I… I wrote this Chapter… and… I was too lazy to actually… copy it off the paper… onto the computer
I am the laziest fuck you will ever meet … like what has it fucking been, a month?
This Chapter is dumb and yet important. It is historical but I am shit at history so don't take it too seriously.
Yep.
Saemund waltzed down the steep winding path that led from Njals house to the quaint little town below. I wasn't a fairly long walk at all, but by the time Saemund had carefully navigated around all the boulders and fallen trees it was nearly an hour later. He didn't mind however, as the crisp Norwegian air was almost soothing to him. He had forgotten about Njal and his duty to protect him. He had forgotten his name, his birthday, and that he himself was the kingdom of Denmark. All he saw was green trees, brown dirt, and his own two feet picking their way down the hill.
When he finally stepped onto some relatively flat ground, he ceased focusing on his feet and looked out on the cluster of houses that sat before him.
Nestled between the Rivers edge (the LaerardalrNorway had told him when he had first arrived) and the Mountain side, was the village of Borgund.
It was a laughably small settlement to Saemund, as it was composed of no more than five or six houses that rose up out of the golden wheat stretched across every inch of flat ground in sight. "Gotta take what you can get, I guess. " Seamund laughed as he trudged through the field.
He couldn't help but notice the golden hue to the wheat as he walked, or the plethora of fish that jumped from the shallow river to his left. 'Njal owns all this? …So he surely is a wealthy man.' He thought, stopping to gaze at the sunrays illuminating the little town in its almost golden color.
"Looks like Freyr's on your side Njal." Saemund said as he was rid of the wheat and had stepped foot into the little road splitting the town.
"As is Idunn, it seems." A voice called out
Before Saemund could even blink in confusion, a woman stepped out from around a corner.
She had fiery red hair and a mischievous smile to match. Her cheery and freckled face was surely a sight to his sore eyes that were accustomed to Njals constantly stern look.
"You are Danish, yes?" She inquired
"Uh... yeah! I am! Is it really that noticeable?"
"Well… yes. Extremely. But I also received a letter earlier stating that a certain Danish man would be in need of one of my cloaks." She said "and you seem to fit the bill pretty well, yes?" At this she grinned and turned away, heading off towards, presumably, her house. She called out behind her "Follow me dearie!"
Saemund, in need of both a coat and a cheery companion, followed closely behind until they had walked inside the door and she had ushered him over to a chair.
"All I know about this is, a foreigner is coming to the village and he's going to freeze his ass off if I don't give him a coat. Your red tunic might look nice and save you in Denmark, but here you'll need a little more." She said to him, rummaging through a pile of fabrics. "Just hold on a minute while I find it…"
Saemund took this opportunity to glance around the house.
It was small, wooden, and so very Norwegian. It had a menagerie of furniture scattered about, with each having a number of garments laid across it. The fabric brought color to the house, and the light coming in from the window practically made the gold jewelry set on a small table glow. The Woman, whoever she was, was obviously well to do. 'And yet she still works for Njal. Perhaps he just is a generous man…' he thought, although Saemund doubted that Njal was any kind of a charitable person. He just didn't come off as so kind.
"Here we are, then. Hope this fits you well enough."
She held out in front of her a long black cloak, complete with fur trim and everything.
Saemund shrugged into the garment, and once it was on he shuffled around, testing his mobility in it. Once he was satisfied with the fact that he could still throw his hands over his head, he folded the cloak back up and set it down.
"What do I owe you for this coat? It fits wonderfully, by the way."
She smiled her same sideways grin "Well I don't know about any gold or anything but I quite li-""would two pennies be sufficient?" Saemund said, holding up the coins in question.
The Woman, embarrassed at being cutoff, just shook her head and answered "No, no honey it's alright. Whoever sent the letter had also included some coins. You're fine… "
"Oh, well alright then! Thank you miss…""Hilda.""Yes, well thank you so ever much miss Hilda." Saemund scooped up his cloak and headed for the door, only to be held back by the womans hand.
"Dane, may I ask you something? Why are you here? On Borgund farm of all places." She appeared to have sobered up, as though this were merely more than an odd question.
"Well I am just currently staying with Njal. I'm not here for any important reaso-""YOU'RE STAYING WITH NJAL?" Panic appeared to have taken over, as Seamund watched her back away in utter horror. Gritting her teeth she called out "Well then good for you, Dane. Good for you." She still stood stiffly away from Saemund, even maneuvering away when he tried to reach out for her.
"Is there something wrong? Did Njal do something? Am I missing something here?"
"No, no. It's fine. You can do whatever you please, but just be forewarned that this isn't Denmark. I haven't personally been there but let me tell you we don't tolerate certain things here and you best keep that in mind." She said in a warning tone.
She ushered Saemund out the door, and promptly shut it in his face as he went to turn around and question her again.
He was left with nothing but a dull wooden door, and an empty town behind him.
What had Njal done?
Wow ok yeah that was not very good…
Anyways!
Notes:
I was looking up Stave churches in Norway (for later chapters) and the Borgund stave church was one of them. It was built on the grounds of the Borgund farm, so that's why it's named as such, and I saw a cute little picture of it that I wanted to use as the farm Norway himself owned. At this point, the Church isn't built and the town's small.
The Farm was next to, from what I could piece together, the Laerdalselvi . It was called Laerardalr in the olden days because Dalr = Valley/Dale and the farm is located on a flat piece of land between the mountains.
Norway just chills up in his house on the side of one of the hills
The Borgund farm, however, is now a part of the Laerdal province (Don't quote any of my Norwegian geography ok, I live in Virginia it's not like I can just go and check) in Sogn og Fjordane which is in the western part of Norway, so it's a little too far North to have been really considered part of this time periods "Norge"
But the information on the actual borders is completely unknown and really it's subjective so I have decided to extend the boundaries a little further and say its part of Norway.
What else what else…
Freyr is god of fertility, and from what I believe I read somewhere this extends to crops so Farmers tend to focus more on him.
Idunn is the godess of youth. She's the one with the golden apples that everyone eats to stay young forever. I think the Norse Personifications would play close attention to her considering their circumstances. And Hilda notices Njals never ending youth because there isn't a very big population anywhere and it'd be hard for all the Nations to hide or something.
Oh yes, the Coins.
The Scandinavians didn't really have coins until this happened:
In England Aethelred II ('Noble advice' and was nicknamed Unraed meaning 'No advice') went to massacre all Danes in England on day (Nov.12) 1002 (so its way after this story but bah humbug)
This made the remaining Danes super pissed, and the man not wanting to go to war had 75 mints opened and continuously paid the Danes NOT to attack. Seriously. It was called Danegeld for 'Dane Debt'. He ended up giving them like 40 million silver pennies (Money essentially, not the useless little coins they represent now) and then Cnut came and just was like fuck this shit and took over England.
The old English word Pennig is what they were called, and this is most likely what's responsible for Danish money being called Penge. (if my sources are true)
Anddddd yeah I think that's all…
Hope you liked it and I hope that I am not too lazy to actually write it.
Reviews are nice things to do! If you don't I will make you pay me 40 Million pennies.