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r*–––––
20
How are we to imagine that our ancessors met these periods of failure of the
crops, which certainly occurred almost every generation? They could endure a
single bad year by tightening the belt and mixing bark in the bread baked from
the previous year’s savings. In case of need they could of course also kill some
of their cattle. But if two or more bad years came in succession it was worse. The
cattlestock, which was underfed during the winter with heather and spruce brush,
found no pasture on the ground during the dry early summer. It dried up, grew
still more thin, and was seized by diseases. The people, exhausted by the star»
vation of autumn, winter and spring, saw in front of them the certainty of a
half or third»part harvest again. Something might perhaps be obtained by sea from
friendly and more fortunate neighbouring tribes by offering them precious things,
gold and silver, jewels and selling at a low price the skins that were generally
the most important object of exchange in foreign trade. But what was the little
that could be procured with the undeveloped Communications of the time among
so many who were starving? And in most cases the effects of the bad times
extended to neighbouring tribes as well. They too were in the same trouble and
misery or had at least nothing to give up. By midsummer it was evident that
thousands would perish during the terrible year that was imminent, unless so»
mething was done in time. They sacrificed and prayed to wrathful gods, and
magicians and witches eagerly exerted their magic arts so as to move the powers
of the elements. »But god helps those who help themselves», says an old Swe»
dish proverb. They were not to fold their arms and trust blindly to the grace of
gods and powers, and it was no part of the Scandinavian temperament to await
passively a harsh fate, however convinced they were that what the Norns had
decided must be fulfilled. In despair voices were raised to kill the aged people,
and even the young children.
But in a nation of born organizers wise men had even thousands of years
before found a more humane and more practical expedient, which though despe»
rate, could still be attempted wich greater equity. In order to decrease the num»
ber of those who were competing for the exceedingly small supply that existed
and could be expressed from the coming harvest, lots were drawn to decide who
were to set out and seek deliverance in foreign countries. From very different
sources and times we have legends showing that this expedient was used. Thus
Paulus Diaconus in his history of the Langobards relätes that a third of the tribe
living in Scandinavia, after drawing lots, set out from their national land to dwell
on the south coast of the Baltic. It is true that he states that this happened be»
cause the people had so increased in number during the course of time that the
country could not feed them all. But for reasons shown above this is probably
incorrect. It was much more probable that a temporary over»population, caused
by famine, drove them forth from hearth and home.
The Danish historian Saxo,* who lived in the later part of the 12th cen»
tury, recounts an old tradition of a severe failure of the crops that visited Den»
mark in ancient times during the days of King Snio. At first the king prohibited
all luxury, among other things the brewing of beer. But it turned out to be as
impossible to enforce this total prohibition as to enforce a strict rationing in our
* See Grundtvigs translation, f. 378, cf. Steenstrup, Norm. I, p. 197.
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