For the last week, about the time Nanna got drowsy each night, they’d gradually appear, large men dressed in furs with horned helmets carrying wooden shields and swords. She could have called out for her mother but while they looked fierce, she felt safe with them there. They stood guard silently until she could no longer resist closing her eyes. Each morning, a gift lay on her pillow, first, a small copper statue, then, a fur cloak followed by an axe, a knife, other strange smelling apparel… all oddly familiar. She hid them under her bed away from her mother’s prying eyes. Each day, she checked them. They were indeed real!