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to be disquieted by dreams of ill-omen; and when he told the Anses of it, they took counsel together how to ensure his safety. The result of their deliberation was, that Woden went down to the nether world to consult a dead sibyl about the dreams that haunted Balder; and Frigg, who dwelt in a house called Fensalir or the Hall of the Fen, sent to make all things swear that they would not hurt her beloved son Balder: the oath was exacted from fire and water, from iron and all metals, from stones and earth, from the trees of the forest, from diseases and poisons, from four-footed beasts and from birds and serpents: the mistletoe alone was deemed by Frigg too young a thing to be asked to swear. But Loki, the brewer of mischief and the sire of a bestial triad consisting of the Fenri Wolf, the Leviathan of the deep, and Hell the witch of Niflheim or the Home of Fog, was by no means pleased to see that Balder could not be hurt like others; so one day when the Anses were amusing themselves by throwing their spears and arrows at Balder, since they knew they could not hurt him, Loki went, disguised as an old woman, to where Frigg lived in the Hall of the Fen. When the hag was asked what the Anses were doing, she replied that they were throwing missiles at Balder, and she inquired if it was true that nothing would hurt him. Frigg answered that everything had been bound by oath not to hurt him except the mistletoe. On hearing this, Loki found excuse to depart, and went to the spot where Frigg said the plant called mistletoe grew, a little to the east of Walhalla; and he brought a twig of it to where Höᵭr stood in the outskirts of the assembly; for that was the name of a blind god of great strength. Loki asked Höᵭr why he did not join the