Character guide

Nils Holgersson

major

Also known as Nils, Thumbietot, Little Thumbietot

Nils begins as the despair of his hardworking parents — a fourteen-year-old who would rather fire his father's gun than read the Sunday service, and whose chief talents are eating, sleeping, and tormenting the farm animals. His transformation into Thumbietot strips away every advantage he ever took for granted, leaving him small enough to be hunted by wasps and utterly dependent on creatures he once abused. That reversal is the engine of the whole book: his slow, grudging education in courage and kindness begins the moment he saves a goose from a fox instead of wringing its neck.

Akka

major

Also known as Mother Akka, old Akka, old Mother Akka

Akka commands the wild geese with a discipline that borders on severity — she shakes Thumbietot like a rag when he first joins the flock, then strokes him with her bill once he has earned it. Her authority rests on experience and an unyielding sense of responsibility for every goose in her care, which makes her wary of humans and slow to trust. She becomes the moral center of Nils's journey: her approval is the standard he measures himself against, and her watchful presence over the sleeping flock shows how much she carries.

Morten Goosey-Gander

major

Also known as Morten Goosey, Goosey-gander, Dear Morten Goosey-gander

Morten is a domestic goose who answers a call the wild birds never expected him to hear, trading the barnyard for the long migration and proving himself a competent flier and a stubbornly loyal companion. His courtship of Dunfin — standing watch over her nest in the Lapland brush, too proud to admit he is sleeping on duty — reveals a tender, slightly ridiculous dignity. He matters because he is Nils's vehicle and his first real friend: without the gander's back, there is no journey, and without his example of pluck, Nils has nothing to imitate.

Smirre Fox

supporting

Also known as Smirre, Mr. Smirre Fox, Mr. Fox

Smirre is the novel's recurring predator, a plunderer feared throughout the district who is not above raiding farmyards for chickens and geese. His first encounter with Nils — being mistaken for a dog, then teased and dragged by the tail until his prey escapes — humiliates him into a personal vendetta against the flock. He is cunning, patient, and genuinely dangerous, but his vanity and his taste for mockery keep tripping him up, making him both a real threat and a comic foil for Nils's growing cleverness.

Karr

supporting

Also known as Grayskin, Grayskin Karr

Karr moves between human households and the deep forest, trusted by the elk Grayskin yet bound to the people whose underbrush-cutting has destroyed the small animals' hiding places. He is the reluctant messenger in a bitter dispute: the water-snake's cryptic claim that Grayskin could end the plague, and the chorus of thrushes and hares crying that Grayskin destroyed the forest. His loyalty to a friend accused of a crime he cannot understand makes him a quiet witness to the cost of human intrusion, and his willingness to speak plainly is what keeps the truth moving.

Jarro

supporting

Jarro belongs to the teeming bird life of the lakes and marshes, a world with its own rules about who may nest where and who must be feared. His friendship with Nils gives the boy a guide who is neither as stern as Akka nor as proud as Morten — someone who simply knows the water and shares what he knows. Through Jarro, the journey widens from a single flock's migration into a whole society of birds, each with its own grievances and generosities, and Nils learns that being small does not mean being alone.

Gorgo

supporting

Gorgo belongs to two worlds and is fully at home in neither: the eagle's cliff where he was hatched and the goose flock that Akka raised him among. His pride is genuine and his grievance real, since the other birds never quite let him forget what he is. When he crosses paths with Nils and the wild geese, that divided loyalty becomes a test of whether gratitude can outweigh instinct.

Clement Larsson

supporting

Also known as Clement

Clement lives quietly among the old buildings and caged animals of Skansen, a man whose childhood superstitions never fully wore off. When the fisherman Ashbjörn brings him a captured tomte, Clement's old fear of the little people's vengeance collides with his pity for the gagged, bound creature. His choice in that moment quietly shapes what Nils can and cannot do while held captive.

Osa

supporting

Osa and Mats are among the poorest travelers on the road, children whose only inheritance is each other and a story about a father they barely remember. Osa carries the plan and the hope; Mats carries the fear, and her patience with him is tested more than once. Their search runs alongside Nils's journey and shows him a kind of hardship and loyalty he never learned at home.

Dunfin

supporting

Also known as The Sisters Dunfin

Dunfin arrives among the wild geese as someone who has lost her family and must earn her place in a flock that owes her nothing. Where Morten is vain and loud, she is watchful and steady, and her calm is what makes his bluster bearable. Her bond with him gives the traveling flock a second, quieter love story to carry alongside Nils's own.

Father Bear

minor

Also known as Father

A powerful bear who confronts Nils in the forest.

Caesar

minor

Also known as Ask Caesar

A watchdog at a farm who interacts with Nils.

Little Mats

supporting

Also known as Mats

Mats is the younger half of a pair of wandering children, and he leans on Osa for direction, comfort, and the next meal. Hunger and fear make him clingy and sometimes tearful, and Osa's sharpness with him is the flip side of her devotion. His dependence raises the stakes of their search: every delay costs him something, and Nils sees in him the kind of child he himself never had to be.

Ola Bosson

minor

Also known as Per Ola, Ola

A farmer who shelters Osa and Mats.

Drumle

minor

Also known as Fumle-Drumle

A clumsy young goose in the flock.

Saint Peter

minor

A legendary figure in a story told to Nils.

Wind-Rush

minor

Also known as Rush

A swift bird who races with the geese.

Herr Ermenrich

minor

A stork who visits the geese at Glimminge Castle.

Bataki

minor

Also known as Dear Bataki

A wise raven who gives advice to Nils.

Goldeye

minor

Also known as Sister Goldeye

A duck who helps Nils at the bird lake.

Clawina

minor

A hen at the farm who scolds Nils.

Crawlie

minor

A small bird who accompanies the geese.

Prettywing

minor

Also known as Sister Prettywing

A beautiful duck at the bird lake.

Mother Bear

minor

Also known as Mother

The protective mother bear in the forest.

Kaksi

minor

Also known as old Kaksi

One of the five scout birds sent by Akka.

Agar

minor

A female dog who helps Nils.

Old Helpless

minor

Also known as Helpless, poor old Helpless

An old water snake who aids Nils.

Garm Whitefeather

minor

Also known as Garm

A dog who guards a farm.

Jon Esserson

minor

Also known as Jon

A farmer who shelters the children.

Iksi

minor

One of the five scout birds.

Crooked-Back

minor

A deformed bird at the bird lake.

Antler-Crown

minor

A deer in a story told to Nils.

Kaisa

minor

Also known as Ysätter-Kaisa

An old woman who tells stories to Nils.

Ashbjörn

minor

A bear cub encountered by Nils in the forest.

Ola Serka

minor

Also known as old Ola Serka

A Laplander who assists the children.

Bernhard

minor

A bull at a farm who speaks to Nils.

Rosenbom

minor

A wooden figure that comes to life in a church.

Mayrose

minor

A flower who speaks to Nils in a garden.

Eric

minor

A farmhand who appears briefly.

Aslak

minor

A Laplander who helps the children.

Daylight

minor

Also known as Evidently Daylight

A personification of daylight in a story.

The Dalecarlian

minor

Also known as Dalecarlian

A man from Dalecarlia who tells a legend.

Miss Lagerlöf

minor

The author who appears as a character in the narrative.

Selma Lagerlöf

minor

The author referenced in the story.

Söderberg

minor

A man who tells a story about a treasure.

Old Ola

minor

An elderly Laplander.

Mr. Dove

minor

A dove who speaks to Nils.

Sirle Squirrel

minor

Also known as Sirle

A squirrel who helps Nils.

Viisi

minor

One of the five scout birds.

Kivitt

minor

A bird who scouts for the geese.

Neljä

minor

One of the five scout birds.

Yksi

minor

One of the five scout birds.

Mother Holger Nilsson

minor

Also known as Holger Nilsson

Nils's mother who appears at home.

Gold Lily

minor

Also known as Gold-Lily

A flower personification in a story.

Star

minor

A horse who speaks to Nils.

Flammea

minor

A moth in the forest war story.

Mr. Owl

minor

Also known as Mr. Gray Owl

An owl who gives advice to Nils.

The Ice Witch

minor

Also known as Ice Witch

A mythical figure in a legend.

Goa-Nisse

minor

Also known as Nisse

A household spirit who helps Nils.

Old Harmless

minor

An old snake who is harmless.

Britta Maja

minor

A girl who appears in a story.

Snow-White

minor

A white bird seen by Nils.

Kuusi

minor

One of the five scout birds.

Dr. Theodore Klaiber

minor

Also known as Dr. Klaiber

A doctor mentioned in the endnotes.