First, a victory feast and grave-ale in a mead hall where lanterns illuminate pillars carved with gods and heroes:
roast pork;
steaks;
blood sausage;
mounded heaps of loaves;
French-fried potatoes;
ripe cheese;
fruit pies and ice cream;
barrels refilling mugs and horns.
Secondly, the newly acclaimed king is to be called Bjarni Ironrede. This nickname/title should need no explanation to Poul Anderson fans. See here.
6 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
King Bjarni IRONREDE of Norrheim??? I should hope all fans of Poul Anderson would recognize "Ironrede"! I certainly hope I did when I first read that part of THE HING KING OF MONTIVAL. Yet another Stirlingian allusion to Poul Anderson, and one I love!
And as for that victory feast, only people as physically ACTIVE as the post-Change survivors could get away with eating like that! Unless, of course, you were Nicholas van Rijn! (Smiles)
Sean
Also they're living in a cold climate -- that part of northern Maine is fertile (there's a lot of big mixed farms there) but the growing season is short. Hence the emphasis on roots and grains and meat/dairy. It's a healthy enough diet if you're careful to avoid certain deficiencies. (Eating the organ meats helps, for example.) So does collecting and drying/freezing as much in the way of wild fruits as possible. Maine blueberries are great.
Oh, and making "tea" of various types; spruce "tea" has a high vitamin C content.
Dear Mr. Stirling,
I had not realized Maine had that much fertile land, suitable for farming, despite the short growing season. I tend to think of Maine as being largely FORESTED. I knew organ meats helps to avoid suffering deficiencies. And SPRUCE tea sounds rather odd!
Sean
I think it was 'spruce tea' that the Amerindians near what is now Quebec City taught Jaques Cartier to use to cure the scury his crew got when they tried to over winter there.
On the prairies Saskatoon berries would be one thing to preserve over winter for avoiding scurvy. I merely pick enough to make a few batches of Saskatoon berry pancakes.
Kaor, Jim!
Scurvy is a very nasty disease, so whatever works that will keep you from getting it is fine with me!
Ad astra! Sean
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