This speech, preserved in the medieval Norwegian document titled The King's Mirror, is by a Norse father instructing his son on how to be civil in certain situations. Here, the father cites the polite rules of marketplaces and other places where large numbers of people gathered.
When you are in a market town, or wherever you are, be polite and agreeable;
Then you will secure the friendship of all good men. Make it a habit to rise early in the morning, and go first and immediately to church. . . . When the services are over, go out to look after your business affairs. If you are unacquainted with the traffic of the town, observe carefully how those who are reputed the best and most prominent merchants conduct their business. You must also be careful to examine the wares that you buy before the purchase is finally made to make sure that they are sound and flawless. And whenever you make a purchase, call in a few trusty men to serve as witnesses as to how the bargain was made.
Laurence M. Larson, trans., The King's Mirror. Www. mediumaevum. com/75years/mirror/sec1.html#V.
Board [table]; thereafter took she a fine-baked loaf, white of wheat and covered the cloth. Next she brought forth plenteous dishes, set with silver, and spread the board with brown-fried bacon and roasted birds. There was wine in a vessel and rich-wrought goblets. They drank and reveled while day went by.45
The "roasted birds" mentioned in the passage included chickens, ducks, and geese. The Vikings enjoyed a wide range of other meats as well, among them pork, lamb, goat, deer, elk, rabbit, bear, seal, and whale. (Oil from the seals was also used as fuel for lamps and as an alternative to tar in weatherproofing boat hulls.)
Fruits and vegetables were frequently on the menu, too, when seasonally available. They included onions, cabbage, peas, garlic, cherries, plums, wild apples, elderberries, and blackberries. The principal food sweetener in the Viking lands was honey.
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