Told by the Northmen Part 15

Meantime, the Asa folk crowded round the silent form of Balder, weeping and wailing; but, alas! their moans and tears could not bring Balder back. At length, All-Father Odin, whose grief was too deep for lamentations, bade them be silent and prepare to bear the body of the dead Asa to the seash.o.r.e.

The unhappy Hoder, unable to take part in these last offices, made his way sadly through Asgard, beyond the walls and along the seash.o.r.e, until he came to the house Fensalir.

Frigga was seated upon her seat of honour before the fire against the inner wall, and standing before her, with bent head and woeful sightless gaze, Hoder told her of the dread mishap that had befallen.

"Tell me, O mother," he cried in ending, and his voice sounded like the wail of the wind on stormy nights, "tell me, is there aught I can do to bring my brother back? Or can I make agreement with the dread mother of the Underworld, giving my life in exchange for his?"

Woe crowded upon woe in the heart of Frigga as she listened to the story. The doom was wrought that she had tried so vainly to avert, and not even her mother's love had availed to safeguard the son so dearly cherished.

"On Balder Death hath laid her hand, not thee, my son," she said, "yet though we fail in the end, there is much that may be tried before all hope is lost."

Then she told Hoder of a road by which the abode of Hela could be reached, one which had been travelled by none living save Odin himself.

"Who goes that way must take no other horse To ride, but Sleipnir, Odin's horse, alone.

Nor must he choose that common path of G.o.ds Which every day they come and go in heaven, O'er the bridge Bifrost, where is Heimdall's watch.

But he must tread a dark untravelled road Which branches from the north of heaven, and ride Nine days, nine nights, toward the northern ice, Through valleys deep engulfed, with roaring streams.

And he will reach on the tenth morn a bridge Which spans with golden arches Gioll's stream.

Then he will journey through no lighted land, Nor see the sun arise, nor see it set;

And he must fare across the dismal ice Northward, until he meets a stretching wall Barring his way, and in the wall a grate, But then he must dismount and on the ice Tighten the girths of Sleipnir, Odin's horse, And make him leap the grate, and come within."

There in that cheerless abode dead Balder was enthroned, but, said Frigga, he who braves that dread journey must take no heed of him, nor of the sad ghosts flitting to and fro, like eddying leaves. First he must accost their gloomy queen and entreat her with prayers:

"Telling her all that grief they have in heaven For Balder, whom she holds by right below."

A bitter groan of anguish escaped from Hoder when Frigga had finished her recital of the trials which must be undergone:

"Mother, a dreadful way is this thou showest; No journey for a sightless G.o.d to go."

And she replied:

"... Thyself thou shalt not go, my son; But he whom first thou meetest when thou com'st To Asgard and declar'st this hidden way, Shall go; and I will be his guide unseen."

Meantime the Asa folk had felled trees and had carried to the seash.o.r.e outside the walls of Asgard a great pile of fuel, which they laid upon the deck of Balder's great s.h.i.+p, _Ringhorn_, as it lay stranded high up on the beach.

"Seventy ells and four extended On the gra.s.s the vessel's keel; High above it, gilt and splendid, Rose the figurehead ferocious With its crest of steel."

Then they adorned the funeral pyre with garlands of flowers, with golden vessels and rings, with finely wrought weapons and rich necklets and armlets; and when this was done they carried out the fair body of Balder the Beautiful, and bearing it reverently upon their s.h.i.+elds they laid it upon the pyre.

Then they tried to launch the good s.h.i.+p, but so heavily laden was she that they could not stir her an inch.

The Mountain-Giants, from their heights afar, had watched the tragedy with eyes that were not unpitying, for even they had no ill-will for Balder, and they sent and told of a giantess called Hyrroken, who was so strong that she could launch any vessel whatever its weight might be.

So the Asas sent to fetch her from Giantland, and she soon came, riding a wolf for steed and twisted serpents for reins.

When she alighted, Odin ordered four of his mightiest warriors to hold the wolf, but he was so strong that they could do nothing until the giantess had thrown him down and bound him fast.

Then with a few enormous strides, Hyrroken reached the great vessel, and set her shoulder against the prow, sending the s.h.i.+p rolling into the deep. The earth shook with the force of the movement as though with an earthquake, and the Asa folk collided with one another like pine-trees during a storm. The s.h.i.+p, too, with its precious weight, was well-nigh lost. At this Thor was wroth and, seizing his hammer, would have slain the giantess had not the other Asas held him back, bidding him not forget the last duty to the dead G.o.d. So Thor hallowed the pyre with a touch of his sacred hammer and kindled it with a thorn twig, which is the emblem of sleep.

Last of all, before the pyre blazed up, All-Father Odin added to the pile of offerings his magic ring, from which fell eight new rings every ninth night, and bending he whispered in Balder's ear.

But none to this day know the words that Odin spake thus in the ear of his dead son.

Then the flames from the pyre rose high and the great s.h.i.+p drifted out to sea, and the wind caught the sails and fanned the flames till it seemed as though sky and sea were wrapped in golden flame.

"And while they gazed, the sun went lurid down Into the smoke-wrapt sea, and night came on.

But through the dark they watched the burning s.h.i.+p Still carried o'er the distant waters....

But fainter, as the stars rose high, it flared; And as, in a decaying winter fire, A charr'd log, falling, makes a shower of sparks-- So, with a shower of sparks, the pile fell in, Reddening the sea around; and all was dark."

And thus did Balder the Beautiful pa.s.s from the peaceful steads of Asgard, as pa.s.ses the sun when he paints the evening clouds with the glory of his setting.

_Note._--Most of the poetical extracts throughout this chapter are taken from Matthew Arnold's "Balder Dead."

THE Pa.s.sING OF BALDER

I heard a voice, that cried, "Balder the Beautiful Is dead, is dead!"

And through the misty air Pa.s.sed like the mournful cry Of sunward sailing cranes.

I saw the pallid corpse Of the dead sun Borne through the Northern sky.

Blasts from Niffelheim Lifted the sheeted mists Around him as he pa.s.sed.

And the voice for ever cried, "Balder the Beautiful Is dead, is dead!"

And died away Through the dreary night, In accents of despair.

Balder the Beautiful, G.o.d of the summer sun, Fairest of all the G.o.ds!

Light from his forehead beamed, Runes were upon his tongue, As on the warrior's sword.

All things in earth and air Bound were by magic spell Never to do him harm; Even the plants and stones; All save the mistletoe, The sacred mistletoe!

Hoder, the blind old G.o.d, Whose feet are shod with silence, Pierced through that gentle breast With his sharp spear, by fraud Made of the mistletoe, The accursed mistletoe!

They laid him in his s.h.i.+p, With horse and harness, As on a funeral pyre.

Odin placed A ring upon his finger, And whispered in his ear.

They launched the burning s.h.i.+p!

It floated far away Over the misty sea, Till like the sun it seemed, Sinking beneath the waves.

Balder returned no more!

LONGFELLOW.

CHAPTER XIII

How Hermod Made a Journey to the Underworld