Harald appeared to be an invisible but ever-present spirit who affected existence in the village by way of his absence. In Richard 's imagination, Harald more and more took on the structure of an evil Gollum who spied on his surroundings from behind the curtains and dedicated himself to no-one-knew-what matters in his barricaded cavern.
Harald was once visited as soon as a day via the home-help service (usually an aged woman) from the other side of the bridge. She would convey bags of groceries, trudging via the snowdrifts up to his door. Nilsson shook his head when Richard asked about Harald. He had presented to do the shovelling, he said, but Harald did no longer favor everyone to set foot on his property. Only once, during the first wintry weather after Harald had again to Hedeby Islan
