and how, in sorrow for her absence, the Earth clothed
herself in mourning, and no leaves grew upon the trees, nor
flowers in the gardens, and the very birds ceased singing,
because Persephone was no more. But they added, that in a
few months the fair maiden would return for a time to her
sorrowing mother, and that then the flowers would bloom, and
the trees would bear fruit, and the harvest-fields would
again be full of golden grain.

In the north a different story was told, but the meaning was
the same. Sometimes men told how Odin (the All-Father) had
become angry with Brunhild (the maid of spring), and had
wounded her with the thorn of sleep, and how all the castle
in which she slept was wrapped in deathlike slumber until
Sigurd or Siegfried (the sunbeam) rode through flaming fire,
and awakened her with a kiss. Sometimes men told how Loki
(heat) had betrayed Balder (the sunlight), and had induced
blind old Hoder (the winter months) to slay him, and how all
things, living and inanimate, joined in weeping for the
bright god, until Hela (death) should permit him to revisit
the earth for a time.

So, too, when the sun arose, and drove away the darkness and
the hidden terrors of the night, our ancestors thought of
the story of a noble young hero slaying a hideous dragon, or
taking possession of the golden treasures of Mist Land. And
when the springtime came, and the earth renewed its youth,
and the fields and woods were decked in beauty, and there
was music everywhere, they loved to tell of Idun (the
spring) and her youth-giving apples, and of her wise husband