the only light people had in the long winter evenings came from flicking wick lamps; the evils of disease, malnutrition and war accompanied their short lives. The tales would have been popular with people of all ranks and ages and would have been told at village fairs by local storytellers as well as in the household of the king by wandering scops or poets. Perhaps it is a sign of progress that this lengthy tale is about the killing of dangerous monsters rather than the slaughtering of other tribes and the stealing of their women and cattle.