cm 
; 
Iv ON PLANT LIFE 119 
plant would swear not to injure him. To 
secure this object, Nanna, Balder’s wife, 
descended upon the earth. Loki, the God 
of Envy, followed her, disguised as a crow 
(which at that time were white), and settled 
on a little blue flower, hoping to cover it up, 
so that Nanna might overlook it. The flower, 
however, cried out “forget-me-not, forget-me- 
r= not; 
99 
and has ever since been known under 
that name. Loki then flew up into an oak 
and sat on a mistletoe. Here he was more 
successful. Nanna carried off the oath of 
the oak, but overlooked the mistletoe. She 
thought, however, and the divinities thought, 
that she had successfully accomplished her 
mission, and that Balder had received the gift 
of immortality. 
One day, supposing Balder proof, they 
amused themselves by shooting at him, post- 
‘ing him against a Holly. Loki tipped an 
arrow with a piece of Mistletoe, against which 
Balder was not proof, and gave it to Balder’s 
brother. This, unfortunately, pierced him to 
the heart, and he fell dead. Some drops of 
his blood spurted on to the Holly, which 
