Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1905-12-17
The Legend OF the MiStletOe

the gods are making a target OF Bafder.
without hurting him. replied the false
guest
Aye" said Freyja, neither metal nor
wood can hurt Balder, for I have exacted
an oath from all things, that they viii not
harm him"
what" exclaimed the guest, have all
things sworn to spare him."
"All things" replied Freyja, except one
little shrub that grows upon an oak on
the eastern side Of Valhalla, and is called
the mistletoe. / thought 1t too young and
too feeble to crave an oath from it."
A secret Joy thrilled through the false
maiden as she heard these words and
fastening from Freyjas dwelling as soon
she could, she few to the spot where
grew the fatal parasite. Then, resuming
his proper shape. Lok cut off the mistle
toe and FASTENED back to the plains of
Asgard lie found the gods still at their
singular amusement. The blind god Hodur.
the god Of brute strength, was standing
alone to one side In the Morse mythology
he signiled Night as Balder signifed Day.
"Whv don't YOU throw something at
Balder?" asked Lok
Because answered Loki.. Il cannot
sec and l have nothing to throw"
Come. then" said Loki, do as the rest
do, and honor Balder, by throwing this twig
at him. 1 will guide thine arm"
IIodur took the mistletoe, and guided by
I.oki, threw II with all his strength at
Bladder, who fell lifeless, pierced by the
dart.
THUS fell Bladder the Good" says the old
Morse legend, by the bough of the I'M
charmed mistletoe."
The grief and rage OF the gods was in
tense at this cruel termination of their
homage, and feeling that light and Joy
had been taken from them, they gave way
to sorrow and TO fear. All their efforts to
release Balder from Hela. the pallid daugh-
ter Of Death, who held him captive, lin the
plains Of Nifheim, where dwell the dead"
were frustrated by the Vaccinations OF
Loki.
They resolved to avenge themselves.
Having captured Lok, they confined him in
"A gloomy mountain canon, and bound him
at the foot of a huge rock, on the summit
of which lay an enormous serpent, who
dropped poison on his face, but his wife,
Sygin, was faithful to him, remained at his
side, and caught the drops as they fell,
in a golden chalice 1t was only when she
was forced to turn aside, to empty the
goblet. and the venom touched Lold and he
SnIdnh ana NIllneu 10 escape lne DuTnln2
drops these struggles shook the earth and
caused earthquakes. There Loki will re-
main till Raguarock, the twilight of the
world, when the gods, the earth, and all the
jewellers therein will be destroyed by the
powers of evil, the companions of Loki
Only, Odin, the All Father, will remain
and gather round him on the planes where
Asgard once stood, the gods regenerate
and purified by fire, and then a new and
better world will arise in which Baldel
will come again with his unconscious
slayer Hodur and all evil will cease, and
light and darkness will dwell together ir
unity.
After the final publication by suffering
and fire, and the regeneration to which the
, Mortimer looked the means of the ultl.
matc adjustment of good and evil and
from which they did not exempt even their
! gods, the influence of good was to prevail
Baldcr would reappear, radiant, beautiful
joyous as before; and Loki, the spirit OF
evil, be no more heard of.-Virginia Bel
mont in The Madame.