I

THE DREAM


Upon a summer's afternoon it happened that Baldur the Bright and Bold,
beloved of men and the gods, found himself alone in his palace of
Broadblink. Thor was walking among the valleys, his brow heavy
with summer heat; Frey and Gerda sported on still waters in their
cloud-leaf ship; Odin, for once, slept on the top of Air Throne; a
noon-day stillness pervaded the whole earth; and Baldur in Broadblink,
most sunlit of palaces, dreamed a dream.

The dream of Baldur was troubled. He knew not whence nor why; but when
he awoke he found that a new and weighty care was within him. It was
so heavy that Baldur could scarcely carry it, and yet he pressed it
closely to his heart and said, "Lie there, and do not fall on any one
but me." Then he rose up and walked out from the splendor of his
hall, that he might seek his own mother, Frigga, and tell her what had
happened. He found her in her crystal saloon, calm and kind, and ready
to sympathize; so he walked up to her, his hands pressed closely on
his heart, and lay down at her feet sighing.

"What is the matter, dear Baldur?" asked Frigga, gently.

"I do not know, mother," answered he. "I do not know what the matter
is; but I have a shadow in my heart."