LEGENDS OF MYTHOLOGICAL FAME 177 



many people in these materialistic days think of 

 this, when they adorn their houses with these old 

 historic plants ? 



The Legend of the Mistletoe. 



According to Scandinavian mythology, Baldr 

 (the Apollo of the North) was rendered by his 

 mother Frigg, proof against all injury by the four 

 elements, fire, air, earth, and water. Loki, the 

 evil spirit, being at enmity with him, fashioned 

 an arrow out of mistletoe (which proceeded from 

 neither of the elements), and placed it in the hand of 

 Hodr, the blind deity, who launched the fatal dart 

 at Baldr, and struck him to the earth. The gods 

 decided to restore Baldr to life, and as a reparation 

 for his injury the mistletoe was dedicated to his 

 mother Frigg, while, to prevent it being used ad- 

 versely against her, the plant was placed under her 

 sole control, so long as it did not touch the earth, 

 the empire of Loki. On this account it has always 

 been customary to suspend mistletoe from ceilings, 

 and so it became a habit for persons of opposite 

 sexes, passing under the mistletoe, to give one 

 another the kiss of peace and love, in the full assur- 

 ance that this plant is no longer an instrument of 

 mischief. 



The old astrologers affirmed that a sprig of mistle- 

 toe worn round the neck was a talisman against all 

 witchcraft, always and only providing that the 

 bough had not been allowed to touch the earth after 

 being gathered. 



The Holly is always used in company with the 

 mistletoe for Christmas decorations, and the custom 



