I see. Thank you for your in-depth reply. Greetings from Korea :)

One question, was this true throughout all of Finland at the time? I am given to understand that there were some differences between the southwest / coastal areas and the rest of Finland. I've heard something to the effect that in the east, swidden farming was more common, while in the Southwest, glaciers had swept most of the fertile soil deep into the valleys, so it was more profitable to have settled farms than slash-and-burn fields.

I also heard that western Finland was affected more by Viking culture, so I imagined a more intensive form of agriculture and animal husbandry being practiced in that region, with less time devoted to foraging. In Iceland, I know it was mostly large and self-sufficient farmsteads - not villages - so I imagined something lke that for western Finland as well. Basically I was imagining something like the main character having many reasons for his inexperience: protective relatives, yes, and also being from a tribe that has become "civilized" through trade (closer to the Vikings and other agrarian societies) and somewhat lost its connection to the wilderness.

But then again, Finnish forests are richer than Icelandic tundra, and maybe it would have been stupid for any tribe, Driik or otherwise, not to take advantage of the bounty. It is likely there was no real difference, or ther was one but slight and I am exaggerating it in my head.

One more (just one more!) question before I slip back under the surface: how strict a division would there have been between men's work and women's work at the time? I know the Vikings were very, very strict about this sort of thing, to the point where a man would literally die before being caught doing "women's work". Viking culture is not Finnish culture, however (there is, however, way more written down about it). In a situation where there WERE women around to do it for him, how willing on a scale of 1 to 10 would a man be to do the cooking / sewing himself? And how would they look on a woman who hunted (both trapping and going after the big game?)

Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to reply to my questions. It is very much appreciated.