ugh a series of antics, which were reproduced by the goat;
and the sight was so grotesque that all the gods fairly shouted with
merriment, and even Skadi was forced to smile.

Taking advantage of this softened mood, the gods pointed to the
firmament where her father's eyes glowed like radiant stars in the
northern hemisphere. They told her they had placed them there to show
him all honour, and finally added that she might select as husband
any of the gods present at the assembly, providing she were content
to judge of their attractions by their naked feet.

Blindfolded, so that she could see only the feet of the gods standing
in a circle around her, Skadi looked about her and her gaze fell upon
a pair of beautifully formed feet. She felt sure they must belong to
Balder, the god of light, whose bright face had charmed her, and she
designated their owner as her choice.

When the bandage was removed, however, she discovered to her chagrin
that she had chosen Nioerd, to whom her troth was plighted; but
notwithstanding her disappointment, she spent a happy honeymoon in
Asgard, where all seemed to delight in doing her honour. After this,
Nioerd took his bride home to Noatun, where the monotonous sound of
the waves, the shrieking of the gulls, and the cries of the seals
so disturbed Skadi's slumbers that she finally declared it was quite
impossible for her to remain there any longer, and she implored her
husband to take her back to her native Thrym-heim.

"Sleep could I not
On my sea-strand couch,
For screams of the sea fowl.
There wakes me,
When from the wave he comes,
Every morning the mew."

Norse Mythology (R. B. Anderson).

Nioerd, anxious to please his new wife, consented to take her to
Thrym-heim and to dwell there with her nine nights out of every twelve,
providing she would spend the remaining three with him at Noatun;
but when he reached the mountain region, the soughing of the wind in
the pines, the thunder of the avalanches, the cracking of the ice,
the roar of the waterfalls, and the howling of the wolves appeared
to him as unbearable as the sound of the sea had seemed to his wife,
and he could not but rejoice each time when his period of exile was
ended, and he found himself again at Noatun.

"Am weary of the mountains;
Not long was I there,
Only nine nights;
The howl of the wolves
Methought sounded ill
To the song of the swans."