Nils Finn
Now little Nils Finn had away to go;The skis were too loose at both heel and toe.--"That's too bad!" rumbled yonder.
Then little Nils Finn in the snow set his feet:"You ugliest troll, you shall never me cheat!"--"Hee-ho-ha!" rumbled yonder.
Nils Finn with his staff beat the snow till it blew"Your trollship, now saw you how hapless it flew?"--"Hit-li-hu!" rumbled yonder.
Nils Finn pushed one ski farther forward with might;The other held fast,--he reeled left and right.--"Pull it up!" rumbled yonder.
Nils' tears wet the snow, while he kicked and he struck;The more that he kicked there, the deeper he stuck.--"That was good!" rumbled yonder.
The birch-trees, they danced, and the pine-trees said "Hoo!"They more were than one,--were a hundred and two.--"Know your way?" rumbled yonder.
A laugh shook the ridge till it made the snow fly;But Nils clenched his fists and he swore 't was a lie.--"Now beware!" rumbled yonder.
The snow-field yawned wide, and the heavens came low;Nils thought 't was now time for him also to go.--"Is he gone?" rumbled yonder.--
Two skis in the snow looked about everywhere,But saw nothing much; for there was nothing there.--"Where is Nils?" rumbled yonder.
Words in this poem
- finn a.
- A native of Finland; one of the FinnFinns.
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
- troll n.
- A supernatural being, often represented as of diminutive size, but sometimes as a giant, and fabled to inhabit caves, hills, and like places; a witch. Troll flower. (Bot.) Same as Globeflower (a). [Icel. troll. Cf. Droll, Trull.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- hapless a.
- Without hap or luck; luckless; unfortunate; unlucky; unhappy; as, hapless youth; hapless maid.
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
- beware v. t.
- To avoid; to take care of; to have a care for.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Nils Finn is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems and Songs, Project Gutenberg ebook #6619, the Arthur Hubbell Palmer translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Nils Finn, in Poems and Songs (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bjornson-poems-and-songs/nils-finn.html, id L29229.
Form and metre
Nils Finn is 27 lines in 9 stanzas of 3 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 67% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 76%).
See other poems in heroic couplets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AA- goA · toeA · yonder
- 2 AA- feetA · cheatA · yonder
- 3 AA- blewA · flewA · yonder
- 4 AA- mightA · rightA · yonder
- 5 AA- struckA · stuckA · yonder
- 6 AA- hooA · twoA · yonder
- 7 AA- flyA · lieA · yonder
- 8 AA- lowA · goA · yonder
- 9 AA- everywhereA · thereA · yonder
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Now little Nils Finn had away to go; | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| The skis were too loose at both heel and toe. | 10 | ·········· |
| --"That's too bad!" rumbled yonder. | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Then little Nils Finn in the snow set his feet: | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| "You ugliest troll, you shall never me cheat!" | 11 | ·/˘˘···/˘·· |
| --"Hee-ho-ha!" rumbled yonder. | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Nils Finn with his staff beat the snow till it blew | 11 | ··········· |
| "Your trollship, now saw you how hapless it flew?" | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| --"Hit-li-hu!" rumbled yonder. | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Nils Finn pushed one ski farther forward with might; | 11 | ·····/˘/˘·· |
| The other held fast,--he reeled left and right. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| --"Pull it up!" rumbled yonder. | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Nils' tears wet the snow, while he kicked and he struck; | 11 | ··········· |
| The more that he kicked there, the deeper he stuck. | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| --"That was good!" rumbled yonder. | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| The birch-trees, they danced, and the pine-trees said "Hoo!" | 11 | ··········· |
| They more were than one,--were a hundred and two. | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| --"Know your way?" rumbled yonder. | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| A laugh shook the ridge till it made the snow fly; | 11 | ··········· |
| But Nils clenched his fists and he swore 't was a lie. | 12 | ············ |
| --"Now beware!" rumbled yonder. | 7 | ·˘//˘/˘ |
| The snow-field yawned wide, and the heavens came low; | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| Nils thought 't was now time for him also to go. | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| --"Is he gone?" rumbled yonder.-- | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Two skis in the snow looked about everywhere, | 11 | ········/˘· |
| But saw nothing much; for there was nothing there. | 11 | ··/˘····/˘· |
| --"Where is Nils?" rumbled yonder. | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.