On September 5th of the Julian calendar, with the laying of the last piece of thatched meadow, Rurik's new home was finally completed.
It was also on this day that Rurik and his family moved into a brand new wooden house with wooden floors.
This wooden house is extraordinary!
According to his own ideas, Rurik tried his best to build a wooden house in the ninth century that was very Russian in style a thousand years later, that is, a real wooden house. In fact, it cannot be said to be a purely Russian style, or that
It's Slavic style.
The key to woodcut-style architecture is to use wood as the main building material to build residential houses suitable for settling in the extremely cold world.
This house looks so special among the longhouse buildings in Roseburg!
At first glance, it looks like a pure wooden house, but you can see the clues if you look closely. A large number of processed wood are stacked, giving its outer wall a forest texture. It must be said that because of the structure of the wood, this house is really angular.
It is obvious, especially the square stone chimney that was erected, making it really become another building with a chimney besides the blacksmith shop.
Its appearance seems to mess up time and space.
If there is any part that is somewhat similar to the traditional Russian longhouse, it is the thatched meadow on its gabled roof. And the reason why thatched meadow was added is entirely because Rurik felt that the roof was made of wood alone.
, the water-proofing ability is not good, and it needs the help of traditional longhouse roof waterproofing materials. The water-proofing ability of a large amount of thatch is pretty good, so it can be used improvised.
Of course, the best thing is to use clay to make tiles. Rurik knew that if he came up with a plan, the potters in the tribe could make it. But the question here was never whether it could be made, but actually laying the tiles.
, the waterproofing effect of the house is good, but the roof is really too heavy.
Roseburg often experiences heavy snowfalls in winter. Rather than leaking roofs, people are most worried about houses being destroyed by snow in winter. Being overweight equals the risk of landslides, and after a landslide, not only people are killed and injured,
Extreme cold can kill people quickly!
The appearance of the woodcut is unique, and its interior is even more interesting.
It has an internal structure of three bedrooms and one living room, consisting of a living room, a master bedroom, two secondary bedrooms, and a storage room. The structure of the room is completely Rurik's bad taste.
All bedrooms have wooden beds, with soft reed grass underneath and a whole piece of cowhide that has been cut down, and a layer of fine linen laid on top of the leather to serve as a mattress.
Although there are no springs, it has to be said that this bed is a combination of softness and warmth.
There is also a quilt on the bed, which is a whole piece of leather covered with a layer of linen. This is not surprising, because Rurik started to enjoy it as early as in his old house.
There are also pillows, which are even very special.
Most of the oats purchased from Gould were new wheat, and a considerable part of these wheats were not hulled well, which forced the Russians to process them before they could enjoy them. Usually the oat hulls were not
Rurik used it as a waste material and now uses it as stuffing for pillows.
A room must have a wooden bed and a bedside table. The cabinet is just an object made of wooden boards. The Russians are good at shipbuilding, and they are also good at making carpentry furniture. What can be put on the bedside table and in the drawers? Maybe
An oil lamp, a dagger, and even some silver and gold coins.
Wooden carvings also have windows. Since glass plates have not yet been manufactured, the so-called windows are actually thick wooden boards hanging on the window frame. When lighting is needed, they are propped up, and when it comes to cold snowy nights, the wooden boards need to be thickened.
What Rurik is most fond of is the fireplace he installed in his new house.
The fireplace is located in the center of the living room wall. The hearth is made of refractory iron ore, and the chimney is surrounded by ordinary granite.
Although there are low four-corner wooden chairs in the living room, there are also a large number of cut square leather cushions.
It is really difficult for the Russians to get rid of the tradition of sitting on the floor in an instant, so let's continue sitting on the floor. Rurik also sent a carpenter to make a minimalist style wooden table. It can be placed upright against the wall at ordinary times and moved out when needed.
.
There are some iron hooks on the wooden walls of each room. As families move in, they will come in handy immediately.
The master bedroom is naturally the residence of Otto and his wife.
Otto's sword, shield, and even chainmail and leather armor were hung on the hooks. Some of the couple's thick leather coats were also hung on them. Of course, Rurik prepared a huge double bed for his parents.
There are bedside tables on both sides of the bed, and a pair of bronze lamps that have not yet been filled with grease.
There are two secondary bedrooms. From the beginning, Rurik had reserved a room for his Rumia, but now the situation has completely changed.
Rumia had to be arranged into Rurik's bedroom, and what was worse was that the two of them had to squeeze into a wooden bed for the time being. Of course, Rurik thought that he might grow into a bearded guy in the future.
He is a big man, so he made his bed very big, and now it is no problem to squeeze two children into it.
So, what about the room where Rumia was supposed to be placed?
Carlotta and Ella, two girls from the Ostara tribe, moved in.
They almost instinctively realized that the large leather-covered table was for sleeping, and the soft and warm feeling after lying on it made them sleepy in an instant. If they hadn't eaten another dinner, they would have
Already fell asleep in the afternoon.
It’s just that the two girls arrived at the Ross tribe with almost nothing. Now they have put on the ordinary linen and leather clothes provided by Rurik, and the expensive white fox fur jackets given by Gould, which have become wonderful decorations on the walls.
.
As for the storage room, Niya immediately realized its huge role.
In this dark room without windows, the hooks on the wooden wall are used to hang bacon jerky, and a batch of wheat is placed here.
As for the kitchen and toilet, they are not inside the wooden ridge. According to tradition, Rurik sent people to make a dry toilet. The kitchen is simply a shed with solid walls and a stove containing charcoal blocks.
The new house was finally built, and there was no ceremony to mark the completion of the new house. Otto happily moved in and began the comfortable living experience on the first day.
The tribesmen have long been interested in the leader's new house. Before it was completed, many tribesmen still understood its structural principles. Everyone generally felt that the new house was just a traditional longhouse placed on the wooden floor, with a large number of interior facilities.
compartment.
Since the leader's family felt that the structure of the new house was very good, everyone followed suit.
In the foreseeable future, even in September, more similar woodcut ridges will be built, forming a new traditional residential style of the Ross tribe.
A new day comes in peace.
The large living room was filled with the aroma of oatmeal.
The low table that was originally leaning against the wooden wall was placed, and a number of earthenware bowls were placed on the table, including cooked oatmeal porridge or sliced bacon. This meal was served by Niyala Lu
Mia made it early in the morning, and after dinner, everyone had their own work.
"Ah! Last night was so comfortable. It reminded me of my experience in Novgorod." Otto, who was sitting cross-legged, suddenly stretched out comfortably and praised.
"Dad? Do you really like it?" Rurik asked eagerly.
"Of course, people over there enjoy it better than we do, and now I have begun to enjoy it too. Sleeping on the bed is really more comfortable than sleeping on the ground."
Rurik just wanted to hear such praise. He even regretted that he couldn't fix the spring, otherwise he would have to make a Simmons mattress.
He asked the two girls: "Carlotta, Ella, what do you think?"
"Very comfortable!" Carlotta's eyes were full of passion. "I have never had such a comfortable sleeping experience. I really don't want to leave it."
Ella naturally listened to her sister and repeated the above words from the bottom of her heart.
Everyone has a great impression of the new house, and life is full of infinite beauty.
Otto picked up the spoon and began to eat the thick wheat porridge in big mouthfuls. From time to time, he also nibbled on a piece of bacon to enhance the taste of the wheat porridge.
Everyone is accustomed to eating with a spoon, and now the tribe's wheat reserves are unprecedented. The oats that once needed to be eaten sparingly can at least be enjoyed by the leader and his family without restraint.
In the past period of time, the food Rurik gave to all his new and old servants was a large batch of wheat porridge from Gould. Since the servants were mainly little girls, they were not big eaters, but they were
For a group of children, eating half a pound of wheat every day is seriously overdoing it.
There are also more than 150 men who received military training from Rurik. The food for everyone is similar, that is, a mixture of oatmeal porridge and fish. Herring and oats are cooked in huge pottery urns, served with
The salt obtained by boiling the sea, Rurik also forced his men to drink tea made from dried chrysanthemums and dried pine needles.
Now, every day, the children eat foods high in carbohydrates, high in protein, and slightly high in fat and salt. The diet is rich in vitamins and minerals.
It can be said that for children who do not do a lot of physical exertion, the nutritional level of the meals Rurik rewarded them is no longer much different from that of Swedish children thousands of years later.
In other words, from now on, the nutritional intake of a group of children from the Ross tribe has systematically surpassed that of other tribes. Eating well means that physical fitness has reached its peak. Coupled with the widespread use of soap, diseases have become difficult to
And then eroding children's health.
Ordinary tribesmen would not expect so much. What they saw was that Rurik was a kind and good man. He was very kind to his brothers and servants at a young age. Wouldn't he be even better to his tribesmen in the future?
Otto finished the bowl of wheat porridge very quickly and handed his empty ceramic bowl to Rumia: "Give me another bowl."
"Yes, big boss."
Rumia respectfully walked into the pottery urn that was brought into the house, picked up a bronze spoon and started scooping out. And she also filled a lot of wheat porridge in her stomach. Now it has wheat and meat, and she can even drink it if she wants.
Order ale, life like this is a dream.
Isn't it a dream?
Rumia slept with her master Rurik last night. How could a master allow such a close relationship to a servant? The conclusion is self-evident.
For example, Carlotta and Ella thought that the previous longhouse was too crowded, so Sister Rumia had to rest together with Rurik.
Unexpectedly, their relationship has become very close.
The future chieftain and the future high priest maintained an extremely close relationship? Carlotta was very happy about it.
Otto, who was eating a few more spoons of wheat porridge, glanced at his son holding two sticks holding bacon, and an idea suddenly came to his mind.
"Rurik, I'm surprised, you still like to use wooden sticks? Can't you grab meat with your hands?"
Rurik chuckled: "I'm used to it. With these two sticks, I can easily pick out the meat from the boiling soup pot."
"A strange little trick, but I can't learn it."
Otto was complaining about chopsticks. His concept of hygiene was already weak. If soap could not easily make it extremely clean, thereby theoretically pleasing the gods, he would not bother to use it. He stuffed the meat into his mouth, and then
Rub your greasy hands casually on the linen clothes.
What about my son? When the child eats, his hands can barely touch the food.
Carlotta became interested. She asked as if she were facing her own brother: "Rurik, would you like me to use your strange tableware?"
"All right."
Rurik handed over the chopsticks, and Carlotta tried to operate it, but found that she couldn't pick up a piece of meat. She frowned and tried hard, but it seemed to have no effect except making others laugh.
Finally, she simply and roughly inserted the chopsticks into the meat, using it as a big toothpick. Without thinking, she stuffed the bacon into her mouth, chewed it and swallowed it.
"Rurik, your hands are too flexible. Is this also the result of being blessed by God?"
Her words made Rurik dumbfounded.
Rurik collected the chopsticks and handed them to Rumia: "Come on, let's give our Carlotta a show."
Up to now, as Rurik's first student, Rumia's strange knowledge has been increasing. Rurik felt that this child's mathematical knowledge level has reached the fifth grade of elementary school.
She can do all calculations such as subtraction, multiplication, and division, but due to reality, she seriously lacks logical concepts for numbers that are too large in magnitude, and it takes more time for her to understand them.
Rumia has long been taught how to use chopsticks by Rurik. After a long period of practice, she has basically mastered using two wooden sticks as tongs. She is even trying to learn a stunt that only Rurik knows.
——The wooden stick rotates circularly on each finger.
This is Rurik's pen-turning trick. There is not much difference between chopstick-turning and pen-turning.
Does it have any significance in the current era? There is one, that is, pleasing others.
Rurik used this trick of turning wooden sticks with his fingers to prove his flexibility and to please his family.
Rurik's hands are indeed flexible. If this child's body did not limit himself, he could transform into a craftsman and make some useful instruments with his own hands.
Now, Rurik has some ideas.
The children played with the sticks for a while, and Otto was amused by them. He felt that he was enjoying family happiness. It would be great if Svetlana from Novgorod was sitting here.
Otto was in a blissful trance. He seemed to see his grown-up son, accompanied by four beautiful girls. They were all his sons' wives, although they were sitting here now, both of them were little girls.
Otto coughed twice deliberately to interrupt the children's play.