room were flat stones in the dirt floor.
Here the fires burned. In the roof above these fires were holes for the
smoke to go out, but some of it blew about the hall, and the walls and
rafters were stained with it. But it was pleasant wood smoke, and the
Norsemen did not dislike it. There were no large windows in a feast hall
or in any other Norse building. High up under the eaves or in the roof
itself were narrow slits that were called wind's-eyes. There was no
glass in them, for the Norsemen did not know how to make it; but there
were, instead, covers made of thin, oiled skin. These were put into the
wind's-eyes in stormy weather. There were covers, too, for the
smoke-holes. The only light came through these narrow holes, so on dark
days the people needed the fire as much for light as for warmth.

_Foster-father._ A Norse father sent his children away from home to grow
up. They went when they were three or four years old and stayed until
they were grown. The father thought: "They will be better so. If they
stayed at home, their mother would spoil them with much petting."

_Foster-brothers._ When two men loved each other very much they said,
"Let us become foster-brothers."

Then they went and cut three long pieces of turf and put a spear into
the ground so that it held up the strips of turf like an arch. Runes
were cut on the handle of the spear, telling the duties of
foster-brothers. The two men walked under this arch, and each made a
little cut in his palm. They knelt and clasped hands, so that the blood
of the two flowed together, and they said, "Now we are of one blood."

Then each made this vow: "I will fight for my foster-brother whenever he
shall need me. If he is killed before I am, I will punish the man who
did it. Whatever things I own are as much my foster-brother's as mine. I
will love this man until I die. I call Odin and Thor and all the gods to
hear my vow. May they hate me if I break it!"

_Ran._ Ran was the wife of Aegir, who was god of the sea. They lived in
a cave at the bottom of the ocean. Ran had a great net, and she caught
in it all men who were shipwrecked and took them to her cave. She also
caught all the gold and rich treasures that went down in ships. So her
cave was filled with shining things.

_Valkyrias._ These were the maidens of Odin. They waited on the table in
Valhalla. But whenever a battle was being fought they rode through the
air on their horses and watched to see what warrior