This girl seems to be wearing a crudely sewn leather jacket, and its simplicity is really surprising.
She doesn’t even have shoes, her feet are just pockets sewn with animal skins and tied with hemp rope.
The Ross tribe is not like this at all. Everyone has rough skills in making leather boots. Moreover, along with traditional trade with allies, the women within the tribe did not have their skills degraded due to the migration of the tribe.
What’s even more amazing is that with the opening of the trade and tribute route with the Novgorod people, the Ross tribe discovered a long time ago that those guys with weak combat effectiveness are better than themselves in some aspects. For example, their women were adept at performing delicate stitching using fine embroidery needles imported from Rome.
If you have good things, of course you should try your best to get them!
So some women of the Ross tribe have steel needles from Eastern Rome. Its production is very laborious, so it is of great value.
However, for example, Rurik’s mother Niya, the two extremely hard embroidery needles she owned were not produced in Eastern Rome at all!
Because in this era, Eastern Rome only had the manufacturing technology of iron needles and copper needles, and only the Tang Dynasty mastered the manufacturing technology of steel needles. The small embroidery needle is the crystallization of ancient technology. With it, no matter how hard the cowhide is, it can efficiently pierce it, making it possible to perform more delicate and complex stitching operations.
Everything is so romantic!
The thick leather boots worn by Otto and the small thick leather boots worn by Rurik.
It is made of cowhide, deerskin and even some sheepskin, and there is a lot of warm velvet inside!
It can perfectly sew many hard leathers. Only steel needles can do this in this era.
Datang’s steel needles were strategic exports, and merchants took them across the vast desert and sold them directly to food merchants. Driven by profit, the food merchants either sold to Eastern Rome first, or went directly north into Eastern Europe to sell to local Slavs.
Novgorod residents obtained this small but precious embroidery needle through the traditional north-south trade line, and women's tailoring skills developed rapidly.
Then they were discovered by the Ross tribe who came in a long boat...
Most of the Ross tribe had comfortable boots, which were warm, the only bad thing about them was It's just not waterproof at all.
However, that strange and uneasy girl was dressed in a very special way. Her clothes fully showed that she was different, and she was simply out of tune with the others.
She is an outsider!
But how could young Rurik take the initiative to hold on to such an outsider?
What is the relationship between Rurik and this girl? !
Otto soon sat cross-legged next to Viglia. He was about to say something when Viglia asked the question first.
"The girl next to Rurik, she is definitely not one of ours! Who is she? Where did she come from?!"
After saying that, Vilia stared at the mysterious girl with a suspicious look.
Being stared at by many people, the woman was so frightened that she stood still and remained unmoved despite being pulled by Liuli.
"Ah, I was about to tell you this." Otto pointed casually: "She is a prisoner, one of those deer farmers. Now, let me tell you everything. ..."
As for what the team encountered during the long expedition, Otto took this opportunity and immediately explained everything to Viglia.
Otto was reporting on his work, and the most important part was naturally praising his great achievements, such as acquiring a large number of deer.
Of course Rurik also hoped to tell Vilia as soon as possible that the girl he pulled was a servant, and he had a brilliant idea about the future arrangements of this servant.
Rurik tried his best to pull the dazed girl aside, and the two of them sat casually on the animal skin mat on the ground, waiting for the adult to finish the matter.
He held the girl's trembling hand and could feel her nervousness deeply.
How could she not be nervous? ! If she was smart, she would have known that she was in the cabin at the heart of the Ross tribe's power.
As a servant of the leader’s son, he is also an extraordinary servant.
She is indeed extraordinary. Because she is young mentally, Rurik is already a middle-aged uncle. It is not a troublesome thing to deal with such a little girl.
Most of the boys are playing daily dangerous games, or helping the family fish in warm periods, or even helping to hunt seals in winter, or fishing for small shellfish from the sea to supplement the family income.
What about those few girls? Almost all day long activities are in a small area near home.
Girls, they cannot become heroic spirits, and it is almost impossible for them to become new Valkyries. Even their parents rarely pay attention to their attitude towards life. As long as they can survive, that's all.
They only need to know how to take charge of their future husband's treasures, make fur clothes and other daily necessities for their husbands, store the food that their husbands hunt and rob, and then try their best to give birth to sons for their husbands.
The Ross tribe believes that this is what a good woman should be, and it should be natural for her to become a vassal of a man.
In an era of extreme scarcity of materials and extremely backward productivity, such a living state certainly makes sense.
But this is not a permanent reason.
While his father was talking endlessly in front of Vilia, Rurik was also organizing the words in his mind.
They talked a lot, and Villa fully understood the whole process.
"Okay! Okay! A lot of deer! I was worried that you would be hungry if you went out for too long. I never thought that you would have venison to eat every day. But you ate too many deer, and only one A small part of it was brought back safely. I feel a little regretful." Villa said regretfully, but she was secretly happy.
Why?
In Vilia's opinion, deer is the best tribute that can be paid to Odin.
At the wedding ceremony where young tribesmen collectively married Novgorod women, the sacrificial headless reindeer really caused the tribe to bleed.
Deer are spiritual creatures, so priests of all ages must wear heavy deer-antler helmets during important sacrifices, no matter they are old or injured.
But deer are becoming increasingly scarce!
This time Otto explained bluntly that more than fifty deer brought back by the tribe were still alive.
Otto spoke eloquently: "Even so, the number of surviving deer is enough. We have almost reached the border of the human world, as if if we explore further we can peek into the darkness under the World Tree. , it ended after we got the deer herd, because people were already panicking, and I had to ensure that everyone could go home before Hanukkah."
"There are fifty deer, the main priest for the next period of time. We all have enough sacrifices. Including this year's Hanukkah, haha, I thought I would use some fish as sacrifices this time."
"Only deer is the best, for the future. There are enough deer for the sacrifices, and we need to raise the deer well. The deer herd will slowly grow. It is not just a matter of sacrifice, but we will also be richer in the future because of the deer herd.”
The allies of the Danes have been in constant conflict for many years over the pastures for grazing cattle and sheep!
Vilia knows these things, and it seems that those conflicts are too far away from the Ross tribe. Raising cattle and sheep solves the problem of clothing and eating meat. This is more efficient than going out to hunt. However, the area in Rossburg is too cold. So far, the entire tribe only has a very small number of sheep, and the only sheep are basically from the warm season. The sheep were bought from the hands of their allies, and in winter, the sheep owners slaughtered them so that their families could have meat to eat.
“But, can we raise these deer?!”
“Of course!” Otto raised his big hand excitedly and pointed, “That girl is the only one who raises deer. Deerman, I believe she will restore the number of deer to more than three hundred." "That's her?" Vilia was startled, "You told me she was a prisoner soon after you entered the house. , is an unexpected bonus from your trip. I didn’t expect that she is a deer farmer. Can she do it? She is so young, she looks a little older than your Rurik. Why is she? Being so close to Rurik, you..."
Villa's face suddenly sank, and her aging wrinkles were wrinkled horribly, fully demonstrating her doubts and anxiety.
"Otto, my child. Tell you, am I trying to treat that girl as Rurik's future woman? No! I tell you clearly that this is not possible! He is still too young. , you are not even twelve years old, your decision is illegal. Besides, Rurik will be the future leader, and the leader’s wife must be an excellent woman. What’s more, we don’t know God’s attitude yet. You just completed your marriage to Novgorod, and now you are going to marry a deer farmer?No! This won't work..."
Villa said words representing negation more than ten times in a row, and Otto couldn't get a word in at all, so he had to giggle awkwardly.
Wai Wei After Leah's mood recovered, he hurriedly explained: "Wise Priest, I can feel that you really love our Rurik. You don’t have to worry. As a father, my son must marry the daughter of another tribal leader when he grows up. I will handle this matter myself. About this deer herder girl, she is now Rurik's servant. ”
“Oh? Really? "Vilia's attitude was slightly calmer, "This is what Odin allowed. ”