Chapter 1 - meeting tiny helga

I came to this small village as a tourist, but fell in love with the place and decided to settle in. the people are tall, strong and kind, never afraid of hard work. There is always time to offer a stranger a friendly smile or a bowl of warm delicious stew. Nature is all around them, everything is green and fresh. When you want to meet someone, you walk for ten, twenty minutes, and knock on his door. The houses are relatively, there are some big saunas that everyone shares.

When I just came, with a big bag, cell phone that never stopped ringing, and a camera, I felt intimidated. I'm not a short man, even pretty tall, but all the men over there are over 2 meters. Their shoulders are wide and muscular. The women are a bit shorter, but equally strong. Some of them are very... well, fat.

When I first got to the local bar, everyone was very curious about me. "You have to meet Helga." They've told me again and again. When the sun set, someone actually went to fetch her. Helga was the smallest girl over there. "Just" 175 centimeters of creamy white softness, stunning platen blond hair, and the bluest eyes I've ever seen.

"Hello Robert," she said sweetly. "I'll be happy to talk with you, but I worked very hard all the day and I must eat first."

You see, they didn't work in some tin cubical office with no windows in front of a computer. The men and the women both engaged hard physical work outdoors. I've ordered a few dishes, all of them served in huge portions and ridiculously cheap. Helga started to eat hungrily from the meat and potatoes inside her bowl. I've ate my salmon and mushrooms.

"So they've told me there is finally some of my own size in the village." She said, licking the spoon. "I should have known you're a tourist" she laughed.

"I see, but you know, you're not small at all nest to the girls n my country." I said. "Everyone around here is just... really big."

She laughed. "Yes, we get newspapers from the city every now and then. There are all kind of commercial with skinny women that wouldn't last one hard winter. It's really ridiculous; people actually wish to lose weight. I guess that maybe in warm countries it's a bit hard, but over here?"

She had the bluest eyes I've ever seen, and I've looked at them for a while before I've managed to answer. "So basically people around here eat a lot... To survive the weather?"

"Well, you may say that. The girls in my family are usually smaller, and we need to eat a lot to gain weight. There's even a small legend about it in the village."

"There is? Can you tell me?"

"If you'll treat me with dessert."
After I've ordered the biggest tastiest pile of Krumkakes and hot chocolate milk, she held the hot mug between her white hands, letting the steams rise up as she began her story.

"Well, you know that my name is Helga, but my full name is Helga FettSkuffe." She grinned a bit. "It means - Helga Fat-Bucket."

I tried very hard not to choke on my chocolate milk.

"One of my Great-great-great-great grandmothers was called Helga as well..."