on from the lawless men; but one of them struck him on
the forehead with an iron hammer, so that it was dashed in, and the
blood and brains gushed forth, while he fell down dead on the spot.

The robbers seized Helga by her white arms; but at that moment the sun
went down, its last beam faded away, and she was transformed into a
hideous-looking frog. The pale green mouth stretched itself over half
the face, its arms became thin and slimy, and a broad hand, with
webbed-like membranes, extended itself like a fan. Then the robbers
withdrew their hold of her in terror and astonishment. She stood like
the ugly animal among them, and, according to the nature of a frog,
she began to hop about, and, jumping faster than usual, she soon
escaped into the depths of the thicket. The robbers were then
convinced that it was some evil artifice of the mischief loving Loke,
or else some secret magical deception; and in dismay they fled from
the place.

* * * * *

The full moon had risen, and its silver light penetrated even the
gloomy recesses of the forest, when from among the low thick
brushwood, in the frog's hideous form, crept the young Helga. She
stopped when she reached the bodies of the Christian priest and the
slaughtered horse: she gazed on them with eyes that seemed full of
tears, and the frog uttered a sound that somewhat resembled the sob of
a child who was on the point of crying. She threw herself first over
the one, then over the other; then took water up in her webbed hand,
and poured it over them; but all was in vain--they were dead, and dead
they would remain. She knew that. Wild beasts would soon come and
devour their bodies. No, that must not be; therefore she determined to
dig a grave in the ground for them, but she had nothing to dig it
with except the branch of a tree and both her own hands. With these
she worked away until her fingers bled. She found she made so little
progress, that she feared the work would never be completed. Then she
took water, and washed the dead man's face; covered it with fresh
green leaves; brought large boughs of the trees, and laid them over
him; sprinkled dead leaves amongst the branches; fetched the largest
stones she could carry, and placed them over the bodies, and filled up
the openings with moss. When she had done all this she thought that
their tomb might be strong and safe; but during her long and arduous
labour the night had passed away. The su