Page:Origin and Growth of Religion (Rhys).djvu/545

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It is proposed at this point to give you the means of comparing the story of the Sun-god of the Celts with that of Balder. The latter, as given in old Norse literature, is approximately as follows: —

Balder was one of the sons of Woden and Frigg: he was the best of the Anses and praised of them all. He was so fair of face and so bright that rays of shining light issued from his body. The whitest of all plants was compared to Balder's brow and known by that name, whence an idea may be formed, says one author, of the beauty of his hair and of his body. He was not only the whitest, the sweetest-spoken and the mildest of all the Anses, but it was a property of his nature that he could not go wrong in his judgments. He dwelt in a place in heaven called Breiᵭablik or Broad-gleam, the most blessed of all lands, where nought unclean or accursed could abide. But once on a time Balder began