THIS is why I love the Icelandic Sagas!!!

The saga I'm currently reading is Egil's saga. Most of it takes place in Norway where Egil was born and raised before his coming to Iceland. At this point in the story, Egil is 7 years old and playing a "ball game" (maybe akin to cricket, no one knows for sure) with other children...

Egil was paired against a boy called Grim, the son of Hegg from Heggsstadir. Grim was ten or eleven years old, and strong for his age. When they started playing the game, Egil proved to be weaker than Grimm, who showed off his strength as much as he could. Egil lost his temper, wielded the bat and struck Grim, who seized him and dashed him to the ground roughly, warning him that he would suffer for it if he did not learn how to behave. When Egil got back on his feet he left the game, and the boys jeered at him.

Egil went to see Thorn Granason and told him what had happened.

Thord said 'I'll go with you and we'll take our revenge.'

Thord handed Egil an axe he had been holding, a common type of weapon in those days. They walked over to where the boys were playing their game. Grim had caught the ball and was running with the other boys chasing him. Egil ran up to Grim and drove the axe into his head (did you read that?!?! INTO HIS HEAD!!!), right through to the brain. Then Egil and Thord walked away to their people. The people from Myrar seized their weapons, and so did the others. Oleif Hjalti rushed to join the people from Borg with his men. Theirs was a much larger group, and at that the two sides parted."

There is nothing like a good saga to get the appetite flowing and it's almost time for dinner! Tonight, it's Swiss Steak...followed by a dessert course of..."Toblerone Fondue". Earlier today we had "Coq au vain" Fondue with chicken and shrimp and loads of veggies. There are NO FAT calories in the broth...only what is in the meat...so it was a pretty healthy meal. Look for both of these recipes later tonight or tomorrow. I think I'll feel gross after dinner is over. And I think we will be making up for the lack of lunchtime calories. =)