Laurie was lying on the floor of Grandpa's study one rainy afternoon, doing her homework.
She saw a crumpled piece of paper near the trash can and smoothed it out.
"Hey, Grandpa, what's this? Did you draw it?" she asked, looking at a drawing of a vicious-looking man on a horse.
"That is the work of a talented student, not me.
He found it more entertaining to draw Attila the Hun than to listen to my lecture on Hun artifacts," Grandpa said.
"Attila the Hun? I've heard of him! Wasn't he a horrible villain?" Laurie asked.
"Well, it depends on who you ask," Grandpa said, joining Laurie on the floor.
"The Huns were a group of nomadic horsemen who lived on the steppes of western central Asia.
Most of what we know about them was written down by men of the Roman Empire—the empire the Huns invaded.
Since the Huns had no written history of their own, it is difficult for historians to explain their past.
But we know they lived in big tents made of wooden frames covered in wool.
And they moved around when the seasons changed to find new grazing land for their large herds of cattle, sheep, and horses,
which they depended on for food.
And we know that they had a big impact on the Roman Empire."
Laurie heard a rumble of thunder and looked outside. The sky had grown dark.
"Meanwhile the Romans lived in busy cities.
They were developing governments, conquering neighboring lands, and organizing taxes.
Imagine what they must have thought when they encountered the Huns!
They couldn't understand their language or way of life.
So they called these very different people barbarians, which is actually what they called anyone who was not from Rome."
"When I eat with my hands, Mom says, 'Stop acting like a barbarian!'" Laurie said.
"She just doesn't understand my way of eating!"
"Exactly!" Grandpa laughed. "But don't tell your mother I said that.
Anyway, back to the Huns. They were the greatest horsemen in the world at the time.
Old tales say that Hun children were taught to ride horses soon after they learned to walk.
By the time they were adults, they were fast, skilled riders.
They had to be, because horses were their main means of transportation.
Hun warriors also fought on horseback. They would race into villages, firing arrows, looking larger than life, and terrifying the villagers.
It is said that Hun warriors cut and scarred their faces in order to make themselves look more frightening!"
Laurie jumped as a bright flash of lightning lit the sky, followed by a clap of thunder.
"Around the fourth century, the Huns began moving west—like a dark storm cloud—raining terror on everything in their path.
Maybe they needed more land for their herds or maybe they were driven away by the strong walls China had built to keep them off Chinese territory.
The important thing is that when the Huns moved west, they forced other barbarians off their land.
So then these other barbarian tribes had to move farther west.
They moved into the Roman Empire, upsetting cities there.
Some tribes became part of the Roman Empire.
Some lived right on the borders. And others just caused trouble.
The Visigoths, one powerful tribe, were farmers who needed land to grow crops.
After fighting Roman armies for some years, they settled within the empire.
In exchange for land and peace, they defended the empire's borders.
But the Visigoths soon grew unhappy because the Romans didn't give them everything they had promised.
In the fourth century, the fearless Visigoth leader named Alaric led his soldiers into cities in what is now Italy and Greece.
The Visigoths invaded, stole what they wanted, and left. This is called sacking.
In 410 AD the Visigoths sacked Rome.
It was a huge shock to the Romans, and many feared it would be the end of the greatest empire in the world."
"Was it?" asked Laurie.
"No. The Roman Empire held on for a while longer, and the barbarian invasions continued.
The next major attack was from the Huns."
Grandpa took something out of his pocket and tossed it to Laurie. "Heads up!"
She opened her palm and saw it was a coin.
"In the fifth century, Attila the Hun—the man on that coin you're holding—rose to power.
He gathered thousands of Hun warriors and led them into southeastern Europe.
After he conquered those lands, he moved his armies into Roman territories in modern-day Poland, Hungary, and Germany.
The Huns became wealthy by looting cities, but also by taking prisoners and selling them.
And they made money from peace treaties.
These treaties often required the Romans to pay large amounts of money to the Huns.
One treaty demanded nine hundred kilograms of gold a year!"
"So what happened? Did the Huns become the richest, most powerful people in the world?" Laurie asked.
"They didn't, although it seemed possible at one point.
Attila the Hun died in 453 AD. He died of something silly—a nosebleed, they say—on his wedding night.
How sad for a warrior who had survived so many battles.
Shortly after that a civil war broke out among the Huns, destroying their empire.
But the damage they and the other barbarians had done to the Roman Empire had weakened it forever.
It, too, soon collapsed. The different regions created new governments and boundaries.
Slowly Europe as we know it began to take shape."
Lightning flashed, thunder boomed, and suddenly the lights went out.
"Ahh!" Laurie shrieked. Grandpa reached for a candle by the window and lit it.
"Here I am, Laurie." He put his arm around his granddaughter.
"And if a scar-faced barbarian comes crashing through that door, don't worry—I'll protect you!"
He held the candle up like a torch.
"Grandpa!" Laurie giggled.
"Laurie? Grandpa? Are you guys okay up there?" Dad shouted from downstairs.
"We're okay, Dad! Safe and sound," Laurie answered.