f leaping and foot-racing and
tilting, they placed Balder before them as a target again; and, as
each threw his weapon toward the shining mark, they laughed to see the
missile turn aside from its course, and refuse to strike the honored
one. But blind Hoder stood sorrowfully away from the others, and did not
join in any of their sports. Loki, seeing this, went to him and said,--

"Brother of the gloomy brow, why do you not take part with us in our
games?"

"I am blind," answered Hoder. "I can neither leap, nor run, nor throw
the lance."

"But you can shoot arrows from your bow," said Loki.

"Alas!" said Hoder, "that I can do only as some one shall direct my aim,
for I can see no target."

"Do you hear that laughter?" asked Loki. "Thor has hurled the straight
trunk of a pine-tree at your brother; and, rather than touch such a
glorious mark; it has turned aside, and been shivered to pieces upon the
rocks over there. It is thus that the Asa-folk, and all things living
and lifeless, honor Balder. Hoder is the only one who hangs his head,
and fears to do his part. Come, now, let me fit this little arrow in
your bow, and then, as I point it, do you shoot. When you hear the gods
laugh, you will know that your arrow has shown honor to the hero by
refusing to hit him."

And Hoder, thinking no harm, did as Loki wished. And the deadly arrow
sped from the bow, and pierced the heart of shining Balder, and he
sank lifeless upon the ground. Then the Asa-folk who saw it were struck
speechless with sorrow and dismay; and, had it not been that the Ida
plains where they then stood were sacred to peace, they would have
seized upon Loki, and put him to death.

Forthwith the world was draped in mourning for Balder the Good;
the birds stopped singing, and flew with drooping wings to the far
South-land; the beasts sought to hide themselves in their lairs and
in the holes of the ground; the trees shivered and sighed until their
leaves fell withered to the earth; the flowers closed their eyes, and
died; the rivers stopped flowing, and dark and threatening billows
veiled the sea; even the sun shrouded his face, and withdrew silently
towards the south.

When Balder's good mother heard the sad news, she left her golden
spindle in Fensal Hall, and with her maidens hastened to the Ida-plains,
where the body of her son still lay. Nanna, the faithful wife of Balder,
was already there; and wild was her grief at sight of the lifeless
loved one