ulty an utterance that
he was ashamed to be heard not only by strangers, but by those of his
own house. So much doth calamity shun all witnesses; for natural defects
are the more vexing the more manifest they are. Kuse despised his
embassy, answering that that man did not deserve a wife who trusted too
little to his own manhood, and borrowed by entreaty the aid of others in
order to gain his suit. When Helgi heard this, he besought Hother, whom
he knew to be an accomplished pleader, to favour his desires, promising
that he would promptly perform whatsoever he should command him. The
earnest entreaties of the youth prevailed on Hother, and he went to
Norway with an armed fleet, intending to achieve by arms the end which
he could not by words. And when he had pleaded for Helgi with the
most dulcet eloquence, Kuse rejoined that his daughter's wish must be
consulted, in order that no paternal strictness might forestall anything
against her will. He called her in and asked her whether she felt a
liking for her wooer; and when she assented he promised Helgi her hand.
In this way Hother, by the sweet sounds of his fluent and well-turned
oratory, opened the ears of Kuse, which were before deaf to the suit he
urged.

While this was passing in Halogaland, Balder entered the country of
Gewar armed, in order to sue for Nanna. Gewar bade him learn Nanna's
own mind; so he approached the maiden with the most choice and cajoling
words; and when he could win no hearing for his prayers, he persisted in
asking the reason of his refusal. She replied, that a god could not wed
with a mortal, because the vast difference of their natures prevented
any bond of intercourse. Also the gods sometimes used to break their
pledges; and the bond contracted between unequals was apt to snap
suddenly. There was no firm tie between those of differing estate; for
beside the great, the fortunes of the lowly were always dimmed. Also
lack and plenty dwelt in diverse tents, nor was there any fast bond of
intercourse between gorgeous wealth and obscure poverty. In fine, the
things of earth would not mate with those of heaven, being sundered by
a great original gulf through a difference in nature; inasmuch as mortal
man was infinitely far from the glory of the divine majesty. With
this shuffling answer she eluded the suit of Balder, and shrewdly wove
excuses to refuse his hand.

When Hother heard this from Gewar, he complained long to Helgi of
Balder's insolenc