he awoke he found that a new and weighty care was within him. It was
so heavy that Baldur could scarcely carry it, and yet he pressed it
closely to his heart and said, "Lie there, and do not fall on any one
but me." Then he rose up and walked out from the splendor of his
hall, that he might seek his own mother, Frigga, and tell her what had
happened. He found her in her crystal saloon, calm and kind, and ready
to sympathize; so he walked up to her, his hands pressed closely on
his heart, and lay down at her feet sighing.
"What is the matter, dear Baldur?" asked Frigga, gently.
"I do not know, mother," answered he. "I do not know what the matter
is; but I have a shadow in my heart."
"Take it out, then, my son, and let me look at it," replied Frigga.
"But I fear, mother, that if I do it will cover the whole earth."
Then Frigga laid her hand upon the heart of her son that she might
feel the shadow's shape. Her brow became clouded as she felt it; her
parted lips grew pale, and she cried out, "Oh! Baldur, my beloved son!
the shadow is the shadow of death!"
Then said Baldur, "I will die bravely, my mother."
But Frigga answered, "You shall not die at all; for I will not sleep
to-night until everything on earth has sworn to me that it will
neither kill nor harm you."
So Frigga stood up, and called to her everything on earth that had
power to hurt or slay. First she called all metals to her; and heavy
iron-ore came lumbering up the hill into the crystal hall, brass and
gold, copper, silver, lead, and steel, and stood before the Queen, who
lifted her right hand high in the air, saying, "Swear to me that you
will not injure Baldur"; and they all swore, and went. Then she called
to her all stones; and huge granite came with crumbling sandstone, and
white lime, and the round, smooth stones of the seashore, and Frigga
raised her arm, saying, "Swear that you will not injure Baldur";
and they swore, and went. Then Frigga called to her the trees; and
wide-spreading oak trees, with tall ash and sombre firs, came rushing
up the hill, and Frigga raised her hand, and said, "Swear that you
will not hurt Baldur"; and they said, "We swear," and went. After this
Frigga called to her the diseases, who came blown by poisonous
winds on wings of pain to the sound of moaning. Frigga said to them,
"Swear"; and they sighed, "We swear," then flew away. Then Frigga
called to her all beasts, birds, and venomous snakes, who came to her
and swore, and disappeared. Then she stretched out her hand to Baldur,
while a smile spread over her face, saying, "Now, my son, you cannot
die."
Just then Odin came in, and when he had heard from Frigga the whole
story, he looked even more mournful than she had done; neither did the
cloud pass from his face when he was told of the oaths that had been
taken.
"Why do you look so grave, my lord?" demanded Frigga at last. "Baldur
cannot die now."
But Odin asked very gravely, "Is the shadow gone out of our son's
heart, or is it still there?"
"It cannot be there," said Frigga, turning away her head resolutely,
and folding her hands before her.
But Odin looked at Baldur, and saw how it was. The hands pressed to
the heavy heart, the beautiful brow grown dim. Then immediately he
arose, saddled Sleipnir, his eight-footed steed, mounted him, and,
turning to Frigga, said, "I know of a dead prophetess, Frigga, who,
when she was alive, could tell what was going to happen; her grave
lies on the east side of Helheim, and I am going there to awake her,
and ask whether any terrible grief is really coming upon us."
So saying Odin shook the bridle in his hand, and the eight-footed,
with a bound, leaped forth, rushed like a whirlwind down the mountain
of Asgard, and then dashed into a narrow defile between rocks.
Sleipnir went on through the defile a long way, until he came to a
place where the earth opened her mouth. There Odin rode in and down a
broad, steep, slanting road which led him to the cavern Gnipa, and the
mouth of the cavern Gnipa yawned upon Niflheim. Then thought Odin to
himself, "My journey is already done." But just as Sleipnir was about
to leap through the jaws of the pit, Garm, the voracious dog who was
chained to the rock, sprang forward, and tried to fasten himself upon
Odin. Three times Odin shook him off, and still Garm, as fierce as
ever, went on with the fight. At last Sleipnir leaped, and Odin thrust
just at the same moment; then horse and rider cleared the entrance,
and turned eastward towards the dead prophetess's grave, dripping
blood along the road as they went; while the beaten Garm stood baying
in the cavern's mouth.
When Odin came to the grave he got off his horse, and stood with his
face northward, looking through barred enclosures into the city of
Helheim itself. The servants of Hela were very busy there making
preparations for some new guest--hanging gilded couches with curtains
of anguish and splendid misery upon the walls. Then Odin's heart died
within him, and he began to repeat mournful runes in a low tone.
The dead prophetess turned heavily in her grave at the sound of his
voice, and sat bolt upright. "What man is this," she asked, "who dares
disturb my sleep?"
Then Odin, for the first time in his life, said what was not true; the
shadow of Baldur dead fell upon his lips, and he made answer, "My name
is Vegtam, the son of Valtam."
"And what do you want of me?" asked the prophetess.
"I want to know," replied Odin, "for whom Hela is making ready that
gilded couch in Helheim?"
"That is for Baldur the Beloved," answered the prophetess. "Now go
away and let me sleep again, for my eyes are heavy."
But Odin said, "Only one word more. Is Baldur going to Helheim?"
"Yes, I've told you that he is," was the answer.
"Will he never come back to Asgard again?"
"If everything on earth should weep for him," said she, "he will go
back; if not, he will remain in Helheim."
Then Odin covered his face with his hands and looked into darkness.
"Do go away," said the prophetess, "I'm so sleepy; I cannot keep my
eyes open any longer."
But Odin raised his head and said again, "Only tell me one thing.
Just now, as I looked into darkness, it seemed to me that I saw one on
earth who would not weep for Baldur. Who was it?"
At this she grew very angry and said, "How couldst _thou_ see in
darkness? I know of only one who, by giving away his eye, gained
light. No Vegtam art thou but Odin, chief of men."
At her angry words Odin became angry, too, and called out as loudly
as he could, "No prophetess nor wise woman, but rather the mother of
three giants."
"Go, go!" answered the prophetess, falling back in her grave; "no man
shall waken me again until Loki have burst his chains and the Twilight
of the Gods be come." After this Odin mounted the eight-footed once
more and rode thoughtfully home.
II
THE PEACESTEAD
When Odin came back to Asgard, Hermod took the bridle from his
father's hand and told him that the rest of the gods were gone to the
Peacestead--a broad, green plain which lay just outside the city. This
was the playground of the gods, where they practised trials of skill
and held tournaments and sham fights. These last were always conducted
in the gentlest and most honorable manner; for the strongest law of
the Peacestead was, that no angry blow should be struck, or spiteful
word spoken, upon the sacred field; and for this reason some have
thought it might be well if children also had a Peacestead to play in.
Odin was too tired from his journey to go to the Peacestead that
afternoon; so he turned away and shut himself up in his palace of
Gladsheim. But when he was gone, Loki came into the city by another
way, and hearing from Hermod where the gods were, set off to join
them.
When he got to the Peacestead, Loki found that the gods were standing
round in a circle shooting at something, and he peeped between the
shoulders of two of them to find out what it was. To his surprise he
saw Baldur standing in the midst, erect and calm, whilst his friends
and brothers were aiming their weapons at him. Some hewed at him with
their swords,--others threw stones at him--some shot arrows pointed
with steel, and Thor continually swung his great hammer at his head.
"Well," said Loki to himself, "if this is the sport of Asgard, what
must that of Jötunheim be? I wonder what Father Odin and Mother Frigga
would say if they were here?" But as Loki still looked, he became even
more surprised, for the sport went on, and Baldur was not hurt. Arrows
aimed at his very heart glanced back again untinged with blood. The
stones fell down from his broad, bright brow, and left no bruises
there. Swords clave, but did not wound him; Thor's hammer struck him,
and he was not crushed. At this Loki grew perfectly furious with envy
and hatred. "And why is Baldur to be so honored," said he "that even
steel and stone shall not hurt him?" Then Loki changed himself into a
little, dark, bent old woman, with a stick, and hobbled away from the
Peacestead to Frigga's crystal saloon. At the door he knocked with the
stick.
"Come in!" said the kind voice of Frigga, and Loki lifted the latch.
Now when Frigga saw, from the other end of the hall, a little, bent,
crippled old woman come hobbling up her crystal floor, she got up with
true queenliness and met her halfway, holding out her hand and saying
in the kindest manner, "Pray sit down, my poor old friend; for it
seems to me that you have come from a great distance."
"That I have, indeed," answered Loki in a tremulous, squeaking voice.
"And did you happen to see anything of the gods," asked Frigga, "as
you came?"
"Just now I passed by the Peacestead and saw them at play."
"What were they doing?"
"Shooting at Baldur."
Then Frigga bent over her work with a pleased smile on her face. "And
nothing hurt him?"
"Nothing," answered Loki, looking keenly at her.
"No, no thing," murmured Frigga, still looking down and speaking half
musingly to herself; "for all things have sworn to me that they will
not."
"Sworn!" exclaimed Loki, eagerly; "what is that you say? Has
everything sworn then?"
"Everything," answered she, "excepting the little shrub mistletoe,
which grows, you know, on the west side of Valhalla, and to which I
said nothing, because I thought it was too young to swear."
"Excellent!" thought Loki, and then he got up.
"You're not going yet, are you?" said Frigga, stretching out her hand
and looking up at last into the eyes of the old woman.
"I'm quite rested now, thank you," answered Loki in his squeaky voice,
and then he hobbled out at the door, which clapped after him, and
sent a cold gust into the room. Frigga shuddered, and thought that a
serpent was gliding down the back of her neck.
When Loki had left the presence of Frigga, he changed himself back to
his proper shape and went straight to the west side of Valhalla,
where the mistletoe grew. Then he opened his knife and cut off a large
bunch, saying these words, "Too young for Frigga's oaths, but not too
weak for Loki's work." After which he set off for the Peacestead once
more, the mistletoe in his hand. When he got there he found that
the gods were still at their sport, standing round, taking aim, and
talking eagerly, and Baldur did not seem tired.
But there was one who stood alone, leaning against a tree, and who
took no part in what was going on. This was Hödur, Baldur's blind
twin-brother; he stood with his head bent downwards, silent while the
others were speaking, doing nothing when they were most eager; and
Loki thought that there was a discontented expression on his face,
just as if he were saying to himself, "Nobody takes any notice of me."
So Loki went up to him and put his hand upon his shoulder.
"And why are you standing here all alone, my brave friend?" said he.
"Why don't _you_ throw something at Baldur? Hew at him with a sword,
or show him some attention of that sort."
"I haven't a sword," answered Hödur, with an impatient gesture; "and
you know as well as I do, Loki, that Father Odin does not approve of
my wearing warlike weapons, or joining in sham fights, because I am
blind."
"Oh! is that it?" said Loki. Well, I only know _I_ shouldn't like to
be left out of everything. However, I've got a twig of mistletoe here
which I'll lend you if you like; a harmless little twig enough, but
I shall be happy to guide your arm if you would like to throw it, and
Baldur might take it as a compliment from his twin-brother."
"Let me feel it," said Hödur, stretching out his groping hands.
"This way, this way, my dear friend," said Loki, giving him the twig.
"Now, as hard as ever you can, to do _him honor_; throw!"
Hödur threw--Baldur fell, and the shadow of death covered the whole
earth.
III
BALDUR DEAD
One after another they turned and left the Peacestead, the friends and
brothers of the slain. One after another they turned and went towards
the city; crushed hearts, heavy footsteps, no word amongst them, a
shadow upon all. The shadow was in Asgard, too--had walked through
Frigga's hall and seated itself upon the threshold of Gladsheim. Odin
had just come out to look at it, and Frigga stood by in mute despair
as the gods came up.
"Loki did it! Loki did it!" they said at last in confused, hoarse
whispers, and they looked from one to another,--upon Odin, upon
Frigga, upon the shadow which they saw before them, and which they
felt within. "Loki did it! Loki, Loki!" they went on saying; but it
was of no use to repeat the name of Loki over and over again when
there was another name they were too sad to utter but which filled all
their hearts--Baldur. Frigga said it first, and then they all went to
look at him lying down so peacefully on the grass--dead, dead.
"Carry him to the funeral pyre!" said Odin, at length; and four of the
gods stooped down and lifted their dead brother.
Noiselessly they carried the body tenderly to the seashore and laid
it upon the deck of the majestic ship, Ringhorn, which had been _his_.
Then they stood waiting to see who would come to the funeral. Odin
came, and on his shoulders sat his two ravens, whose croaking drew
clouds down over the Asa's face, for Thought and Memory sang the same
sad song that day. Frigga came,--Frey, Gerda, Freyja, Thor, Hoenir,
Bragi, and Idun. Heimdall came sweeping over the tops of the mountains
on Golden Mane, his swift, bright steed. Ægir the Old groaned from
under the deep, and sent his daughters up to mourn around the dead.
Frost-giants and mountain-giants came crowding round the rimy shores
of Jötunheim to look across the sea upon the funeral of an Asa. Nanna
came, Baldur's fair young wife; but when she saw the dead body of her
husband, her own heart broke with grief, and the gods laid her beside
him on the stately ship. After this Odin stepped forward and placed a
ring on the breast of his son, whispering something at the same
time in his ear; but when he and the rest of the gods tried to push
Ringhorn into the sea before setting fire to it, they found their
hearts too heavy to do it. So they beckoned to the giantess Hyrrokin
to come over from Jötunheim and help them. She, with a single push,
set the ship floating, and then, whilst Thor stood up holding his
hammer high in the air, Odin lighted the funeral pile of Baldur and of
Nanna.
So Ringhorn went floating towards the deep sea and the funeral fire
burnt on. Its broad red flame burst forth heavenward, but when the
smoke would have gone upward too, the winds came sobbing and carried
it away.
IV
HELHEIM
When at last the ship Ringhorn had floated out so far to sea that it
looked like a dull red lamp on the horizon, Frigga turned round and
said, "Will any one of you, my children, perform a noble action and
win my love forever?"
"I will," cried Hermod, before any one else had time to open his lips.
"Go, then, Hermod," answered Frigga, "saddle Sleipnir with all speed
and ride down to Helheim; there seek out Hela, the stern mistress of
the dead, and entreat her to send our beloved back to us again."
Hermod was gone in the twinkling of an eye, not in at the mouth of the
earth and through the steep cavern down which Odin went to the dead
prophetess's grave; he chose another way, though not a better one;
for, go to Helheim as you will, the best is but a downward road, and
so Hermod found it--downward, slanting, slippery, dark, and very cold.
At last he came to the Giallar Bru--that sounding river which flows
between the living and the dead, and to the bridge over it which is
paved with stones of glittering gold. Hermod was surprised to see
gold in such a place; but as he rode over the bridge, and looked down
carefully at the stones, he saw that they were only tears which had
been shed round the beds of the dying--only tears, and yet they made
the way seem brighter. But when Hermod reached the other end of the
bridge, he found the courageous woman who, for ages and ages, had been
sitting there to watch the dead go by, and she stopped him saying:
"What a noise you make! Who are you? Yesterday five troops of dead men
went over the Giallar Bridge and did not shake it so much as you have
done. Besides," she added, looking more closely at Hermod, "you are
not a dead man at all. Your lips are neither cold nor blue. Why, then,
do you ride on the way to Helheim?"
"I seek Baldur," answered Hermod. "Tell me, have you seen him pass?"
"Baldur," she said, "has ridden over the bridge; but there below,
towards the north, lies the way to the Abodes of Death."
So Hermod went on the way until he came to the barred gates of Helheim
itself. There he alighted, tightened his saddle-girths, remounted,
clapped both spurs to his horse, and cleared the gate by one
tremendous leap. Then Hermod found himself in a place where no living
man had ever been before--the City of the Dead. Perhaps you think
there is a great silence there, but you are mistaken. Hermod thought
he had never in his life heard so much noise; for the echoes of all
words were speaking together--words, some newly uttered and some ages
old; but the dead men did not hear who flitted up and down the dark
streets, for their ears had been stunned and become cold long since.
Hermod rode on through the city until he came to the palace of
Hela, which stood in the midst. Precipice was its threshold, the
entrance-hall, Wide Storm, and yet Hermod was not too much afraid to
seek the innermost rooms; so he went on to the banqueting hall, where
Hela sat at the head of her table serving her new guests. Baldur,
alas! sat at her right hand, and on her left his pale young wife. When
Hela saw Hermod coming up the hall she smiled grimly, but beckoned to
him at the same time to sit down, and told him that he might sup that
night with her. It was a strange supper for a living man to sit down
to. Hunger was the table; Starvation, Hela's knife; Delay, her man;
Slowness, her maid; and Burning Thirst, her wine. After supper Hela
led the way to the sleeping apartments. "You see," she said, turning
to Hermod, "I am very anxious about the comfort of my guests. Here are
beds of unrest provided for all, hung with curtains of Weariness, and
look how all the walls are furnished with Despair."
So saying she strode away, leaving Hermod and Baldur together. The
whole night they sat on those unquiet couches and talked. Hermod could
speak of nothing but the past, and as he looked anxiously round the
room his eyes became dim with tears. But Baldur seemed to see a light
far off, and he spoke of what was to come.
The next morning Hermod went to Hela, and entreated her to let Baldur
return to Asgard. He even offered to take his place in Helheim if she
pleased; but Hela only laughed at this and said: "You talk a great
deal about Baldur, and boast how much every one loves him; I will
prove now if what you have told me be true. Let everything on earth,
living or dead, weep for Baldur, and he shall go home again; but if
_one_ thing only refuse to weep, then let Helheim hold its own; he
shall _not_ go."
"Every one will weep willingly," said Hermod, as he mounted Sleipnir
and rode towards the entrance of the city. Baldur went with him as far
as the gate and began to send messages to all his friends in Asgard,
but Hermod would not listen to many of them.
"You will soon come back to us," he said, "there is no use in sending
messages."
So Hermod darted homewards, and Baldur watched him through the bars of
Helheim's gateway as he flew along.
"Not soon, not soon," said the dead Asa; but still he saw the light
far off, and thought of what was to come.
V
WEEPING
"Well, Hermod, what did she say?" asked the gods from the top of the
hill as they saw him coming; "make haste and tell us what she said."
And Hermod came up.
"Oh! is that all?" they cried, as soon as he had delivered his
message. "Nothing can be more easy," and then they all hurried off to
tell Frigga. She was weeping already, and in five minutes there was
not a tearless eye in Asgard.
"But this is not enough," said Odin; "the whole earth must know of our
grief that it may weep with us."
Then the father of the gods called to him his messenger maidens--the
beautiful Valkyries--and sent them out into all worlds with these
three words on their lips, "Baldur is dead!" But the words were so
dreadful that at first the messenger maidens could only whisper them
in low tones as they went along, "Baldur is dead!" The dull, sad
sounds flowed back on Asgard like a new river of grief, and it seemed
to the gods as if they now wept for the first time--"Baldur is dead!"
"What is that the Valkyries are saying?" asked the men and women in
all the country round, and when they heard rightly, men left their
labor and lay down to weep--women dropped the buckets they were
carrying to the well, and, leaning their faces over them, filled them
with tears. The children crowded upon the doorsteps, or sat down at
the corners of the streets, crying as if their own mothers were dead.
The Valkyries passed on. "Baldur is dead!" they said to the empty
fields; and straightway the grass and the wild field-flowers shed
tears.
"Baldur is dead!" said the messenger maidens to the rocks and stones;
and the very stones began to weep. "Baldur is dead!" the Valkyries
cried; and even the old mammoth's bones which had lain for centuries
under the hills, burst into tears, so that small rivers gushed forth
from every mountain's side. "Baldur is dead!" said the messenger
maidens as they swept over silent sands; and all the shells wept
pearls. "Baldur is dead!" they cried to the sea, and to Jötunheim
across the sea; and when the giants understood it, even they wept,
while the sea rained spray to heaven. After this the Valkyries stepped
from one stone to another until they reached a rock that stood alone
in the middle of the sea; then, all together, they bent forward over
the edge of it, stooped down and peeped over, that they might tell
the monsters of the deep. "Baldur is dead!" they said, and the sea
monsters and the fish wept. Then the messenger maidens looked at one
another and said, "Surely our work is done." So they twined their
arms round one another's waists, and set forth on the downward road to
Helheim, there to claim Baldur from among the dead.
After he had sent forth his messenger maidens, Odin had seated himself
on the top of Air Throne that he might see how the earth received his
message. At first he watched the Valkyries as they stepped forth north
and south, and east and west; but soon the whole earth's steaming
tears rose up like a great cloud and hid everything from him. Then
he looked down through the cloud and said, "Are you all weeping?" The
Valkyries heard the sound of his voice as they went all together down
the slippery road, and they turned round, stretching out their arms
towards Air Throne, their long hair falling back, while, with choked
voices and streaming eyes, they answered, "The world weeps, Father
Odin; the world and we."
After this they went on their way until they came to the end of the
cave Gnipa, where Garm was chained, and which yawned over Niflheim.
"The world weeps," they said one to another by way of encouragement,
for here the road was so dreadful; but just as they were about to
pass through the mouth of Gnipa they came upon a haggard witch named
Thaukt, who sat in the entrance with her back to them, and her face
toward the abyss. "Baldur is dead! Weep, weep!" said the messenger
maidens, as they tried to pass her; but Thaukt made answer:
"What she doth hold,
Let Hela keep;
For naught care I,
Though the world weep,
O'er Baldur's bale.
Live he or die
With tearless eye,
Old Thaukt shall wail."
And with these words leaped into Niflheim with a yell of triumph.