most was that I'd never heard how it came to be written.

According to the introduction, the author's original inspiration was a terrible story she had heard from her grandmother about an incident that had occurred when the grandmother was herself a little girl. There was a white goose on the farm, and one spring day he took it into his head to fly off with a flock of wild geese who were passing by. The family was of course sure they would never see him again. But many months later, Selma's grandmother was astonished to see that the goose had returned. And he was not alone; during the summer, he had found a mate, a beautiful grey goose, and they were accompanied by half a dozen little goslings. Delighted, Selma's grandmother led the goose family to the barn, where they could eat from the trough with the other fowl. She closed the door so that they wouldn't fly off again, and ran to tell her stepmother. The stepmother said nothing. She just took out the little knife she used for slaughtering geese; and an hour later there was not one goose left alive in the barn.

For me, this resonated with what many other people also find the most memorable episode in the book. One night, Nils is woken by a stork, who says that if he follows him he will show him something important. They fly to the seashore, where there is a strange city, quite unlike anything one would expect to find on the Swedish coast. Nils goes in through the huge gate and discovers people dressed in rich clothes from a bygone age. No one seems to notice him at first. He finds his way to the merchants' quarter. People are selling all kinds of precious goods: embroidered silks and satins, gold ornaments, glittering jewels. And now he realizes that the merchants can see him. They are holding out their wares to him, offering all these treasures. Nils tries to make them understand that he could never afford any of it, he is a poor boy. But they persist, and using gestures tell him that he can have anything he wants, if he can just give them one small copper coin. He searches his pockets over and over again but finds they are empty. In the end, he leaves the city, and when he turns round again it has disappeared. "It is the lost city of the sea traders," explains the stork. "They were drowned beneath the waves long ago, but once every hundred years they come back for a single night. The legend is that if they can sell a single thing to a mortal, they will be allowed to return to the world; but they never do." Nils feels his heart is going to break. He could so easily have saved all these good people and their city, but he has failed them.

It seemed to me that both stories expressed the same feeling with quite unusual clarity. If only...
Profile Image for Sidharth Vardhan.
Author 23 books765 followers
May 26, 2017
There are three very good reasons to read this book - the author is first woman ever to win a Nobel Prize, it appears on Le Monde list of best books of 20th century And the fact that the protagonist's picture appears on 20 Swedish krona banknotes. The talking animal surpass those of Kipling's Jungle Book in detail and characterization, and they are also talking about such subjects like deforestation and industrialisation. And there is additional flavour of histories, local folktales and legends.
Profile Image for Dagio_maya .
1,085 reviews342 followers
December 3, 2020
“ C’era una volta un ragazzo. Aveva circa quattordici anni, era alto, con bei lineamenti e capelli biondi come il lino. Purtroppo, era un perdigiorno. Le sue occupazioni preferite erano dormire e mangiare, oltre a giocare brutti tiri. "



Questo monello si chiama Nils Holgersson e la sua specialità non è solo quella di poltrire ma anche quella di dare tormento agli animali della fattoria in cui vive con i genitori.

Quale lezione migliore se non quella di essere all'improvviso trasformato da un coboldo (un folletto che secondo la tradizione fa parte degli spiriti della casa), indispettito dai suoi atteggiamenti, lui stesso in un coboldo?

Le cose, poi, si complicheranno quando, per una serie di eventi, si troverà a migrare sul dorso del papero domestico Marten al seguito delle oche selvatiche.

Favolosi paesaggi scandinavi s'intrecciano con episodi che danno spunto all'autrice per impartire lezioni di vita non solo a Nils ma al lettore stesso:
il rispetto per l'altro che sia uomo o animale o vegetale;
l'orgoglio di chi svolge lavori considerati infimi ma così importanti in un contesto ambientale spesso sfavorevole all'habitat umano;
l'attenzione alle ingiustizie sociali....

Tutto verso un finale incantevole...

Un libro per bambini di fama mondiale ed un autrice (prima donna ad aver ricevuto un Nobel!) che sicuramente approfondirò.



"Ora, proprio l’anno in cui Nils viaggiava con le oche, c’era una persona che pensava di continuo a un libro che intendeva scrivere sulla Svezia, un libro di lettura per le scuole. Ci aveva riflettuto dal Natale all’autunno, ma non aveva ancora scritto una riga, e alla fine se n’era stancata a tal punto che aveva detto a se stessa: — Non sei capace di scriverlo. Mettiti a tavolino, inventa fiabe e novelle come hai sempre fatto, e lascia ad altri la cura di scrivere un libro istruttivo e serio, e in cui soprattutto non si trovi una parola che non sia veritiera!"
Profile Image for nettebuecherkiste.
659 reviews176 followers
January 26, 2025
Ich wollte eigentlich 4 Sterne vergeben, aber ein Buch, bei dem mir am Ende die Tränen fließen, hat wohl 5 Sterne verdient. Das war eine wirklich wunderbare Reise, auf die ich da mit Nils und den Wildgänsen gegangen bin.
Profile Image for Metodi Markov.
1,712 reviews421 followers
October 17, 2025
Нилс е неприятен шведски пакостник, който за наказание е смален до джудже.

Добре, че ято диви гъски го взимат със себе си и заедно с тях и с малките си читатели те откриват красотите на Швеция. Иначе сигурно някоя котка щеше да го излапа незабавно.

Освен за география и природа, тази книга учи на много доброта, състрадание и човечност - качества, от които все повече се нуждаем.

Четена и препрочитана, абсолютно любима детска класика!
Profile Image for Savasandir .
267 reviews
December 6, 2019
Proprio come il giovane Nils, sono stato anch'io rapito dalla bellezza di questo viaggio sulle ali delle oche selvatiche.
Il libro sarebbe nato inizialmente come testo di geografia, ma in realtà la descrizione delle varie regioni svedesi è stata per Selma Lagerlöf solo il pretesto per raccontare una magnifica favola, dove i miti antichi si fondono insieme a valori sempiterni come l'amicizia, la generosità e la lealtà.
Stupende poi le piccole storie nella storia, alcune dal sapore fiabesco, come quella della città sommersa che riemerge dalle acque solo per una notte ogni cento anni; altre molto toccanti, come l'assedio della rocca dei topi neri, o la storia di Gorgo, l'aquila reale allevata da Akka. Tutte quante fanno riflettere e lasciano qualcosa, un ricordo, per sempre depositato negli strati più profondi del nostro animo.
Profile Image for Jose Santos.
Author 3 books166 followers
January 8, 2022
Que grande e animada viagem. Pela suécia, pelas memórias do povo, pelas lendas, pelo mundo animal, pela natureza, por um mundo mágico.
Adorei.
Profile Image for Milena.
182 reviews75 followers
November 24, 2020
Selmin Nils Holgerson (1) : Heseov Demijan (0), bar što se tiče svega što želim od bildungsromana.
Ovo je moja omiljena knjiga iz detinjstva. Nils Holgerson je jedno malo lenjo đubre koje sekira roditelje i maltretira životinje na porodičnom seoskom imanju. Jednog nedeljnog jutra, dok su roditelji u crkvi, Nils hvata patuljka koji ga moli da ga oslobodi. Nilsu to naravno ne pada na pamet, pa ga patuljak pretvori u... patuljka, što oduševi sve životinje sa imanja koje će konačno moći da mu se osvete. Da bi pobegao, Nils se pridružuje domaćem gusanu Martinu koji kreće na let sa divljim guskama preko cele Švedske. I tu su najlepši opisi prirode na koje sam ikada naišla u dečijoj literaturi, let preko šuma, jezera i mora, a takođe i Nilsovo postepeno menjanje i psihičko odrastanje.
Profile Image for Margarita Garova.
483 reviews265 followers
December 19, 2020

“Понякога у животните има нещо, което ни кара да се питаме що за същества са те. Човек си задава въпроса дали не са омагьосани хора.”

Чудех се дали не съм малко старичка за книга, предназначена за читатели, чиято възраст се събира поне три пъти в моята. Дали ще ми допадне неизбежният наивитиет от един имагинерен свят, създаден за по-чисти души. Но явно жанрът нищо не означава, когато една книга е хубава.

Обичам горите до пантеизъм. Горският пейзаж ми е най-любим и никога не бих сменила един хубав сочен лес за плаж на Малдивите, например. А описания на гори, реки и езера в “Чудното пътуване на Нилс Холгерсон” колкото ти душа иска!

Нилс Холгерсон е от онези пакостливи хлапета с проклетичък нрав, от който си патят родители, другарчета и всички живи твари. След поредната беля е превърнат в джудже, от който момент започват и странстванията му из Швеция на гърба на гъсока Мортен. Селма Лагерльоф използва този мотив, за да ни покаже прелестите на шведската природа, разкрита чрез директни описания, но и с легенди и предания, които разкриват душевността на тези малко особени, но симпатични и усърдни северняци.

Езикът на книгата е красив и прям. Деликатно е прокаран и образователно-възпитателен елемент, но без да се изпада в нравоучения. Така шведските деца, а и чуждите читатели, научават по прелестен начин за страната си, за областите Вермланд, Лапланд, Сконе, Йемтланд, Смоланд, Даларна, Готланд (колко приказно звучат тези имена само!).

Силната страна на тази мила книга са образите на одухотворените животни и да, ако наистина можеха да говорят, сигурно биха казали, че на тази красива земя има място за всички, освен за човешката алчност, която съсипва техния естествен и единствен дом. Въобще, много хуманност и благородство са вложени в тази творба.

Малко думи за авторката:

„За нейния благороден идеализъм и за богатството на фантазията й на Селма Отилия Ловиза Лагерльоф се присъжда Нобелова награда за литература.“

С това Селма Лагерльоф се превръща в първата жена носител на Нобел за литература през 1909 година. Мисля, че описанието на Академията говори достатъчно за природата на нейните книги.
Profile Image for Manybooks.
3,761 reviews101 followers
April 15, 2021
Swedish author Selma Lagerlöf was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature (in 1909), and her 1906/1907 (appearing in two volumes) children’s novel Nils Holgerssons underbara resa genom Sverige (which I am presently reading in a German translation of both volumes with the title of Nils Holgerssons wunderbare Reise mit den Wildgänsen and which in English translations usually appears as The Wonderful Adventures of Nils for volume one and The Further Adventures of Nils for volume two) was actually originally conceptualised by the author as a detailed geography reader for Swedish school children.

But even though the genesis of Nils Holgersson’s story might therefore perhaps not inspire all that much confidence and could actually cause potential readers to even fear that Lagerlöf’s presented text would be tedious and hopelessly didactic, well and in my opinion, my reading time with Nils Holgerssons wunderbare Reise mit den Wildgänsen totally demonstrates the opposite, totally shows that writing meant to be used for education and enlightenment can also be penned in a readable and engaging format. For yes indeed, Selma Lagerlöf’s presented text for Nils Holgerssons wunderbare Reise mit den Wildgänsen (and I of course am going to assume this to also be the case for the Swedish original and the English translation) is both delightfully poetical, fanciful and bien sûr also imbued with much realistic facts and information, leaving an engaging and wonderful story that is both episodic and at the same time with a continuing thread of redemption, of turned into a gnome as punishment for cruelty and self-centredness Nils on his travels with his flock of wild geese not only discovering Sweden as a country, along with Swedish folklore, history, culture, industry and modern (for 1906/1907) agricultural practices, but also being taught slowly and steadily (and sometimes even rather painfully) how to become less selfish, how he, how Nils needs to learn to care for and about his fellow human beings and that being kind to animals is in fact a sign of strength and maturity and not ever the mark of weakness.

And although there is definitely a strong and palpable didactic current present in Selma Lagerlöf’s words with regard to Nils’ transformation from nasty to nice, from me, me, me oriented to helpfully altruistic and that Nils Holgerssons wunderbare Reise mit den Wildgänsen does most definitely provide very much overt instruction about Sweden, Selma Lagerlöf definitely does present and feature her verbal messages and educational information gracefully and engagingly, leaving my personal feelings with regard to Nils Holgerssons wunderbare Reise mit den Wildgänsen very much that this novel has delightfully and wonderfully been a total reading pleasure (and one that I also would have very much enjoyed and appreciated as a child) and with my only and very minor criticism being that since Nils Holgerssons wunderbare Reise mit den Wildgänsen features Nils travelling throughout Sweden with those wild geese, that I sure would be wanting some included detailed maps.
Profile Image for Garden Reads.
240 reviews152 followers
July 23, 2025
4,5 estrellas en realidad.

Leído en mi infancia, El maravilloso viaje de Nils Holgersson cuenta la historia de un niño travieso que disfruta molestando a los animales de la granja de su familia. Todo cambia cuando un duende lo castiga, convirtiéndolo en una especie de "pulgarcito" con la capacidad de entender a los animales. A partir de entonces, Nils se embarca en una aventura junto al ganso doméstico Martín, quien se une a una bandada de gansos salvajes en su migración a través de Suecia.

Es un libro muy entretenido, que aún hoy recuerdo con cariño. Si bien algunas partes pueden resultar algo lentas para un lector infantil, el desarrollo del personaje es magnífico y el final, satisfactorio. Nuestro protagonista aprende, inevitablemente, a ser una mejor persona, y Martín, el ganso, tiene también su propia personalidad.

¡Muy recomendable!
Profile Image for إسراء فكري.
511 reviews360 followers
November 9, 2014
نيلز (باليابانية: ニルスのふしぎな旅)
فكرتني بـ كافكا علي الشاطيء

" مغامَرات نِلز العجيب " كانت بداية معرفتي بِالكاتبة السويدية سلمي لاجرلوف
ذائعة الصيت , زادت شُهرتها بعد ما حصلت علي جائزة نوبل العالمية للآداب لعام 1909 ميلادياً ..
و الحقيقة كانت هي أول سيدة تحصُل علي هذة الجائزة وأول سويدية كمان
الحكاية كبيرة بقَه .. هحكيهالكوا ^_^
وصلتها رسالة من الإتحاد الوطني للمدرسين في السويد ، بتقول فيما معناه :
(( إنهمـ عاوزينها تكتب "كتاب مدرسي " يستمتع بيه الأطفال في الدراسة ، و من خلالُه يعرفوا جغرافية بلادهم ،ويحبوها ..
و يكون مثير لإهتمام الأطفال و ليس بالجغرافيا فقط ، وإنما بتاريخها العريق ، و لحكايتها الشعبية ، وأساطيرها .. إلخ ))
و كتبتلنا التُحفة دي *_*
يمكن كتير مننا سمع قصص شبه اللِّي موجودة هنا من والده أو من جدته ، من ناس كتير و أثرت فيه ..
و تظل عالقة بذهننا لحد ما نقرأ كتاب زى ده و نفتكر كُل الزكريات الحلوة ..
كان رد فعلي لما خلصتها ، و اللِّي كان نفسي ابعتُه لها في رسالة زي أطفال السويد .. إني كنت عاوزة اسألها طيب إيه بعد كده ؟ إيه اللِّي حصل لنِلز ؟ .. من فضلك اكتبى عن نِلز كثيراً ، كثيراً جداً .. أحببتُه .
و الغريب إن الكتاب مثير للخيال و مؤثر لأبعد الحدود .. لدرجة إن الكاتب الفرنسي ( ل . بورلياجايه ) كاتب هو يعنى :D
قص الرواية بشكل فني بالغ الجمال والروعة ..

الرواية خيالية طفولية و خفيفة جدااً
بتقُص الكاتبة رحلة لولد "نِلز" إستغرقت ثلاثة أسابيع مُنذ تحوله إلي قزم .
سافر فيها بصحبة ذكر الإوز إلي لايلاند مروراً بـ سمالاند و أولاند و جزيرة ليلاكارلسون .. أماكن كتير قابل فيها حيوانات مُدهشة
أظهر الكثير من الحكمة و الكرم و العطف و الرحمة اللِّي موجودة في الحيوانات جداً و الشر كمان فيها مواعظ و حكم ..
مش هحرق الأحداث أكتر ، بس بعد ما قرأت الرواية أقدر أقول إن الكاتبة لديها قاموسها اللغوي الخاص للأطفال -بلا شك- الرواية تُخاطب العقول
، و سلسه جداً .

للأسف الرواية عندي ناقص منها كذا ورقة و معرفتش إنتهت علي إيه !! :((
بس ،
الكارتون لذيذ جداً هو أينعم مُش زي الرواية بالمللي بس إتفرجوا معايا ^^ >> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qhJmC...

ابدعتِ : )
Profile Image for Susan.
2,991 reviews572 followers
June 21, 2016
“The Wonderful Adventure of Nils Holgersson,” is a Swedish children’s classic. Published in 1906, the book actually resulted from a commission from the National Teachers Association to write a geography reader. Author Selma Lagerlof apparently spent three years studying Nature and also investigating folklore and legends from around the country, before writing this book.

The story itself involves a fourteen year old boy called Nils who is a bit lazy and naughty. Amongst the mischief he gets up to is the rather unpleasant way he likes to hurt animals on his family farm. One day, he is left home to memorise Bible chapters and then falls asleep. Waking, he sees a gnome, which he traps. Eventually, he is also turned into a gnome and able to talk to animals. With wild geese flying over the farm, a farm goose attempts to fly off with them and, when Nils grabs hold, the two of them end up on an adventure…

This book involves a lot of the history and natural world of Sweden, which is a beautiful country. At just over 270 pages and with an illustration at the beginning of each chapter, this is certainly a book for the more fluent child reader; although it is also delightful to read aloud. It has a lovely, hardback cover, with pictures of flying geese and is an unusual story. It reminded me a little of BB and his, “The Little Grey Men go Down the Bright Stream,” if not in the actual storyline, but in the way the countryside and natural beauty was so integral to the book. A lovely novel for adults and children.
Profile Image for Fonch.
447 reviews374 followers
November 24, 2020
dedicated with affection to Manuel Alfonseca and José Baena Castel.

Ladies and gentlemen, I have long been delaying this review (like others), because of vagrancy and because I wanted to continue to advance my challenge, that this year I am reading many fewer books than in previous years. I had this book a long time ago and I didn't decide to read it. I admit, I started reading the Book of the Nobel Prize in Swedish Literature Selma Lagerloff (by the way, I don't know if she's the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, though I'm not sure). This is a story of these that I personally like, but I admit that I had a lot of patience with her, because between that now my mind is in the viewing of video game games and that I didn't feel like it. At first the reading became very me and the author's style was initially not for me. However, one tip I'd like to give the Goodreads user is to be patient with this book. I'm going to set an example sometimes when we try on a shoe this hurts us and hurts our feet. It's not the same, but something like this happens to us with this novel. Initially, although of course it depends on the reader and the user and its availability, but at least in my case the reader is a paddle to read this book, and has to adapt, but once he gets it he can not stop reading until this book ends.

This is a story that I like about maturity and growth and methane, that is, change of mind. This is the story of Nils Holgersson a painless and lazy child (of course compared to the children that there are now Nils would even seem good to us. What it proves is how times have changed and worse) that worries your parents greatly. He shows no attachment for anything, he doesn't even go with his parents to the Protestant sermon (you tell a child in the anti-Christian and secular times we live in that he goes to church. How times have changed and for the worse). So as if he were Homer Simpson in an episode in which Homer decides to live without God. Nils reluctantly promises his parents, who will read the sermon, but that is not his intention and what he wants is to take his parents' shotgun and start shooting at whatever moves. This is typical of some guys I remember when I was young I made real donkeys with animals and a person wiser and worse than me told me the same thing. I am still shocked by Don Agustín Conde Foxa's description of second-republic politician Casares Quiroga in his novel"Madrid de Corte y Checa" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5... it seems that the ORGA mp was dedicated to ripping wings off insects and things like that. So we shouldn't be surprised by Nils' behavior, however, Nils is going to mess with the wrong person. In this case he decides to mess with a leprechaun, and this one although at first tries to dissuade him in the end makes him a leprechaun, as he and the boy seek help, but the animals among them cows, as they know what the master is like do not want to help him, even mock his misfortune. The only one, who seeks some understanding for him is a duck named Martin, but this goose has to make the traditional migratory flight to Lapland with a mythical goose mom Okka, who according to legends would be about 200, or 300 years old. Nils is initially reluctant and has to change. Perhaps Lagerloff will make him spend excessively quickly as a selfish, indolent, and capricious child to almost a benefactor or saint too quickly. Nils seems to adapt too quickly to his life as a leprechaun. It is curious, but this boy Nils is the opposite of the eponymous character of the play created by the Norwegian Henryk Ibsen"Peer Gint" https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... where the protagonist for his actions increasingly looks like a troll, and one of his fears is to become one. Let us note, that the purpose of this book and above all this book is aimed in particular at Swedish children for two purposes, who know and learn to love their country. This reminds me of the book of our José María Pemán "History of Spain told simply" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1..., perhaps the closest example is the novel by Edmondo De Amicis entitled"Heart" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... without falling into his curse and impaling (at least that's what my father says). The second goal is for the child who reads it to look at the virtues of the hero and imitate him in order to become a good Swede. This reminds me of my favorite cartoon series, which unfortunately now I have unattended by the gameplays in which I participated and because I have broken the TV I mean Doraemon https://www.goodreads.com/series/8199... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...# , because it is interesting to compare Nils with Nobita Nobi, since the purpose is the same, but Fujiko Fujio does it better than the Swedish Nobel Prize.

It is curious that you have alluded to cartoons, because the format used by Selma Lagerloff fits a lot in the cartoon format. My friend to whom I have dedicated this book with my friend Professor Manuel Alfonseca i.e. the author Don José Baena Castel https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... told me, that when I was little I saw the drawings of Nils (I did not know that they existed), although it is not surprising, because the book adapts perfectly to the cartoon format, in fact while I read it reminded me of the drawings of my childhood as David the Gnome, or its sequel to judge Klaus https://www.goodreads.com/author/show.... Once Nils reluctantly convinces Mama Okka to accept him, as part of the group, the interesting thing begins, arguably there are two structures. On the one hand Selma Lagerloff is telling us about the migration of geese and his clashes with the fox Izmir (more or less one of the villains of fiction, in fact there is a chapter dedicated to Izmir is titled the game of rap graves I have changed it, because if I said the original title, it would look like a pervert. It is that the word slut has sexual connotations and it is what prostitutes in Spain are called, or people of nymphomaniacal tendencies, hence he prefers to use the game of rap graves), and then there are short stories, which follow a tonic similar to the 1001 nights https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7... of course in some Nils will participate, and in others will have a very superficial role, or he will simply be a listener. This can lead to frustration to the reader. It occurred to me that so much history, distracting myself from the main plot, distracted me. Some, for example, like the city don't know if it's a dream, or a hallucination on Nils's part. Others make more sense, such as the story of Nils Mat and Ada's friends, and the search they do. This would be the closest part to"Heart" of the story. At first you get frustrated with so much history, but then you realize that they are necessary, to know Sweden, and it shows us the narrative talent of Selma Lagerloff, and it still has a strong Mythic component and with strong mythological allusions. Giants appear, and in a pedagogical way he is telling you the history of Sweden, without a break with his past. Some stories are very beautiful like those of the deer and Karr, those of the dog Caesar and Wave. Some alert us to the loneliness and abandonment of our elders. Others will move us like those of the hard man, who because he had a very stingy father betrays his principles and detaches himself from his horse, and stops assisting some children and will have an unexpected end. There is also a strong Christian component to the story, and it still shows implicit sympathies for Catholics. The portrait of the usurped and Lutheran King Charles IX and of course Lagerloff is sometimes proud of churches, abbeys, and palaces. It can be said, that it is like"The Odyssey" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... a journey, which turns out to be both physical and spiritual. Some characters will like fentivet the goose, and her conflicted relationship with her evil sisters, or the Gorgo eagle (it is called as Leonidas' wife the 300). We will also see that the writer will make a cameo and appear in the story, starring in a Pyrandellian moment https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... and Unamuniano https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... , or as Alfonso Paredes does with his novel"Mr. Marbury" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... in which the author will appear twice.

I told my friend Professor Alfonseca that after finishing this novel he had cried like a samurai, just like him, when he read my favorite novel"Bodies and Souls" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... The reason was this protagonist Nils, warned by a crow discovers that there is a way to regain his old form, but he will only be able to recover it if one of his friends makes a decision. Nils does everything he can, so that his friend against his convenience did not make that decision. I can't reveal to the Goodreads user what it is, but you can imagine it. It was this, and the end that made me excited about this story. However there is one thing, that if I mean. This is a fairy tale, and it is given a happy ending, to encourage kids to be good, and virtuous what is very good. But you have to run away from karma, or the effect called me Earl. Not always doing what is fair and good will make fortune, or the benefit of the person improve, sometimes doing the right thing will bring us complications and can be the cause of our misfortune. If there's a reward, it'll be in Heaven. It's the only flaw, which I see in the way Lagerloff finishes this book.

However, I really liked there is a clear evolution in Nils, which will not be the same as the Nils of the beginning, as in the end. Just as Nobita Nils goes from childhood to maturity and becomes a man, and that he, but awaits all of us and the moral of this book.
Profile Image for Leah.
520 reviews71 followers
June 29, 2016
This book will give you so much.
How is it that Swedish writers always find the right words for expressing children's thoughts and feelings? Lagerlöf does a great job, not only in describing the Swedish landscape, but also in describing and telling Nils' story. It is a wonderful piece of literature and should be read to every child.
You can learn a lot from Nils Holgersson. It deals with topics different to speak about, like death, sickness or growing up. And while writing about it in such a unique manner, she manages to teach children values like friendship and trust.
Absolutely adored it.
Profile Image for Leo.
4,934 reviews626 followers
January 21, 2021
Like most Swedish People I have heard about the story all my life, I even helped setting up a set up with Nils Holgersson om a museum in my teens. But I have never been interested in reading it because I was so sure the story wasn't for me. But 2019 I decided to listen it anyway, and wow I was so blown away by the story. Sat for hours just soaking in the story and it's by far my favorite reading experience. So I wanted to re-read it and I was little scared I wouldn't enjoy it as much. But ofc I did 🤗 the story about a young boy turned little as a thumb, traveling around Sweden on a goose is just a delight, a pure joy. One of my favorites!
Profile Image for Rita.
877 reviews188 followers
February 17, 2024



Selma Lagerlöf – Prémio Nobel da Literatura, 1909
"em apreciação pelo idealismo sublime, imaginação vívida e percepção espiritual que caracterizam seus escritos"


(…) no ano em que Nils Holgersson viajou pelo país na companhia dos gansos-bravos, uma mulher pensou em escrever um livro sobre a Suécia, um livro que as crianças pudessem ler na escola.

A história fantástica de um rapaz que se transforma num duende – O Polegarzinho – e nas costas de um ganso percorre a Suécia. A viagem torna-se uma aventura cheia de fantasia e de aprendizagem sobre a geografia, a fauna e a flora do seu país.
Ao longo da história, Nils passa por um processo de amadurecimento e transformação. Aprende a importância da empatia, da responsabilidade e do respeito pela natureza. Ao interagir com os animais e testemunhar suas vidas e desafios, Nils começa a compreender o mundo de uma maneira mais ampla e a valorizar as coisas que antes ignorava.
É um rapaz corajoso e determinado e enfrenta diversos obstáculos durante sua jornada. Ele mostra-se disposto a ajudar os outros e a enfrentar os desafios que surgem em seu caminho, o que reflete seu crescimento como pessoa ao longo da narrativa.

Um clássico da literatura infantil e juvenil.
Profile Image for Nick.
Author 21 books138 followers
May 15, 2011
I was about 10 years old, and looking for something to read on a quiet Sunday afternoon in summer, when I ran across a battered and faded copy of The Wonderful Adventures of Nils. Originally published in Sweden in 1906-7, it tells the story of a naughty farmer's lad who has what we would today call attitude, toward his parents, toward farming, and toward the animals on the farm. He's a terror, in short, and his parents despair of him. An elf turns him into a tiny version of himself (just go with it), and he's nearly eaten, crushed, or lost hundreds of times on his subsequent journeys around Sweden in the company of a marvelous flock of geese.

Of course he learns wonderful lessons along the way, about himself, the animals and birds that suddenly loom much larger in his life, and the land he travels through. Lagerlof was an early environmentalist, as well as an intellectual with theories about bringing up children, and a deep knowledge of Sweden's geography.

I was entranced, and tore through the book on that long, rainy afternoon. Then, over the years, I forgot about Nils, until a combination of Sunday, rain, and the search for a good book brought back a faint memory. Google did the rest, and I was delighted to find that the book is still in print, though hardly a bestseller.

Too bad. It's quite brilliant, and while it was originally written to teach Swedish schoolchildren about geography, the descriptions of the places never get in the way of a good story. It's perfect for your 8 - 10 year old's bedtime reading aloud, though be warned that it contains real peril, death, and something of an education in the hard life of people making a living from the land. It's a book to raise your child's sights, imagination, and IQ.
Profile Image for Ricardo Silvestre.
198 reviews32 followers
March 14, 2025
Este livro foi solicitado a Selma Lagerlöf para ser usado nas escolas e ensinar as crianças da Suécia acerca da geografia daquele vasto país. Não é de estranhar, portanto, que a linguagem utilizada e a forma como os capítulos são desenvolvidos estejam totalmente ajustados a leitores de uma camada mais jovem.

No que toca à minha experiência de leitura, começo por dizer que encontrei algumas dificuldades. Os capítulos são curtos, e alguns deles contam histórias que me pareceram desenquadradas da trama central e isso, por vezes, tornou a leitura um pouco repetitiva e aborrecida. Tem alturas em que o pequeno rapaz é colocado em situações desnecessárias e que, a meu ver, pouco acrescentam.
Também senti falta de um mapa da Suécia com todos os principais locais visitados, algo que esta edição não disponibiliza. São muitos e para quem não conhece a Suécia, fica muito difícil acompanhar a viagem em termos geográficos.

Mas não posso deixar de mencionar a vertente ecológica deste livro. Para algo escrito entre 1906 e 1907 é surpreendente encontrar referências à reflorestação levada a cabo pelo homem como forma de ajudar a natureza e, consequentemente, o próprio ser humano. O amor pelos animais também é notório, sendo a importância destes continuamente mencionada ao logo de toda a história. E claro, as questões morais e éticas sempre tão presentes nos trabalhos da autora e que muito me agradam.

Selma Lagerlöf é uma hábil narradora que muito bem recria a atmosfera ficcional das lendas e contos populares da Suécia e esta obra é um bom exemplo disso. Esta edição contém também bonitas ilustrações mas não tenho certeza quanto à autoria das mesmas.
Profile Image for Phoenix2.
1,241 reviews117 followers
May 18, 2017
A big book, but full of nice stories of the wonderful adventures of Nils, a boy who was turned tiny and went on a trip on his goose (or was it a duck, I can't remember?) But what I do remember is that the book had some magical stories to tell. Especially loved the one with the magical city and the one with the deer.
Profile Image for Ana Lúcia.
223 reviews
February 16, 2015
“Há viagens de aventuras, viagens de estudo, viagens de negócios. E outras ainda. Há viagens felizes e infelizes. Viagens em que se enriquece, viagens em que se morre de saudade. E há esta (…)”
“A Maravilhosa Viagem de Nils Holgersson através da Suécia”, é realmente uma viagem, e é realmente maravilhosa…
A viagem pela Suécia de Nils Holgersson, um menino, transformado em gnomo às costas de um ganso que não se resignou a ser um animal doméstico.
Uma viagem interior, na vida de um menino cruel, mimado e desobediente, que se transforma, cresce e se torna capaz de sacrificar a sua felicidade pela dos outros.
Sobre este livro Oscar Wilde disse com ironia: “Não, uma mulher não é capaz de escrever assim. O livro escreveu-se nela.”
Gostei muito…
Profile Image for Sara Jesus.
1,633 reviews123 followers
May 8, 2023
Uma extraordinária viagem á descoberta das belezas da Suécia, seus vales, montanhas, rios, castelos e seus humildes habitantes. Mas também é a história de um menino malvado que aprende a respeitar a natureza e todos os seus animais. Ao longo da jornada de Nils a escritora intercala outras histórias relacionadas com lendas da sua própria nação, e torna-se ela própria uma personagem para expor o motivo de escrever o livro (uma homenagem as suas raízes e á um país que tanto admira).

Inspirado nas "Fábulas" de Fontaine este livro possui adoráveis descrições sobre o mundo animal, a passagem das estações e deu-me vontade de explorar o mundo a minha volta. A amizade de Nils com os gansos bravos é dos momentos mais bonitos de toda esta viagem.
Profile Image for Abrar Hani.
338 reviews973 followers
Read
September 5, 2019
- اشتريت الكتاب لأهديه لأحد أولاد أختي فوجدت نفسي أقرأه قبله ..

نيلز الصغير
صديق الطفولة والذكريات الجميلة أكبر من أن أقيمهُ بنجمات، مغامراته ممتعة مكتوبةٌ كانت أم مصورة .

كل الحب له ولجميع أصدقائه ❤
Profile Image for Nixie.
88 reviews5 followers
October 12, 2019
The librarian told me the original, full version of this book is too long and uses hard-to-understand older version of Swedish. But nothing beats the smell of an old book, so here we are, 600+ pages later.
And it was so worth it.
From a distance, this looks like a children's book about different regions of Sweden. But it doesn't read like a children's book, and it surely doesn't read like a textbook. It's deeper, and darker (so much death...), and — for what I can tell, not being a native speaker — very well-written. And it's not centered on the titular character. Sometimes he's part of the story, vivid and believable, sometimes he's just in one sentence at the beginning of the chapter which is a legend or an isolated story by itself. There are many of them, some with very unexpected endings.
I gotta admit, recognizing some of the places or at least having an idea about them helped with being invested into the story, so I would only recommend this book to those with ties to Sweden. But I would recommend it a lot.

The "horribly outdated Swedish" is mostly exhibited by odd 'o':s at the end of some verbs, and way more approachable than any Shakespeare I've tried.

The library also had the audiobook in its app, narrated by Holger Calov. Reading and listening at the same time was helpful with some of the composite words. Luckily the app can speed up the speech without affecting the pitch of the voice, so it still sounded awesome.

The second trick I did to grapple with the original was to also check out a full Russian translation from the library (Sergei Shtern, 2016). While it helped immensely with things like a sentence with five name of different bird species in a row, I can't say I was impressed by the amount of the translator's additions.
There were added bits like "As you remember, " — the absence of which I really enjoyed in the Swedish version. Selma Lagerlöf doesn't patronize the reader and doesn't pre-chew anything for you.
There was also something like "Women being women, the whole village knew about it in half an hour". Again, the author of the original novel didn't make this slight stab at women, the translator did.
And the worst parts were about Bataki. In the original, Bataki is a crow. A crow very interested in science, and everything on earth. Helpful, attentive, and kind. In the translation, Bataki is still a crow, but a pretentious, petty, moronic one, who uses complicated words for the sake of using them. He irritates everyone around him. I cross-checked sentence by sentence, and Bataki just gets whole phrases out of nowhere in the translation. Poor thing.
Profile Image for Nantiny.
103 reviews16 followers
August 17, 2018
4.5
อยากจะบอกว่าอิจฉาเด็กสวีเดนเลยก็ว่าได้ ที่มีหนังสือสอนภูมิศาสตร์ ประวัติศาสตร์ สังคม ชีววิทยา หรือแม้กระทั่งจิตวิทยาเด็ก รวมอยู่ในเล่มนี้ ถูกบรรจุให้เป็นหนังสือในชั้นเรียนของเด็กที่นั่น
ต้นฉบับเรื่องนี้จริงๆคือ มี 600 กว่าหน้า
ฉบับที่แปลไทย เป็นแบบฉบับย่อ มี 120 กว่าหน้า แต่กระนั้นก็ยังอ่านได้สนุก
เราคิดว่าถ้าเด็กได้อ่านคงจะยิ่งอินกว่านี้
กับการผจญภัยของ นิลส์ เด็กที่เกเรมากกกก แล้วการเดินทางรอบประเทศนี้กับเพื่อนห่านของเขา ค่อยๆ สอนและเปลี่ยนแปลงเขาให้เป็นเด็กที่ดีขึ้นได้อย่างไร เราอ่านไปยังเหมือนได้ไปเที่ยวที่สวีเดนด้วยเลย

ปล.เชื่อว่า เด็กๆได้อ่านจะรักและเข้าใจธรรมชาติและสัตว์อื่นๆ ได้อย่างที่มันควรจะเป็น

ปล.2 ไม่อยากจะคิดเลย สมัยเด็กๆที่เรียนวิชาประวัติศาสตร์ ภูมิศาสตร์ ฯลฯ ของประเทศตัวเองทีไรนี่ง่วงมากๆ ก็หนังสือที่ใช้สอนมันชวนง่วงจริงๆ
Profile Image for Ana.
743 reviews113 followers
February 11, 2015
Este livro é uma verdadeira viagem através da Suécia, que deixa vontade de revisitar um país cuja paisagem é, apenas aparentemente, monótona. É também uma viagem interior, a do crescimento de um rapaz mimado e preguiçoso, que acompanhando a migração dos patos bravos através do país, aprende o valor do trabalho e da lealdade, como garante da sobrevivência do grupo. Com muitas notas sobre a vida selvagem (mesmo sendo os animais personificações), geologia, e alguma história, é um livro, ao mesmo tempo bonito, e informativo. Gostei muito.
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