THOR. Ha! now I understand thee.
And well it is, full well, that Odin's Balder
At length by tears has soften'd Gevar's daughter!
This triumph--
BALDER. Thou art mocking!
THOR. No, thy vict'ry
Shall to me be as one of my most prais'd ones,
As that I won from Nagaard's gloomy demon!
Ha! it is great! It takes from me and Odin
The dastard fear which has too long tormented
Our bosoms. I no more thine ear shall weary
With vain advice. Enough! the maiden loveth.
BALDER. She loveth--yes, by Hael! she loveth Hother.
THOR. Ha! Balder, dost thou mock me? Whom? What Hother?
BALDER. Hast Thor forgotten then the valiant Leir-King?
THOR (in thought). No!--by my hammer, no!--I saw him battle
At Rolf, the Daneman's festival; I saw him,
Strong in his arm.
BALDER. But yet it lost the falchion.
THOR (yet in thought). Before his spear the copper hauberk yielded
Like softest wax. Shall he--But scarce a mortal
Avails thereto--But then if fate--
BALDER. Banish, oh banish,
These murky thoughts, oh Thor! and share my pleasure.
THOR. Thy pleasure! Do I dream? Loves Nanna, Hother?
BALDER. Ay, doth she!
THOR. That rejoices thee? Thou ravest.
BALDER. Ah hear!--my joy thou wilt thyself approve of.
THOR (after some reflection). Now, noble one, I understand: embrace me--
Thy vict'ry's worthy thee--and me--and Odin.
On Gevar's rocks I will myself engrave it.
Oh! not a weak, soft-hearted maid, but Balder,
But thee, my friend--the monster in thy bosom,
Thy love, thy foolish love, thou overcamest.
BALDER. Ah, hush thee, cruel one! I feel I'm blushing.
Know, I had never o'er my heart less power.
I burn, and tremble at the thought of seeing
The flame put out by which I am tormented.
THOR. What do I hear? Ye heavens! can an Asa
Lose virtue thus, and all--well, quaff thy pleasure!
And rave and dote! Thou lov'st and art rejected?
How pleasurably! By my arm, I'm thinking
The Valkyrie has touch'd thy skull already,
Thou ravest so--I see thy fate is hastening.
BALDER. My fate's first law is love.
THOR. Alas, the second
Is death!
BALDER. And where's the battle? where's the slayer?
THOR. The slayer? Hother.
BALDER. Weaponless, despairing,
He wanders 'mong the rocks. We fought.
THOR. He liveth?
BALDER. Ah, Nanna wept.
THOR. Curst tears! the blood of Asa
For ye must pay!
BALDER. And friend, had he the power,
Think'st thou that Hother, that the Skiolding basely
Would murder him to whom his life he oweth?
THOR. Not so would he. But if he must, what can he
'Gainst destiny, if she the death-spear hands him,
And guides herself his arm?
BALDER. Oh, banish, banish
Thy timid care, and hear and share my transport;
Just now, as Hother's life I spar'd there glitter'd,
Through Nanna's tears the first, first glimpse of pity;
Sweetly she smil'd, and granting me her friendship,
She press'd my hand with loving warmth.
THOR. Ha! vex not
Mine ear, I pray thee, with thy follies--little
Is Asa Thor with dastard love acquainted;
Yet can I see into her heart. She thanks thee
For Hother's life: that gives thee joy? Thou dreamest.
BALDER. My life's the dream thou dost aspire to scatter.
THOR. It is thy death!
BALDER. What death? See fate accomplished!
Behold this spear which late the Leir-King brandish'd!
My knee grew weak: I stagger'd when it struck me;
Yet still I live, and it to earth fell blunted.
THOR (Whilst he surveys the spear). Do not deceive thyself, this spear
was harden'd
In flames celestial, not in Nastroud's blazes.
But death has greeted Odin's son, and Rota,
She who invites the hero-kings to Valhall,
Is here, where never din of arms resounded.
With terror view'd I battle's haughty daughter:
Dark stood she on a rock, enveiled in vapour;
And on her shoulder, on her steel-cas'd shoulder,
The bird of death, the mournful owl, sat croaking.
Whom seeks she, far from every bloody Champain?
And Surtur's branch, how soon is that discover'd,
If fate but wish! And think'st thou Loke slumbers?
Ah, Balder fly! forget a foolish passion!
Fly, ere thy fate, which hasteneth, is accomplish'd.
Follow me straight!
BALDER. What--fly! and give up Nanna!
The hope in which I live is far too noble
For me to fly from it.
THOR. O Balder, hear me!
Hear why I come, and if thou wish'st for rescue,
Then heed a friend's, a father's last, last warning!
Wondering at thy infatuation, troubled
By threatening, now no longer dark forebodings,
By panic seiz'd, press'd by unwonted sadness,
I left these hills, and thunder-peals announced me
In Asgaard, every eye my trouble notic'd;
Straightway around me stream'd the eldest Aser,
Each first would know, what grief, or rather terror,
Press'd down my eye. But straight Allfather made me
A sign: he blushes, Balder, at thy weakness!
He bade me keep it, whilst we could, a secret,
And question first once more the ancient Mimer.
I question'd him, and murky fate's explorer
Thus answer'd: "If the sun (ah, hear and tremble,
And save thee, whilst thou canst!) if it to-morrow,
When by its glories yonder hills are brighten'd,
Which oft have echoed back the half-god's wailings,
Behold him yet in love and yet rejected,
Then likewise it beholds the spear which slays him,
And Odin's tears and all the Aser's sorrow!"
BALDER. Time presses, then. Excuse me, Thor; I hasten
With tears to soften Nanna's noble bosom,
To move her with my prayer, and, lowly kneeling,
My doom demand, be't life or death; for quickly
Shall Balder's fate disclose itself. [He goes.
THOR (whilst he looks after him with compassion). Ah, madman!
Headlong thou hurriest to meet destruction!