se; and then he shut her up in a
magic nut-shell which he held between his claws, and flew with the speed
of the wind back towards the South-land and the home of the gods. But
Old Winter coming home, and learning what had been done, donned his
eagle-plumage and followed swiftly in pursuit.

Bragi and Thor, anxiously gazing into the sky, saw Loki, in Freyja's
falcon-plumage, speeding homewards, with the nut-shell in his talons,
and Old Winter, in his eagle-plumage, dashing after in sharp pursuit.
Quickly they gathered chips and slender twigs, and placed them high upon
the castle-wall; and, when Loki with his precious burden had flown past,
they touched fire to the dry heap, and the flames blazed up to the sky,
and caught Old Winter's plumage, as, close behind the falcon, he blindly
pressed. And his wings were scorched in the flames; and he fell helpless
to the ground, and was slain within the castle-gates. Loki slackened
his speed; and, when he reached Bragi's house, he dropped the nut-shell
softly before the door. As it touched the ground, it gently opened, and
Idun, radiant with smiles, and clothed in gay attire, stepped forth,
and greeted her husband and the waiting gods. And the heavenly music of
Bragi's long-silent harp welcomed her home; and she took the golden key
from her girdle, and unlocked the box, and gave of her apples to the
aged company; and, when they had tasted, their youth was renewed.[EN#22]

It is thus with the seasons and their varied changes. The gifts of
Spring are youth and jollity, and renewed strength; and the music of air
and water and all things, living and lifeless, follow in her train. The
desolating Winter plots to steal her from the earth, and the Summer-heat
deserts and betrays her. Then the music of Nature is hushed, and all
creatures pine in sorrow for her absence, and the world seems dying of
white Old Age. But at length the Summer-heat repents, and frees her from
her prison-house; and the icy fetters with which Old Winter bound her
are melted in the beams of the returning sun, and the earth is young
again.

Adventure XII. The War with the North-kings.

So swiftly and so pleasantly the days went by, that weeks lengthened
into months, and the spring-time passed, and the summer came, and still
Siegfried lingered in Burgundy with his kind friends. The time was spent
in all manner of joyance,--in hunting the deer in the deep oak-woods,
in riding over the daisied meadows or a