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Nils and the Bear · The Art of Story-Telling by Julia Darrow Cowles

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  Speaker 1: Section twenty nine of the Art of Storytelling with nearly
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  Speaker 1: half a hundred stories. This is a LibriVox recording. All
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information
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  Speaker 1: or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Read by
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  Speaker 1: Andy Glover, The Art of Storytelling by Julia Daryl Cowells.
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  Speaker 1: Nils and the Bear Nils Holgerson, a young boy has
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  Speaker 1: been traveling high over the country in company with a
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  Speaker 1: wild goose. He is blown from her back during a
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  Speaker 1: hard wind and alights among the iron mines. He is
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  Speaker 1: discovered by bears and taken to their cave. Father Bhaer
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  Speaker 1: pushed motherbhaar aside. Don't meddle with what you don't understand,
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  Speaker 1: he roared. Can't you send to that human odor about
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  Speaker 1: him from afar? I shall eat him at once, or
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  Speaker 1: he will play us some mean trick. He opened his
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  Speaker 1: jaws again, But meanwhile Nils had had some time to think,
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  Speaker 1: and quick as a flash, he dug into his knapsack
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  Speaker 1: and brought forth some matches, his sole weapon of defense.
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  Speaker 1: Struck one on his leather breeches and stuck the burning
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  Speaker 1: match into the bear's open mouth. Father Bhaer snorted when
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  Speaker 1: he smelled the burning sulfur, and with that the flame
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  Speaker 1: went out. The boy was ready with another match, but
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  Speaker 1: curiously enough, Father Bhaer did not repeat his attack. Can
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  Speaker 1: you light many of those little blue roses, asked Father Bhaer.
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  Speaker 1: I can light enough to put an end too the
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  Speaker 1: whole forest, replied the boy, for he thought that in
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  Speaker 1: this way he might be able to scare Fatherbhaer. Perhaps
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  Speaker 1: you could also set fire to houses and barns, said
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  Speaker 1: Father Bhaer. Oh, that would be no trick for me,
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  Speaker 1: boasted the boy, hoping that this would make the bear
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  Speaker 1: respect him good, exclaimed the bear. You shall render me
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  Speaker 1: a service. Now, I'm very glad that I did not
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  Speaker 1: eat you. Father Bhaer carefully took the boy between his
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  Speaker 1: tusks and climbed up from the pit. As soon as
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  Speaker 1: he was up, he speedily made for the woods. It
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  Speaker 1: was evident that Father Bhaer was created to squeeze through
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  Speaker 1: dense forests. The heavy body pushed through the brushwood as
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  Speaker 1: a boat does through the water. Father Bhaer ran along
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  Speaker 1: till he came to a hill at the skirt of
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  Speaker 1: the forest, where he could see the big noise shop.
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  Speaker 1: Here he lay down and placed the boy in front
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  Speaker 1: of him, holding him securely between his fore paws. Now
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  Speaker 1: look down at that big noise shop he commanded. The
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  Speaker 1: great iron works, with many tall buildings, stood at the
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  Speaker 1: edge of a waterfall. High chimneys set forth dark clouds
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  Speaker 1: of smoke. Blasting furnaces were in full blaze, and light
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  Speaker 1: shone from all the windows and apertures within. Hammers and
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  Speaker 1: rolling mills were going with such force that the air
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  Speaker 1: rang with their clatter and boom. Just beyond the workshops
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  Speaker 1: were long rows of working men's homes, pretty villas, schoolhouses,
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  Speaker 1: assembly halls, and shops. But there all was quiet, and
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  Speaker 1: apparently everybody was asleep. The boy did not glance in
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  Speaker 1: that direction, but gazed intently at the iron works. The
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  Speaker 1: earth around them was black, The sky above them was
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  Speaker 1: like a great fiery dome. The rapids, white with foam,
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  Speaker 1: rushed by, while the buildings themselves were cinding out light
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  Speaker 1: and smoke, fire and sparks. It was the grandest sight
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  Speaker 1: the boy had ever seen. Surely, you don't mean to
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  Speaker 1: say you can set fire to a place like that,
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  Speaker 1: remarked the bear doubtingly. The boy wedged between the beast's paws,
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  Speaker 1: was thinking. The only thing that might save him would
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  Speaker 1: be that the bear should have a high opinion of
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  Speaker 1: his capability and power. It's all the same to me,
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  Speaker 1: he answered, with a superior a big or little, I
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  Speaker 1: can burn it down. Then I'll tell you something, said
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  Speaker 1: Father Bhaer. My forefathers lived in this region from the
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  Speaker 1: time that the forests first sprang up from them. I
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  Speaker 1: inherited hunting grounds and pastures, layers and retreats, and have
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  Speaker 1: lived here in peace all my life. In the beginning,
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  Speaker 1: I wasn't troubled much by the human kind. They dug
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  Speaker 1: in the mountains and picked up a little ore down
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  Speaker 1: here by the rapids. They had a forge and a furnace,
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  Speaker 1: but the hammers sounded only a few hours during the day,
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  Speaker 1: and the furnace was not fired more than two moons
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  Speaker 1: at a stretch. It wasn't so bad but that I
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  Speaker 1: could stand it. But these last years, since they have
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  Speaker 1: built this noise shop, which keeps up the same racket
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  Speaker 1: both day and night, life here has become intolerable. There
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  Speaker 1: are so many people that I never feel safe from them.
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  Speaker 1: I thought that I should have to move away, But
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  Speaker 1: I have discovered so something better. The boy wondered what
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  Speaker 1: father Bear had hit upon, but no opportunity was afforded
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  Speaker 1: him to ask, as the bear took him between his
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  Speaker 1: fore paws and held him up. Try to look into
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  Speaker 1: the house, he commanded. A strong current of air was
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  Speaker 1: forced into a big cylinder, which was suspended from the
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  Speaker 1: ceiling and filled with molten iron. As this current rushed
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  Speaker 1: into the mess of iron with an awful roar, showers
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  Speaker 1: of sparks of all colors spurted up in bunches, in sprays,
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  Speaker 1: in long clusters. They struck against the wall and came
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  Speaker 1: splashing down over the whole big room. Father Bhaer let
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  Speaker 1: the boy watch the gorgeous spectacle until the blowing was
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  Speaker 1: over and the flowing and sparkling red steel had been
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  Speaker 1: poured into ingot molds. The boy was completely charmed by
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  Speaker 1: the marvelous display, and almost forgot that he was imprisoned
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  Speaker 1: between a bear's two paws. I call that a real
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  Speaker 1: man's work, the boy remarked to himself. The bear then
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  Speaker 1: let the boy have a peep at the furnace and
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  Speaker 1: the forge, and he became more and more astonished as
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  Speaker 1: he saw how the blacksmith's handle iron and fire. Those
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  Speaker 1: men have no fear of heat and flames. He thought
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  Speaker 1: the workmen were sooty and grimy. He fancied they were
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  Speaker 1: some sort of firefolk. That was why they could bend
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  Speaker 1: and mold the iron as they wished. He could not
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  Speaker 1: believe that they were just ordinary men, since they had
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  Speaker 1: such power. They keep this up day after day, night
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  Speaker 1: after night, said Father Bhaer, as he dropped wearily down
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  Speaker 1: on the ground. You can understand that one gets rather
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  Speaker 1: tired of that kind of thing. I'm mighty glad that
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  Speaker 1: at last I can put it into it. Indeed, said
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  Speaker 1: the boy, how will you go about it? Oh? I
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  Speaker 1: thought that you were going to set fire to the building,
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  Speaker 1: said Father Bhaer. That would put an end to all
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  Speaker 1: this work, and I could remain in my old home.
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  Speaker 1: The boy was all of a shiver. So it was
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  Speaker 1: for this that Father Bhaer had brought him here. If
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  Speaker 1: you will set fire to the noise works, I'll promise
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  Speaker 1: to spare your life, said Father Bhaer. But if you
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  Speaker 1: don't do it, I'll make short work of you. Will
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  Speaker 1: you or won't you? The boy knew that he ought
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  Speaker 1: to answer promptly that he would not. But he also
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  Speaker 1: knew that then the bear's pause would squeeze him to death. Therefore,
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  Speaker 1: he replied, I shall have to think it over very well.
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  Speaker 1: Do so, assented, Father Bhaer. Let me say to you
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  Speaker 1: that iron is the thing that has given men the
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  Speaker 1: advantage over us bears, which is another reason for my
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  Speaker 1: wishing to put an end to the work here. The
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  Speaker 1: boy thought he would use the delay to figure out
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  Speaker 1: a way to escape, but instead he began to think
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  Speaker 1: of the great help that iron had been to mankind.
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  Speaker 1: They needed iron for everything. There was iron in the
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  Speaker 1: plow that broke up the field, in the axe that
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  Speaker 1: felled the tree for building houses, the scythe that mowed
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  Speaker 1: the grain, and did the knife which would be turned
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  Speaker 1: to all sorts of uses. There was iron in the
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  Speaker 1: horse's bit, in the lock on the door, in the
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  Speaker 1: nails that held furniture together. The rifle that drove away
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  Speaker 1: wild beasts was made of iron. Iron covered the mid
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  Speaker 1: of war. The locomotives steamed through the country on iron rails.
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  Speaker 1: The needle that had stitched his coat was of iron.
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  Speaker 1: The shears that clipped the sheep, and the kettle that
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  Speaker 1: cooked the food. Father Bhaer was perfectly right in saying
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  Speaker 1: that it was the iron that had given men their
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  Speaker 1: mastery over the bears. Now, will you or won't you?
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  Speaker 1: Father Bhaer repeated. The boy was startled from his musing,
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  Speaker 1: you mustn't be so impatient, he said. This is a
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  Speaker 1: serious matter for me, and I've got to have time
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  Speaker 1: to consider. I can wait a little longer, said father Bhaer,
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  Speaker 1: But after that you'll get no more grace. The boy
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  Speaker 1: swept his hand across his forehead. No plan of escape
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  Speaker 1: had as yet come to his mind, but this much
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  Speaker 1: he knew. He did not wish to do any harm
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  Speaker 1: to the iron, which was so useful to rich and
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  Speaker 1: pour alike, and which gave bread to so many people
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  Speaker 1: in this land. Come, come, growled the bear. Will you
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  Speaker 1: or won't you? I won't, said the boy. Father Bhaer
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  Speaker 1: squeezed him a little harder, but said nothing. You'll not
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  Speaker 1: get me to destroy the iron works, defied the boy.
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  Speaker 1: The iron is so great a blessing that it will
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  Speaker 1: never do to harm it. Then, of course you don't
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  Speaker 1: expect to be allowed to live very long, said the bear. No,
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  Speaker 1: I don't expect it, returned the boy, looking the bear
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  Speaker 1: straight in the eye. Father Bhaer gripped him a little harder,
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  Speaker 1: but just then the boy heard something click very close
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  Speaker 1: to them, and saw the muzzle of a rifle two
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  Speaker 1: paces away. Father Bhaer, don't you hear the clicking of
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  Speaker 1: a trigger, cried the boy, Run or you'll be shot
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  Speaker 1: bother Their bear grew terribly hurried. He thought he heard
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  Speaker 1: hounds and hunters pursuing him. But the boy stood in
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  Speaker 1: the forest, free and unharmed, and could hardly understand how
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  Speaker 1: it was possible. End of Section twenty nine.