Vikings: Dust Off Your Resume...

...but leave the battleaxes, spears, and horned helmets at home.

The Midgard Historical Centre (south of Oslo, Norway) seeks to employ a corps of about 50 part-time vikings. The idea is to give tourists a face-to-face encounter rather than another boring old exhibit. The head of the center wants to play up the vikings' roles as traders and merchants -- he believes their reputation as wild, murderous looters is largely exaggerated in texts left by ancient English monks (bad monk! bad!). Linkage

• BBC News: Cuddly Vikings
• BBC History: Vikings
• Midgard Historical Centre
• Viking Ship Museum Jorvik Viking Centre

Is this the face of pillage? Naaah!