Then spoke Gangleri: ‘Have any greater events taken place among the Æsir? It was a very great exploit that Thor achieved on this expedition.’
High replied: ‘There are events to be related that would have been thought more significant by the Æsir. And the beginning of this story is that Baldr the Good dreamed great dreams boding peril to his life. And when he told the Æsir the dreams they took counsel together and it was decided to request immunity for Baldr from all kinds of danger, and Frigg received solemn promises so that Baldr should not be harmed by fire and water, iron and all kinds of metal, stones, the earth, trees, diseases, the animals, the birds, poison, snakes. And when this was done and confirmed, then it became an entertainment for Baldr and the Æsir that he should stand up at assemblies and all the others should either shoot at him or strike at him or throw stones at him. But whatever they did he was unharmed, and they all thought this a great glory. But when Loki Laufeyiarson saw this he was not pleased that Baldr was unharmed. He went to Fensalir to Frigg and changed his appearance to that of a woman. Then Frigg asked this woman if she knew what the Æsir were doing at the assembly. She said that everyone was shooting at Baldr, and moreover that he was unharmed. Then said Frigg:
‘“Weapons and wood will not hurt Baldr. I have received oaths from them all.”
‘Then the woman asked: “Have all things sworn oaths not to harm Baldr?”
‘Then Frigg replied: “There grows a shoot of a tree to the west of Val-hall. It is called mistletoe. It seemed young to me to demand the oath from.”
‘Straight away the woman disappeared. And Loki took mistletoe and plucked it and went to the assembly. Hod was standing at the edge of the circle of people, for he was blind. Then Loki said to him:
‘“Why are you not shooting at Baldr?”
‘He replied: “Because I cannot see where Baldr is, and secondly because I have no weapon.”
‘Then said Loki: “Follow other people’s example and do Baldr honour like other people. I will direct you to where he is standing. Shoot at him this stick.”
‘Hod took the mistletoe and shot at Baldr at Loki’s direction. The missile flew through him and he fell dead to the ground, and this was the unluckiest deed ever done among gods and men. When Baldr had fallen, then all the Æsir’s tongues failed them, as did their hands for lifting him up, and they all looked at each other and were all of one mind towards the one who had done the deed. But no one could take vengeance, it was a place of such sanctuary. When the Æsir tried to speak then what happened first was that weeping came out, so that none could tell another in words of his grief. But it was Odin who took this injury the hardest in that he had the best idea what great deprivation and loss the death of Baldr would cause the Æsir.
- The Poetic Edda, Gylfaginning