(4) Borrowed: Bugge, _Studien über die Entstchung der nordischen
Götter- und Heldensagen_ (transl. Brenner, München, 1889).

_Vegtamskvida_. (Page 17.)

The word _hrodhrbadhm_ (which I have given as "branch of fame")
would perhaps be more accurately translated "tree of fame," which
Gering explains as a kenning for Baldr. But there are no kennings of
the same sort in the poem, and the line would have no meaning. If it
refers to the mistletoe, as most commentators agree, it merely shows
that the poet was ignorant of the nature of the plant, which would
be in favour of its antiquity, rather than the reverse.


_Saxo Grammaticus_. (Page 18.)

English translation by Professor Elton (London, D. Nutt, 1894). As
Saxo's references to the old Gods are made in much the same sympathetic
tone as that adopted by Old Testament writers towards heathen deities,
his testimony on mythological questions is of the less value.


_The Mistletoe_. (Page 20.)

It seems incredible that any writers should turn to the travesty of
the Baldr story given in the almost worthless saga of Hromund Gripsson
in support of a theory. In it "Bildr" is killed by Hromund, who has
the sword Mistilteinn. It must be patent to any one that this is a
perverted version of a story which the narrator no longer understood.