me also. This is how that came to
be:

All the Dwellers in Asgard were standing before the great gate, waiting
to welcome the bride of Frey. There appeared a Giant maid who was not
Gerda; all in armor was she.

"I am Skadi," she said, "the daughter of Thiassi. My father met his
death at the hands of the Dwellers in Asgard. I claim a recompense."

"What recompense would you have, maiden?" asked Odin, smiling to see a
Giant maid standing so boldly in Asgard.

"A husband from amongst you, even as Gerda. And I myself must be let
choose him."

All laughed aloud at the words of Skadi. Then said Odin, laughing, "We
will let you choose a husband from amongst us, but you must choose him
by his feet."

"I will choose him whatever way you will," said Skadi fixing her eyes on
Baldur, the most beautiful of all the Dwellers in Asgard.

They put a bandage round her eyes, and the AEsir and the Vanir seat in a
half circle around. As she went by she stooped over each and laid hands
upon their feet. At last she came to one whose feet were so finely
formed that she felt sure it was Baldur. She stood up and said:

"This is the one that Skadi chooses for her husband."

Then the AEsir and the Vanir laughed more and more. They took the bandage
off her eyes and she saw, not Baldur the Beautiful, but Nioerd, the
father of Frey. But as Skadi looked more and more on Nioerd she became
more and more contented with her choice; for Nioerd was strong, and he
was noble looking.

These two, Nioerd and Skadi, went first to live in Nioerd's palace by the
sea; but the coming of the sea mew would waken Skadi too early in the
morning, and she drew her husband to the mountaintop where she was more
at home. He would not live long away from the sound of the sea. Back and
forward, between the mountain and the sea, Skadi and Nioerd went. But
Gerda stayed in Asgard with Frey, her husband, and the AEsir and the
Vanir came to love greatly Gerda, the Giant maid.

[Illustration]

HEIMDALL AND LITTLE HNOSSA: HOW ALL THINGS CAME TO BE

Hnossa, the child of Freya and the lost Odur, was the youngest of all
the Dwellers in Asgard. And because it had been prophesied that the
child would bring her father and her mother together, little Hnossa was
often taken without the City of the Gods to stand by Bifroest, the
Rainbow Bridge, so that she might greet Odur if his steps turned toward
Asgard.

In all the palaces of the City of the Gods little Hnossa wa