Historical Setting: An unknown time in a cold land
I’m hearing from this girl Marian how life is done in this place. Small as she is, she isn’t able to provide bathwater. And she believes bathing is necessary. The human smell of this place affirms that. So, I can make myself worthy of my cup of porridge. She shows me where the village shared things are stashed and I bring the half-barrel tub around so the three of us from this house may go clean into the solstice.
The smiðr accepts my offer to help him into the bath. He is stiff and bent, and he needs a strong arm to support him. He’s not one to speak gratitude so I’m affirmed by the simple fact that he didn’t put his dagger to my throat. Marian chooses to have the tub emptied and refilled before her bath. She was probably stolen from a wealthy household where she herself had servants. So, we refill the tub.
I am last to bathe. My clothing could also use a good airing. But this is not the time or place for that. All I have to wear is just what I have stitched from the cleaned hides of deer and those skins I retrieved are still pierced by wolf fangs. I would like to find a weaver for a finer garment but, I’m just grateful deerskin seems to be common here and I don’t appear inappropriate or worse yet, as I actually am, naked.
I see the smiðr has some garments of hide but he also has a wool shirt. Marian wears a linen tunic, once elegant, now in tatters. It is probably the dress she was stolen in. She has a bear skin for a wrap, and that is also her sleeping place. The smiðr has a fine elevated box built of wood for his bed. It has a bearskin and a weave of wool for a blanket. So, I’m sure there are spinners and weavers somewhere. Maybe one day I will have a shirt.
Marian sees my need for a sleeping place and tells me, when I return the barrel, I can take a bear skin from the shared village stash to use as my bed.
Then returning the half barrel I do find a bearskin for my need.
It is a true blessing to sleep tonight, clean and warm, well-fed, and in the company of an old man who snores. It is good to be with humankind. Again. Thank you, God.
(Continues tomorrow)
Lazarus Ink 