Toy Box

As there are in small towns across the island, in Borgarnes, on Iceland’s Snaefellsnes peninsula, there is a local folk history museum. They are all much the same, with a reproduced turf house, a bunch of taxidermied native animals and obsolete accoutrements of farmlife. My two kids and I passed through this one in about half an hour, even with the guided tour. Then, on the way out, the kids spotted a wooden box pushed against a wall. It was filled with bones, horns, and seashells. The guide explained that children in the old days didn’t get toys from a store, they played with what they could find. My kids played with the items in the box for nearly an hour before I finally dragged them out of the museum as it was closing.