not wash his hands nor comb his hair till he bears Baldr's foe to
the pyre."

(2) In _Lokasenna_ Frigg says: "If I had a son like Baldr here in
Oegi's halls, thou shouldst not pass out from the sons of the Aesir,
but be slain here in thy anger"; to which Loki replies, "Wilt thou
that I speak more ill words, Frigg? I am the cause that thou wilt
never more see Baldr ride into the hall."

(3) In _Vafthrudnismal_ the only reference is Odin's question,
"What said Odin in his son's ear when he mounted the pyre?"

(4) In _Voeluspa_ the Sibyl prophesies, "I saw doom threatening Baldr,
the bleeding victim, the son of Odin. Grown high above the meadows
stood the mistletoe, slender and fair. From this stem, which looked
so slender, grew a fatal and dangerous shaft. Hoed shot it, and Frigg
wept in Fenhall over Valhall's woe." The following lines, on the
chaining of Loki, suggest his complicity.

(5) _Hyndluljod_ has one reference: "There were eleven Aesir by
number when Baldr went down into the howe. Vali was his avenger and
slew his brother's slayer."

Besides these there is a fragment quoted by Snorri: "Thoekk will weep
dry tears at Baldr's funeral pyre. I had no good of the old man's
son alive or dead; let Hel keep what she has." _Grimnismal_ assigns
a hall to Baldr among the Gods.

There are, in addition, two prose versions of the story by later
writers: the Icelandic version of Snorri (1178-1241) with all the
details familiar to every one; and the Latin one of the Dane Saxo
Grammaticus (about thirty years earlier), which makes Baldr and Hoed
heroes instead of Gods, and completely alters the character of the
legend by making a rivalry for Nanna's favour the centre of the plot
and cause of the catastrophe. On the Eddic version and on Saxo's
depend the theories of Golther, Detter, Niedner and other German
scholars on the one hand, and Dr. Frazer on the other.

It has often been pointed out that there is no trace of Baldr-worship
in other Germanic nations, nor in any of the Icelandic sagas except
the late Frithjofssaga. This, however, is true of other Gods, notably
of Tyr, who is without question one of the oldest. The only deities
named with any suggestion of sacrifice or worship in the Icelandic
sagas proper are Odin, Thor, Frey, Njoerd, Frigg and Freyja. The process
of choice is as arbitrary in mythology as in other sciences. Again,
it is more likely that the original version of the legend should have
survived in Icel