noon
As if he understood the words , Deber-Trud ceased showing any uneasiness about the stranger , and gamboled clumsily ahead of his master into the house . The house was partitioned into three sections of unequal size . The two smaller ones , separated from each other and from the main hall by oaken panels , were destined , one for Joel and his wife , the other for Hena , their daughter , when she came to visit the family . The vast hall between the two served as a dining-room , and in it were performed the noon and evening in-door labors . When the stranger entered the hall , a large fire of beech wood , enlivened with dry brush wood and seaweed burned in the hearth , and with its brilliancy rendered superfluous the light of a handsome lamp of burnished copper that hung from three chains of the same metal . The lamp was a present from Mikael the armorer . Two whole sheep , impaled in long iron spits broiled before the hearth , while salmon and other sea fish boiled in a large pewter pot filled with water , seasoned with vinegar , salt and caraway .