Olaf walked east for several hundred meters along the dirt road paved with gravel beside the wheat field. After turning around a birch forest, he saw a patchwork of green thatched houses. A few of them have 27 or 8 houses, and some are large. Some are smaller.
These houses are the walls of stone blocks. The walls are more than five or six feet thick. The walls and roofs are covered with grass, and some have small yellow flowers. They look very beautiful, as if they have entered a fairy tale world.
This kind of turf house has a history of seven or eight hundred years. The ancestors built this kind of thick stone in order to make the wooden structure and roof of the house strong and durable, and have the effect of keeping warm, warm in winter and cool in summer. Houses with walls and turf roofs, walls and roofs with soil and turf can insulate and insulate the cold, which can be regarded as the crystallization of the ingenuity of Iceland's ancestors when fighting bad weather.
Olaf slowly approached the village. At the entrance of the village, several fifty-something old women who were sewing clothes while basking in the sun first greeted Olaf with a smile.
"Young Master Blonde is back?"
"Olav your mother is looking for you."
"Olav, you look taller again..."
The kind jokes and affectionate words of a few old people made Olaf smile too. He smiled and said: "Yalty, be careful that old Gelder beats you after drinking too much... Aunt Vignyrod, when will you give it to me? Make a pair of pants? Big Eyes sister, your job is not very good..."
Olaf made a few jokes with the neighbors in these villages. Everyone laughed and then walked into the village. There were also other men and women on the road. Everyone was busy pouring beets, spinach, and radishes. These three kinds of vegetables are currently available. I found vegetables that can grow in summer in Iceland, so everyone grows more or less.
There are only one hundred fifty or sixty people in the village, most of whom are descendants of seven ancient families. The long-term settlement has allowed everyone to marry. At present, they are basically relatives. Therefore, everyone in the village is mutually related. Familiar and close.
Olaf greeted everyone warmly on the road, and the younger ones liked to say more to Olaf.
A thirteen or four-year-old boy with red hair and freckles rushed over in a shabby and fat dirty robe and said: "Olav! Your mother is looking for you. I heard that it is from Reykjavik. A large port city, Icelandic: Smoking Gulf Coast) People from there brought bad news."
The red-haired boy named Lixstrom is one of Olaf's best playmates. His father Yort is the only carriage dealer in the village. He has a large carriage to carry people out in the nearby village. .
"Thom, who did you fight with again?" Olaf asked with a frown, looking at the mud print on Lixstrom.
Although Thom is a few years older than Olaf, he is Olaf's attendant. He curled his lips and said: "You are not here this morning. The big head Orin from the village of Will next door brought people over. Last time you took us to fight. They smashed several somersaults severely, but if you were not here this morning, we suffered a bit. Or else you will take us to clean them up this afternoon!"
There are more than 100 people in Herut Village of Baizhanlin Forest, and there are only more than 30 large and small families. There are more than 40 children between the ages of several years and teenagers. Excluding girls and children under the age of seven, there are more than 20. Boys, these boys are basically Olaf's followers.
Because Olaf knows a lot, although he is young and strong, although he has only learned ancient poetry from the old poets in the village, and has not studied in the Southern District Church for a few days, he speaks clearly and people like to listen to him. , The children know that Olaf speaks more accurately and better than adults.
And in the past two years, everyone has never suffered from fighting with Olaf and the children in the neighboring village. Olaf will lead everyone to dig traps. He also knows where beating is more painful and knows great fighting skills.
So now the boys and girls in the village are convinced by Olaf and willingly be his subordinates.
Olaf and Lixstrom are about the same height, they reached out to help him pat the dirt, and said: "Don't rush to get revenge, I will go home and see what's going on."
"Okay! You are right to listen to Olaf!" Tom wiped his nose and turned and left.
Olaf quickened his pace and soon entered a large yard with three turf houses. The yard was made of stones and small wood walls. Inside and outside the walls were grass and wildflowers, and there was one more stable inside the wall. The crossbred Shire horse looked that although it was no longer as strong, its four hooves were still very strong.
"Thank God! Olaf, you are finally back!"
As soon as Olaf entered the yard, a slender middle-aged woman walked out of the big house on the east side. She had blonde hair and was good-looking. She was Olaf's mother, Katelyn.
Katrin is harsh and rude to the children like the mistresses of other families, but only very polite to Olaf, as if facing an adult Olaf.
Olaf followed his mother into the room and saw the tall and burly father Hadar sitting at the wooden table with a sad expression on his face. Opposite him sat a middle-aged man who was as short as himself. He had black curly hair and Not a dense black beard, a little thin, but very energetic.
"Olav, this is your other uncle, Hoskurd. He and your uncle Kadir are half brothers. He lives in Reykjavik (smoky harbor)."
Hadar first introduced Olaf to his uncle Hoskard, who he had never seen before, and then turned to Hoskard and said: "Olav, you have heard of it, my son, a child prodigy, genius, he is the ancestor of Hoskud. I think you should tell him the bad news that you have brought."
Hoskud laughed suddenly, and looked at Olaf with bright eyes.
He didn't look down on Olaf, a young man, instead he got up and patted his sturdy shoulder. He smiled and said, "I can't believe you are Olaf. Are you only ten years old? Look at my son who is sixteen years old. Still tall and strong! That's great!
I have heard of you, you are naturally smart and good at dealing with problems, perhaps the reincarnation of the heroic spirits of your ancestors..." At the last sentence, Hoskurd's voice suddenly became very small.
After all, Iceland is now a place that has received the glory of the Lord. Even though many Icelanders believe in God, Christ, they also believe in the gods and ancestral spirits passed down by their ancestors, but speaking out openly is challenging the religious rule of Catholicism and Christianity. status.
Although there is no burning of infidels now, if the governor knows about it, he must be severely punished. Forfeiture of property and caning and imprisonment are both possible.
"Your father is very lucky. Let me tell you what I got. has a deep hatred with your family, Siegfus. He suddenly got lucky! His daughter married a new Iceland Lord Governor Calvin, the big man on their list is completely shaken. Even their servant walks like a big cock. Siegforth has always wanted to occupy your property, even though he didn't have it seven years ago. Success, now he has said that if his son-in-law, the Governor of Iceland, Lord Kaulsman, will take the initiative to seize your property, perhaps soon Lord Corsvin will hold a court meeting to discuss your affairs."
Hoskurd said the matter quickly, and then took a sip of beer from the wooden cup on the table.
"Oh, this is really not good news!" Olaf frowned, and finally understood why Hadar, the optimistic father, had a sad look on his face.
Olaf sat on the stone stool thinking about the bad news brought by the uncle he just met. He knew very well that if everything was true, the life and death of his family would become unknown.
Olaf dare not talk about democracy and freedom like other travellers, I have a dream, a revolution, sports, etc.
There is no doubt that people who are fighting for the dead, the strict hierarchy, and the descent of Europe, are talking about democracy and freedom, and those who have nouns such as legal reforms will be smashed by the iron fist of feudalism and thrown into the dunghill of history. This is unquestionable. matter.
Is the hanging rope too soft or the stone not hard? Is it because the fire that burns the heresy is not hot, or the knife that hacks people is disadvantageous?
PS: Court meeting: Since Iceland became a free state in the tenth century AD, it was a self-management mechanism. Leaders and legal elders from all over the country dealt with disputes among Icelanders. This is now known as the earliest parliament. According to the author's research, the birth of the Iceland parliament seems to be It originated from the Viking pirates' internal habit of handling disputes, especially economic disputes.