↩ The truth is, that the death of ►Balder, independent of all arbitrary explanation, is the great pivot in the conflict between the ►Aser and ►Jotuns, upon which the principal matter of the 448Northern mythology turns. For the distinctive peculiarity of the mythic fiction of 📌the North consists in this, that it is a representation of the conflict which at all times is carried on in our mortal history, between the spiritual and intellectual energies (the ►Aser), and the un-spiritual or mere animal powers, (the ►Jotuns, or ►Thyrser), between high-minded wisdom (►Balder) and that unholy sagacity (►Loke), which is but heartless craft and cunning. Now this conflict, which by the death of ►Balder seems decided in favour of the ►Jotuns, is arranged under the guidance of a Providence (the ►Noonies), which causes ►Loke's captivity (resembling that of ►Prometheus) to follow close upon the death of Balder, and never loses sight of its great end, which is the purification of the noble, and the destruction of the wicked; hence, the drama closes with the return of ►Balder and the renovation of the earth.*Consult ►Norden's Mythologie eller Udsigt over Edda-Leeren af N. F. S. Grundtvig, Khvn 1808. Mythology of the North, or view of the doctrine of the Edda, by N. F. S. Grundtvig. Copenhagen, 1808. Of this work there is a Swedish translation. Such a work, the result of the poetical imagination of 📌the North, is well worthy of being brought out of the dim distance of antiquity, opening as it does, a new gold mine, both for the poet and his auditors, and affording a lively symbol of human existence, under the great influences which act upon it.