116 TRANSACTIONS, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 



hurt the beautiful one — save the mistletoe, which, 

 growing not on earth, but on trees, had been 

 neglected. Loki, the si)irit of evil, knew of this, and 

 so he made a dart of mistletoe, and, on an occasion 

 when the gods were in sport throwing lance and 

 spear at the invulnerable one, he gave it to blind 

 Hoder to hurl. Balder, the bright and beautiful, 

 fell dead, amid the wails of the gods of Valhalla, 

 and in his breast stood fixed the fatal bough of 

 mistletoe. So runs the legend. 



