- house, and hastens terrified in order not too late to
church. But the door of St. Stephen's church is closed. Outside sits an old woman (Loke assumed the guise of a woman[1] after Balder's death), who, in answer to his question, informs him that mass is out. Filled with deadly anguish he rushes back to his comrades, who laughed at him and insisted that, as as began at half-past eleven o'clock, and as it was only three-quarters past eleven, the mass could not yet be over. He hastens back again: the church-door is now open, but at the very moment he enters, the priest leaves the altar—the mass is over. The old woman rises, seizes him by the arms, and his soul departs from him.
Thus the myth develops into traditionary story, and
one story begets another; they wander about from the
south to the north and from the north to the south,
and change with the times, reminding us of the various
manifestations of life; reminding us how human things
circulate and develop, each inextricably interwoven with
all, and always reminding us, too, that there is a heaven
above the earth and an existence beyond what is allotted
to us mortals on earth.
SECTION VIII. A BRIEF REVIEW.
We have now completed the second part of our work, and witnessed the life and exploits of the gods. It remains now to sum up briefly the main features of, and the principal lessons taught in, this portion of the mythology.
We cannot fail to have observed that the life of the gods is, in the first place, a reflection of the workings of visible nature, and, in the second place, a reflection and foreshadowing of the life of man, particularly of life in its various manifestations in the history of the Gothic race. We have also witnessed how wonderfully the interests and works of the gods—nay, how abso-*
- ↑ Thok.
