Magic Moments

[Mjccmc01 at aol.com]

My most magic moment came at Pennsic one year.

I was in the camp of the Norselanders, a subgroup that does exclusively Norse
personna, and does it superbly.  We were sitting around a campfire in their
encampment, not a formal bardic, just general chatting.

A fight broke out among two of the younger men of the group about (of course)
a woman.  At one point in the discussion, one man called the other a fool.
 The other man replied, "What is wisdom, anyway?"  

At this point, Gunnar, the leader of  group and a very large individual,
leapt up, went _through_ the fire, picked up the second man by his tunic,
pulled him up to his face, and proclaimed, "Wisdom is what Odin gave his eye
for," and dropped the offending young man, and immediately launched into a
recitation of a saga.

My retelling of this moment cannot possibly capture the scene, but for just a
moment, I got a glimpse about what a completely foreign culture (both time
and place) must have been like.  I've often thought I learned more in that
moment that in hours in a library, not factual knowledge about what the Norse
ate, drank, wore, etc., but a far more intangible knowledge about how they
viewed their world.

What a great thread, Burke!  Thanks!

Fondly,

Siobhan