The origin of Father Christmas

Part 4

During the summer the herds would gather and move around over vast distances and people would meet and mix; some would fight and some would fall in love and perhaps marry and everybody had a good time; life was good, food was plentiful, the weather was warm, fish were so easy to catch that you only had to hold out a frying pan and they would leap into it, life was good.  There was only one thing troubling them and that was the awareness that Winter Was Coming and with every day that passed it came closer.   

In the autumn fuel needed to be collected and everyone split into small family groups who could gather fodder for their animals and plan how to survive the dark mid-winter. The herds needed to be thinned down with only the best animals kept for breeding in the new year and the meat was smoked or salted. People did not congregate anymore, everyone prayed to the Gods that the wolves would not catch and swallow the sun as they chased it round the sky. It was the time of frost giants, wolves and bears and worse; the dreaded were beasts. These included beserk warriors who could shape shift but there were also water nymphs who might make a man fall in love with them and then drown their victim and strange leshies who could change into plants or animals and become as small a mouse or as big as a giant and who sometimes led travellers astray and frequently abducted human children. When the hunters went out they looked over their shoulders at every sound and, however brave, they rushed to get back to their families and took shelter in their cabins. There they passed the time telling stories, getting drunk until the beer ran out and making love; there simply wasn't anything else to do as TV hadn't been invented.