Nil, the protagonist of the book, is the only child of his parents. He is lazy, nasty, stubborn, and disobedient.

The book is chosen to be one of the must-read children literature involving vivid descriptions about the breathtaking scenery of Sweden.

He stood now on a narrow beach by a fair-sized lake. It was ugly to look upon because it was almost entirely covered with an ice-crust that was blackened and uneven and full of cracks and holes – as spring ice generally is.

And as the great wings moved, it glistened like a light in the dark forest.

The Wooden Castle
BY ERIK AXEL KARLFELDT

The clock is striking lustily,
The hours drift away.
Why are you still so mustily?
Locked up in your room today?

Behold the hedges billowing
With blossoms newly sprung
And perfume for their pillowing
While yet the morn is young!

The hum of bees is motherly,
I hear the swallows cry.
The wind upon his southerly
Charger goes whistling by.

Come let us follow his trace today,
So far let us fly, and fast,
That we may at length outrace today
The years till we reach the past.

Are the pale embers scattering
Their gleams trough the smithy shed?
Are the waves of the flume still spattering
As they shoulder the wheel ahead?

Do the pigeon coo at their lovering?
Does the gray-winged cuckoo shout?