Dvärgbåtman is a short, barrel-built dwarf who seems half-made of river mud and stubbornness. His black beard is wild enough to hide bits of parsley, onion skins, and the occasional fish scale, while his eyebrows hang so low that he looks to be permanently peering from under a stormcloud. He wears a slouching felt hat patched with oilcloth, and he moves with a slow, deliberate sway on land that becomes startlingly graceful when he is in a canoe. His canoe is narrow, scarred, and absurdly overloaded with sacks of turnips, fennel, river onions, dried mint, and bundles of roots tied with red thread. The unexpected detail is that for all his rough, muddy practicality, he keeps one polished silver button sewn to his vest like a little shrine.