Throughout the whole earth there was
nothing but weeping, and the sound of it was like the wailing of those
storms in autumn that weep for the dead summer as its withered leaves
drop one by one from the trees.
The messengers of the gods went gladly back to Asgard, for everything
had wept for Balder; but as they journeyed they came upon a giantess,
called Thok, and her eyes were dry.
"Weep for Balder," they said.
"With dry eyes only will I weep for Balder," she answered. "Dead or
alive, he never gave me gladness. Let him stay in Helheim."
When she had spoken these words a terrible laugh broke from her lips,
and the messengers looked at each other with pallid faces, for they knew
it was the voice of Loki.
Balder never came back to Asgard, and the shadows deepened over all
things, for the night of death was fast coming on.
CHAPTER XVI
THE STAR AND THE LILY
An old chieftain sat in his wigwam, quietly smoking his favourite pipe,
when a crowd of Indian boys and girls suddenly entered, and, with
numerous offerings of tobacco, begged him to tell them a story, and he
did so.
There was once a time when this world was filled with happy people; when
all the nations were as one, and the crimson tide of war had not begun
to roll. Plenty of game was in the forest and on the plains. None were
in want, for a full supply was at hand.
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