History and summary: a journey of Nils with wild geese

This story is remembered by many by heart from early childhood. "Miraculous journey of Nils with wild geese" for many - the first book, read up to holes at night, curled up under a blanket with a flashlight. But you did not know that you were reading the textbook.

Geographical fairy tale

Indeed, in the full version of the fairy tale, which Lagerlöf Selma wrote, "The Journey of Nils with Wild Goose", is a textbook on the geography of Sweden. In the late nineteenth century, one of the leaders of the Swedish school system, Alfred Dalin, offered Selma work on a project in which writers and teachers took part. The project envisaged the creation of a series of books, in a fascinating form of knowledge, and was soon implemented. Selma's book was first published and was intended for first-grade students who at that time entered school at the age of nine. Entering the world in 1906, the work quickly became the most widely read in Scandinavia, and its author later received the Nobel Prize for his contribution to literature. Each Swedish child has a thorough knowledge of its short content. "Journey of Niels with wild geese" - one of the most popular children's books around the world. In Sweden, even a small monument to Nils.

Perervod or retelling?

In Russia, the book is known mainly by a free translation, written in 1940 by Zoya Zadunaiskaya and Alexandra Lyubarskaya. This is one of many cases typical of children's literature of the USSR, when foreign works, already written for children's audience, were further adapted by translators. A similar situation occurred with "Pinocchio", "Country of Oz" and other works known abroad. 700 pages of original text translators cut to a hundred and a little, while managing to add a few episodes and characters. The subject line was noticeably curtailed, only a few amusing episodes remained; From geographical and local lore information there is no trace. Of course, this is too specific knowledge, which is not at all interesting to young children of a completely different country. But for what was to change the ending of the fairy tale - it is completely incomprehensible ... It turned out to be practically a short content. "The journey of Nils with wild geese" was greatly simplified. However, as a result, translators have got an excellent fascinating story, which should definitely be given to children, starting from five to six.

Other translations

There are other translations, much less well-known - over the history of Niels, translators have worked since 1906. Alexander Blok, the poet of the Silver Age, read one of these translations and was very pleased with the book. But the first translations were made from the German language, which does not honor the translation process of the beginning of the century. Full translation from Swedish was written only in 1975 by Lyudmila Braude.

More about the book

Russian children, and also adults, too, the book about a wonderful trip to Laplaniida is almost exclusively familiar to the retelling of Lyubarskaya and Zadunaiskaya. It is this option that is studied (if at all) in schools and lies on the shelves of bookstores. So, it is worthwhile to bring here its brief content. "Journey of Niels with wild geese" - a very fascinating reading, and a brief content here is not worth it.

Content

The boy-hooligan Nils Holgersson hailed from a small Swedish village, did not grieve - teased geese, threw stones at animals, ruined bird's nests, and all his antics went unpunished. But only for the time being - once Nils unsuccessfully made fun of a funny little man, and he turned out to be a powerful forest dwarf and decided to teach the boy a good lesson. The dwarf turned Nils into the same kid as he himself, even a little less. And for the boy, black days began. He could not seem to be seen by his family, he was frightened of every mouse rustle, the hens pecked him, and it was harder to think up the cats of the beast than the beast.

On the same day a flock of wild geese, led by old Akka Kebnekaise, flew by the house where the unfortunate was trapped. One of the lazy pets, the goose Martin, unable to withstand the ridicule of free birds, decided to prove to them that domestic geese are also capable of something. With difficulty flying up, he followed the pack - with Niels on his back, because the boy could not let go of his best goose.

The flock did not want to take fat poultry into its ranks, but she was even less pleased with the little man. Geese were suspicious of Niels, but on the very first night he saved one of them from the fox of Smirre, having earned the respect of the flocks and the hatred of the fox himself.

So Niels began his wonderful trip to Lapland, during which he accomplished many feats, helping new friends - animals and birds. The boy rescued the inhabitants of the ancient castle from the invasion of rats (by the way, the episode with the pipe, the reference to the legend of the Hamelinsky Pied Piper, is a translation insert), helped the bear family escape from the hunter, returned the belochka to his native nest. And all this time he reflected the continuous attacks of Smirre. The boy also met with people-he helped the writer of the Loser to restore the manuscript, talked to the living statues, fought with the cook for Martin's life. And then, having flown to Lapland, he became a foster brother to a lot of wild goslings.

And then he returned home. On the way, Niels learned how to remove the spell of a gnome from himself, but for this he had to make friends with nature and with himself. From the hooligan Nils turned into a kind boy, always ready to help the weak, and besides the best student - after all, on the journey he learned a lot of geographical knowledge.

Shield

"Miraculous journey of Niels with wild geese" more than once pleased the audience with his appearance on the screens. The earliest and most famous adaptation of the fairy tale in Russia was the Soviet cartoon "The Enchanted Boy" of 1955. Few people have not seen it in childhood, and everyone remembers its brief content. The journey of Niels with wild geese attracted the attention of filmmakers several times. According to his motives, at least two cartoons were shot - Swedish and Japanese, and a German television film.