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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/13879-h.zip b/13879-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b11eac4 --- /dev/null +++ b/13879-h.zip diff --git a/13879-h/13879-h.htm b/13879-h/13879-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6961404 --- /dev/null +++ b/13879-h/13879-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2457 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" /> +<title>The Death of Balder</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + H1, H2 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + } + H3, H4 { + text-align: left; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h2> +<a href="#startoftext">The Death of Balder, by Johannes Ewald</a> +</h2> +<pre> +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Death of Balder, by Johannes Ewald, +Translated by George Borrow + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Death of Balder + +Author: Johannes Ewald + +Release Date: October 27, 2004 [eBook #13879] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DEATH OF BALDER*** +</pre> +<p><a name="startoftext"></a></p> +<p>Transcribed by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk</p> +<p>An Edition of 250 Copies only will be printed.<br /> +No more will be published.</p> +<h1>THE DEATH OF BALDER<br /> +FROM THE DANISH OF JOHANNES EWALD<br /> +(1773)<br /> +TRANSLATED BY GEORGE BORROW</h1> +<p>Author of “Bible in Spain,” “Lavengro,” “Wild +Wales,” etc.</p> +<p>LONDON<br /> +JARROLD & SONS, 3 PATERNOSTER BUILDINGS, E.C.<br /> +1889</p> +<h2>PREFACE TO THE TRANSLATION.</h2> +<p>The works of the late poet Ewald are deservedly popular in Denmark. +The present tragedy, and the opera of “The Fishermen” (“Fiskerne”), +in which occurs the bold lyric which has become the national song of +the Danes, are esteemed his best productions.</p> +<p>For the fidelity with which the present version has been made I appeal +to those of my countrymen who understand the original, and demand whether +I have given a thought or expression equivalents to which are not to +be found in the Danish tragedy.</p> +<p>I have imitated the peculiar species of blank verse in which the +original is composed, in order that the English reader may form an exact +idea thereof, and though by having done so my poetry may have somewhat +of a cramped, embarrassed gait, I have a firm hope that I shall not +meet very severe reprehension for having sacrificed elegance to fidelity.</p> +<p>GEORGE BORROW.</p> +<h2>THE PERSONS.</h2> +<p>Balder. Hother.<br /> +Thor. Nanna.<br /> +Loke. The Three Valkyrier.</p> +<p><i>The place of action is a pine-wood on the Norwegian mountains. +Round about it are seen steep and uneven rocks. The top of the +hindermost and highest is covered with snow</i>.</p> +<h2>ACT THE FIRST.</h2> +<p>BALDER and THOR are seated upon stones at some distance from each +other. Both are armed—THOR with his hammer, and BALDER with +spear and sword.</p> +<p>BALDER. Land whose proud and rocky bosom<br /> +Braves the sky continually!</p> +<p>THOR. Where should strength and valour blossom,<br /> +Land of rocks, if not in thee?</p> +<p>BALDER. Odin’s shafts of ruddy levin<br /> +Back from thy hard sides are driven;<br /> +Never sun thy snow dispels.</p> +<p>THOR. Sure, he’ll joy in deeds of daring,<br /> +Ne’er for ease voluptuous caring,<br /> +Who upon the mountain dwells.</p> +<p>BOTH. Land whose proud and rocky bosom<br /> +Braves the sky continually!<br /> +Where should strength and valour blossom,<br /> +Land of rocks, if not in thee?</p> +<p>BALDER (<i>he springs up, but</i> THOR<i> remains sitting, like one +in deep thought</i>). Ha! I will quickly fly from thee for +ever,<br /> +Thou hated land, where everything so proudly<br /> +Upbraids me for my weakness—for my fetters:<br /> +Where I, pursu’d by pains of hopeless passion,<br /> +The live-long nights among deaf rocks do wander—<br /> +Whose echoes sport with Balder’s lamentations,<br /> +Each cold, each feelingless, as Nanna’s bosom,<br /> +The fair, unpitying savage!</p> +<p>THOR. Son of Odin!</p> +<p>BALDER. Speak, mighty Thor!</p> +<p>THOR. Thou sighest, then—and vainly?</p> +<p>BALDER. Vainly: without a glimpse of hope; bewildered.<br /> +What, what have I not promised, vow’d, attempted?<br /> +How oft have I, O Thor!—I blush, but hear it—<br /> +To tears debas’d myself: my tears have trickled—<br /> +Have vainly trickled—before Gevar’s daughter.</p> +<p>THOR. Ha! Gevar’s daughter?</p> +<p>BALDER. Yes, the haughty Nanna.</p> +<p>THOR. Dost mean the daughter of the wise King Gevar,<br /> +Who reads the actions of the unborn hero,<br /> +The will of Fate, malicious foemen’s projects,<br /> +And war and death of warriors in the planets:<br /> +Dost mean his daughter?</p> +<p>BALDER. Think’st thou other fathers possess a Nanna?</p> +<p>THOR. Gods!</p> +<p>[<i>He again casts his eyes upon the ground, like one who meditates +deeply</i>.</p> +<p>BALDER. Behind yon pine wood he built an altar unto thee and +Odin,<br /> +There thou mayst see the roof of his still dwelling.<br /> +There lives the earthly Freia—cruel maiden—<br /> +There slumbers she, perhaps—the proud one rests in<br /> +Joy’s downy arms, undreaming aught of Balder!<br /> +As if I did not love, were not a half-god;<br /> +As if by Skalds my name were never chanted<br /> +As if I were a demon, bad as Loke!<br /> +Ha! if upon my tongue lurked bane and magic,<br /> +When fear enchains it and the pale lip trembles;<br /> +When broken words and a disordered wailing<br /> +Are all with which I can express my bosom’s<br /> +Desire intense, and dread unwonted torments.<br /> +Ha! were my voice like Find’s when he, distracted,<br /> +Goes over Horthedal; as when he bellows,<br /> +And wild at last, and blind with fury, splinters<br /> +The oaks, the glory of the sacred forest.<br /> +Ha! if the blood of maids and unarm’d wretches<br /> +Of harmless travellers, stained the hands of Balder—<br /> +If ruddy lightnings burnt between these fingers—<br /> +Then might’st thou well be pale;<br /> +And thou wert right to fly from me, O Nanna!</p> +<p>THOR. Now, Balder, hear my word, and fly from Nanna!</p> +<p>BALDER. From Nanna! Yes, I ought—that see I plainly.<br /> +Ha! some accursed fiend my foot has fasten’d<br /> +To these wild mountains and to Nanna’s shadow!<br /> +And is there nothing then of hope remaining?<br /> +When did I first become so grim—so frightful?<br /> +When? Tell me, Thor, is breath of mine destructive?<br /> +Has death among my tears and smiles its dwelling?<br /> +What shall I do? Reply! But thou art silent,<br /> +And from thine eyeball flames contemptuous anger.</p> +<p>THOR (<i>he rises</i>). Ha! drivellest thou before the God +of Thunder?</p> +<p>BALDER. To Thor, to Odin’s friend, I breathe my sorrow.</p> +<p>THOR. How long dost think, degenerate son of Odin,<br /> +Unmanly pining for a foolish maiden,<br /> +And all the weary train of love-sick follies,<br /> +Will move a bosom that is steeled by virtue?<br /> +Thou dotest! Dote and weep, in tears swim ever;<br /> +But by thy father’s arm, by Odin’s honour,<br /> +Haste, hide thy tears and thee in shades of alder!<br /> +Haste to the still, the peace-accustom’d valley,<br /> +Where lazy herdsmen dance amid the clover.<br /> +There wet each leaf which soft the west wind kisses,<br /> +Each plant which breathes around voluptuous odours,<br /> +With tears! There sigh and moan and the tired peasant<br /> +Shall hear thee, and, behind his ploughshare resting,<br /> +Shall wonder at thy grief, and pity Balder!</p> +<p>BALDER. And is this all the comfort thou canst offer?</p> +<p>THOR. I gave thee counsel: fly from her who flies thee!<br /> +What holds thee here, where thou canst hope for nothing?</p> +<p>BALDER. And can I? Ah, my friend, that is my duty!<br /> +But fly! And never, never see thee, Nanna!<br /> +And ne’er again behold the roof where under<br /> +Thou sleepest! Honour the mere thought destroyeth!<br /> +Ere that, I’ll perish here, unfamed, forgotten!</p> +<p>THOR. Well, perish, then! I see too plain ’tis +useless<br /> +Against a harsh, eternal fate to struggle!</p> +<blockquote><p>The hill fiend dreads my hammer’s might<br /> +Before it turns the Jotun white,<br /> +And rocks, whereon I strike, give way.<br /> +But nothing cruel fate can move;<br /> +And what Allfather there above<br /> +Resolves upon, stands firm for aye.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Know, son of Odin, thou whom reason, friendship,<br /> +Whom scorn—e’en scorn—to move are all unable,<br /> +Know that prophetic were thy words! Fate hastens!<br /> +The Valkyrie prepares the spear already,<br /> +Its deadly point already does she sharpen.<br /> +Ah, see! the prince of battle holds it brandish’d;<br /> +He strikes! he strikes! and all the Aser sorrow.</p> +<p>BALDER. Dark is thy speech, O Thor! dark as thy visage.</p> +<p>THOR. Before my eyes are murky shadows flitting.<br /> +A mortal youth, with blood of Asa crimson’d!<br /> +The fight and death of gods, the fall of Asgara!<br /> +Hear, son of Odin, wretched slave of passion,<br /> +Think not that dreams, that magic’s foul deception,<br /> +That spectres of the night my brain bewilder;<br /> +And oh! think not that merely chance has led me<br /> +To Balder’s presence, and to these high forests!<br /> +I sought thee, came with speed to give thee warning:<br /> +Fear, then! It is thy friend, ’tis Thor, who’s speaking!<br /> +And on my lips I bear the words of Odin.<br /> +Thou know’st there grows in night’s mysterious valley<br /> +A tree, as yet by men or gods seen never;<br /> +It bears a bough, which bough, when once ’tis harden’d<br /> +In Nastroud’s flames, can slay thee.</p> +<p>BALDER. Yes, I know it.</p> +<p>THOR. That knowest thou, friend! And is it a mere slumber,<br /> +A fleeting trance, a pleasant dream of battle,<br /> +With which the spear’s impregnated in Nastroud?<br /> +Ha! whom it slays wakes never up in Valhall;<br /> +In mist and darkness must he lie for ever.<br /> +From gods and men alike for ever parted,<br /> +Must Balder be detested—Hæla’s booty,<br /> +Not Odin’s quest?</p> +<p>BALDER. Aye; when the tree’s discover’d.</p> +<p>THOR. Well, now, attend and heed a father’s warning!<br /> +When Odin high from Lidskialf saw thee raving,<br /> +In toils of love, ’mong Norway’s snowy mountains,<br /> +The speech of Mimmer on his heart fell heavy.<br /> +Hear it and tremble! Not for death, O Balder!<br /> +Nor e’en for Hæla, but thy father’s anguish;<br /> +“The year”—such was his word (thou knowest Mimmer,<br /> +And scarce canst think he’d breathe the words of falsehood)—<br /> +“The year when Norway’s desert hills shall echo<br /> +The half-god’s wasted love-caus’d lamentations,<br /> +When he’s rejected by a prophet’s daughter,<br /> +That year shall see the spear which holds his ruin,<br /> +Shall see the gods in grief, and Odin weeping.”<br /> +Hear that and quake! And fly, and spare thy father!<br /> +If not, dote on and die, for that’s thy fortune!</p> +<p>[<i>He disappears among the trees</i>.</p> +<p>BALDER (<i>alone</i>). And must I die? Ah well, I merely +forfeit<br /> +A worthless breath, which is by Nanna hated.<br /> +Ha! hated. How that thought that Nanna hates me<br /> +Torments my breast! Death, only death, can drown it.<br /> +It burns, it scorches me, like Nastroud’s blazes.<br /> +Come, tenfold death, come quickly, and extinguish<br /> +The thought: destroy it, crush it, with this bosom.<br /> +Thanks be to Thor, for he my eyelids lifted,<br /> +Disclosing I had chance of rest—of dying!<br /> +E’en Surtur, he whose hostile fingers planted<br /> +The tree, the black tree, by the feeble starlight;<br /> +Who nurs’d its infant root with blood fresh taken<br /> +From slaughter’d babes, and drew a circle round it,<br /> +And mutter’d magic words, and gave it power<br /> +To shoot the bane of Nastroud in my bosom,<br /> +Was not so cruel as thyself, O Nanna!<br /> +What! cruel? No, by Odin! Pity drove him<br /> +To rear up remedy benign and grateful<br /> +For the dire wound with which thou torment’st me.<br /> +Ah, maid! thou mak’st me look to death with longing<br /> +And yet to die! and die from thee! and never—<br /> +Ha! my heart freezes! The mere word would kill me!<br /> +But then, most likely thou wilt pity Balder,<br /> +And with a hot, a precious tear bedew him!</p> +<blockquote><p>Say, O maid! when thou dost pour<br /> +From thine eyes the briny shower<br /> +O’er a lifeless lump of clay!<br /> +Cease thy weeping, cruel maiden:<br /> +All thy grief is vainly vented:<br /> +See the breast so long tormented<br /> +Which thy pity now should gladden,<br /> +Beats no more and rots away!<br /> +O Nanna! Nanna!</p> +</blockquote> +<p>[<i>He sits down and holds both his hands before his eyes</i>.</p> +<p>LOKE (<i>in the shape of an old Finman</i>). Balder!</p> +<p>[<i>He walks in a crooked attitude, and supports himself upon a knotted +staff. He enters so that his back is turned to</i> BALDER.</p> +<p>Help, ye gods of heaven!<br /> +Oh, I unfortunate! that frost and hunger,<br /> +And fear of bears and wolves and evil spirits<br /> +Should now destroy me on these frightful mountains!<br /> +Oh, that I but beheld a smoke uprising,<br /> +A single trace of a bewildered hunter!<br /> +That I but heard a cheery horn resounding!<br /> +But nothing, nothing! Never, never rises<br /> +A friendly sound among these wildernesses,<br /> +Which human feet till now has never trodden.<br /> +Ah! who will succour me?</p> +<p>BALDER (<i>goes towards him and takes him kindly by the arm</i>). +What ails thee, father?</p> +<p>LOKE (<i>as if terrified</i>). Aha! I can no more! Ah!</p> +<p>BALDER. Come and rest thee!<br /> +Here lean upon my arm!</p> +<p>LOKE. Ah!</p> +<p>BALDER. How thou tremblest,<br /> +My hoary friend! But cast thy terrors from thee—<br /> +There thou art safe: this breast is warmed by pity.</p> +<p>LOKE. Forgive me, sir; forsooth, I was confounded!<br /> +Thou see’st in me a poor and ancient Finman.<br /> +Far, far away from these terrific mountains,<br /> +This year I built of flags and stones my hovel;<br /> +I sought for reindeer—all my wealth; they doubtless<br /> +Were captured by the bear! I, wretched being!<br /> +My sight is feeble, and the night surprised me;<br /> +The wind, as I observe too late, has shifted,<br /> +And not a star is gleaming in the heavens:<br /> +Ah! far must be the way unto my hovel!<br /> +My feet are wearied out, for I have wandered<br /> +The long and chilly night among the mountains.</p> +<p>BALDER. What wishest thou?</p> +<p>LOKE. I die of frost and hunger.<br /> +Whoe’er thou art, and if thou feelest pity—<br /> +Excuse my doubt—yet wouldst thou save the remnant<br /> +Of life which trembles on my lips, conduct me<br /> +Straight to the cheering hearth where bask thy servants.</p> +<p>BALDER. The way would prove for thee too far; but see’st +thou<br /> +The lofty roof behind the forest yonder,<br /> +There, there resides of earth the fairest daughter:<br /> +Thither repair, thou fortunate old stranger!<br /> +There she resides.—Ah! thou wilt be to Nanna<br /> +A dear, a welcome guest! She loves the wretched;<br /> +Her noble heart swells always with compassion<br /> +For every sufferer. Only not—Thou stayest!<br /> +Why go’st thou not?</p> +<p>LOKE. I go; but thou wast speaking,<br /> +Methinks, of Nanna?</p> +<p>BALDER. Yes.</p> +<p>LOKE. Of Gevar’s daughter?</p> +<p>BALDER (<i>astonished</i>). Thou know’st her?</p> +<p>LOKE. No; but oftentimes her bridegroom<br /> +Has come fatigued with hunting, to my hovel.</p> +<p>BALDER. Ah who—</p> +<p>LOKE (<i>turns away as if to depart</i>). She dwells there, +does she?</p> +<p>BALDER (<i>seizes him by the arm</i>). Stay! who is the bride-groom?<br /> +Speak, reptile, speak! Who? When? Reply, thou traitor,<br /> +Or here thou diest!</p> +<p>LOKE. Spare me, sir, in mercy!<br /> +I faint with terror!</p> +<p>BALDER. Speak! by all the powers,<br /> +Thy smallest hair is sacred! I have promised.<br /> +Now, speak!</p> +<p>LOKE. I am an old and harmless creature.</p> +<p>BALDER. But Nanna’s bridegroom?</p> +<p>LOKE. Truly, sir, I wonder,<br /> +That one like thee, a dweller ’mongst these mountains,<br /> +Should know him not, the noblest and the bravest<br /> +Of all the sons of earth.</p> +<p>BALDER. Ye gods of heaven!<br /> +And who? His name?</p> +<p>LOKE. One who is bold as Odin,<br /> +And strong as Thor, and beautiful as Balder.</p> +<p>BALDER. Ha! kill me not, but answer: name him.</p> +<p>LOKE (<i>with a loud voice</i>). Hother!</p> +<p>BALDER (<i>with agitation</i>). What! Who? The +Leire King?<br /> +The Skioldung Hother?</p> +<p>LOKE. Who here is foster’d up by Nanna’s father.</p> +<p>BALDER. Thou killest me! Thou see’st how I tremble!<br /> +Yet, that I never saw him here! Where is he?</p> +<p>LOKE. At Gevar’s.</p> +<p>BALDER. By the gods, it overcomes me!<br /> +What, under Nanna’s roof?</p> +<p>LOKE. At night-time only,<br /> +As I believe; for ere the east hills redden,<br /> +Upstarts he, lovely as a young spring morning,<br /> +And griping firm his lusty spear, he wanders<br /> +Among the rocks. Ah, master! thou hast seen him—<br /> +Withouten doubt thou hast. ’Tis true he hideth<br /> +For some time past his god-like form in wadmal, <a name="citation1"></a><a href="#footnote1">{1}</a><br /> +And rolls beneath a rugged cap his tresses—<br /> +I wonder, wherefore.</p> +<p>BALDER. Ha! thou flash of lightning,<br /> +Which clear’st all up at once! I, wretched madman!<br /> +How senseless was I, and by pride how blinded<br /> +To sons of earth my eyes I never lower’d.<br /> +Ah! is my proud solicitude thus baffled?<br /> +But she can only love the gods, I’m certain!</p> +<p>LOKE. Excuse me, sir, I do not understand thee.<br /> +She loves not Odin half so much as Hother.</p> +<p>BALDER. Fly, slave—begone! for Udgaard, Loke’s +poison,<br /> +Is on thy tongue! That foe of gods has sent thee:<br /> +Thou art his messenger, thou art—thou art, thou traitor!<br /> +Dost dare to linger? But thou art in safety,<br /> +For, worm, thy weakness and my oath protect thee.<br /> +Ha! I myself will fly before my fury. [<i>He goes</i>.</p> +<p>LOKE (<i>he looks contemptuously after</i> BALDER, <i>then raises +himself to his full height, discards at once his assumed figure, and +appears as</i> LOKE). My weakness, mighty Balder? Do not +scorn it!<br /> +To dust and ashes, boaster, it shall crush thee.<br /> +Not Loke’s messenger, but Loke, stung thee.<br /> +Already bellows the young god with torment:<br /> +Hear, Odin! hear thy lov’d one, hear him howling!<br /> +Delay thee not! enjoy his voice and feel it!<br /> +Harmonious is it to the ears of Loke.<br /> +Quick, quick! thou ne’er again, perchance, will hear it.<br /> +Survey him near: how swells each vein with poison,<br /> +Which I have poured into his breast with cunning!<br /> +Soon Odin, soon will thy beloved be silent;<br /> +Soon from thy sight will Balder flit for ever;<br /> +Then will it be thy turn to mourn, O tyrant!<br /> +It comes—the long-protracted day of vengeance!<br /> +It comes—the sigh’d-for hour of retribution!<br /> +How long hast thou not tortur’d Loke’s bowels,<br /> +And fearless trampled ’neath thy feet his offspring?<br /> +Hear Hæl and Fenris’ Wolf, and Midgaard’s Serpent—<br /> +Loud howl they!—hear them night and day proclaiming<br /> +Thy unmatched cruelty with frightful voices!<br /> +Each of them was a god, and fair as Balder,<br /> +But now to earth and heaven, and to myself, a horror:<br /> +Each is a monster, bow’d with chains of darkness.<br /> +The hour’s at hand, the tardy hour of vengeance:<br /> +Already blow I in war’s horn: to combat,<br /> +Up, up ye mighty gods, and rescue Balder!<br /> +There see I him, the hero youth, who only,<br /> +Arm’d with the tree of death by Odin’s maidens,<br /> +Can be—so Fate decrees—this Balder’s slayer.<br /> +And he shall be it: quickly shall he brandish<br /> +The life-destroying bough, if Asa Loke,<br /> +By mighty art and wonderful delusions,<br /> +Knows how to work the maidens to his purpose.<br /> +He comes! I will conceal myself, and listen.</p> +<p>HOTHER, <i>and presently</i> LOKE—<i>the first dressed like +a Norwegian peasant, with a hunting-spear in his hand; the other undistinguished</i>.</p> +<p>HOTHER (<i>he comes down from the rocks and unbinds the skiers <a name="citation2"></a><a href="#footnote2">{2}</a> +from his feet ere he steps forward on the scene</i>).</p> +<p>Upon the oak’s summit,<br /> +A squirrel at play<br /> +Deceives with a rustle<br /> +The hunter so gay;<br /> +He starts, and, low crouching,<br /> +His spear he grasps tight,<br /> +And, swelling up, boundeth<br /> +His hand with delight.</p> +<p>Now quick—be not daunted!<br /> +He’s coming—take heed!<br /> +The bold bear, the old bear,<br /> +Doth hitherward speed.<br /> +Oh, sound the most pleasant<br /> +This ear ever knew!<br /> +He cometh—a bigger<br /> +This weapon ne’er slew.</p> +<p>Thou sovereign of forests!<br /> +Thou pride of thy race!<br /> +Oh, fortunate hunter—<br /> +Oh, glorious chase!<br /> +Now quick! be not daunted,<br /> +He comes—be prepared!<br /> +Where is he, the savage?<br /> +His bellow, who heard?</p> +<p>No more on the oak-top<br /> +The squirrel doth play;<br /> +Deceived has a rustle<br /> +The hunter so gay;<br /> +No sound as he listens<br /> +His hearing assails,<br /> +Save the pattering of leaves<br /> +That are moved by the gales.</p> +<p>There comes he—where? Oh, what a foolish stripling<br /> +Am I, who here about four days have wandered<br /> +In quest of a mere phantom! Surely, Nanna,<br /> +Thou dost deceive me—dost but prove thy lover;<br /> +And think’st thou, virtuous one, that if a godhead<br /> +Came down in light effulgent, and before thee<br /> +Knelt and laid heaven at thy feet—Ha! think’st<br /> +Thou that fear, base doubt of Nanna’s faith and<br /> +Honour, would sully Hother’s breast? I know thou<br /> +Lovest me—thou hast avowed it: what shall then<br /> +This wooer avail—this wooer who must not be<br /> +Anger’d? Why the deception?</p> +<p>LOKE. Hail, thou son of Hothbrod!</p> +<p>HOTHER (<i>astonished</i>). Ha! scarcely do I know myself!<br /> +By Odin,<br /> +I look more like a rugged elf than Hother.<br /> +And who art thou, that knowest me? who art thou?</p> +<p>LOKE. My name is Vanfred! When thy mother bore thee<br /> +I was at hand and swore unto thee friendship.</p> +<p>HOTHER. Grim is thy visage, and thine eye doth promise,<br /> +But little good. What dost thou seek?</p> +<p>LOKE. Whom, Skolding,<br /> +Whom fearest thou? Why hide in yonder vestments?</p> +<p>HOTHER. I fear? thou warlock! Wise thou wert in speaking<br /> +Of friendship!</p> +<p>LOKE. Spare thy wrath my youthful warrior!<br /> +Reserve it for thy foes!</p> +<p>HOTHER. They shall not miss it!</p> +<p>LOKE. And yet ’tis plain thou hidest thee from some one.</p> +<p>HOTHER. It was Nanna bade me. Ha! I blush by heaven!<br /> +When Nanna spake I always blindly listen’d.<br /> +She has disguised me, as thou see’st, stranger;<br /> +She plagues me with her fears; the dreamer would not—<br /> +Would really not—for all the wide world’s riches,<br /> +That the wood goblin, or perhaps some lover<br /> +Invisible, should know me.</p> +<p>LOKE. Pretty folly!<br /> +Balder invisible! the handsome half-god!</p> +<p>HOTHER. What! Balder, son of Odin? He her lover?<br /> +O heaven! Say, where is he? where?</p> +<p>LOKE. With Nanna.</p> +<p>HOTHER. There? Now? (<i>After some refection</i>.) +She drove me out.</p> +<p>LOKE. Perhaps, thou see’st<br /> +That she has rid herself of thee by cunning.</p> +<p>HOTHER. I simply thought the Alf had caus’d thy terror;<br /> +But Balder, false one, he shall soon experience<br /> +That I fear no one. [<i>About to go</i>.</p> +<p>LOKE. Softly, prince! be cautious!<br /> +I see thy courage; but thy foe is mighty.</p> +<p>HOTHER. Is my arm weak?</p> +<p>LOKE. It is against a half-god;<br /> +Yet he can die. I know a spear which slayeth.</p> +<p>HOTHER. Thou dreamest!</p> +<p>LOKE. Spare thy doubts. That spear or nothing<br /> +Can wound his breast.—But see, the sun is rising,<br /> +And I must fly to subterranean places;<br /> +But I’ll forsake thee not. This horn I give thee,<br /> +And when thy need is greatest, then, O Hother!<br /> +Blow strongly in that horn, and turning westward,<br /> +Call thrice aloud on Vanfred—Vanfred! Vanfred!</p> +<p>[<i>The two last times he cries it with a hollow voice, after having +disappeared among the rocks, and the last time of all evidently farther +away than the other. Immediately thereupon a noise is heard among +the rocks, as of distant thunder</i>.</p> +<p>HOTHER, <i>and presently</i> NANNA.</p> +<p>HOTHER (<i>casts away the horn</i>). Accurs’d be thou, +thy horn, and all thy magic!<br /> +Is Hother fearful? Does he crave in battle<br /> +The aid of warlocks and of arts ignoble?<br /> +Is not my arm sufficient? Ha! I’ll show thee!</p> +<p>[<i>He is going; but</i> NANNA <i>meets him at the entrance of the +scene</i>.</p> +<p>NANNA. Where now?</p> +<p>HOTHER. I go to dare the wrath of Balder.</p> +<p>NANNA (<i>affrighted</i>). Ah!</p> +<p>HOTHER. His stern look may teach me how to tremble.</p> +<p>NANNA. O Heaven!</p> +<p>HOTHER. Hold me not!</p> +<p>NANNA (<i>anxiously and affectionately</i>). Where now, my +Hother?</p> +<p>HOTHER. I soon shall find him!</p> +<p>[<i>He goes in spite of</i> NANNA’S <i>endeavour to detain +him</i>.</p> +<p>NANNA. Ah! he goes—he rages;<br /> +And Balder yells with wrath. Some serpent surely<br /> +Has breath’d to-day his poison in their bosoms.<br /> +They hate, they seek each other! Who asunder<br /> +Will hold the raging bears. Ah! who will soften<br /> +The foaming ones? I have this hour expected,<br /> +And long by art have I delay’d its coming;<br /> +But now is art, and prayer, and all else useless:<br /> +E’en now they meet in conflict. I am powerless!<br /> +What can my tears avail? Alas! blood only<br /> +Will satiate them and Heaven: thine must trickle,<br /> +My Hother. What art thou against a half-god?<br /> +When thy fire, Ourath, but glimmers,<br /> +Tears can quench it instantly;<br /> +But it flames, and now ’twere wonder<br /> +Could the weak drops keep it under.<br /> +Ah! thy blazes fierce and cruel<br /> +In the lov’d one’s grief find fuel,<br /> +And are fann’d by plaintive cry.<br /> +Tear, with which mine eye is swelling,<br /> +Thou canst not remove the ill;<br /> +O keep in thou fruitless wailing,<br /> +Let my bosom hide thee still. [<i>She goes</i>.</p> +<h2>ACT THE SECOND.</h2> +<p><i>The three</i> VALKRIER. <i>They are armed as war-maids, +and besides the spears which hang over their shoulders, each has a short +spear in her hand: they take each other by the hands, and walk in a +circle, singing</i>.</p> +<p>ALL THREE. O’er the hill, o’er the dell,<br /> +O’er the sea’s foamy waters,<br /> +Unweariedly ply,<br /> +Valhalla, thy daughters,<br /> +The blood-dropping wing:<br /> +Die, battle, and die!<br /> +Is the bidding they bring.</p> +<p>THE FIRST. Not fever’s foul pains.</p> +<p>THE SECOND. Not hunger.</p> +<p>THE THIRD. Not chains.</p> +<p>ALL THREE. But fight and delight.<br /> +For the brave ever brings,<br /> +Valhalla, thy daughters,<br /> +By light and by night,<br /> +O’er the land and the waters,<br /> +With blood-drooping wing.</p> +<p>THE FIRST. The crash of the spear,<br /> +In deadly career,<br /> +Is alone to me dear.</p> +<p>THE SECOND. The feeble moan press’d<br /> +From the dying man’s breast<br /> +Is what pleases me best.</p> +<p>THE THIRD. The cry on the plain<br /> +Round the corse of the slain<br /> +I list to most pain.</p> +<p>ALL THREE. Die, battle, and die!<br /> +O’er the hill, o’er the dell,<br /> +O’er the sea’s foamy waters,<br /> +Unweariedly ply,<br /> +Valhalla, thy daughters,<br /> +The blood-dropping wing:<br /> +Die, battle, and die,<br /> +Is the bidding they bring.</p> +<p>THE FIRST. I hear the sound of arms; but now it ceases.<br /> +How long will he delay, the noble warrior?</p> +<p>THE SECOND. Whom wait’st thou for?</p> +<p>THE FIRST. And thou? what will my sister<br /> +In this wild spot which blood has never crimson’d?</p> +<p>THE SECOND. What has assembled us? and here where scarcely<br /> +A sword has flashed since days of Jotun Ymer,<br /> +Was it a god or destiny which drove us?</p> +<p>THE FIRST. Thou knowest that the morning sun illumines<br /> +Ten thousand spears on Scotland’s heathy mountains;<br /> +High beats with joy each warrior’s heart. In silence,<br /> +They forward press, and only wait my on-cry.<br /> +Thither would I—but hear the strange adventure<br /> +Which stopp’d my flight upon these rocks. Envelop’d<br /> +In a black, tempest, I a Finman follow’d,<br /> +Who boldly climb’d the mountain summits,<br /> +And sprang o’er every yawning rift undaunted:<br /> +Then saw I Hothbrod’s valiant son. I saw him<br /> +As in the brook he cleans from dust his armour,<br /> +And sharp’d laboriously his rusty dagger,<br /> +And prov’d upon the pine’s thick stem his falchion;<br /> +Then brandish’d he his hunting-spear: far backward<br /> +He drew his nervous arm; I heard the weapon<br /> +Hiss, but my eye beheld it scarce a moment,<br /> +For like the lightning which the black clouds swallow<br /> +It vanished, and the heir vainly sought it.<br /> +Then look’d I round about, and saw my Finman,<br /> +Who held the spear and laugh’d; I storm’d with fury.<br /> +Then down he plung’d within a midnight chasm;<br /> +And from the deep uprose a voice like thunder<br /> +Which slowly booms among the Finnish deserts.<br /> +“Unarm’d,” it bellow’d, “shall the warrior +perish?<br /> +Wither shall he of age, and deep in Hælheim<br /> +Be hidden, far from Odin, far from Valhall.”<br /> +Angry, I rooted up the oaks in search of<br /> +A spear for battle’s friend—and this I fix’d on;<br /> +I gave it tempest’s speed and strength to humble<br /> +Each warrior whom it smiteth, when with wonder<br /> +Of thy fast sounding voice I heard an echo.</p> +<p>THE SECOND. Ye stars! what sorcery! But to me now listen!<br /> +I hasten’d unto Hortha’s gloomy forests,<br /> +To glut myself in Roman blood; then look’d I<br /> +Down from the thunder-cloud in which I journey’d,<br /> +And on these towering hills my eyes I fastened;<br /> +Then saw I Denmark’s Hother, prince of battle,<br /> +Like the rock-pine, which o’er the ocean beetles;<br /> +He stood, and storm-winds with his locks were playing,<br /> +Then from the brake a wolf sprang, grim and frightful,<br /> +And big as Fenri’s Wolf: the Skoldung saw it,<br /> +And brandish’d high his spear. Forth went it booming,<br /> +As booming goes from the cold North a whirlwind;<br /> +Straight vanished wolf and spear; but deep a-forest<br /> +Was heard as from a thousand wolves a howling.<br /> +“See, see,” it howl’d, “the Skoldung Hother +loses<br /> +His spear, and in his hand the sword is fragile.<br /> +Now have we peace, and Norway’s Kemps may slumber.”<br /> +Disturb’d at such dark sorcery, I seiz’d on<br /> +The spear of steel thou see’st, and laid lightning<br /> +And fiends’ death on its point, when I beheld thee.</p> +<p>THE THIRD (<i>who hitherto has stood in deep thought</i>). +Sharp is my sight in war; but here is darkness.<br /> +But do not think that chance and magic<br /> +Here assembled battle’s angry daughters.<br /> +Allfather for the fight prepares; Allfather<br /> +Assembles us with murky wink: I saw him,<br /> +The mighty Thor; wroth was he, and his hammer<br /> +Was in his hand. He stood by Gevar’s dwelling:<br /> +He spoke to me, and soon as e’er I answer’d<br /> +He vanished, thundering in the eastern heavens.<br /> +It is not sport, nor any childish quarrel,<br /> +Be ye assured, makes Thor descend from Asgaard.</p> +<p>THE FIRST. He spake to thee?</p> +<p>THE THIRD. As when the warriors slumber,<br /> +And suddenly are wak’d to thousand dangers<br /> +By din of shields and mingled squadrons’ tumult,<br /> +So tower’d he up and shouted when he saw me,<br /> +And dread and hollow as the ocean’s bellow,<br /> +As moan of forests in the nightly tempest,<br /> +Sounded his voice unto my ear!<br /> +“What, Rota!” he shouted; Rota here! “Ye gods +of heaven!<br /> +Whom seekest thou, where unclomb rocks engirdle<br /> +Peace, smiling peace? O say! whom, sent by Skulda,<br /> +Wilt thou devote upon the stilly mountains?<br /> +But ah! what light had I the power to kindle?<br /> +Dark is my spirit. The terrific Norna,<br /> +She who allots to time, ere it approaches,<br /> +It’s luck, and binds it with determined fingers<br /> +Unto Fate’s will, is silent, and drives Rota<br /> +Far from each plain belov’d where battle rages.<br /> +Yet shook the fatal spear with which conflicting<br /> +Monarchs I greet, at sunrise thrice it trembled;<br /> +And death lies heavy in my arm—that know I,<br /> +But for the victim.</p> +<p>THE FIRST. Threatens Fate our Hother?</p> +<p>THE SECOND. Thor’s fear and even thine betoken danger.</p> +<p>THE THIRD. So seems it. Ah! if it concern’d our +Hother!<br /> +Ye mind full well how high the Danish hero<br /> +I ever lov’d—I saw him by a fountain,<br /> +Dejected, weaponless, and half in slumber;<br /> +But deep into the forest fled the savage,<br /> +From whom he took his sword, the sharp-edged Mimer,<br /> +And Hother’s spear in his rude hands he carried.<br /> +“Retain my falchion, thou ferocious warrior!<br /> +Little in conflict shall it e’er avail thee!”<br /> +So shouted he, and all the rocks resounded.<br /> +Then straight I brought my choicest spear from Valhall—<br /> +Long since I cut it from a lonely wild beech,<br /> +Which, hid from day, grew up in Lapland’s deserts;<br /> +A circle of grey stones stood round about it,<br /> +On each was clotted blood, and bones, and ashes;<br /> +Blood as I cut the spear the stem emitted—<br /> +It crushes stone, and steel, and giants’ armour.</p> +<p>HOTHER, THE OTHERS.</p> +<p>HOTHER (<i>he is armed, but without a spear</i>). Where is +this prince of beauty, Nanna’s half-god?</p> +<p>[<i>He starts slightly upon perceiving the</i> VALKYRIER. <i>They +advance towards him, hand in hand</i>.</p> +<p>Excuse me my astonishment, fair war-maids!</p> +<p>THE FIRST. Hail to thee dauntless warrior, bane of Gelder!</p> +<p>THE SECOND. Hail to thee, Skoldung, valiant son of Hothbrod!</p> +<p>THE THIRD. Hail, hail to thee, my Hother, Leire’s ruler!</p> +<p>HOTHER (<i>astonished</i>.) Ye know me!</p> +<p>THE THIRD. Yes, thou noble youth, and love thee!</p> +<p>HOTHER. Your goodness overwhelms me—to what godhead<br /> +Stand I indebted for this lucky meeting?</p> +<p>THE FIRST. I bring to thee a spear to fight with heroes!</p> +<p>THE SECOND. And this, I hand to thee, can slaughter demons!</p> +<p>THE THIRD. This spear is excellent in fight with Jotuns.</p> +<p>HOTHER. How shall I e’er repay these costly presents?</p> +<p>THE FIRST. Be valiant! fight! send battle’s sons to Valhall!</p> +<p>THE SECOND. Extend the Danish sway and Odin’s worship!</p> +<p>THE THIRD. The sire of many warlike kings of Leire!</p> +<p>[<i>They vanish</i>.</p> +<p>HOTHER. There’s nought but sorcery upon these mountains!<br /> +They’ve vanished! Do I dream to-day? Where am I?<br /> +Sight, feeling, reason are alike enchanted!<br /> +But here, ye gods! here in my bosom rages<br /> +The magic—Vanfred’s poison. Nanna, Nanna!<br /> +Shall I mistrust thee, then—shall I, thy Hother?</p> +<p>[<i>He places the two spears against a tree, whereon he hangs his +shield. That which the first</i> VALKYRIER <i>gave him he retains +in his hand</i>.</p> +<p>The fire which love enkindles<br /> +First warms with bliss the heart,<br /> +But soon, ah! soon the traitor<br /> +Awaketh burning smart!<br /> +Love’s flame at first discloses<br /> +Pure innocence alone;<br /> +But quickly by its splendour<br /> +A deed of guilt is shown.<br /> +O love! thy bliss is vanish’d,<br /> +Thy flame extinguish quite,<br /> +For in my bride black falsehood<br /> +Now only meets my sight.</p> +<p>NANNA, HOTHER.</p> +<p>NANNA (<i>who has stood at the entrance of the scene, and has heard +the latter part of Hother’s song</i>). I overheard thee, +weak, ignoble Hother!</p> +<p>HOTHER. Ah yes, weak! credulous!</p> +<p>NANNA. Save thyself repentance!</p> +<p>HOTHER. Where is thy demigod?</p> +<p>NANNA. This bosom, Hother, acquitteth me;<br /> +That were enough for Nanna, if—</p> +<p>HOTHER. Oh, pray, proceed!</p> +<p>NANNA (<i>affectionately</i>). Lov’d less—</p> +<p>HOTHER (<i>contemptuously</i>). Whom? Balder?</p> +<p>NANNA. Savage! what fiend has pour’d into thy bosom<br /> +His bane of late? Ha! fly from me: detest me!<br /> +Wilt thou love her thou canst mistrust!</p> +<p>HOTHER. Ah, Nanna!</p> +<p>NANNA. I have debas’d myself to excusation<br /> +(Virtue from that, O Hother, ever shrinketh);<br /> +Yet trust’st thou not?—one’s wont to trust the lov’d +one!<br /> +Thou know’st (I told it thee before) that Gevar,<br /> +Thy wise instructor, has declar’d that Heaven<br /> +Threatens a bloody, horrible misfortune,<br /> +In case our love be nois’d about in Asgaard,<br /> +Ere certain stars shall stand in other orbits;<br /> +And canst thou wonder when so great an Asa<br /> +As Odin’s Balder cometh unexpected,<br /> +That I all trembling will conceal—</p> +<p>HOTHER. Ha, trembling!<br /> +My curse upon the slave who first invented<br /> +A word which ne’er my Nanna’s lips should sully;<br /> +Thy excusations kill me! I imagined<br /> +It was a chaste, a maidenish reflection,<br /> +That made my Nanna blush at our affection:<br /> +Unmurmuring I obeyed, and kept in secret.<br /> +Why hast thou ta’en from me that sweet delusion?<br /> +Why spak’st thou not, and say for whom thou tremblest?<br /> +For Balder’s death? Thou lovest then thy half-god.<br /> +But no, ye gods! No, I believe thee, Nanna!<br /> +It is for mine, for Hother’s death, thou fearest.<br /> +Then think’st thou me so weak, so wholly powerless,<br /> +And lov’st me still? When e’er lov’d maids the +dastard?</p> +<p>NANNA. ’Tis no disgrace to quake before a half-god!</p> +<p>HOTHER. ’Fore Odin’s self mere cowards quake. Now +hear me!<br /> +I—I, or Balder, die to-day!</p> +<p>NANNA. O Hother!<br /> +I came to quarrel, came prepar’d with anger;<br /> +But ah, in burning tears it soon has melted.<br /> +Thou die, or Balder! he—a half-god!</p> +<p>HOTHER. Nanna!<br /> +Thy tears insult me sore, and yet—I know not—<br /> +They gladden me—they torture—they enchant me.<br /> +I love them—I excuse them—I—I know not—<br /> +O tear—sweet, bitter tear, desist from flowing!<br /> +Thou showest tenderness—but ah! betrayest<br /> +Mistrust and slight respect!—ah, love thy Hother,<br /> +But oh! believe, he will deserve thee, Nanna:<br /> +Thy heart is far too noble for the coward<br /> +Who beareth shield and sword and yet can tremble.</p> +<p>HOTHER. The slave only feareth.</p> +<p>NANNA. The hero can fall!</p> +<p>HOTHER. Ah then his fame cheereth<br /> +His bride in her thrall.</p> +<p>NANNA. Ah then his bride weeps!</p> +<p>HOTHER. She’s honour’d.</p> +<p>NANNA. She weepeth!</p> +<p>HOTHER. She’s honour’d.</p> +<p>NANNA. And weepeth.</p> +<p>HOTHER. Ah, then his fame cheereth<br /> +His bride in her thrall.</p> +<p>BOTH. Ah then his fame cheereth<br /> +His bride in her thrall.</p> +<p>NANNA. Ah, if thou now fallest?</p> +<p>HOTHER. And if I now fall?</p> +<p>NANNA. Then I shall be wasted<br /> +By ne’er-ceasing smart.</p> +<p>HOTHER. But were my fame blasted<br /> +Then break would thy heart.</p> +<p>NANNA. Oh! what is remaining?</p> +<p>HOTHER. My valour’s proud story.</p> +<p>NANNA. Mere grief and complaining!</p> +<p>HOTHER. My name is thy glory.</p> +<p>NANNA. Oh! if thou now fallest.</p> +<p>HOTHER. And if I now fall,</p> +<p>NANNA. Then I shall be wasted<br /> +With grief and complaining!</p> +<p>HOTHER. My name is remaining;<br /> +But honour once blasted<br /> +We both should lose all.</p> +<p>BOTH. The slave only feareth,<br /> +The hero can fall;<br /> +But then his fame cheereth<br /> +His bride in her thrall.</p> +<p>NANNA (<i>with a terrified look, she seizes</i> HOTHER <i>by the +arm, upon perceiving</i> BALDER). Ah! Hother, come.</p> +<p>BALDER, HOTHER, NANNA.</p> +<p>BALDER. Dost fly me, cruel Nanna!<br /> +Am I so frightful? how have I offended?</p> +<p>HOTHER (<i>will rush towards</i> BALDER, <i>but</i> NANNA <i>makes +every effort to prevent him</i>). Ha, Balder, we have met at last.</p> +<p>NANNA (<i>much agitated</i>). My Hother!<br /> +Ah, if thou lovest me—if thou respectest my prayer—</p> +<p>BALDER. Thy Hother? O, ye gods! how bitter!</p> +<p>HOTHER. To thee, perhaps to me ’tis sweet and grateful!</p> +<p>BALDER (<i>with majesty</i>). Presumptuous one!</p> +<p>NANNA (<i>casts herself in her anguish nearly at</i> HOTHER’S +<i>feet, who is about to lay hands on</i> BALDER). If thou hast +ever lov’d me,<br /> +Come with me, Hother! come unto my father!</p> +<p>HOTHER. What! shall I fly?</p> +<p>NANNA. Do thou whate’er thou pleasest!<br /> +Thou wouldst not have me perish in the forest,<br /> +Thou wouldst not, sure, that I should be a witness—</p> +<p>BALDER. Ha, Nanna! fly not from me!</p> +<p>HOTHER (<i>to</i> BALDER). Thou commandest,<br /> +I say she shall fly from thee. (<i>To</i> NANNA) Come, my +Nanna!<br /> +(<i>To</i> BALDER). But do not thou despair! nor yet imagine<br /> +Thou wilt have long to wait, if wait thou darest.</p> +<p>[HOTHER <i>and</i> NANNA <i>exeunt</i>.</p> +<p>BALDER. Ha! wherefore crush’d I not to earth the brawler?<br /> +But Nanna loves him—and shall Balder render<br /> +Nanna unhappy, cause despair to enter<br /> +Her breast, and dim with tears her eyes’ effulgence?<br /> +And what is his offence, the noble hero?<br /> +He loves—ha, who can gaze upon thy beauties<br /> +And love thee not, proud maiden? But he braves me!<br /> +Ah! he is young and fortunate, and if I<br /> +Had slain him now, ’twas Nanna’s love I punish’d,<br /> +And not his insolence; and, O my bosom!<br /> +Shall thy pure flame dishonour thee? No, Balder!<br /> +Love on and die, but of thyself be worthy!<br /> +Ha, let me lose my life and all, Allfather!<br /> +And Nanna e’en! Yes, let me lose e’en Nanna!<br /> +But not the virtue she herself doth honour!</p> +<p>[<i>He hangs his shield upon a tree, which is opposite to that where +Hother’s hangs, and sets his spear up against it</i>.</p> +<p>True bliss, through virtue only known,<br /> +By virtue’s self deserv’d alone.<br /> +Only for thee doth Balder sigh:<br /> +My sad heart would a heaven disdain<br /> +Which through dishonour it must gain.<br /> +So dear let slaves enjoyment buy!<br /> +Yes, Balder, worthy of thyself continue!<br /> +Canst thou wish Nanna to abandon Hother?<br /> +Wish her whose virtue thy high soul so worships<br /> +Should weak and base become for thy advantage?<br /> +But—does she love him? has he won her promise?<br /> +Who knoweth but she merely has dissembled,<br /> +And shown a fictious flame to prove thee, Balder!<br /> +Transporting dream!</p> +<p>NANNA, BALDER.</p> +<p>NANNA (<i>rushes in, terrified</i>). Ha! Balder if thou +lovest—Ah, if thou—</p> +<p>BALDER (<i>casts himself at</i> NANNA’S<i> feet</i>). +Heavens,<br /> +Nanna! canst thou doubt it?<br /> +I burn, I burn!</p> +<p>[<i>Whilst</i> NANNA <i>in her terror makes every effort to raise +him, they come into a familiar attitude, in which</i> HOTHER, <i>who +has slain bears, and who is wiping the blood from his spear at the moment +he appears, perceives them. He starts, and remains standing among +the trees, so that he cannot hear what they say</i>.</p> +<p>NANNA. Oh, rescue then my Hother!<br /> +Two savage bears among the bushes yonder<br /> +Attack’d him; if thou hast love for virtue,<br /> +Assist him quick; if thou delayest a moment,<br /> +The noblest heart that ever beat they’ll mangle!<br /> +Oh! quick: bethink thee not!</p> +<p>BALDER. No, cruel Nanna!<br /> +Fear not! My arm shall rescue him thou lovest!</p> +<p>[<i>Just as he is about to rise</i> HOTHER <i>steps forward</i>.</p> +<p>HOTHER, THE LAST.</p> +<p>HOTHER. Ye heavens! do I dream! Enamour’d half-god!<br /> +Excuse me for disturbing thee!</p> +<p>BALDER (as <i>he rises up</i>). There is he!</p> +<p>NANNA (<i>goes tenderly to meet</i> HOTHER). Ah, Hother! +Ah, my Hother!</p> +<p>HOTHER (<i>pushes her back with his hand</i>). Go, false woman!</p> +<p>BALDER. Gods, how unthankful art thou—how ferocious!<br /> +Can such a bear of Nanna be deserving?</p> +<p>HOTHER (<i>takes his shield down from the tree</i>). Now, pay +for all, and end thy prate in Valhall!</p> +<p>NANNA. Savage, thou mean’st not sure—</p> +<p>HOTHER. Beware thee, Nanna!</p> +<p>NANNA. Oh, hear me—</p> +<p>HOTHER. I have seen. Go, hide thee, false one!</p> +<p>NANNA. Thou wilt not sure—</p> +<p>HOTHER. I will! And now, by Hothbrod,<br /> +He dieth by my hand!</p> +<p>BALDER. Presumptuous mortal!</p> +<p>HOTHER. Thy shield! thy spear! I hate all vaunt, my half-god.</p> +<p>NANNA (<i>rushes towards</i> BALDER, <i>who taketh his weapons</i>). +O Balder! noble Balder!</p> +<p>BALDER. Ah, poor Nanna!<br /> +Thou see’st he forces me—that death he beggeth!</p> +<p>HOTHER. Ha! this is all too much. Protect him—hide +him!<br /> +Cover thy gallant with thy faithless bosom!<br /> +I will not slay thee; but my oath is uttered,<br /> +That he or I shall fall! And now!</p> +<p>[<i>He turns the point of his spear against himself</i>.</p> +<p>NANNA. Ah, Hother!<br /> +What doest thou?</p> +<p>HOTHER. I’ve sworn!</p> +<p>NANNA. Hold, hold, thou savage!<br /> +I go—I fly. Oh help, ye gods of heaven!</p> +<p>[<i>She goes away in a kind of distraction, but she remains standing +at the entrance of the scene, where she with fearful curiosity looks +on and off the combatants. The warriors go in circle with uplifted +spears</i>.</p> +<p>HOTHER. Now, valiant Balder, call upon thy father!</p> +<p>BALDER. Shame on thee, Hother! Thou offendest Nanna.</p> +<p>HOTHER. Prat’st still, my hero?</p> +<p>BALDER. Well—thou wilt?</p> +<p>HOTHER. Ha, Hothbrod!</p> +<p>[<i>He casts the spear which he had received from the first</i> VALKYRIER, +<i>and had retained in his hand. It striketh</i> BALDER, <i>but +falls, without taking any effect, at his feet</i>. BALDER <i>in +return casts his spear into his left hand, and tears down a huge piece +of the neighbouring rock</i>.</p> +<p>NANNA. Ye gods of Gevar!</p> +<p>BALDER. Nanna!</p> +<p>[<i>He casts his spear behind him out of the scene</i>.</p> +<p>NANNA. Noble being!</p> +<p>HOTHER. Ha! darest thou mock me, thou inflated braggart?</p> +<p>[<i>He takes from the tree the spear which the Valkyrier</i>, ROTA, +<i>gave him, and casts it. It strikes so hard against</i> BALDER’S +<i>breast, that he nearly sinks upon his knee; but it nevertheless falls +to the ground without wounding him</i>.</p> +<p>BALDER. Ha! Surtur, ha! Was that the fell destroyer?<br /> +Fly from my fury!</p> +<p>HOTHER. Cool its heat in Valhall!</p> +<p>[<i>He casts the last spear, which he has seized in the meantime, +but, like the first, without any apparent effect</i>.</p> +<p>BALDER (<i>as he draws his sword</i>). Now, then, presumptuous?</p> +<p>HOTHER (<i>as he likewise draws</i>). Demon! and no half-god!<br /> +Thou blunt’st the spear; but here’s a sword remaining!<br /> +Now, Hothbrod!</p> +<p>[<i>He strikes at him with his utmost force, but the sword reboundeth +from the helm of</i> BALDER.</p> +<p>BALDER. Odin!</p> +<p>[<i>He strikes</i> HOTHER’S <i>sword from his hand, so that +it flies into pieces, seizes him by the arm, and sets his sword against +his breast</i>. HOTHER <i>sinks upon his knee beneath the powerful +grasp, but raises himself immediately, without</i> BALDER’S <i>attempting +to hinder him but he retains him so in his power that he cannot move +himself</i>. NANNA <i>rushes in and casts herself down upon her +knee before</i> BALDER.</p> +<p>NANNA. Generous, noble Balder!</p> +<p>BALDER. Take up thy bride and live!</p> +<p>HOTHER. My life detest I,<br /> +I would not give the smallest hair of Nanna,<br /> +For yet a thousand years thy whole godship!</p> +<p>BALDER. Die, then!</p> +<p>[<i>He lifts his sword like one who will strike</i>.</p> +<p>HOTHER. Why dost delay?</p> +<p>NANNA. Ha! here thou savage!<br /> +Here, strike into this breast and spare my bridegroom.</p> +<p>[BALDER <i>lets his sword sink</i>.</p> +<p>HOTHER. Still, still, thou lovest me? Oh, Nanna! +Nanna!<br /> +There see’st thou, fiend, she loveth me!</p> +<p>BALDER. Ah, torment!<br /> +Ha! I can end thee! [<i>He lifts his sword again</i>.</p> +<p>NANNA. Let my tears prevent thee!</p> +<p>HOTHER. By heavens! she’s mocking thee! If thou +delayest,<br /> +She’ll laugh full at thee in the arms of Hother.</p> +<p>NANNA. Believe him not, but virtue—thine own bosom!</p> +<p>BALDER (<i>sheathing his sword</i>). Live, Hother! live!</p> +<p>HOTHER. Ha! have I begged for mercy?</p> +<p>BALDER. No! Live; forget our strife, thou dauntless warrior!<br /> +Embrace thy friend, and be, as erst, unshackled!</p> +<p>HOTHER. Ha! cruel, proud, and all too noble en’my!<br /> +Thou know’st, thou feelest but too well thy triumph!<br /> +Ha! thou hast overcome, hast humbled Hother!<br /> +And think’st thou he can live? Heard, heard has heaven<br /> +My oath, that I or Balder die!</p> +<p>[<i>He grasps his dagger, and is about to stab himself with it, but</i> +BALDER <i>wrests it out of his hand</i>.</p> +<p>BALDER. Bethink thee!</p> +<p>HOTHER. Ye heavens! Hother! ah! how art thou fallen!</p> +<p>NANNA (<i>affectionately</i>). My Hother!</p> +<p>HOTHER. Ah! farewell for ever, Nanna!</p> +<p>[<i>He goes hastily away</i>. NANNA <i>attempts to follow him, +but</i> BALDER <i>detains her</i>.</p> +<p>NANNA, BALDER.</p> +<p>NANNA. Woe’s me! he will destroy himself.</p> +<p>BALDER. By Odin!<br /> +He shall not! Be composed! believe, I’ve power<br /> +To hinder it! Believe thy Balder, Nanna!</p> +<p>NANNA (<i>she takes with fervour his hand and bends herself for some +time over it</i>). I do believe thee, noble one, I know thee!<br /> +I feel all thy exaltedness. Thy virtues<br /> +I hold in reverence. Oh! that all my friendship,<br /> +That these hot tears were able to reward thee!</p> +<p>BALDER (<i>casts himself upon his knees before her</i>). Oh +glimpse! Oh wave of hope, in which I’m drowning!</p> +<p>NANNA (<i>agitated</i>). What hopest thou?</p> +<p>BALDER. Let not thy lips, oh Nanna<br /> +Awaken Balder from his dream of rapture;<br /> +Let him enjoy it; let him read his destiny,<br /> +His hope, his life, in yonder precious tear-drops.</p> +<p>NANNA. Ah, what avails it ’gainst one’s fate to +struggle?<br /> +My heart can ne’er of Balder be deserving.</p> +<p>BALDER. Ah, that I but—</p> +<p>NANNA. Excuse me now; thou knowest<br /> +I’ve—Ah! a miserable friend to comfort.</p> +<p>[<i>She tears herself away from him, gives a friendly look and goes. +He follows her for some time with his eyes</i>.</p> +<p>BALDER. Yet will I hope! Hear, hear ye rocks! that Balder<br /> +Ventures to hope!—stern fate is now contented!<br /> +Blunted is Surtur’s spear, and Nanna wavers!<br /> +Oh virtue! which, when blood rag’d high didst triumph,<br /> +How sure, how nobly thou reward’st thy lover!<br /> +Ye rocks which so lately gave ear to my groans,<br /> +Now hear of my hope and my gladness the tones,<br /> +And reply ye proud woods that no longer seem drear;<br /> +In vain fate and heaven, oh Balder, have cas’d,<br /> +With vigour the bosom thou lovest, and placed<br /> +In the hand of the hero the sorcerer’s spear.<br /> +Oh virtue! thou still dost thy servant befriend;<br /> +Ye echoes the triumph of true love extend,<br /> +And virtue’s fair guerdon proclaim far and near.</p> +<p>THOR, BALDER.</p> +<p>THOR. Boldly resounds thy song, thou friend of battle!<br /> +So bluster from the hero’s lips the bloody<br /> +Hard-gotten vict’ries, and the slain foes’ praises,<br /> +Whilst he surveys the lonely field of slaughter,<br /> +Thou smilest, pleasure from thine eye is flashing,<br /> +Like Odin’s, when he freed the earth from danger<br /> +By watering it with blood of savage giants.</p> +<p>BALDER. Ha, friend! press thou thy breast unto this bosom,<br /> +And feel what lip but feebly can interpret,<br /> +Feel heaven’s rapture in my soul!</p> +<p>THOR. Thou ravest!</p> +<p>BALDER. Ah! Nanna, friend!—</p> +<p>THOR. Ha! now I understand thee.<br /> +And well it is, full well, that Odin’s Balder<br /> +At length by tears has soften’d Gevar’s daughter!<br /> +This triumph—</p> +<p>BALDER. Thou art mocking!</p> +<p>THOR. No, thy vict’ry<br /> +Shall to me be as one of my most prais’d ones,<br /> +As that I won from Nagaard’s gloomy demon!<br /> +Ha! it is great! It takes from me and Odin<br /> +The dastard fear which has too long tormented<br /> +Our bosoms. I no more thine ear shall weary<br /> +With vain advice. Enough! the maiden loveth.</p> +<p>BALDER. She loveth—yes, by Hæl! she loveth Hother.</p> +<p>THOR. Ha! Balder, dost thou mock me? Whom? +What Hother?</p> +<p>BALDER. Hast Thor forgotten then the valiant Leir-King?</p> +<p>THOR (<i>in thought</i>). No!—by my hammer, no!—I +saw him battle<br /> +At Rolf, the Daneman’s festival; I saw him,<br /> +Strong in his arm.</p> +<p>BALDER. But yet it lost the falchion.</p> +<p>THOR (<i>yet in thought</i>). Before his spear the copper hauberk +yielded<br /> +Like softest wax. Shall he—But scarce a mortal<br /> +Avails thereto—But then if fate—</p> +<p>BALDER. Banish, oh banish,<br /> +These murky thoughts, oh Thor! and share my pleasure.</p> +<p>THOR. Thy pleasure! Do I dream? Loves Nanna, Hother?</p> +<p>BALDER. Ay, doth she!</p> +<p>THOR. That rejoices thee? Thou ravest.</p> +<p>BALDER. Ah hear!—my joy thou wilt thyself approve of.</p> +<p>THOR (<i>after some reflection</i>). Now, noble one, I understand: +embrace me—<br /> +Thy vict’ry’s worthy thee—and me—and Odin.<br /> +On Gevar’s rocks I will myself engrave it.<br /> +Oh! not a weak, soft-hearted maid, but Balder,<br /> +But thee, my friend—the monster in thy bosom,<br /> +Thy love, thy foolish love, thou overcamest.</p> +<p>BALDER. Ah, hush thee, cruel one! I feel I’m blushing.<br /> +Know, I had never o’er my heart less power.<br /> +I burn, and tremble at the thought of seeing<br /> +The flame put out by which I am tormented.</p> +<p>THOR. What do I hear? Ye heavens! can an Asa<br /> +Lose virtue thus, and all—well, quaff thy pleasure!<br /> +And rave and dote! Thou lov’st and art rejected?<br /> +How pleasurably! By my arm, I’m thinking<br /> +The Valkyrie has touch’d thy skull already,<br /> +Thou ravest so—I see thy fate is hastening.</p> +<p>BALDER. My fate’s first law is love.</p> +<p>THOR. Alas, the second<br /> +Is death!</p> +<p>BALDER. And where’s the battle? where’s the slayer?</p> +<p>THOR. The slayer? Hother.</p> +<p>BALDER. Weaponless, despairing,<br /> +He wanders ’mong the rocks. We fought.</p> +<p>THOR. He liveth?</p> +<p>BALDER. Ah, Nanna wept.</p> +<p>THOR. Curst tears! the blood of Asa<br /> +For ye must pay!</p> +<p>BALDER. And friend, had he the power,<br /> +Think’st thou that Hother, that the Skiolding basely<br /> +Would murder him to whom his life he oweth?</p> +<p>THOR. Not so would he. But if he must, what can he<br /> +’Gainst destiny, if she the death-spear hands him,<br /> +And guides herself his arm?</p> +<p>BALDER. Oh, banish, banish<br /> +Thy timid care, and hear and share my transport;<br /> +Just now, as Hother’s life I spar’d there glitter’d,<br /> +Through Nanna’s tears the first, first glimpse of pity;<br /> +Sweetly she smil’d, and granting me her friendship,<br /> +She press’d my hand with loving warmth.</p> +<p>THOR. Ha! vex not<br /> +Mine ear, I pray thee, with thy follies—little<br /> +Is Asa Thor with dastard love acquainted;<br /> +Yet can I see into her heart. She thanks thee<br /> +For Hother’s life: that gives thee joy? Thou dreamest.</p> +<p>BALDER. My life’s the dream thou dost aspire to scatter.</p> +<p>THOR. It is thy death!</p> +<p>BALDER. What death? See fate accomplished!<br /> +Behold this spear which late the Leir-King brandish’d!<br /> +My knee grew weak: I stagger’d when it struck me;<br /> +Yet still I live, and it to earth fell blunted.</p> +<p>THOR (<i>Whilst he surveys the spear</i>). Do not deceive thyself, +this spear was harden’d<br /> +In flames celestial, not in Nastroud’s blazes.<br /> +But death has greeted Odin’s son, and Rota,<br /> +She who invites the hero-kings to Valhall,<br /> +Is here, where never din of arms resounded.<br /> +With terror view’d I battle’s haughty daughter:<br /> +Dark stood she on a rock, enveiled in vapour;<br /> +And on her shoulder, on her steel-cas’d shoulder,<br /> +The bird of death, the mournful owl, sat croaking.<br /> +Whom seeks she, far from every bloody Champain?<br /> +And Surtur’s branch, how soon is that discover’d,<br /> +If fate but wish! And think’st thou Loke slumbers?<br /> +Ah, Balder fly! forget a foolish passion!<br /> +Fly, ere thy fate, which hasteneth, is accomplish’d.<br /> +Follow me straight!</p> +<p>BALDER. What—fly! and give up Nanna!<br /> +The hope in which I live is far too noble<br /> +For me to fly from it.</p> +<p>THOR. O Balder, hear me!<br /> +Hear why I come, and if thou wish’st for rescue,<br /> +Then heed a friend’s, a father’s last, last warning!<br /> +Wondering at thy infatuation, troubled<br /> +By threatening, now no longer dark forebodings,<br /> +By panic seiz’d, press’d by unwonted sadness,<br /> +I left these hills, and thunder-peals announced me<br /> +In Asgaard, every eye my trouble notic’d;<br /> +Straightway around me stream’d the eldest Aser,<br /> +Each first would know, what grief, or rather terror,<br /> +Press’d down my eye. But straight Allfather made me<br /> +A sign: he blushes, Balder, at thy weakness!<br /> +He bade me keep it, whilst we could, a secret,<br /> +And question first once more the ancient Mimer.<br /> +I question’d him, and murky fate’s explorer<br /> +Thus answer’d: “If the sun (ah, hear and tremble,<br /> +And save thee, whilst thou canst!) if it to-morrow,<br /> +When by its glories yonder hills are brighten’d,<br /> +Which oft have echoed back the half-god’s wailings,<br /> +Behold him yet in love and yet rejected,<br /> +Then likewise it beholds the spear which slays him,<br /> +And Odin’s tears and all the Aser’s sorrow!”</p> +<p>BALDER. Time presses, then. Excuse me, Thor; I hasten<br /> +With tears to soften Nanna’s noble bosom,<br /> +To move her with my prayer, and, lowly kneeling,<br /> +My doom demand, be’t life or death; for quickly<br /> +Shall Balder’s fate disclose itself. [<i>He goes</i>.</p> +<p>THOR (<i>whilst he looks after him with compassion</i>). Ah, +madman!<br /> +Headlong thou hurriest to meet destruction!</p> +<h2>ACT THE THIRD.</h2> +<p><i>It is dark night. The storm howls among the rocks. +Sometimes it lightens and thunders, and the bears bellow here and there +in the forest</i>.</p> +<p>HOTHER (<i>sitting upon a rock unarmed and in a dejected attitude</i>).</p> +<blockquote><p>The rocks are reeling,<br /> +When storms are roaring,<br /> +And thunders pealing,<br /> +I feel no fright!<br /> +What I’m enduring<br /> +Is wilder, stranger<br /> +Than thunder’s anger<br /> +Or tempests might.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Welcome, thou night! O darkness thick! how friendly,<br /> +Compassionately hid’st thou me from Hother!<br /> +From him, the weak, the overcome, the fallen!<br /> +Come, then, embrace me, Hœtheim’s murky princess!<br /> +With all thy horrors dark, thou foe of gladness!<br /> +Ah, come! conceal the feeble, shiver’d weapon!<br /> +Cover the gloomy rock where I— Ha! thunder<br /> +Annihilate thee, accursed thought, that darest<br /> +Disturb the Skoldung where to rest he’s flung him!<br /> +But I may breathe it to the night, and Hœtheim<br /> +I may entrust with Hother’s ignominy.<br /> +Ha! hear it, night! and in thy depths conceal it!<br /> +There is a rock—a gloomy one—a horrid,<br /> +For ugly demons swarm upon its summit,<br /> +And dragons nestle in its murky caverns:<br /> +There did I fall, and with me fell my honour.<br /> +There knelt I powerless, and my life accepted!<br /> +Now am I calm, for I no more behold it;<br /> +Nor yet behold the proud, the noble foeman,<br /> +Nor yet my Nanna’s cheek, o’erspread with blushes;<br /> +Nor yet the burning, hated tears which rescued,<br /> +Which purchased Hother from triumphant Balder!<br /> +Ha! storm, thou sinkest! Howl and whoop around me!<br /> +Peal, thunders, peal! and drown the cruel echo<br /> +Of dastard prayer, of Nanna’s intercession!</p> +<blockquote><p>Life of my Nanna,<br /> +Thy breath doth kill,<br /> +Its sweet lamenting,<br /> +One stroke preventing,<br /> +With many, with many<br /> +This breast doth fill.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Thou lovest me! Ha! weak, enamour’d Nanna!<br /> +Thou lovest Hother’s life, but not thy Hother.<br /> +How cold, how cruel to his name, his honour!<br /> +But I—I too was cruel! I accus’d thee—<br /> +Beloved Nanna, at thy feet full quickly<br /> +Hother’s best blood shall wash away that insult!</p> +<p>[<i>He springs up and walks about the scene</i>.</p> +<p>Why do I slumber? Why delay a moment<br /> +To keep my oath? Ha, cruel, cruel destiny!<br /> +E’en death itself thou dost refuse to Hother,<br /> +For every sword and precipice thou hidest;<br /> +Ha, feeble spear! whereon I, fool-like, trusted,<br /> +Where art thou now? and thou my fragile Mimring<br /> +Ne’er frail in fight before; and thou my dagger—</p> +<p>[<i>He stumbles over the horn which he cast away in the first act</i>.</p> +<p>What, what is this? By Hal, the horn which Vanfred<br /> +Gave me wherewith in time of need to call him.<br /> +Ha! by the gods, was ever need so horrid,<br /> +To crave to die, yet want the power of dying;<br /> +Friendship so warm as his will never surely<br /> +Refuse a dagger to this breast.</p> +<p>[<i>He winds the horn, which echoes frightfully among the rocks</i>.</p> +<p>Ha, Vanfred!<br /> +I call thee now; where art thou, Vanfred? Vanfred!</p> +<p>[<i>A whirlwind is heard, and</i> LOKE <i>immediately appears</i>.</p> +<p>LOKE, HOTHER.</p> +<p>LOKE. Hail, hail to thee, most fortunate of heroes!</p> +<p>HOTHER. Ha! darest thou mock Hother?</p> +<p>LOKE. What disturbeth<br /> +A fortune which thy foe himself, which Skulda,<br /> +Which heavenly and subterranean powers<br /> +Establish with united strength?</p> +<p>HOTHER. Old dreamer!<br /> +Lend me a spear, and better right hand shall<br /> +Establish it than all the powers thou namest!</p> +<p>LOKE. I know thy state of mind and wretched project.<br /> +By Nastroud, that worst of fools, if Balder<br /> +Had not thine eyes with Asa magic blinded,<br /> +And hid each dagger, each abyss thou soughtest,<br /> +Ere now in mist thou’dst unreveng’d been lying!</p> +<p>HOTHER. What, has he hindered me, the noble, proud one!</p> +<p>LOKE. Yes, proud; for he despises thee.</p> +<p>HOTHER. Despises!</p> +<p>LOKE. And think’st thou he for sake of pleasing Nanna<br /> +Would e’er have deign’d to guard thee from destruction,<br /> +If he had much regarded Hother’s anger,<br /> +And if thy love one grain of sand he heeded?</p> +<p>HOTHER. Bad art thou, Vanfred; all thy words are poison’d.</p> +<p>LOKE (<i>incensed</i>). Ha! Hother, thou reward’st +in evil fashion<br /> +The friendship and the happiness I bring thee.</p> +<p>HOTHER. What happiness?</p> +<p>LOKE. But come, thy misery sours thee;<br /> +Know, I can straight assuage it!</p> +<p>HOTHER. And delayest.</p> +<p>LOKE. Know then at once, thou lucky son of Hothbrod,<br /> +The spear which sendeth Balder’s soul to Hælheim.</p> +<p>HOTHER. A spear, a spear! ’tis all I—</p> +<p>LOKE. Is discover’d!<br /> +I knew, for I had read it in the planets,<br /> +Valhalla’s battle-loving maids must seek for<br /> +The ne’er seen weapon, and prepare for slaughter<br /> +Its deadly point, and I—yes, I—seduc’d them,<br /> +The haughty three, to seek the spear.</p> +<p>HOTHER. Seduc’d them?</p> +<p>LOKE. And dost thou think they wish the death of Balder?</p> +<p>HOTHER. Ha, Vanfred! more.</p> +<p>LOKE. At first thou hadst not the right one;<br /> +Thy combat, friend, prov’d that. Near then had<br /> +Balder crush’d thee and my design. Aghast I saw him<br /> +Brandish the Jotun’s bane—I’m well acquainted<br /> +With Balder’s strength; but ha! the fool prov’d tender;<br /> +He saw thy bride, and spar’d thee. Then up mounted<br /> +My courage and thine own.</p> +<p>HOTHER (<i>to himself</i>). I blush: my courage!<br /> +(<i>To</i> LOKE). What, courage! I was raging—blind +with fury!</p> +<p>LOKE. Courage of fury—I, by Hæl, care little,<br /> +My youthful hero, which thine eyeball gleams with,<br /> +If thou seek vengence, and thine enemy falleth.</p> +<p>HOTHER. Who art thou—who? But speak; proceed; explain +thee!</p> +<p>LOKE. Strong was thine arm, and strong ’gainst Jotun’s +armour<br /> +Was Rota’s lance, but all too weak ’gainst Balder;<br /> +And yet he kneel’d; I saw the proud one palen.<br /> +But ha! he rear’d himself; my heart then fail’d me,<br /> +For I could best appreciate thy full danger;<br /> +Raised was his arm; bright appear’d the massive falchion;<br /> +He called on Odin’s name, and then none living<br /> +Could save thee but himself—the fool! his lofty<br /> +Courage shall prove his overthrow.</p> +<p>HOTHER. Ha, Vanfred!</p> +<p>LOKE. Well?</p> +<p>HOTHER. I do admire more and more thy wisdom.<br /> +But whilst we fought, where were the maids of battle?</p> +<p>LOKE. They were my dread; I quak’d at every shadow<br /> +And every leaf that mov’d, lest I should see them.<br /> +When I saw that no one of the sisters<br /> +Heard the high call, and din of shield and falchion,<br /> +My courage rose—I knew thou wast in safety:<br /> +They hear no fight where no one’s doomed to perish.</p> +<p>HOTHER. And now the spear thou spak’st about?</p> +<p>LOKE. She has it,<br /> +Valfather’s favour’d maid—his trusty servant,<br /> +At length discover’d by unwearied searching<br /> +The spear by which his much-lov’d son shall perish.<br /> +Shortly ere thou didst call, as in my cavern<br /> +I sat, its vaulted roof begun to tremble.<br /> +Three times my stilly dwelling shook, and o’er me<br /> +A sound assailed my ear; ’twas like the tempest’s<br /> +When it uptears the mountain oak; then heard I<br /> +The voice of Rota; black huge drops did trickle<br /> +Of Jotun blood, of them whom Odin slaughtered,<br /> +Through the rock’s rifts. I knew by all these signals<br /> +That she had found the right, the fatal weapon.</p> +<p>HOTHER (<i>impatiently</i>). Where is it—where?</p> +<p>LOKE. She hardens it in Nastroud.</p> +<p>HOTHER. Peace, dreamer! Go!</p> +<p>LOKE. I see this heat with pleasure,<br /> +And to extinguish all thy doubts, I’ll show thee—<br /> +If thou dare see her—the terrific Rota.</p> +<p>HOTHER. What, Vanfred! if I dare?</p> +<p>LOKE. Enough! Look westward!</p> +<p>[<i>He touches</i> HOTHER’S <i>eyelids. Immediately is +seen the entrance of a vast cavern, which is only illumined by the flames +which, with a continual roaring, now sinking, now rising, appear in +its deepest part. At the entrance, on each side, is a little round +altar. On the one a flame is burning in which lies the fatal spear. +On the other stands a caldron. The</i> VALKYRIER <i>move in a +circle round the first</i>.</p> +<p>THE THREE VALKRIER.</p> +<p>THE FIRST. Flames of Nastroud<br /> +Blaze away!<br /> +The deepmost deeps feel<br /> +Valhall’s May.</p> +<p>THE SECOND. Flames whose roaring<br /> +With dismay<br /> +E’en Asa hears,<br /> +Fate’s voice obey.</p> +<p>ROTA. Poisonous blazes<br /> +Harden a spear<br /> +For Valhall’s May!</p> +<p>ALL THREE. Poisonous blazes<br /> +Harden a spear<br /> +For Valhall’s May.</p> +<p>ROTA. Whom it woundeth<br /> +It shall slay.</p> +<p>THE FIRST. Whom it woundeth<br /> +It shall slay.</p> +<p>THE SECOND. Whom it woundeth<br /> +It shall slay.</p> +<p>ALL THREE. Whom it woundeth<br /> +It shall slay.</p> +<p>ROTA (<i>takes the spear from the fire and goes towards the other +altar</i>). Enough, enough! Now will we in the caldron<br /> +Cool its red point—now backward turns the circle,<br /> +And as we turn, the life of him turns backward<br /> +Whom the spear smites; as quench’d are Nastroud’s sparkles<br /> +Vanish shall the life of him it woundeth.</p> +<p>[<i>She retains the spear in her hand, and all three march round +the caldron</i>.</p> +<p>ALL THREE. In juice of rue,<br /> +And trefoil too;<br /> +In marrow of bear<br /> +And blood of Trold,<br /> +Be cool’d the spear,<br /> +Three times cool’d,<br /> +When not from blazes<br /> +Which Nastroud raises<br /> +For Valhall’s May.</p> +<p>ROTA (<i>she dips it in, and then immediately gives it to the first</i> +VALKYRIE, <i>who does the same, and then hands it to the second, likewise +dips it in the caldron; meanwhile they sing</i>:)</p> +<p>THE FIRST. Whom it woundeth<br /> +It shall slay.</p> +<p>THE SECOND. Whom it woundeth<br /> +It shall slay.</p> +<p>ALL THREE. Whom it woundeth<br /> +It shall slay.</p> +<p>[ROTA <i>takes the spear. The</i> VALKYRIER <i>and the cavern +disappear. The scene appears the same as in the first of this +act. The tempest still continues to rage</i>.</p> +<p>HOTHER. Evanished! sunken! sorcery surroundeth<br /> +My every step, and ties the arm of Hother.<br /> +Fool that I am! the moon will soon break over<br /> +Gevar’s high rocks; and I, by Hothbrod’s ashes,<br /> +Like one who fearfully will prolong existence,<br /> +I’m paying heed to phantoms. Vanfred! Vanfred!<br /> +Fiend, who didst vow me friendship I detested!<br /> +Say, where is now the spear which kills for certain?</p> +<p>LOKE. Thou saw’st it.</p> +<p>HOTHER. Ha! I saw! I saw! Where is it?</p> +<p>LOKE. Do I not know that Odin’s maids prepar’d +it<br /> +Only for thee, that fate will only suffer<br /> +Thine arm in Balder’s heart to thrust it?</p> +<p>HOTHER. Lately<br /> +Thou saidst, think’st thou they wish the death of Balder?<br /> +But now against him they the weapon harden;<br /> +Now Valhall’s maidens hate the noble half-god.<br /> +Hence with thy contradictions, false deceiver!</p> +<p>LOKE. I have already said that I seduced them;<br /> +My subtlety, not they, the spear has harden’d.</p> +<p>HOTHER. Good now! thy subtlety! how nobly Hother<br /> +Passes the night! Proceed with thy narration.</p> +<p>LOKE. Then hear. Thou dost remember Rota’s present.<br /> +The spear which set the haughty half-god kneeling,<br /> +That shiver’d I, and brought it unto Rota.<br /> +I borrowed Tyr’s, the Asa’s dress and figure.<br /> +“Behold,” I cried, “thy spear, thou crafty Rota!<br /> +Late at a Jotun’s foot I found it lying,<br /> +Sent from the Leir-King’s hand; it still was buzzing,<br /> +For strong is Hother’s arm; I knew the weapon,<br /> +And I, who trusted in thy art, I shouted.<br /> +Now ill it stands with yonder mountain Jotun;<br /> +But loud he laugh’d, and straight the lance upsnatching,<br /> +He shiver’d it, and here, O crafty Rota!<br /> +Here bring I back to thee the precious fragments!”<br /> +With joy I saw her eyes with fury flashing,<br /> +She swore by Odin’s arm, by all the powers,<br /> +And by the highest Godhead—by Allfather,<br /> +Restless to search till she a spear discover’d<br /> +With power to slay the strongest son of Ymer,<br /> +And all who could be slain. She swore and vanished.<br /> +Then seem’d it—then, by Hæla’s mists, then seem’d +it<br /> +As if fate only for that oath had waited.<br /> +Three times above me thunder’d the high Norna;<br /> +She spake; but terrible is Skulda’s thunder;<br /> +I cannot bear its sound; I swift departed;<br /> +But soon was conscious of our spear’s discovery.<br /> +Then thou didst call— But hear the heavy pinions!<br /> +’Tis she! ’tis Rota! I aside must hasten;<br /> +For Valhall’s maids detest me. [LOKE <i>goes aside</i>.</p> +<p>HOTHER, and presently the Valkyrie ROTA.</p> +<p>HOTHER (<i>he pursues</i> LOKE<i> with a contemptuous look</i>). +Outcast!<br /> +Ha! dastard slave! and thou didst swear me friendship!<br /> +No, ne’er hast thou been Hother’s friend, thou traitor,<br /> +But the sworn enemy of the gods and virtue!</p> +<p>ROTA (<i>handing him the fatal spear with a half-averted countenance</i>). +Here, son of Hothbrod! here, my much-lov’d warrior!<br /> +Receive this spear, and use it as—</p> +<p>HOTHER. Thou weepest!</p> +<p>ROTA. Thou saw’st my tear—dear and noble the blood +is<br /> +Which it forebodes; but do thou use this weapon!<br /> +Yet ’tis no gift of mine—’tis that of Skulda.</p> +<p>HOTHER. I know thou fearest for the generous Balder;<br /> +But, noble maid, if thou my heart see’st into,<br /> +Thou know’st that he is safe as Thor in Valhall.</p> +<p>ROTA. Think’st thou to thwart the Norna’s will, +young hero?<br /> +She pointed out the hidden tree; she bade me<br /> +Break off the bough of death; she bade me harden<br /> +Its point in Nastroud’s flames; she— But what will I?<br /> +My tears are wasted, like thy noble project.<br /> +Well, then: use thou this spear! Death is its surname,<br /> +And whom it smites eternal sleep shall fetter<br /> +In Hælheim’s silent night, if he is mortal;<br /> +The immortal demon, whose eye by hate and wickedness<br /> +Is clouded, ’twill plunge to torments of a thousand winters.<br /> +Mark that, and use it well! Thy breast is noble;<br /> +But him, the wretch! who breathest poison in it,<br /> +(Full well I know he’s near) him shalt thou punish.</p> +<p>[ROTA <i>disappears</i>.</p> +<p>HOTHER, <i>and presently</i> LOKE.</p> +<p>HOTHER. Now, now! is all a dream? Yet, I’ve the +weapon!<br /> +How welcome death! my noble foe no longer<br /> +Shall hide thee from me, nor of thee deprive me;<br /> +Now can I keep what I have sworn! O Nanna!<br /> +I bring a noble offering to thy virtue!</p> +<p>[<i>He is going, but</i> LOKE <i>meets him at the entrance</i>.</p> +<p>LOKE. Whither? thou Fortune’s fav’rite!</p> +<p>HOTHER (<i>sharply</i>). Ha! to Hælheim.</p> +<p>LOKE. Hother, I scoff thy wise determination.</p> +<p>HOTHER (<i>incensed</i>). Thou scoffest?</p> +<p>LOKE. Yes, thou holdest thy foeman’s life,<br /> +And thou wilt die.</p> +<p>HOTHER. What foeman’s?</p> +<p>LOKE. Whose, if not Balder’s?</p> +<p>HOTHER. Ah, my life he gave me!<br /> +And though I hold the gift in little value,<br /> +I took it still. And shall his lofty spirit<br /> +His downfall prove? Shall I, shall Hother punish<br /> +The pity I craved not?</p> +<p>LOKE. By Hæl! he’s coming!<br /> +Waste not the moments in these foolish visions.</p> +<p>HOTHER. What wouldst thou?</p> +<p>LOKE. Stand behind that pine, and kill him!</p> +<p>HOTHER. Ha! dastard slave!</p> +<p>[<i>He strikes</i> LOKE <i>on the head with the spear, and he instantly +sinks howling into the earth. He is no sooner out of sight than +everything becomes quiet. The sun rises in its full majesty. +After</i> HOTHER <i>has for some time looked on all this with astonishment, +he says</i>:</p> +<p>Like thee fall every traitor<br /> +Who breatheth wickedness in the Skiolding’s bosom!<br /> +Ha, Balder! [<i>He goes somewhat aside</i>.</p> +<p>HOTHER. BALDER.</p> +<p>BALDER (<i>without perceiving</i> HOTHER). Gloomy was this +night and horrid!<br /> +Around about me angry gods consulted.<br /> +What seek they? To affright the soul of Balder?<br /> +Now all is still.</p> +<p>HOTHER. Now unconcern’d and haughty<br /> +Walks the high demigod! Ah, little thinks he<br /> +Each breath he draweth is the gift of Hother.</p> +<p>BALDER. Who utter’d Hother’s name? I heard +it utter’d,<br /> +But all is hushed as death. I know not wherefore<br /> +That name affects me more than any other,<br /> +And why within mine ear ’tis ever buzzing.<br /> +Ah! can I more than pity him, poor mortal!<br /> +Who now his life and feebleness bewaileth,<br /> +And trembles weaponless at his own shadow.</p> +<p>HOTHER. Ha, now! for that is worthy of the Skoldung;<br /> +I’ll be as proud as thou, and fly thy presence! [<i>He goes</i>.</p> +<p>BALDER. Who’s speaking here? Who dares disturb +my musings?<br /> +But, know I not that Finnish fiends are swarming<br /> +Upon the rocks! The sun approach’d the ocean,<br /> +And yet I found not Nanna: all deserted<br /> +Was Gevar’s house, and hollow rang each echo<br /> +Of Balder’s sighs. Where was she, then? where was she?<br /> +Ah! Hother charm’d thee. In the arms of Hother<br /> +Thou didst not hear my sighs, my timid knocking,<br /> +And my enamour’d call, thou cruel maiden!<br /> +And what if I had found thee? Then thine answer<br /> +Most probably had prov’d the death of Balder.<br /> +I know myself no more; my heart it flutters,<br /> +And here about it creeps unwonted chillness.<br /> +Yes, Nanna! yes; ’twas thou taught’st me to tremble.<br /> +Ah! belov’d maiden! I, a half-god, tremble<br /> +When thou but breathest, when thy lip thou movest,<br /> +As if to utter No, thy lip is open’d.<br /> +Oh, hush! and let me sink with hope to Hælheim!<br /> +But did I not behold thine eye beam friendship<br /> +On Balder? felt I not thy warm tear trickle<br /> +Upon this hand? and saw I not thy blushes?<br /> +Ha! I’ll think through, I will enjoy entirely<br /> +My hope: why then, my heart, beat’st thou so wildly?<br /> +And why in Balder’s eyes are tears uprising,<br /> +And hope to me a stranger? Oh, my treasure,<br /> +Thou teachest me a dastard’s fear! I tremble<br /> +Now I’ve a glimpse of hope to be depriv’d of.<br /> +Ah! if ’tis torn from me again, if Nanna—<br /> +Oh doubt! oh fear with which my heart is tortur’d!<br /> +Yes, Thor, my friend, thy words were truth and wisdom;<br /> +That pity that she showed was thanks for sparing Hother:<br /> +She trembled but for Hother—for the lov’d one:<br /> +Each tear but begged his life. What cruel delusion<br /> +Has led my soul astray? Ah, wretched meteor<br /> +Of empty hope! thou, thou for me couldst glitter,<br /> +As if I had been ignorant of her hatred.<br /> +Ha! she has ever fled my path, my shadow;<br /> +And when, to my own torment, once I wrested<br /> +From the proud maid some sort of heed and answer,<br /> +’Twas mockery mere: she called herself unworthy<br /> +To be great Balder’s bride and Odin’s daughter,<br /> +And held my love-sick sighs for jest and flatt’ry.<br /> +Yet never have I heard the word which killeth,<br /> +Without the aid of Surtur’s deadly sapling—<br /> +The No, the frightful No, by Nanna utter’d.<br /> +Ha! I will hear it! Yes, by Hælheim’s darkness!<br /> +My tears shall now extract that No from Nanna.</p> +<p>NANNA, BALDER.</p> +<p>NANNA (<i>she rushes distractedly in upon the stage</i>). Ah!<br /> +No one answers me! Do thou give hearing<br /> +To Nanna’s hard rock, which no god heedeth!<br /> +My anguish ease! Reply! Ah, where’s my lov’d +one?</p> +<p>BALDER (<i>aside</i>). My fate will have it so. Ha, Nanna.</p> +<p>NANNA. Show me,<br /> +Ye silent forests, shades once lov’d, now awful,<br /> +Oh, show me him—disclose me my dearest!</p> +<p>BALDER (<i>aside</i>). Ha! shall I? Dare I?</p> +<p>NANNA. Ah, where art thou, Hother?<br /> +Perhaps in an abyss, all crushed and bloody<br /> +And silent! Woe is me! for ever silent!</p> +<p>BALDER (<i>springing to her</i>). Dear Nanna! Oh what +terror—</p> +<p>NANNA. Ha! I’ve seen him!<br /> +The direst dream has shown to me my Hother!<br /> +Close by a yawning chasm was he standing,<br /> +And round about him bellow’d hideous monsters.</p> +<p>BALDER. Thine—as thou callest him—thine Hother +liveth.</p> +<p>NANNA (<i>whilst she recognizes</i> BALDER). Ha Balder! thou +hast slain him! Ah, forgive me!<br /> +My dream confuses me—thou see’st I tremble.<br /> +I heard the fall of gods—the gods lamenting;<br /> +And bloody by the Hall there stood a spectre:<br /> +Big was the ruddy wound whereto it pointed.<br /> +Like one deep musing it conceal’d its visage;<br /> +But big the tears were through its fingers streaming:<br /> +Ah, the pale son of night was tall as Hother!</p> +<p>BALDER. Ha! Hother can’t be dead.</p> +<p>NANNA. I do believe thee;<br /> +But ah! I cannot rest—I cannot, Balder,<br /> +Till I have seen his face, have spoken to him,<br /> +Embrac’d his arm, and press’d it to this bosom.</p> +<p>BALDER (<i>distractedly</i>). Ha, Nanna! this is more—’tis +more, by Odin,<br /> +Than I can bear!</p> +<p>NANNA (<i>terrified</i>). Ye mighty gods of heaven!<br /> +Thou fright’nest me, forlorn one!</p> +<p>[<i>She endeavours to escape, but</i> BALDER<i> detains her by force, +and flings himself at her feet</i>.</p> +<p>BALDER. Oh my Nanna!<br /> +Stay! by these burning tears I do adjure thee,<br /> +By all my sufferings! Stay, oh stay!</p> +<p>NANNA (<i>with disquiet</i>). What wilt thou?</p> +<p>BALDER. I scarcely know! Ah! I have hop’d, +dear Nanna!</p> +<p>NANNA. Unhand me! Let me fly! What hast thou hop’d +for?<br /> +Thou know’st who has my love. Unhand me, Balder!</p> +<p>BALDER. No, by the gods! here at thy feet I’ll hear thee<br /> +Pronounce my doom. Is there no hope remaining?<br /> +Can all my tenderness—these tears—can nothing<br /> +Soften thy cruelty? Oh, answer, Nanna!<br /> +Say so at once! Plunge in my heart the dagger!</p> +<p>NANNA. Ah, wherefore, Balder, dost thou love a mortal?</p> +<p>BALDER. Perhaps thou doubtest my love, perhaps thou wishest<br /> +Its whole extent. Ha, towards Heaven<br /> +I’ll lift my better hand, and vow eternal,<br /> +Eternal tenderness to thee, my Nanna!<br /> +If greater proofs thou wish’st for, do but name them,<br /> +That I may show to thee how dear I love thee!</p> +<p>NANNA. Ah, Balder, spare me! spare thyself! What wilt +thou?<br /> +How often have I said my heart can never<br /> +Merit the like of thee!</p> +<p>BALDER. Accurst evasion!<br /> +Why dost thou seek to spare me? Crush me! kill me!<br /> +Say that thou never wilt!</p> +<p>NANNA. Ah, I love Hother!<br /> +How can I?</p> +<p>BALDER. Perhaps thou only think’st thou lov’st +him.<br /> +Can he deserve thee, Nanna? he, a mortal?</p> +<p>NANNA (<i>incensed</i>). He loveth virtue, Balder; he is valiant,<br /> +And great is he ’mongst kings; he ruleth over<br /> +The Danes!</p> +<p>BALDER. I’m more than any king, oh Nanna!</p> +<p>NANNA. Wert thou a god, I’d still have none but Hother!</p> +<p>BALDER (<i>stretches his right hand despairingly towards heaven</i>). +Although rejected—hear it all ye heavens—<br /> +Although rejected, I will love thee, Nanna!</p> +<p>[<i>He has scarcely finished speaking when the Valkyrie</i> ROTA<i> +appears. The Bird of Death sits upon her shoulder. She averts +her countenance, touches his skull with her spear, and says</i>:</p> +<p>To battle, friend! to wounds, and fall, and darkness!</p> +<p>[<i>She immediately disappears, and as</i> BALDER<i> and</i> NANNA<i> +have their backs turned to her, and have both been too attentive to +themselves to observe any one else, she is neither seen nor heard but +by the spectators</i>.</p> +<p>BALDER (<i>he springs up like a maniac, and holds his hand for some +time before his head</i>). Ha! how I’m dreaming! how I waste +my moments<br /> +In dastard sighs, bewailing like a woman!<br /> +And have I not a shield and sword? To battle!<br /> +To battle, Balder! Let thy broad sword glitter!<br /> +Lift high the sword, cleave down the haughty warrior,<br /> +And dip thy spear in blood, thou son of Odin!<br /> +Ha! din of shield ’gainst shield, and battle’s bellow,<br /> +They, they shall gladden me—and deafen Nanna!<br /> +And I will cool this heart in blood of Kempions!</p> +<p>[<i>He draws his sword, and runs away in madness</i>.</p> +<p>NANNA (<i>alone</i>). Ye heavens! what did he mean? Alas, +he rages!<br /> +Wretch that I am! he goes to slay my Hother!</p> +<blockquote><p>My hopes ye annih’late,<br /> +Ye powers of the sky!<br /> +Who’ll strengthen me, fainting,<br /> +Against the god’s might?<br /> +Who’ll heed my lamenting,<br /> +My sorrowful plight?<br /> +Ah! whom can I wend to?<br /> +Will earth e’er attend to<br /> +A powerless cry,<br /> +Which cruel gods smile at?<br /> +My hopes ye annih’late,<br /> +Ye powers of the sky!<br /> +Ha! ye have crush’d my heart! Oh Hother! Hother!<br /> +Where art thou? Ah! I can no more! I’m swooning!<br /> +O Death! O Freya!</p> +</blockquote> +<p>[<i>She supports herself, fainting, against a tree</i>.</p> +<p>HOTHER, NANNA.</p> +<p>HOTHER (<i>he rushes up to her in alarm</i>). Dearest!</p> +<p>NANNA (<i>looking stiffly upon him</i>). Ah! my Hother!</p> +<p>HOTHER. So wild! so pale! Ah! would thy noble bosom<br /> +Was not so tender!</p> +<p>NANNA. Voice of my belov’d one!<br /> +Oh, speak again! Oh, speak again!</p> +<p>HOTHER. Thou tremblest,<br /> +My bride! my much-lov’d bride! And burning tear-drops,<br /> +Oh, hide them! Ha! they burn me—melt my courage!<br /> +Weep not, my bride!</p> +<p>NANNA. Ah, joy! the joy of heaven,<br /> +Entices forth these tears! My Hother liveth!</p> +<p>HOTHER (<i>mournfully</i>). Still liveth!</p> +<p>NANNA (<i>affectionately and sorrowfully</i>). Still!</p> +<p>HOTHER (<i>turning away his face</i>). O cruel, cruel fortune!<br /> +Yet I have sworn?</p> +<p>NANNA. Fright me not, my Hother!<br /> +Affright me not! What mean’st thou? Mighty powers!<br /> +Thine eyes thou turnest from thy bride!</p> +<p>HOTHER (<i>looking upon her with tenderness</i>). Ah, Nanna!</p> +<p>NANNA. Ha! tears on Hother’s cheeks! Oh, save me, +Freya!<br /> +What means this? Oh, I die!</p> +<p>HOTHER (<i>he embraces her with violence</i>). Oh, dearest +Nanna!</p> +<p>NANNA. Oh heaven! say—</p> +<p>HOTHER (<i>embraces her again</i>). Once more, my bride!</p> +<p>NANNA. I tremble<br /> +What means this?</p> +<p>HOTHER. Canst thou bury in oblivion<br /> +Thy Hother’s cruel doubt? Say, canst thou pardon<br /> +His only crime?</p> +<p>NANNA. Think’st thou I can remember<br /> +That Hother e’er has err’d?</p> +<p>HOTHER. How nobly spoken!<br /> +Farewell, my bride! farewell, for ever.</p> +<p>[<i>He embraces her for the third time, and is going; but she holds +fast his arm</i>.</p> +<p>NANNA. Cruel!<br /> +If thou hast ever lov’d me—</p> +<p>HOTHER. Canst thou doubt it?<br /> +By Odin, more than the best light! Can Hother’s<br /> +Tears not make bare to thee his heart?</p> +<p>NANNA Then wherefore<br /> +Wouldst thou fly from me!</p> +<p>HOTHER. Honour calleth—Honour!<br /> +And that—forgive me—that is more than Nanna.<br /> +Ha! I must fly from thee! Each tear thou sheddest<br /> +Enfeebles but my heart, and makes death bitter.</p> +<p>[<i>He is going</i>.</p> +<p>NANNA.. If thou regard’st my vow—regard’st +my terror,<br /> +Wouldst thou not see me die, and die distracted—</p> +<p>HOTHER. What wilt thou?</p> +<p>NANNA. Ah! a prayer!—oh how I tremble—<br /> +But if thou meetest Balder—</p> +<p>HOTHER. I avoid him!</p> +<p>NANNA (<i>astonished, and calmer</i>). What! thou avoid’st +him?</p> +<p>HOTHER. Think’st thou I bear hatred<br /> +’Gainst one who yielded thee a glimpse of pleasure?<br /> +One—nearly one of Hother’s days? He gave me<br /> +My life, and shall I slay him in requital?<br /> +Oh! Nanna, . . . I’ve the mighty thought imagined;<br /> +But with it trembles yet my lip—oh, canst thou<br /> +Pay virtue its reward—forget for ever thy Hother,<br /> +And—in course of time—love Balder?</p> +<p>NANNA. Oh, hush! oh, hush! my Hother!</p> +<p>HOTHER. He is virtuous,<br /> +He loves thee well, and Odin is his father.</p> +<p>NANNA. How cruel!</p> +<p>HOTHER. I must fly from thee for ever!</p> +<p>NANNA. Oh horror! Whither? What is thy intention?</p> +<p>HOTHER. To die! Thou know’st my oath! Ha! +the sun hastens!<br /> +Seest thou how high? I swore by Hothbrod’s ashes<br /> +With Balder not to live a day! Release me!<br /> +Ha! seest thou how high—</p> +<p>NANNA. And I have sworn too,<br /> +By tenderness, by Freya, by my bosom,<br /> +I’ll not release thee; I thy track will follow<br /> +In the black night of death! This arm I’ll cling to,<br /> +And my tear-moisten’d eye, until it bursteth,<br /> +Shall gaze on thee, shall gaze on thee, its Hother!</p> +<p>HOTHER. Then be courageous—of thy Hother worthy!<br /> +Think on his oath, and—</p> +<p>NANNA (<i>she releases him</i>). Ah, what wilt thou, Hother?</p> +<p>HOTHER. And see him die!</p> +<p>[<i>He lifts his spear to stab himself. At that same moment +the frantic</i> BALDER<i> rushes upon the scene</i>.</p> +<p>BALDER, HOTHER, NANNA.</p> +<p>BALDER (<i>he runs directly up to</i> NANNA). Come! follow +me now, Nanna!<br /> +Our bridal festival’s prepar’d in Hælheim,<br /> +In Asgaard. Follow me, thou murky daughter<br /> +Of joy! Ha, quick! Of dastard love I dream not.<br /> +Jotuns await my arm. Hurrah! thou stayest!<br /> +Thou stayest! Come!</p> +<p>[<i>He seizes her by the arm, and seeks to drag her away by force</i>. +HOTHER<i> steps between, and endeavours to thrust him aside with his +hand</i>.</p> +<p>NANNA. Oh, save me! save me, Hother!</p> +<p>HOTHER. Hold, Balder!</p> +<p>BALDER (<i>he releases</i> NANNA, <i>and drawing his sword, hews +at</i> HOTHER <i>with his utmost might, who seeks to parry the blow +with his spear, retreating at the same time). Fall, presumptuous +wretch</i>!</p> +<p>HOTHER. Beware thee!</p> +<p>BALDER. Fall, nidding!</p> +<p>HOTHER. Ha, beware thee!</p> +<p>BALDER. Die!</p> +<p>[<i>He stumbles, and runs the spear into his breast; whereupon he +immediately drops his sword and sinks upon one knee</i>.</p> +<p>HOTHER. Ha, Balder!</p> +<p>BALDER. Ha, Nanna!—Thor! I have deserv’d +my fortune.</p> +<p>[<i>He dies, and a mighty whirlwind passes over the scene</i>.</p> +<p>NANNA. Ye heavens!</p> +<p>HOTHER. He is dead, the mighty Balder!</p> +<p>A VOICE FAR AWAY IN THE FOREST. He is dead, the mighty Balder!</p> +<p>MANY VOICES, <i>which answer one another amongst the rocks</i>.<br /> +The mighty Balder is dead.</p> +<p>[<i>It thunders</i>; ODIN <i>and</i> FRIGGA <i>appear upon a cloud +in a very mournful attitude</i>. THOR <i>and many of the</i> ASER +<i>come forward from one side of the wood, and the three</i> VALKYRIER +<i>from the other</i>.</p> +<p>THOR (<i>and his retinue</i>). Odin, thy Balder is dead!</p> +<p>CHORUS. Thunders, burst your cloudy portals!<br /> +Heaven, earth, and ocean rave!<br /> +Weep ye gods, and mourn ye mortals,<br /> +O’er the mighty Balder’s grave!</p> +<p>THOR. Gods of battle stern and gory,<br /> +Weep ye o’er the hero slain!<br /> +Balder, thou the Aser’s glory!<br /> +Love, base love, has prov’d thy bane.</p> +<p>CHORUS. Balder, thou the Aser’s glory,<br /> +Love, base love, has prov’d thy bane.</p> +<p>ROTA. I of slaughter swift purveyor,<br /> +Sorrow o’er the hero slain!<br /> +Balder, thou the Jotun-slayer,<br /> +Loke’s falsehood was thy bane.</p> +<p>CHORUS. Balder, thou the Jotun-slayer,<br /> +Loke’s falsehood was thy bane.</p> +<p>HOTHER. Hother’s burning tears are flowing<br /> +O’er the mighty Balder slain;<br /> +Ah, thy heart with virtue glowing,<br /> +Noble Balder, was thy bane.</p> +<p>CHORUS. Ah, thy heart with virtue glowing,<br /> +Noble Balder, was thy bane.</p> +<p>NANNA. Nanna weeps with pallid feature<br /> +O’er the mighty Balder slain:<br /> +Friend of gods and every creature!<br /> +Fate alone has prov’d thy bane.</p> +<p>CHORUS. Friend of gods and every creature!<br /> +Fate alone has prov’d thy bane.</p> +<p>MANY VOICES <i>answer one another among the rocks</i>. The<br /> +mighty Balder is dead!</p> +<p>CONCLUDING CHORUS. Thunders, burst your cloudy portals!<br /> +Heaven, earth, and ocean rave!<br /> +Weep and howl, ye gods and mortals,<br /> +O’er the mighty Balder’s grave.</p> +<h2>EXPLANATION OF THE MYTHOLOGICAL WORDS AND NAMES.</h2> +<p>ALLFATHER was one of Odin’s surnames, but it signifies in this +piece the highest being, who governs all things, and Odin himself.</p> +<p>ALF, a spirit; the same as Demon amongst the Greeks. There +were good and bad Alf’s or Elves, light and black, as the Edda +calls them.</p> +<p>ASER, was one of Odin’s surnames, and on that account the name +of Aser was given to all the gods.</p> +<p>ASGARD, the castle or city of the gods, erected by Odin and his brothers.</p> +<p>THE FALL OF ASGARD. At the end of the world the heavens were +to burst, and the castle of the gods to fall.</p> +<p>BALDER, son of Odin and Frigga, the best and most beautiful amongst +the Aser. His death and the circumstances which caused it in this +piece—that is, the whole plot—are taken partly from the +Edda (43rd, 44th and 45th falle), partly from the third book of Saxo, +and something is, according to poetic license, added or altered.</p> +<p>FENRI’S wolf, was begot by Loke with the giantess Angerbode. +This wolf in the conflict of Surtur with the gods was to swallow Odin, +who on account of this prophecy kept him in chains.</p> +<p>FIGHT AND DEATH OF GODS. At the destruction of the world, Odin +and the other gods were to fight with Surtur and his train, and all +to perish in this conflict. This period is termed, in the Edda, +Ragnarokr, the “twilight of the gods.”</p> +<p>FIND, a Trold or Demon of this name.</p> +<p>FREYA, the most exalted of the goddesses next to Frigga. She +was the protectress of the human race in general, but particularly of +lovers.</p> +<p>FRIGGA, the wife of Odin and the mother of Balder; the most exalted +of all the goddesses.</p> +<p>GELDER, king of the Saxons (according to Saxo, in the life of Hother). +He is presumed here to have been killed by Hother, who is therefore +called “the bane of Gelder.”</p> +<p>GEVAR, according to Saxo, a spæman or prophet, the father of +Nanna and the foster-father of Hother. He makes him likewise king +of Norway; but Giver is not so in this piece.</p> +<p>HÆL <i>or</i> HÆLA, the goddess of death. She was +the daughter of Loke and the giantess Angerbode, and was hurled down +by Odin to her horrible habitation.</p> +<p>HÆLHEIM, Hæl’s dwelling. In the Edda it is +called Helim, that is, Hell; but as the word Hell has now a different +signification, it was necessary to invent here a word to express Hæl’s +dwelling.</p> +<p>HÆLWAY, the way of the dead, or the path to Hælheim.</p> +<p>HERTE, HERTA, <i>or</i> HERTHA, the earth, considered as a divine +being and worshipped as a goddess by the old German and Northern people, +as likewise by the Romans and others. The Edda calls this goddess +Jörd (that is, earth), and makes her the daughter and wife of Odin, +and the mother of Thor, his first son.</p> +<p>HERTEDAL, the place in Sielland where Herte’s grove was.</p> +<p>HOTHBROD, the father of Hother, according to Saxo, who makes him +king of Sweden, and thus Hother a Swede. Contrary to which, the +author of this piece found himself justified in reckoning Hother amongst +the Skioldungs.</p> +<p>HOTHER, according to Saxo, was king of Denmark and Sweden; but his +Life, by the same, is a chain of fables, which has yet given considerable +occasion to the contents of this piece.</p> +<p>LEIRE, the ancient place of residence of the Danish kings, whence +they were termed “Kings of Leire.”</p> +<p>LIDSKIALF, in the Edda Klidskialf, a place in Asgard from which Odin +surveys the whole world.</p> +<p>LOKE, a very wicked god, who, according to the Edda, was the cause +of the death of Balder, and was therefore conducted by the other gods +to a cavern, where they chained him to three rocks, there to suffer +the most painful punishment until the destruction of the world. +By the giantess Angerbode he begot Fenri’s Wolf, Midgard’s +Serpent, and Hæl. He was reckoned among the Aser, and was, +notwithstanding his wickedness, beautiful of appearance.</p> +<p>MIDGARD’S SERPENT, a serpent begot by Loke with the giantess +Angerbode. It was to be one of the occasioners of the world’s +destruction, and was on that account cast by Odin into the deep sea, +where it grew to such a degree that it lay round the whole earth, and +bit its own tail.</p> +<p>MIMMER, the owner of a fountain wherein wisdom and knowledge of the +future lay concealed, out of which he drank every morning. Odin +was once obliged to lay one of his eyes in pawn, in order to obtain +a draught from this fountain. He was likewise, when Surtur should +attack the gods, to ride to this fountain and seek counsel from Mimer +on his own and his army’s account.</p> +<p>MIMRING, this is the sword called here, which Hother, according to +the relation of Saxo, took from a satyr or wild man of the same name.</p> +<p>NANNA, daughter of Gevar, beloved by Hother, and by Balder, son of +Odin, according to Saxo, whose narration bears that Hother wedded Nanna, +and afterwards slew Balder by the assistance of an enchanted belt which +three nymphs had bestowed upon him.</p> +<p>NASTROUD, was properly the place where the ungodly were to be after +the destruction of the world, but here the word is intended to signify +the glowing and burning world towards the south, at whose extremest +end Surtur had his habitation, and which is called in the Edda, Muspel, +or Muspelheim.</p> +<p>NORNIES, were the goddesses of destiny, whose messages Odin himself +was compelled to fear and to attend to. They were three in number. +But the eldest, Urd (been), presided over the past; the second, Verande +(being), the present; and the youngest, Skuld (shall be), the future.</p> +<p>ODIN, the god of war, the most exalted of the gods, and father of +them all.</p> +<p>ROTA, one of the Valkyrier. See VALKYRIER.</p> +<p>SKIOLDUNG. Skiold, son of Odin, was the founder of the Danish +monarchy. His descendants were called after him Skioldungs, or, +contractedly, Skiolds.</p> +<p>SKULDA (<i>in the Edda</i>, SKULD), the youngest Nornie. See +NORNIES.</p> +<p>SURTUR (<i>the Black</i>), the ruler of the glowing or burning world, +at whose extremest end was his seat or dwelling. See above: NASTROUD. +At the fated time he was with his army to overcome and slaughter Odin +and all the gods, and thereupon set fire to the whole world.</p> +<p>THOR, was the god of thunder and strength: with his hammer he slew +Yults, Trolds, and other foes of Odin and the gods.</p> +<p>TYR, one of the bravest and wisest gods, so that it was customary +to say proverbially, “As bold as Tyr,” “Wise as Tyr.”</p> +<p>VALFATHER, the father of the slain or fallen in battle: one of Odin’s +surnames.</p> +<p>VALHALL, (<i>the Hall of the Slain</i>), the place where all warriors +who had fallen by the enemy were so nobly entertained by Odin. +It is commonly called Valhalla; but Valhall is the right, and <i>Valhalla</i> +only the Latinized name in Resenius’ edition of the Edda.</p> +<p>VALKYRIER, were virgins, or war-maids, who waited upon the heroes +in Valhall. Three of them, amongst whom was Rota, were commonly +dispatched to the field of battle by Odin, in order to choose them who +were to be slain, which employment the name Valkyrier denotes. +These three have obtained a place in this tragedy, and Rota is made +the principal of them.</p> +<p>UDGAARD (UDGARD), Loke’s dwelling outside of heaven. +His usual name in the Edda is Udgarda Loke, Loke of Udgard; and thus +Saxo in the Life of Gorm the first calls him Ugartilocum.</p> +<p>YMER, the first giant, Yutt, or Jotun, who lived before the heaven +and the earth existed, and who was killed with all his offspring by +Odin and his brothers. Only one of this giant race, by name Borgeline, +escaped, together with his wife, and became the stem-father of the subsequent +Jotuns.</p> +<h2>Footnotes:</h2> +<p><a name="footnote1"></a><a href="#citation1">{1}</a> Wadmal, +a coarse woollen stuff, much worn by Norwegian peasants.</p> +<p><a name="footnote2"></a><a href="#citation2">{2}</a> Skiers +are wooden pattens to run upon over the frozen snow</p> +<p> </p> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DEATH OF BALDER***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 13879-h.htm or 13879-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/8/7/13879 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Death of Balder + +Author: Johannes Ewald + +Release Date: October 27, 2004 [eBook #13879] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DEATH OF BALDER*** + + + + +Transcribed by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk + +An Edition of 250 Copies only will be printed. +No more will be published. + + + + + +THE DEATH OF BALDER +FROM THE DANISH OF JOHANNES EWALD +(1773) +TRANSLATED BY GEORGE BORROW + + +Author of "Bible in Spain," "Lavengro," "Wild Wales," etc. + +LONDON +JARROLD & SONS, 3 PATERNOSTER BUILDINGS, E.C. +1889 + + + + +PREFACE TO THE TRANSLATION. + + +The works of the late poet Ewald are deservedly popular in Denmark. The +present tragedy, and the opera of "The Fishermen" ("Fiskerne"), in which +occurs the bold lyric which has become the national song of the Danes, +are esteemed his best productions. + +For the fidelity with which the present version has been made I appeal to +those of my countrymen who understand the original, and demand whether I +have given a thought or expression equivalents to which are not to be +found in the Danish tragedy. + +I have imitated the peculiar species of blank verse in which the original +is composed, in order that the English reader may form an exact idea +thereof, and though by having done so my poetry may have somewhat of a +cramped, embarrassed gait, I have a firm hope that I shall not meet very +severe reprehension for having sacrificed elegance to fidelity. + +GEORGE BORROW. + + + + +THE PERSONS. + + +Balder. Hother. +Thor. Nanna. +Loke. The Three Valkyrier. + +The place of action is a pine-wood on the Norwegian mountains. Round +about it are seen steep and uneven rocks. The top of the hindermost and +highest is covered with snow. + + + + +ACT THE FIRST. + + +BALDER and THOR are seated upon stones at some distance from each other. +Both are armed--THOR with his hammer, and BALDER with spear and sword. + +BALDER. Land whose proud and rocky bosom +Braves the sky continually! + +THOR. Where should strength and valour blossom, +Land of rocks, if not in thee? + +BALDER. Odin's shafts of ruddy levin +Back from thy hard sides are driven; +Never sun thy snow dispels. + +THOR. Sure, he'll joy in deeds of daring, +Ne'er for ease voluptuous caring, +Who upon the mountain dwells. + +BOTH. Land whose proud and rocky bosom +Braves the sky continually! +Where should strength and valour blossom, +Land of rocks, if not in thee? + +BALDER (he springs up, but THOR remains sitting, like one in deep +thought). Ha! I will quickly fly from thee for ever, +Thou hated land, where everything so proudly +Upbraids me for my weakness--for my fetters: +Where I, pursu'd by pains of hopeless passion, +The live-long nights among deaf rocks do wander-- +Whose echoes sport with Balder's lamentations, +Each cold, each feelingless, as Nanna's bosom, +The fair, unpitying savage! + +THOR. Son of Odin! + +BALDER. Speak, mighty Thor! + +THOR. Thou sighest, then--and vainly? + +BALDER. Vainly: without a glimpse of hope; bewildered. +What, what have I not promised, vow'd, attempted? +How oft have I, O Thor!--I blush, but hear it-- +To tears debas'd myself: my tears have trickled-- +Have vainly trickled--before Gevar's daughter. + +THOR. Ha! Gevar's daughter? + +BALDER. Yes, the haughty Nanna. + +THOR. Dost mean the daughter of the wise King Gevar, +Who reads the actions of the unborn hero, +The will of Fate, malicious foemen's projects, +And war and death of warriors in the planets: +Dost mean his daughter? + +BALDER. Think'st thou other fathers possess a Nanna? + +THOR. Gods! + +[He again casts his eyes upon the ground, like one who meditates deeply. + +BALDER. Behind yon pine wood he built an altar unto thee and Odin, +There thou mayst see the roof of his still dwelling. +There lives the earthly Freia--cruel maiden-- +There slumbers she, perhaps--the proud one rests in +Joy's downy arms, undreaming aught of Balder! +As if I did not love, were not a half-god; +As if by Skalds my name were never chanted +As if I were a demon, bad as Loke! +Ha! if upon my tongue lurked bane and magic, +When fear enchains it and the pale lip trembles; +When broken words and a disordered wailing +Are all with which I can express my bosom's +Desire intense, and dread unwonted torments. +Ha! were my voice like Find's when he, distracted, +Goes over Horthedal; as when he bellows, +And wild at last, and blind with fury, splinters +The oaks, the glory of the sacred forest. +Ha! if the blood of maids and unarm'd wretches +Of harmless travellers, stained the hands of Balder-- +If ruddy lightnings burnt between these fingers-- +Then might'st thou well be pale; +And thou wert right to fly from me, O Nanna! + +THOR. Now, Balder, hear my word, and fly from Nanna! + +BALDER. From Nanna! Yes, I ought--that see I plainly. +Ha! some accursed fiend my foot has fasten'd +To these wild mountains and to Nanna's shadow! +And is there nothing then of hope remaining? +When did I first become so grim--so frightful? +When? Tell me, Thor, is breath of mine destructive? +Has death among my tears and smiles its dwelling? +What shall I do? Reply! But thou art silent, +And from thine eyeball flames contemptuous anger. + +THOR (he rises). Ha! drivellest thou before the God of Thunder? + +BALDER. To Thor, to Odin's friend, I breathe my sorrow. + +THOR. How long dost think, degenerate son of Odin, +Unmanly pining for a foolish maiden, +And all the weary train of love-sick follies, +Will move a bosom that is steeled by virtue? +Thou dotest! Dote and weep, in tears swim ever; +But by thy father's arm, by Odin's honour, +Haste, hide thy tears and thee in shades of alder! +Haste to the still, the peace-accustom'd valley, +Where lazy herdsmen dance amid the clover. +There wet each leaf which soft the west wind kisses, +Each plant which breathes around voluptuous odours, +With tears! There sigh and moan and the tired peasant +Shall hear thee, and, behind his ploughshare resting, +Shall wonder at thy grief, and pity Balder! + +BALDER. And is this all the comfort thou canst offer? + +THOR. I gave thee counsel: fly from her who flies thee! +What holds thee here, where thou canst hope for nothing? + +BALDER. And can I? Ah, my friend, that is my duty! +But fly! And never, never see thee, Nanna! +And ne'er again behold the roof where under +Thou sleepest! Honour the mere thought destroyeth! +Ere that, I'll perish here, unfamed, forgotten! + +THOR. Well, perish, then! I see too plain 'tis useless +Against a harsh, eternal fate to struggle! + + The hill fiend dreads my hammer's might + Before it turns the Jotun white, + And rocks, whereon I strike, give way. + But nothing cruel fate can move; + And what Allfather there above + Resolves upon, stands firm for aye. + +Know, son of Odin, thou whom reason, friendship, +Whom scorn--e'en scorn--to move are all unable, +Know that prophetic were thy words! Fate hastens! +The Valkyrie prepares the spear already, +Its deadly point already does she sharpen. +Ah, see! the prince of battle holds it brandish'd; +He strikes! he strikes! and all the Aser sorrow. + +BALDER. Dark is thy speech, O Thor! dark as thy visage. + +THOR. Before my eyes are murky shadows flitting. +A mortal youth, with blood of Asa crimson'd! +The fight and death of gods, the fall of Asgara! +Hear, son of Odin, wretched slave of passion, +Think not that dreams, that magic's foul deception, +That spectres of the night my brain bewilder; +And oh! think not that merely chance has led me +To Balder's presence, and to these high forests! +I sought thee, came with speed to give thee warning: +Fear, then! It is thy friend, 'tis Thor, who's speaking! +And on my lips I bear the words of Odin. +Thou know'st there grows in night's mysterious valley +A tree, as yet by men or gods seen never; +It bears a bough, which bough, when once 'tis harden'd +In Nastroud's flames, can slay thee. + +BALDER. Yes, I know it. + +THOR. That knowest thou, friend! And is it a mere slumber, +A fleeting trance, a pleasant dream of battle, +With which the spear's impregnated in Nastroud? +Ha! whom it slays wakes never up in Valhall; +In mist and darkness must he lie for ever. +From gods and men alike for ever parted, +Must Balder be detested--Haela's booty, +Not Odin's quest? + +BALDER. Aye; when the tree's discover'd. + +THOR. Well, now, attend and heed a father's warning! +When Odin high from Lidskialf saw thee raving, +In toils of love, 'mong Norway's snowy mountains, +The speech of Mimmer on his heart fell heavy. +Hear it and tremble! Not for death, O Balder! +Nor e'en for Haela, but thy father's anguish; +"The year"--such was his word (thou knowest Mimmer, +And scarce canst think he'd breathe the words of falsehood)-- +"The year when Norway's desert hills shall echo +The half-god's wasted love-caus'd lamentations, +When he's rejected by a prophet's daughter, +That year shall see the spear which holds his ruin, +Shall see the gods in grief, and Odin weeping." +Hear that and quake! And fly, and spare thy father! +If not, dote on and die, for that's thy fortune! + +[He disappears among the trees. + +BALDER (alone). And must I die? Ah well, I merely forfeit +A worthless breath, which is by Nanna hated. +Ha! hated. How that thought that Nanna hates me +Torments my breast! Death, only death, can drown it. +It burns, it scorches me, like Nastroud's blazes. +Come, tenfold death, come quickly, and extinguish +The thought: destroy it, crush it, with this bosom. +Thanks be to Thor, for he my eyelids lifted, +Disclosing I had chance of rest--of dying! +E'en Surtur, he whose hostile fingers planted +The tree, the black tree, by the feeble starlight; +Who nurs'd its infant root with blood fresh taken +From slaughter'd babes, and drew a circle round it, +And mutter'd magic words, and gave it power +To shoot the bane of Nastroud in my bosom, +Was not so cruel as thyself, O Nanna! +What! cruel? No, by Odin! Pity drove him +To rear up remedy benign and grateful +For the dire wound with which thou torment'st me. +Ah, maid! thou mak'st me look to death with longing +And yet to die! and die from thee! and never-- +Ha! my heart freezes! The mere word would kill me! +But then, most likely thou wilt pity Balder, +And with a hot, a precious tear bedew him! + + Say, O maid! when thou dost pour + From thine eyes the briny shower + O'er a lifeless lump of clay! + Cease thy weeping, cruel maiden: + All thy grief is vainly vented: + See the breast so long tormented + Which thy pity now should gladden, + Beats no more and rots away! + O Nanna! Nanna! + +[He sits down and holds both his hands before his eyes. + +LOKE (in the shape of an old Finman). Balder! + +[He walks in a crooked attitude, and supports himself upon a knotted +staff. He enters so that his back is turned to BALDER. + +Help, ye gods of heaven! +Oh, I unfortunate! that frost and hunger, +And fear of bears and wolves and evil spirits +Should now destroy me on these frightful mountains! +Oh, that I but beheld a smoke uprising, +A single trace of a bewildered hunter! +That I but heard a cheery horn resounding! +But nothing, nothing! Never, never rises +A friendly sound among these wildernesses, +Which human feet till now has never trodden. +Ah! who will succour me? + +BALDER (goes towards him and takes him kindly by the arm). What ails +thee, father? + +LOKE (as if terrified). Aha! I can no more! Ah! + +BALDER. Come and rest thee! +Here lean upon my arm! + +LOKE. Ah! + +BALDER. How thou tremblest, +My hoary friend! But cast thy terrors from thee-- +There thou art safe: this breast is warmed by pity. + +LOKE. Forgive me, sir; forsooth, I was confounded! +Thou see'st in me a poor and ancient Finman. +Far, far away from these terrific mountains, +This year I built of flags and stones my hovel; +I sought for reindeer--all my wealth; they doubtless +Were captured by the bear! I, wretched being! +My sight is feeble, and the night surprised me; +The wind, as I observe too late, has shifted, +And not a star is gleaming in the heavens: +Ah! far must be the way unto my hovel! +My feet are wearied out, for I have wandered +The long and chilly night among the mountains. + +BALDER. What wishest thou? + +LOKE. I die of frost and hunger. +Whoe'er thou art, and if thou feelest pity-- +Excuse my doubt--yet wouldst thou save the remnant +Of life which trembles on my lips, conduct me +Straight to the cheering hearth where bask thy servants. + +BALDER. The way would prove for thee too far; but see'st thou +The lofty roof behind the forest yonder, +There, there resides of earth the fairest daughter: +Thither repair, thou fortunate old stranger! +There she resides.--Ah! thou wilt be to Nanna +A dear, a welcome guest! She loves the wretched; +Her noble heart swells always with compassion +For every sufferer. Only not--Thou stayest! +Why go'st thou not? + +LOKE. I go; but thou wast speaking, +Methinks, of Nanna? + +BALDER. Yes. + +LOKE. Of Gevar's daughter? + +BALDER (astonished). Thou know'st her? + +LOKE. No; but oftentimes her bridegroom +Has come fatigued with hunting, to my hovel. + +BALDER. Ah who-- + +LOKE (turns away as if to depart). She dwells there, does she? + +BALDER (seizes him by the arm). Stay! who is the bride-groom? +Speak, reptile, speak! Who? When? Reply, thou traitor, +Or here thou diest! + +LOKE. Spare me, sir, in mercy! +I faint with terror! + +BALDER. Speak! by all the powers, +Thy smallest hair is sacred! I have promised. +Now, speak! + +LOKE. I am an old and harmless creature. + +BALDER. But Nanna's bridegroom? + +LOKE. Truly, sir, I wonder, +That one like thee, a dweller 'mongst these mountains, +Should know him not, the noblest and the bravest +Of all the sons of earth. + +BALDER. Ye gods of heaven! +And who? His name? + +LOKE. One who is bold as Odin, +And strong as Thor, and beautiful as Balder. + +BALDER. Ha! kill me not, but answer: name him. + +LOKE (with a loud voice). Hother! + +BALDER (with agitation). What! Who? The Leire King? +The Skioldung Hother? + +LOKE. Who here is foster'd up by Nanna's father. + +BALDER. Thou killest me! Thou see'st how I tremble! +Yet, that I never saw him here! Where is he? + +LOKE. At Gevar's. + +BALDER. By the gods, it overcomes me! +What, under Nanna's roof? + +LOKE. At night-time only, +As I believe; for ere the east hills redden, +Upstarts he, lovely as a young spring morning, +And griping firm his lusty spear, he wanders +Among the rocks. Ah, master! thou hast seen him-- +Withouten doubt thou hast. 'Tis true he hideth +For some time past his god-like form in wadmal, {1} +And rolls beneath a rugged cap his tresses-- +I wonder, wherefore. + +BALDER. Ha! thou flash of lightning, +Which clear'st all up at once! I, wretched madman! +How senseless was I, and by pride how blinded +To sons of earth my eyes I never lower'd. +Ah! is my proud solicitude thus baffled? +But she can only love the gods, I'm certain! + +LOKE. Excuse me, sir, I do not understand thee. +She loves not Odin half so much as Hother. + +BALDER. Fly, slave--begone! for Udgaard, Loke's poison, +Is on thy tongue! That foe of gods has sent thee: +Thou art his messenger, thou art--thou art, thou traitor! +Dost dare to linger? But thou art in safety, +For, worm, thy weakness and my oath protect thee. +Ha! I myself will fly before my fury. [He goes. + +LOKE (he looks contemptuously after BALDER, then raises himself to his +full height, discards at once his assumed figure, and appears as LOKE). +My weakness, mighty Balder? Do not scorn it! +To dust and ashes, boaster, it shall crush thee. +Not Loke's messenger, but Loke, stung thee. +Already bellows the young god with torment: +Hear, Odin! hear thy lov'd one, hear him howling! +Delay thee not! enjoy his voice and feel it! +Harmonious is it to the ears of Loke. +Quick, quick! thou ne'er again, perchance, will hear it. +Survey him near: how swells each vein with poison, +Which I have poured into his breast with cunning! +Soon Odin, soon will thy beloved be silent; +Soon from thy sight will Balder flit for ever; +Then will it be thy turn to mourn, O tyrant! +It comes--the long-protracted day of vengeance! +It comes--the sigh'd-for hour of retribution! +How long hast thou not tortur'd Loke's bowels, +And fearless trampled 'neath thy feet his offspring? +Hear Hael and Fenris' Wolf, and Midgaard's Serpent-- +Loud howl they!--hear them night and day proclaiming +Thy unmatched cruelty with frightful voices! +Each of them was a god, and fair as Balder, +But now to earth and heaven, and to myself, a horror: +Each is a monster, bow'd with chains of darkness. +The hour's at hand, the tardy hour of vengeance: +Already blow I in war's horn: to combat, +Up, up ye mighty gods, and rescue Balder! +There see I him, the hero youth, who only, +Arm'd with the tree of death by Odin's maidens, +Can be--so Fate decrees--this Balder's slayer. +And he shall be it: quickly shall he brandish +The life-destroying bough, if Asa Loke, +By mighty art and wonderful delusions, +Knows how to work the maidens to his purpose. +He comes! I will conceal myself, and listen. + +HOTHER, and presently LOKE--the first dressed like a Norwegian peasant, +with a hunting-spear in his hand; the other undistinguished. + +HOTHER (he comes down from the rocks and unbinds the skiers {2} from his +feet ere he steps forward on the scene). + +Upon the oak's summit, +A squirrel at play +Deceives with a rustle +The hunter so gay; +He starts, and, low crouching, +His spear he grasps tight, +And, swelling up, boundeth +His hand with delight. + +Now quick--be not daunted! +He's coming--take heed! +The bold bear, the old bear, +Doth hitherward speed. +Oh, sound the most pleasant +This ear ever knew! +He cometh--a bigger +This weapon ne'er slew. + +Thou sovereign of forests! +Thou pride of thy race! +Oh, fortunate hunter-- +Oh, glorious chase! +Now quick! be not daunted, +He comes--be prepared! +Where is he, the savage? +His bellow, who heard? + +No more on the oak-top +The squirrel doth play; +Deceived has a rustle +The hunter so gay; +No sound as he listens +His hearing assails, +Save the pattering of leaves +That are moved by the gales. + +There comes he--where? Oh, what a foolish stripling +Am I, who here about four days have wandered +In quest of a mere phantom! Surely, Nanna, +Thou dost deceive me--dost but prove thy lover; +And think'st thou, virtuous one, that if a godhead +Came down in light effulgent, and before thee +Knelt and laid heaven at thy feet--Ha! think'st +Thou that fear, base doubt of Nanna's faith and +Honour, would sully Hother's breast? I know thou +Lovest me--thou hast avowed it: what shall then +This wooer avail--this wooer who must not be +Anger'd? Why the deception? + +LOKE. Hail, thou son of Hothbrod! + +HOTHER (astonished). Ha! scarcely do I know myself! +By Odin, +I look more like a rugged elf than Hother. +And who art thou, that knowest me? who art thou? + +LOKE. My name is Vanfred! When thy mother bore thee +I was at hand and swore unto thee friendship. + +HOTHER. Grim is thy visage, and thine eye doth promise, +But little good. What dost thou seek? + +LOKE. Whom, Skolding, +Whom fearest thou? Why hide in yonder vestments? + +HOTHER. I fear? thou warlock! Wise thou wert in speaking +Of friendship! + +LOKE. Spare thy wrath my youthful warrior! +Reserve it for thy foes! + +HOTHER. They shall not miss it! + +LOKE. And yet 'tis plain thou hidest thee from some one. + +HOTHER. It was Nanna bade me. Ha! I blush by heaven! +When Nanna spake I always blindly listen'd. +She has disguised me, as thou see'st, stranger; +She plagues me with her fears; the dreamer would not-- +Would really not--for all the wide world's riches, +That the wood goblin, or perhaps some lover +Invisible, should know me. + +LOKE. Pretty folly! +Balder invisible! the handsome half-god! + +HOTHER. What! Balder, son of Odin? He her lover? +O heaven! Say, where is he? where? + +LOKE. With Nanna. + +HOTHER. There? Now? (After some refection.) She drove me out. + +LOKE. Perhaps, thou see'st +That she has rid herself of thee by cunning. + +HOTHER. I simply thought the Alf had caus'd thy terror; +But Balder, false one, he shall soon experience +That I fear no one. [About to go. + +LOKE. Softly, prince! be cautious! +I see thy courage; but thy foe is mighty. + +HOTHER. Is my arm weak? + +LOKE. It is against a half-god; +Yet he can die. I know a spear which slayeth. + +HOTHER. Thou dreamest! + +LOKE. Spare thy doubts. That spear or nothing +Can wound his breast.--But see, the sun is rising, +And I must fly to subterranean places; +But I'll forsake thee not. This horn I give thee, +And when thy need is greatest, then, O Hother! +Blow strongly in that horn, and turning westward, +Call thrice aloud on Vanfred--Vanfred! Vanfred! + +[The two last times he cries it with a hollow voice, after having +disappeared among the rocks, and the last time of all evidently farther +away than the other. Immediately thereupon a noise is heard among the +rocks, as of distant thunder. + +HOTHER, and presently NANNA. + +HOTHER (casts away the horn). Accurs'd be thou, thy horn, and all thy +magic! +Is Hother fearful? Does he crave in battle +The aid of warlocks and of arts ignoble? +Is not my arm sufficient? Ha! I'll show thee! + +[He is going; but NANNA meets him at the entrance of the scene. + +NANNA. Where now? + +HOTHER. I go to dare the wrath of Balder. + +NANNA (affrighted). Ah! + +HOTHER. His stern look may teach me how to tremble. + +NANNA. O Heaven! + +HOTHER. Hold me not! + +NANNA (anxiously and affectionately). Where now, my Hother? + +HOTHER. I soon shall find him! + +[He goes in spite of NANNA'S endeavour to detain him. + +NANNA. Ah! he goes--he rages; +And Balder yells with wrath. Some serpent surely +Has breath'd to-day his poison in their bosoms. +They hate, they seek each other! Who asunder +Will hold the raging bears. Ah! who will soften +The foaming ones? I have this hour expected, +And long by art have I delay'd its coming; +But now is art, and prayer, and all else useless: +E'en now they meet in conflict. I am powerless! +What can my tears avail? Alas! blood only +Will satiate them and Heaven: thine must trickle, +My Hother. What art thou against a half-god? +When thy fire, Ourath, but glimmers, +Tears can quench it instantly; +But it flames, and now 'twere wonder +Could the weak drops keep it under. +Ah! thy blazes fierce and cruel +In the lov'd one's grief find fuel, +And are fann'd by plaintive cry. +Tear, with which mine eye is swelling, +Thou canst not remove the ill; +O keep in thou fruitless wailing, +Let my bosom hide thee still. [She goes. + + + + +ACT THE SECOND. + + +The three VALKRIER. They are armed as war-maids, and besides the spears +which hang over their shoulders, each has a short spear in her hand: they +take each other by the hands, and walk in a circle, singing. + +ALL THREE. O'er the hill, o'er the dell, +O'er the sea's foamy waters, +Unweariedly ply, +Valhalla, thy daughters, +The blood-dropping wing: +Die, battle, and die! +Is the bidding they bring. + +THE FIRST. Not fever's foul pains. + +THE SECOND. Not hunger. + +THE THIRD. Not chains. + +ALL THREE. But fight and delight. +For the brave ever brings, +Valhalla, thy daughters, +By light and by night, +O'er the land and the waters, +With blood-drooping wing. + +THE FIRST. The crash of the spear, +In deadly career, +Is alone to me dear. + +THE SECOND. The feeble moan press'd +From the dying man's breast +Is what pleases me best. + +THE THIRD. The cry on the plain +Round the corse of the slain +I list to most pain. + +ALL THREE. Die, battle, and die! +O'er the hill, o'er the dell, +O'er the sea's foamy waters, +Unweariedly ply, +Valhalla, thy daughters, +The blood-dropping wing: +Die, battle, and die, +Is the bidding they bring. + +THE FIRST. I hear the sound of arms; but now it ceases. +How long will he delay, the noble warrior? + +THE SECOND. Whom wait'st thou for? + +THE FIRST. And thou? what will my sister +In this wild spot which blood has never crimson'd? + +THE SECOND. What has assembled us? and here where scarcely +A sword has flashed since days of Jotun Ymer, +Was it a god or destiny which drove us? + +THE FIRST. Thou knowest that the morning sun illumines +Ten thousand spears on Scotland's heathy mountains; +High beats with joy each warrior's heart. In silence, +They forward press, and only wait my on-cry. +Thither would I--but hear the strange adventure +Which stopp'd my flight upon these rocks. Envelop'd +In a black, tempest, I a Finman follow'd, +Who boldly climb'd the mountain summits, +And sprang o'er every yawning rift undaunted: +Then saw I Hothbrod's valiant son. I saw him +As in the brook he cleans from dust his armour, +And sharp'd laboriously his rusty dagger, +And prov'd upon the pine's thick stem his falchion; +Then brandish'd he his hunting-spear: far backward +He drew his nervous arm; I heard the weapon +Hiss, but my eye beheld it scarce a moment, +For like the lightning which the black clouds swallow +It vanished, and the heir vainly sought it. +Then look'd I round about, and saw my Finman, +Who held the spear and laugh'd; I storm'd with fury. +Then down he plung'd within a midnight chasm; +And from the deep uprose a voice like thunder +Which slowly booms among the Finnish deserts. +"Unarm'd," it bellow'd, "shall the warrior perish? +Wither shall he of age, and deep in Haelheim +Be hidden, far from Odin, far from Valhall." +Angry, I rooted up the oaks in search of +A spear for battle's friend--and this I fix'd on; +I gave it tempest's speed and strength to humble +Each warrior whom it smiteth, when with wonder +Of thy fast sounding voice I heard an echo. + +THE SECOND. Ye stars! what sorcery! But to me now listen! +I hasten'd unto Hortha's gloomy forests, +To glut myself in Roman blood; then look'd I +Down from the thunder-cloud in which I journey'd, +And on these towering hills my eyes I fastened; +Then saw I Denmark's Hother, prince of battle, +Like the rock-pine, which o'er the ocean beetles; +He stood, and storm-winds with his locks were playing, +Then from the brake a wolf sprang, grim and frightful, +And big as Fenri's Wolf: the Skoldung saw it, +And brandish'd high his spear. Forth went it booming, +As booming goes from the cold North a whirlwind; +Straight vanished wolf and spear; but deep a-forest +Was heard as from a thousand wolves a howling. +"See, see," it howl'd, "the Skoldung Hother loses +His spear, and in his hand the sword is fragile. +Now have we peace, and Norway's Kemps may slumber." +Disturb'd at such dark sorcery, I seiz'd on +The spear of steel thou see'st, and laid lightning +And fiends' death on its point, when I beheld thee. + +THE THIRD (who hitherto has stood in deep thought). Sharp is my sight in +war; but here is darkness. +But do not think that chance and magic +Here assembled battle's angry daughters. +Allfather for the fight prepares; Allfather +Assembles us with murky wink: I saw him, +The mighty Thor; wroth was he, and his hammer +Was in his hand. He stood by Gevar's dwelling: +He spoke to me, and soon as e'er I answer'd +He vanished, thundering in the eastern heavens. +It is not sport, nor any childish quarrel, +Be ye assured, makes Thor descend from Asgaard. + +THE FIRST. He spake to thee? + +THE THIRD. As when the warriors slumber, +And suddenly are wak'd to thousand dangers +By din of shields and mingled squadrons' tumult, +So tower'd he up and shouted when he saw me, +And dread and hollow as the ocean's bellow, +As moan of forests in the nightly tempest, +Sounded his voice unto my ear! +"What, Rota!" he shouted; Rota here! "Ye gods of heaven! +Whom seekest thou, where unclomb rocks engirdle +Peace, smiling peace? O say! whom, sent by Skulda, +Wilt thou devote upon the stilly mountains? +But ah! what light had I the power to kindle? +Dark is my spirit. The terrific Norna, +She who allots to time, ere it approaches, +It's luck, and binds it with determined fingers +Unto Fate's will, is silent, and drives Rota +Far from each plain belov'd where battle rages. +Yet shook the fatal spear with which conflicting +Monarchs I greet, at sunrise thrice it trembled; +And death lies heavy in my arm--that know I, +But for the victim. + +THE FIRST. Threatens Fate our Hother? + +THE SECOND. Thor's fear and even thine betoken danger. + +THE THIRD. So seems it. Ah! if it concern'd our Hother! +Ye mind full well how high the Danish hero +I ever lov'd--I saw him by a fountain, +Dejected, weaponless, and half in slumber; +But deep into the forest fled the savage, +From whom he took his sword, the sharp-edged Mimer, +And Hother's spear in his rude hands he carried. +"Retain my falchion, thou ferocious warrior! +Little in conflict shall it e'er avail thee!" +So shouted he, and all the rocks resounded. +Then straight I brought my choicest spear from Valhall-- +Long since I cut it from a lonely wild beech, +Which, hid from day, grew up in Lapland's deserts; +A circle of grey stones stood round about it, +On each was clotted blood, and bones, and ashes; +Blood as I cut the spear the stem emitted-- +It crushes stone, and steel, and giants' armour. + +HOTHER, THE OTHERS. + +HOTHER (he is armed, but without a spear). Where is this prince of +beauty, Nanna's half-god? + +[He starts slightly upon perceiving the VALKYRIER. They advance towards +him, hand in hand. + +Excuse me my astonishment, fair war-maids! + +THE FIRST. Hail to thee dauntless warrior, bane of Gelder! + +THE SECOND. Hail to thee, Skoldung, valiant son of Hothbrod! + +THE THIRD. Hail, hail to thee, my Hother, Leire's ruler! + +HOTHER (astonished.) Ye know me! + +THE THIRD. Yes, thou noble youth, and love thee! + +HOTHER. Your goodness overwhelms me--to what godhead +Stand I indebted for this lucky meeting? + +THE FIRST. I bring to thee a spear to fight with heroes! + +THE SECOND. And this, I hand to thee, can slaughter demons! + +THE THIRD. This spear is excellent in fight with Jotuns. + +HOTHER. How shall I e'er repay these costly presents? + +THE FIRST. Be valiant! fight! send battle's sons to Valhall! + +THE SECOND. Extend the Danish sway and Odin's worship! + +THE THIRD. The sire of many warlike kings of Leire! + +[They vanish. + +HOTHER. There's nought but sorcery upon these mountains! +They've vanished! Do I dream to-day? Where am I? +Sight, feeling, reason are alike enchanted! +But here, ye gods! here in my bosom rages +The magic--Vanfred's poison. Nanna, Nanna! +Shall I mistrust thee, then--shall I, thy Hother? + +[He places the two spears against a tree, whereon he hangs his shield. +That which the first VALKYRIER gave him he retains in his hand. + +The fire which love enkindles +First warms with bliss the heart, +But soon, ah! soon the traitor +Awaketh burning smart! +Love's flame at first discloses +Pure innocence alone; +But quickly by its splendour +A deed of guilt is shown. +O love! thy bliss is vanish'd, +Thy flame extinguish quite, +For in my bride black falsehood +Now only meets my sight. + +NANNA, HOTHER. + +NANNA (who has stood at the entrance of the scene, and has heard the +latter part of Hother's song). I overheard thee, weak, ignoble Hother! + +HOTHER. Ah yes, weak! credulous! + +NANNA. Save thyself repentance! + +HOTHER. Where is thy demigod? + +NANNA. This bosom, Hother, acquitteth me; +That were enough for Nanna, if-- + +HOTHER. Oh, pray, proceed! + +NANNA (affectionately). Lov'd less-- + +HOTHER (contemptuously). Whom? Balder? + +NANNA. Savage! what fiend has pour'd into thy bosom +His bane of late? Ha! fly from me: detest me! +Wilt thou love her thou canst mistrust! + +HOTHER. Ah, Nanna! + +NANNA. I have debas'd myself to excusation +(Virtue from that, O Hother, ever shrinketh); +Yet trust'st thou not?--one's wont to trust the lov'd one! +Thou know'st (I told it thee before) that Gevar, +Thy wise instructor, has declar'd that Heaven +Threatens a bloody, horrible misfortune, +In case our love be nois'd about in Asgaard, +Ere certain stars shall stand in other orbits; +And canst thou wonder when so great an Asa +As Odin's Balder cometh unexpected, +That I all trembling will conceal-- + +HOTHER. Ha, trembling! +My curse upon the slave who first invented +A word which ne'er my Nanna's lips should sully; +Thy excusations kill me! I imagined +It was a chaste, a maidenish reflection, +That made my Nanna blush at our affection: +Unmurmuring I obeyed, and kept in secret. +Why hast thou ta'en from me that sweet delusion? +Why spak'st thou not, and say for whom thou tremblest? +For Balder's death? Thou lovest then thy half-god. +But no, ye gods! No, I believe thee, Nanna! +It is for mine, for Hother's death, thou fearest. +Then think'st thou me so weak, so wholly powerless, +And lov'st me still? When e'er lov'd maids the dastard? + +NANNA. 'Tis no disgrace to quake before a half-god! + +HOTHER. 'Fore Odin's self mere cowards quake. Now hear me! +I--I, or Balder, die to-day! + +NANNA. O Hother! +I came to quarrel, came prepar'd with anger; +But ah, in burning tears it soon has melted. +Thou die, or Balder! he--a half-god! + +HOTHER. Nanna! +Thy tears insult me sore, and yet--I know not-- +They gladden me--they torture--they enchant me. +I love them--I excuse them--I--I know not-- +O tear--sweet, bitter tear, desist from flowing! +Thou showest tenderness--but ah! betrayest +Mistrust and slight respect!--ah, love thy Hother, +But oh! believe, he will deserve thee, Nanna: +Thy heart is far too noble for the coward +Who beareth shield and sword and yet can tremble. + +HOTHER. The slave only feareth. + +NANNA. The hero can fall! + +HOTHER. Ah then his fame cheereth +His bride in her thrall. + +NANNA. Ah then his bride weeps! + +HOTHER. She's honour'd. + +NANNA. She weepeth! + +HOTHER. She's honour'd. + +NANNA. And weepeth. + +HOTHER. Ah, then his fame cheereth +His bride in her thrall. + +BOTH. Ah then his fame cheereth +His bride in her thrall. + +NANNA. Ah, if thou now fallest? + +HOTHER. And if I now fall? + +NANNA. Then I shall be wasted +By ne'er-ceasing smart. + +HOTHER. But were my fame blasted +Then break would thy heart. + +NANNA. Oh! what is remaining? + +HOTHER. My valour's proud story. + +NANNA. Mere grief and complaining! + +HOTHER. My name is thy glory. + +NANNA. Oh! if thou now fallest. + +HOTHER. And if I now fall, + +NANNA. Then I shall be wasted +With grief and complaining! + +HOTHER. My name is remaining; +But honour once blasted +We both should lose all. + +BOTH. The slave only feareth, +The hero can fall; +But then his fame cheereth +His bride in her thrall. + +NANNA (with a terrified look, she seizes HOTHER by the arm, upon +perceiving BALDER). Ah! Hother, come. + +BALDER, HOTHER, NANNA. + +BALDER. Dost fly me, cruel Nanna! +Am I so frightful? how have I offended? + +HOTHER (will rush towards BALDER, but NANNA makes every effort to prevent +him). Ha, Balder, we have met at last. + +NANNA (much agitated). My Hother! +Ah, if thou lovest me--if thou respectest my prayer-- + +BALDER. Thy Hother? O, ye gods! how bitter! + +HOTHER. To thee, perhaps to me 'tis sweet and grateful! + +BALDER (with majesty). Presumptuous one! + +NANNA (casts herself in her anguish nearly at HOTHER'S feet, who is about +to lay hands on BALDER). If thou hast ever lov'd me, +Come with me, Hother! come unto my father! + +HOTHER. What! shall I fly? + +NANNA. Do thou whate'er thou pleasest! +Thou wouldst not have me perish in the forest, +Thou wouldst not, sure, that I should be a witness-- + +BALDER. Ha, Nanna! fly not from me! + +HOTHER (to BALDER). Thou commandest, +I say she shall fly from thee. (To NANNA) Come, my Nanna! +(To BALDER). But do not thou despair! nor yet imagine +Thou wilt have long to wait, if wait thou darest. + +[HOTHER and NANNA exeunt. + +BALDER. Ha! wherefore crush'd I not to earth the brawler? +But Nanna loves him--and shall Balder render +Nanna unhappy, cause despair to enter +Her breast, and dim with tears her eyes' effulgence? +And what is his offence, the noble hero? +He loves--ha, who can gaze upon thy beauties +And love thee not, proud maiden? But he braves me! +Ah! he is young and fortunate, and if I +Had slain him now, 'twas Nanna's love I punish'd, +And not his insolence; and, O my bosom! +Shall thy pure flame dishonour thee? No, Balder! +Love on and die, but of thyself be worthy! +Ha, let me lose my life and all, Allfather! +And Nanna e'en! Yes, let me lose e'en Nanna! +But not the virtue she herself doth honour! + +[He hangs his shield upon a tree, which is opposite to that where +Hother's hangs, and sets his spear up against it. + +True bliss, through virtue only known, +By virtue's self deserv'd alone. +Only for thee doth Balder sigh: +My sad heart would a heaven disdain +Which through dishonour it must gain. +So dear let slaves enjoyment buy! +Yes, Balder, worthy of thyself continue! +Canst thou wish Nanna to abandon Hother? +Wish her whose virtue thy high soul so worships +Should weak and base become for thy advantage? +But--does she love him? has he won her promise? +Who knoweth but she merely has dissembled, +And shown a fictious flame to prove thee, Balder! +Transporting dream! + +NANNA, BALDER. + +NANNA (rushes in, terrified). Ha! Balder if thou lovest--Ah, if thou-- + +BALDER (casts himself at NANNA'S feet). Heavens, +Nanna! canst thou doubt it? +I burn, I burn! + +[Whilst NANNA in her terror makes every effort to raise him, they come +into a familiar attitude, in which HOTHER, who has slain bears, and who +is wiping the blood from his spear at the moment he appears, perceives +them. He starts, and remains standing among the trees, so that he cannot +hear what they say. + +NANNA. Oh, rescue then my Hother! +Two savage bears among the bushes yonder +Attack'd him; if thou hast love for virtue, +Assist him quick; if thou delayest a moment, +The noblest heart that ever beat they'll mangle! +Oh! quick: bethink thee not! + +BALDER. No, cruel Nanna! +Fear not! My arm shall rescue him thou lovest! + +[Just as he is about to rise HOTHER steps forward. + +HOTHER, THE LAST. + +HOTHER. Ye heavens! do I dream! Enamour'd half-god! +Excuse me for disturbing thee! + +BALDER (as he rises up). There is he! + +NANNA (goes tenderly to meet HOTHER). Ah, Hother! Ah, my Hother! + +HOTHER (pushes her back with his hand). Go, false woman! + +BALDER. Gods, how unthankful art thou--how ferocious! +Can such a bear of Nanna be deserving? + +HOTHER (takes his shield down from the tree). Now, pay for all, and end +thy prate in Valhall! + +NANNA. Savage, thou mean'st not sure-- + +HOTHER. Beware thee, Nanna! + +NANNA. Oh, hear me-- + +HOTHER. I have seen. Go, hide thee, false one! + +NANNA. Thou wilt not sure-- + +HOTHER. I will! And now, by Hothbrod, +He dieth by my hand! + +BALDER. Presumptuous mortal! + +HOTHER. Thy shield! thy spear! I hate all vaunt, my half-god. + +NANNA (rushes towards BALDER, who taketh his weapons). O Balder! noble +Balder! + +BALDER. Ah, poor Nanna! +Thou see'st he forces me--that death he beggeth! + +HOTHER. Ha! this is all too much. Protect him--hide him! +Cover thy gallant with thy faithless bosom! +I will not slay thee; but my oath is uttered, +That he or I shall fall! And now! + +[He turns the point of his spear against himself. + +NANNA. Ah, Hother! +What doest thou? + +HOTHER. I've sworn! + +NANNA. Hold, hold, thou savage! +I go--I fly. Oh help, ye gods of heaven! + +[She goes away in a kind of distraction, but she remains standing at the +entrance of the scene, where she with fearful curiosity looks on and off +the combatants. The warriors go in circle with uplifted spears. + +HOTHER. Now, valiant Balder, call upon thy father! + +BALDER. Shame on thee, Hother! Thou offendest Nanna. + +HOTHER. Prat'st still, my hero? + +BALDER. Well--thou wilt? + +HOTHER. Ha, Hothbrod! + +[He casts the spear which he had received from the first VALKYRIER, and +had retained in his hand. It striketh BALDER, but falls, without taking +any effect, at his feet. BALDER in return casts his spear into his left +hand, and tears down a huge piece of the neighbouring rock. + +NANNA. Ye gods of Gevar! + +BALDER. Nanna! + +[He casts his spear behind him out of the scene. + +NANNA. Noble being! + +HOTHER. Ha! darest thou mock me, thou inflated braggart? + +[He takes from the tree the spear which the Valkyrier, ROTA, gave him, +and casts it. It strikes so hard against BALDER'S breast, that he nearly +sinks upon his knee; but it nevertheless falls to the ground without +wounding him. + +BALDER. Ha! Surtur, ha! Was that the fell destroyer? +Fly from my fury! + +HOTHER. Cool its heat in Valhall! + +[He casts the last spear, which he has seized in the meantime, but, like +the first, without any apparent effect. + +BALDER (as he draws his sword). Now, then, presumptuous? + +HOTHER (as he likewise draws). Demon! and no half-god! +Thou blunt'st the spear; but here's a sword remaining! +Now, Hothbrod! + +[He strikes at him with his utmost force, but the sword reboundeth from +the helm of BALDER. + +BALDER. Odin! + +[He strikes HOTHER'S sword from his hand, so that it flies into pieces, +seizes him by the arm, and sets his sword against his breast. HOTHER +sinks upon his knee beneath the powerful grasp, but raises himself +immediately, without BALDER'S attempting to hinder him but he retains him +so in his power that he cannot move himself. NANNA rushes in and casts +herself down upon her knee before BALDER. + +NANNA. Generous, noble Balder! + +BALDER. Take up thy bride and live! + +HOTHER. My life detest I, +I would not give the smallest hair of Nanna, +For yet a thousand years thy whole godship! + +BALDER. Die, then! + +[He lifts his sword like one who will strike. + +HOTHER. Why dost delay? + +NANNA. Ha! here thou savage! +Here, strike into this breast and spare my bridegroom. + +[BALDER lets his sword sink. + +HOTHER. Still, still, thou lovest me? Oh, Nanna! Nanna! +There see'st thou, fiend, she loveth me! + +BALDER. Ah, torment! +Ha! I can end thee! [He lifts his sword again. + +NANNA. Let my tears prevent thee! + +HOTHER. By heavens! she's mocking thee! If thou delayest, +She'll laugh full at thee in the arms of Hother. + +NANNA. Believe him not, but virtue--thine own bosom! + +BALDER (sheathing his sword). Live, Hother! live! + +HOTHER. Ha! have I begged for mercy? + +BALDER. No! Live; forget our strife, thou dauntless warrior! +Embrace thy friend, and be, as erst, unshackled! + +HOTHER. Ha! cruel, proud, and all too noble en'my! +Thou know'st, thou feelest but too well thy triumph! +Ha! thou hast overcome, hast humbled Hother! +And think'st thou he can live? Heard, heard has heaven +My oath, that I or Balder die! + +[He grasps his dagger, and is about to stab himself with it, but BALDER +wrests it out of his hand. + +BALDER. Bethink thee! + +HOTHER. Ye heavens! Hother! ah! how art thou fallen! + +NANNA (affectionately). My Hother! + +HOTHER. Ah! farewell for ever, Nanna! + +[He goes hastily away. NANNA attempts to follow him, but BALDER detains +her. + +NANNA, BALDER. + +NANNA. Woe's me! he will destroy himself. + +BALDER. By Odin! +He shall not! Be composed! believe, I've power +To hinder it! Believe thy Balder, Nanna! + +NANNA (she takes with fervour his hand and bends herself for some time +over it). I do believe thee, noble one, I know thee! +I feel all thy exaltedness. Thy virtues +I hold in reverence. Oh! that all my friendship, +That these hot tears were able to reward thee! + +BALDER (casts himself upon his knees before her). Oh glimpse! Oh wave +of hope, in which I'm drowning! + +NANNA (agitated). What hopest thou? + +BALDER. Let not thy lips, oh Nanna +Awaken Balder from his dream of rapture; +Let him enjoy it; let him read his destiny, +His hope, his life, in yonder precious tear-drops. + +NANNA. Ah, what avails it 'gainst one's fate to struggle? +My heart can ne'er of Balder be deserving. + +BALDER. Ah, that I but-- + +NANNA. Excuse me now; thou knowest +I've--Ah! a miserable friend to comfort. + +[She tears herself away from him, gives a friendly look and goes. He +follows her for some time with his eyes. + +BALDER. Yet will I hope! Hear, hear ye rocks! that Balder +Ventures to hope!--stern fate is now contented! +Blunted is Surtur's spear, and Nanna wavers! +Oh virtue! which, when blood rag'd high didst triumph, +How sure, how nobly thou reward'st thy lover! +Ye rocks which so lately gave ear to my groans, +Now hear of my hope and my gladness the tones, +And reply ye proud woods that no longer seem drear; +In vain fate and heaven, oh Balder, have cas'd, +With vigour the bosom thou lovest, and placed +In the hand of the hero the sorcerer's spear. +Oh virtue! thou still dost thy servant befriend; +Ye echoes the triumph of true love extend, +And virtue's fair guerdon proclaim far and near. + +THOR, BALDER. + +THOR. Boldly resounds thy song, thou friend of battle! +So bluster from the hero's lips the bloody +Hard-gotten vict'ries, and the slain foes' praises, +Whilst he surveys the lonely field of slaughter, +Thou smilest, pleasure from thine eye is flashing, +Like Odin's, when he freed the earth from danger +By watering it with blood of savage giants. + +BALDER. Ha, friend! press thou thy breast unto this bosom, +And feel what lip but feebly can interpret, +Feel heaven's rapture in my soul! + +THOR. Thou ravest! + +BALDER. Ah! Nanna, friend!-- + +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! + + + + +ACT THE THIRD. + + +It is dark night. The storm howls among the rocks. Sometimes it +lightens and thunders, and the bears bellow here and there in the forest. + +HOTHER (sitting upon a rock unarmed and in a dejected attitude). + + The rocks are reeling, + When storms are roaring, + And thunders pealing, + I feel no fright! + What I'm enduring + Is wilder, stranger + Than thunder's anger + Or tempests might. + +Welcome, thou night! O darkness thick! how friendly, +Compassionately hid'st thou me from Hother! +From him, the weak, the overcome, the fallen! +Come, then, embrace me, Hoe;theim's murky princess! +With all thy horrors dark, thou foe of gladness! +Ah, come! conceal the feeble, shiver'd weapon! +Cover the gloomy rock where I-- Ha! thunder +Annihilate thee, accursed thought, that darest +Disturb the Skoldung where to rest he's flung him! +But I may breathe it to the night, and Hoe;theim +I may entrust with Hother's ignominy. +Ha! hear it, night! and in thy depths conceal it! +There is a rock--a gloomy one--a horrid, +For ugly demons swarm upon its summit, +And dragons nestle in its murky caverns: +There did I fall, and with me fell my honour. +There knelt I powerless, and my life accepted! +Now am I calm, for I no more behold it; +Nor yet behold the proud, the noble foeman, +Nor yet my Nanna's cheek, o'erspread with blushes; +Nor yet the burning, hated tears which rescued, +Which purchased Hother from triumphant Balder! +Ha! storm, thou sinkest! Howl and whoop around me! +Peal, thunders, peal! and drown the cruel echo +Of dastard prayer, of Nanna's intercession! + + Life of my Nanna, + Thy breath doth kill, + Its sweet lamenting, + One stroke preventing, + With many, with many + This breast doth fill. + +Thou lovest me! Ha! weak, enamour'd Nanna! +Thou lovest Hother's life, but not thy Hother. +How cold, how cruel to his name, his honour! +But I--I too was cruel! I accus'd thee-- +Beloved Nanna, at thy feet full quickly +Hother's best blood shall wash away that insult! + +[He springs up and walks about the scene. + +Why do I slumber? Why delay a moment +To keep my oath? Ha, cruel, cruel destiny! +E'en death itself thou dost refuse to Hother, +For every sword and precipice thou hidest; +Ha, feeble spear! whereon I, fool-like, trusted, +Where art thou now? and thou my fragile Mimring +Ne'er frail in fight before; and thou my dagger-- + +[He stumbles over the horn which he cast away in the first act. + +What, what is this? By Hal, the horn which Vanfred +Gave me wherewith in time of need to call him. +Ha! by the gods, was ever need so horrid, +To crave to die, yet want the power of dying; +Friendship so warm as his will never surely +Refuse a dagger to this breast. + +[He winds the horn, which echoes frightfully among the rocks. + +Ha, Vanfred! +I call thee now; where art thou, Vanfred? Vanfred! + +[A whirlwind is heard, and LOKE immediately appears. + +LOKE, HOTHER. + +LOKE. Hail, hail to thee, most fortunate of heroes! + +HOTHER. Ha! darest thou mock Hother? + +LOKE. What disturbeth +A fortune which thy foe himself, which Skulda, +Which heavenly and subterranean powers +Establish with united strength? + +HOTHER. Old dreamer! +Lend me a spear, and better right hand shall +Establish it than all the powers thou namest! + +LOKE. I know thy state of mind and wretched project. +By Nastroud, that worst of fools, if Balder +Had not thine eyes with Asa magic blinded, +And hid each dagger, each abyss thou soughtest, +Ere now in mist thou'dst unreveng'd been lying! + +HOTHER. What, has he hindered me, the noble, proud one! + +LOKE. Yes, proud; for he despises thee. + +HOTHER. Despises! + +LOKE. And think'st thou he for sake of pleasing Nanna +Would e'er have deign'd to guard thee from destruction, +If he had much regarded Hother's anger, +And if thy love one grain of sand he heeded? + +HOTHER. Bad art thou, Vanfred; all thy words are poison'd. + +LOKE (incensed). Ha! Hother, thou reward'st in evil fashion +The friendship and the happiness I bring thee. + +HOTHER. What happiness? + +LOKE. But come, thy misery sours thee; +Know, I can straight assuage it! + +HOTHER. And delayest. + +LOKE. Know then at once, thou lucky son of Hothbrod, +The spear which sendeth Balder's soul to Haelheim. + +HOTHER. A spear, a spear! 'tis all I-- + +LOKE. Is discover'd! +I knew, for I had read it in the planets, +Valhalla's battle-loving maids must seek for +The ne'er seen weapon, and prepare for slaughter +Its deadly point, and I--yes, I--seduc'd them, +The haughty three, to seek the spear. + +HOTHER. Seduc'd them? + +LOKE. And dost thou think they wish the death of Balder? + +HOTHER. Ha, Vanfred! more. + +LOKE. At first thou hadst not the right one; +Thy combat, friend, prov'd that. Near then had +Balder crush'd thee and my design. Aghast I saw him +Brandish the Jotun's bane--I'm well acquainted +With Balder's strength; but ha! the fool prov'd tender; +He saw thy bride, and spar'd thee. Then up mounted +My courage and thine own. + +HOTHER (to himself). I blush: my courage! +(To LOKE). What, courage! I was raging--blind with fury! + +LOKE. Courage of fury--I, by Hael, care little, +My youthful hero, which thine eyeball gleams with, +If thou seek vengence, and thine enemy falleth. + +HOTHER. Who art thou--who? But speak; proceed; explain thee! + +LOKE. Strong was thine arm, and strong 'gainst Jotun's armour +Was Rota's lance, but all too weak 'gainst Balder; +And yet he kneel'd; I saw the proud one palen. +But ha! he rear'd himself; my heart then fail'd me, +For I could best appreciate thy full danger; +Raised was his arm; bright appear'd the massive falchion; +He called on Odin's name, and then none living +Could save thee but himself--the fool! his lofty +Courage shall prove his overthrow. + +HOTHER. Ha, Vanfred! + +LOKE. Well? + +HOTHER. I do admire more and more thy wisdom. +But whilst we fought, where were the maids of battle? + +LOKE. They were my dread; I quak'd at every shadow +And every leaf that mov'd, lest I should see them. +When I saw that no one of the sisters +Heard the high call, and din of shield and falchion, +My courage rose--I knew thou wast in safety: +They hear no fight where no one's doomed to perish. + +HOTHER. And now the spear thou spak'st about? + +LOKE. She has it, +Valfather's favour'd maid--his trusty servant, +At length discover'd by unwearied searching +The spear by which his much-lov'd son shall perish. +Shortly ere thou didst call, as in my cavern +I sat, its vaulted roof begun to tremble. +Three times my stilly dwelling shook, and o'er me +A sound assailed my ear; 'twas like the tempest's +When it uptears the mountain oak; then heard I +The voice of Rota; black huge drops did trickle +Of Jotun blood, of them whom Odin slaughtered, +Through the rock's rifts. I knew by all these signals +That she had found the right, the fatal weapon. + +HOTHER (impatiently). Where is it--where? + +LOKE. She hardens it in Nastroud. + +HOTHER. Peace, dreamer! Go! + +LOKE. I see this heat with pleasure, +And to extinguish all thy doubts, I'll show thee-- +If thou dare see her--the terrific Rota. + +HOTHER. What, Vanfred! if I dare? + +LOKE. Enough! Look westward! + +[He touches HOTHER'S eyelids. Immediately is seen the entrance of a vast +cavern, which is only illumined by the flames which, with a continual +roaring, now sinking, now rising, appear in its deepest part. At the +entrance, on each side, is a little round altar. On the one a flame is +burning in which lies the fatal spear. On the other stands a caldron. +The VALKYRIER move in a circle round the first. + +THE THREE VALKRIER. + +THE FIRST. Flames of Nastroud +Blaze away! +The deepmost deeps feel +Valhall's May. + +THE SECOND. Flames whose roaring +With dismay +E'en Asa hears, +Fate's voice obey. + +ROTA. Poisonous blazes +Harden a spear +For Valhall's May! + +ALL THREE. Poisonous blazes +Harden a spear +For Valhall's May. + +ROTA. Whom it woundeth +It shall slay. + +THE FIRST. Whom it woundeth +It shall slay. + +THE SECOND. Whom it woundeth +It shall slay. + +ALL THREE. Whom it woundeth +It shall slay. + +ROTA (takes the spear from the fire and goes towards the other altar). +Enough, enough! Now will we in the caldron +Cool its red point--now backward turns the circle, +And as we turn, the life of him turns backward +Whom the spear smites; as quench'd are Nastroud's sparkles +Vanish shall the life of him it woundeth. + +[She retains the spear in her hand, and all three march round the +caldron. + +ALL THREE. In juice of rue, +And trefoil too; +In marrow of bear +And blood of Trold, +Be cool'd the spear, +Three times cool'd, +When not from blazes +Which Nastroud raises +For Valhall's May. + +ROTA (she dips it in, and then immediately gives it to the first +VALKYRIE, who does the same, and then hands it to the second, likewise +dips it in the caldron; meanwhile they sing:) + +THE FIRST. Whom it woundeth +It shall slay. + +THE SECOND. Whom it woundeth +It shall slay. + +ALL THREE. Whom it woundeth +It shall slay. + +[ROTA takes the spear. The VALKYRIER and the cavern disappear. The +scene appears the same as in the first of this act. The tempest still +continues to rage. + +HOTHER. Evanished! sunken! sorcery surroundeth +My every step, and ties the arm of Hother. +Fool that I am! the moon will soon break over +Gevar's high rocks; and I, by Hothbrod's ashes, +Like one who fearfully will prolong existence, +I'm paying heed to phantoms. Vanfred! Vanfred! +Fiend, who didst vow me friendship I detested! +Say, where is now the spear which kills for certain? + +LOKE. Thou saw'st it. + +HOTHER. Ha! I saw! I saw! Where is it? + +LOKE. Do I not know that Odin's maids prepar'd it +Only for thee, that fate will only suffer +Thine arm in Balder's heart to thrust it? + +HOTHER. Lately +Thou saidst, think'st thou they wish the death of Balder? +But now against him they the weapon harden; +Now Valhall's maidens hate the noble half-god. +Hence with thy contradictions, false deceiver! + +LOKE. I have already said that I seduced them; +My subtlety, not they, the spear has harden'd. + +HOTHER. Good now! thy subtlety! how nobly Hother +Passes the night! Proceed with thy narration. + +LOKE. Then hear. Thou dost remember Rota's present. +The spear which set the haughty half-god kneeling, +That shiver'd I, and brought it unto Rota. +I borrowed Tyr's, the Asa's dress and figure. +"Behold," I cried, "thy spear, thou crafty Rota! +Late at a Jotun's foot I found it lying, +Sent from the Leir-King's hand; it still was buzzing, +For strong is Hother's arm; I knew the weapon, +And I, who trusted in thy art, I shouted. +Now ill it stands with yonder mountain Jotun; +But loud he laugh'd, and straight the lance upsnatching, +He shiver'd it, and here, O crafty Rota! +Here bring I back to thee the precious fragments!" +With joy I saw her eyes with fury flashing, +She swore by Odin's arm, by all the powers, +And by the highest Godhead--by Allfather, +Restless to search till she a spear discover'd +With power to slay the strongest son of Ymer, +And all who could be slain. She swore and vanished. +Then seem'd it--then, by Haela's mists, then seem'd it +As if fate only for that oath had waited. +Three times above me thunder'd the high Norna; +She spake; but terrible is Skulda's thunder; +I cannot bear its sound; I swift departed; +But soon was conscious of our spear's discovery. +Then thou didst call-- But hear the heavy pinions! +'Tis she! 'tis Rota! I aside must hasten; +For Valhall's maids detest me. [LOKE goes aside. + +HOTHER, and presently the Valkyrie ROTA. + +HOTHER (he pursues LOKE with a contemptuous look). Outcast! +Ha! dastard slave! and thou didst swear me friendship! +No, ne'er hast thou been Hother's friend, thou traitor, +But the sworn enemy of the gods and virtue! + +ROTA (handing him the fatal spear with a half-averted countenance). Here, +son of Hothbrod! here, my much-lov'd warrior! +Receive this spear, and use it as-- + +HOTHER. Thou weepest! + +ROTA. Thou saw'st my tear--dear and noble the blood is +Which it forebodes; but do thou use this weapon! +Yet 'tis no gift of mine--'tis that of Skulda. + +HOTHER. I know thou fearest for the generous Balder; +But, noble maid, if thou my heart see'st into, +Thou know'st that he is safe as Thor in Valhall. + +ROTA. Think'st thou to thwart the Norna's will, young hero? +She pointed out the hidden tree; she bade me +Break off the bough of death; she bade me harden +Its point in Nastroud's flames; she-- But what will I? +My tears are wasted, like thy noble project. +Well, then: use thou this spear! Death is its surname, +And whom it smites eternal sleep shall fetter +In Haelheim's silent night, if he is mortal; +The immortal demon, whose eye by hate and wickedness +Is clouded, 'twill plunge to torments of a thousand winters. +Mark that, and use it well! Thy breast is noble; +But him, the wretch! who breathest poison in it, +(Full well I know he's near) him shalt thou punish. + +[ROTA disappears. + +HOTHER, and presently LOKE. + +HOTHER. Now, now! is all a dream? Yet, I've the weapon! +How welcome death! my noble foe no longer +Shall hide thee from me, nor of thee deprive me; +Now can I keep what I have sworn! O Nanna! +I bring a noble offering to thy virtue! + +[He is going, but LOKE meets him at the entrance. + +LOKE. Whither? thou Fortune's fav'rite! + +HOTHER (sharply). Ha! to Haelheim. + +LOKE. Hother, I scoff thy wise determination. + +HOTHER (incensed). Thou scoffest? + +LOKE. Yes, thou holdest thy foeman's life, +And thou wilt die. + +HOTHER. What foeman's? + +LOKE. Whose, if not Balder's? + +HOTHER. Ah, my life he gave me! +And though I hold the gift in little value, +I took it still. And shall his lofty spirit +His downfall prove? Shall I, shall Hother punish +The pity I craved not? + +LOKE. By Hael! he's coming! +Waste not the moments in these foolish visions. + +HOTHER. What wouldst thou? + +LOKE. Stand behind that pine, and kill him! + +HOTHER. Ha! dastard slave! + +[He strikes LOKE on the head with the spear, and he instantly sinks +howling into the earth. He is no sooner out of sight than everything +becomes quiet. The sun rises in its full majesty. After HOTHER has for +some time looked on all this with astonishment, he says: + +Like thee fall every traitor +Who breatheth wickedness in the Skiolding's bosom! +Ha, Balder! [He goes somewhat aside. + +HOTHER. BALDER. + +BALDER (without perceiving HOTHER). Gloomy was this night and horrid! +Around about me angry gods consulted. +What seek they? To affright the soul of Balder? +Now all is still. + +HOTHER. Now unconcern'd and haughty +Walks the high demigod! Ah, little thinks he +Each breath he draweth is the gift of Hother. + +BALDER. Who utter'd Hother's name? I heard it utter'd, +But all is hushed as death. I know not wherefore +That name affects me more than any other, +And why within mine ear 'tis ever buzzing. +Ah! can I more than pity him, poor mortal! +Who now his life and feebleness bewaileth, +And trembles weaponless at his own shadow. + +HOTHER. Ha, now! for that is worthy of the Skoldung; +I'll be as proud as thou, and fly thy presence! [He goes. + +BALDER. Who's speaking here? Who dares disturb my musings? +But, know I not that Finnish fiends are swarming +Upon the rocks! The sun approach'd the ocean, +And yet I found not Nanna: all deserted +Was Gevar's house, and hollow rang each echo +Of Balder's sighs. Where was she, then? where was she? +Ah! Hother charm'd thee. In the arms of Hother +Thou didst not hear my sighs, my timid knocking, +And my enamour'd call, thou cruel maiden! +And what if I had found thee? Then thine answer +Most probably had prov'd the death of Balder. +I know myself no more; my heart it flutters, +And here about it creeps unwonted chillness. +Yes, Nanna! yes; 'twas thou taught'st me to tremble. +Ah! belov'd maiden! I, a half-god, tremble +When thou but breathest, when thy lip thou movest, +As if to utter No, thy lip is open'd. +Oh, hush! and let me sink with hope to Haelheim! +But did I not behold thine eye beam friendship +On Balder? felt I not thy warm tear trickle +Upon this hand? and saw I not thy blushes? +Ha! I'll think through, I will enjoy entirely +My hope: why then, my heart, beat'st thou so wildly? +And why in Balder's eyes are tears uprising, +And hope to me a stranger? Oh, my treasure, +Thou teachest me a dastard's fear! I tremble +Now I've a glimpse of hope to be depriv'd of. +Ah! if 'tis torn from me again, if Nanna-- +Oh doubt! oh fear with which my heart is tortur'd! +Yes, Thor, my friend, thy words were truth and wisdom; +That pity that she showed was thanks for sparing Hother: +She trembled but for Hother--for the lov'd one: +Each tear but begged his life. What cruel delusion +Has led my soul astray? Ah, wretched meteor +Of empty hope! thou, thou for me couldst glitter, +As if I had been ignorant of her hatred. +Ha! she has ever fled my path, my shadow; +And when, to my own torment, once I wrested +From the proud maid some sort of heed and answer, +'Twas mockery mere: she called herself unworthy +To be great Balder's bride and Odin's daughter, +And held my love-sick sighs for jest and flatt'ry. +Yet never have I heard the word which killeth, +Without the aid of Surtur's deadly sapling-- +The No, the frightful No, by Nanna utter'd. +Ha! I will hear it! Yes, by Haelheim's darkness! +My tears shall now extract that No from Nanna. + +NANNA, BALDER. + +NANNA (she rushes distractedly in upon the stage). Ah! +No one answers me! Do thou give hearing +To Nanna's hard rock, which no god heedeth! +My anguish ease! Reply! Ah, where's my lov'd one? + +BALDER (aside). My fate will have it so. Ha, Nanna. + +NANNA. Show me, +Ye silent forests, shades once lov'd, now awful, +Oh, show me him--disclose me my dearest! + +BALDER (aside). Ha! shall I? Dare I? + +NANNA. Ah, where art thou, Hother? +Perhaps in an abyss, all crushed and bloody +And silent! Woe is me! for ever silent! + +BALDER (springing to her). Dear Nanna! Oh what terror-- + +NANNA. Ha! I've seen him! +The direst dream has shown to me my Hother! +Close by a yawning chasm was he standing, +And round about him bellow'd hideous monsters. + +BALDER. Thine--as thou callest him--thine Hother liveth. + +NANNA (whilst she recognizes BALDER). Ha Balder! thou hast slain him! +Ah, forgive me! +My dream confuses me--thou see'st I tremble. +I heard the fall of gods--the gods lamenting; +And bloody by the Hall there stood a spectre: +Big was the ruddy wound whereto it pointed. +Like one deep musing it conceal'd its visage; +But big the tears were through its fingers streaming: +Ah, the pale son of night was tall as Hother! + +BALDER. Ha! Hother can't be dead. + +NANNA. I do believe thee; +But ah! I cannot rest--I cannot, Balder, +Till I have seen his face, have spoken to him, +Embrac'd his arm, and press'd it to this bosom. + +BALDER (distractedly). Ha, Nanna! this is more--'tis more, by Odin, +Than I can bear! + +NANNA (terrified). Ye mighty gods of heaven! +Thou fright'nest me, forlorn one! + +[She endeavours to escape, but BALDER detains her by force, and flings +himself at her feet. + +BALDER. Oh my Nanna! +Stay! by these burning tears I do adjure thee, +By all my sufferings! Stay, oh stay! + +NANNA (with disquiet). What wilt thou? + +BALDER. I scarcely know! Ah! I have hop'd, dear Nanna! + +NANNA. Unhand me! Let me fly! What hast thou hop'd for? +Thou know'st who has my love. Unhand me, Balder! + +BALDER. No, by the gods! here at thy feet I'll hear thee +Pronounce my doom. Is there no hope remaining? +Can all my tenderness--these tears--can nothing +Soften thy cruelty? Oh, answer, Nanna! +Say so at once! Plunge in my heart the dagger! + +NANNA. Ah, wherefore, Balder, dost thou love a mortal? + +BALDER. Perhaps thou doubtest my love, perhaps thou wishest +Its whole extent. Ha, towards Heaven +I'll lift my better hand, and vow eternal, +Eternal tenderness to thee, my Nanna! +If greater proofs thou wish'st for, do but name them, +That I may show to thee how dear I love thee! + +NANNA. Ah, Balder, spare me! spare thyself! What wilt thou? +How often have I said my heart can never +Merit the like of thee! + +BALDER. Accurst evasion! +Why dost thou seek to spare me? Crush me! kill me! +Say that thou never wilt! + +NANNA. Ah, I love Hother! +How can I? + +BALDER. Perhaps thou only think'st thou lov'st him. +Can he deserve thee, Nanna? he, a mortal? + +NANNA (incensed). He loveth virtue, Balder; he is valiant, +And great is he 'mongst kings; he ruleth over +The Danes! + +BALDER. I'm more than any king, oh Nanna! + +NANNA. Wert thou a god, I'd still have none but Hother! + +BALDER (stretches his right hand despairingly towards heaven). Although +rejected--hear it all ye heavens-- +Although rejected, I will love thee, Nanna! + +[He has scarcely finished speaking when the Valkyrie ROTA appears. The +Bird of Death sits upon her shoulder. She averts her countenance, +touches his skull with her spear, and says: + +To battle, friend! to wounds, and fall, and darkness! + +[She immediately disappears, and as BALDER and NANNA have their backs +turned to her, and have both been too attentive to themselves to observe +any one else, she is neither seen nor heard but by the spectators. + +BALDER (he springs up like a maniac, and holds his hand for some time +before his head). Ha! how I'm dreaming! how I waste my moments +In dastard sighs, bewailing like a woman! +And have I not a shield and sword? To battle! +To battle, Balder! Let thy broad sword glitter! +Lift high the sword, cleave down the haughty warrior, +And dip thy spear in blood, thou son of Odin! +Ha! din of shield 'gainst shield, and battle's bellow, +They, they shall gladden me--and deafen Nanna! +And I will cool this heart in blood of Kempions! + +[He draws his sword, and runs away in madness. + +NANNA (alone). Ye heavens! what did he mean? Alas, he rages! +Wretch that I am! he goes to slay my Hother! + + My hopes ye annih'late, + Ye powers of the sky! + Who'll strengthen me, fainting, + Against the god's might? + Who'll heed my lamenting, + My sorrowful plight? + Ah! whom can I wend to? + Will earth e'er attend to + A powerless cry, + Which cruel gods smile at? + My hopes ye annih'late, + Ye powers of the sky! + Ha! ye have crush'd my heart! Oh Hother! Hother! + Where art thou? Ah! I can no more! I'm swooning! + O Death! O Freya! + +[She supports herself, fainting, against a tree. + +HOTHER, NANNA. + +HOTHER (he rushes up to her in alarm). Dearest! + +NANNA (looking stiffly upon him). Ah! my Hother! + +HOTHER. So wild! so pale! Ah! would thy noble bosom +Was not so tender! + +NANNA. Voice of my belov'd one! +Oh, speak again! Oh, speak again! + +HOTHER. Thou tremblest, +My bride! my much-lov'd bride! And burning tear-drops, +Oh, hide them! Ha! they burn me--melt my courage! +Weep not, my bride! + +NANNA. Ah, joy! the joy of heaven, +Entices forth these tears! My Hother liveth! + +HOTHER (mournfully). Still liveth! + +NANNA (affectionately and sorrowfully). Still! + +HOTHER (turning away his face). O cruel, cruel fortune! +Yet I have sworn? + +NANNA. Fright me not, my Hother! +Affright me not! What mean'st thou? Mighty powers! +Thine eyes thou turnest from thy bride! + +HOTHER (looking upon her with tenderness). Ah, Nanna! + +NANNA. Ha! tears on Hother's cheeks! Oh, save me, Freya! +What means this? Oh, I die! + +HOTHER (he embraces her with violence). Oh, dearest Nanna! + +NANNA. Oh heaven! say-- + +HOTHER (embraces her again). Once more, my bride! + +NANNA. I tremble +What means this? + +HOTHER. Canst thou bury in oblivion +Thy Hother's cruel doubt? Say, canst thou pardon +His only crime? + +NANNA. Think'st thou I can remember +That Hother e'er has err'd? + +HOTHER. How nobly spoken! +Farewell, my bride! farewell, for ever. + +[He embraces her for the third time, and is going; but she holds fast his +arm. + +NANNA. Cruel! +If thou hast ever lov'd me-- + +HOTHER. Canst thou doubt it? +By Odin, more than the best light! Can Hother's +Tears not make bare to thee his heart? + +NANNA Then wherefore +Wouldst thou fly from me! + +HOTHER. Honour calleth--Honour! +And that--forgive me--that is more than Nanna. +Ha! I must fly from thee! Each tear thou sheddest +Enfeebles but my heart, and makes death bitter. + +[He is going. + +NANNA.. If thou regard'st my vow--regard'st my terror, +Wouldst thou not see me die, and die distracted-- + +HOTHER. What wilt thou? + +NANNA. Ah! a prayer!--oh how I tremble-- +But if thou meetest Balder-- + +HOTHER. I avoid him! + +NANNA (astonished, and calmer). What! thou avoid'st him? + +HOTHER. Think'st thou I bear hatred +'Gainst one who yielded thee a glimpse of pleasure? +One--nearly one of Hother's days? He gave me +My life, and shall I slay him in requital? +Oh! Nanna, . . . I've the mighty thought imagined; +But with it trembles yet my lip--oh, canst thou +Pay virtue its reward--forget for ever thy Hother, +And--in course of time--love Balder? + +NANNA. Oh, hush! oh, hush! my Hother! + +HOTHER. He is virtuous, +He loves thee well, and Odin is his father. + +NANNA. How cruel! + +HOTHER. I must fly from thee for ever! + +NANNA. Oh horror! Whither? What is thy intention? + +HOTHER. To die! Thou know'st my oath! Ha! the sun hastens! +Seest thou how high? I swore by Hothbrod's ashes +With Balder not to live a day! Release me! +Ha! seest thou how high-- + +NANNA. And I have sworn too, +By tenderness, by Freya, by my bosom, +I'll not release thee; I thy track will follow +In the black night of death! This arm I'll cling to, +And my tear-moisten'd eye, until it bursteth, +Shall gaze on thee, shall gaze on thee, its Hother! + +HOTHER. Then be courageous--of thy Hother worthy! +Think on his oath, and-- + +NANNA (she releases him). Ah, what wilt thou, Hother? + +HOTHER. And see him die! + +[He lifts his spear to stab himself. At that same moment the frantic +BALDER rushes upon the scene. + +BALDER, HOTHER, NANNA. + +BALDER (he runs directly up to NANNA). Come! follow me now, Nanna! +Our bridal festival's prepar'd in Haelheim, +In Asgaard. Follow me, thou murky daughter +Of joy! Ha, quick! Of dastard love I dream not. +Jotuns await my arm. Hurrah! thou stayest! +Thou stayest! Come! + +[He seizes her by the arm, and seeks to drag her away by force. HOTHER +steps between, and endeavours to thrust him aside with his hand. + +NANNA. Oh, save me! save me, Hother! + +HOTHER. Hold, Balder! + +BALDER (he releases NANNA, and drawing his sword, hews at HOTHER with his +utmost might, who seeks to parry the blow with his spear, retreating at +the same time). Fall, presumptuous wretch! + +HOTHER. Beware thee! + +BALDER. Fall, nidding! + +HOTHER. Ha, beware thee! + +BALDER. Die! + +[He stumbles, and runs the spear into his breast; whereupon he +immediately drops his sword and sinks upon one knee. + +HOTHER. Ha, Balder! + +BALDER. Ha, Nanna!--Thor! I have deserv'd my fortune. + +[He dies, and a mighty whirlwind passes over the scene. + +NANNA. Ye heavens! + +HOTHER. He is dead, the mighty Balder! + +A VOICE FAR AWAY IN THE FOREST. He is dead, the mighty Balder! + +MANY VOICES, which answer one another amongst the rocks. +The mighty Balder is dead. + +[It thunders; ODIN and FRIGGA appear upon a cloud in a very mournful +attitude. THOR and many of the ASER come forward from one side of the +wood, and the three VALKYRIER from the other. + +THOR (and his retinue). Odin, thy Balder is dead! + +CHORUS. Thunders, burst your cloudy portals! +Heaven, earth, and ocean rave! +Weep ye gods, and mourn ye mortals, +O'er the mighty Balder's grave! + +THOR. Gods of battle stern and gory, +Weep ye o'er the hero slain! +Balder, thou the Aser's glory! +Love, base love, has prov'd thy bane. + +CHORUS. Balder, thou the Aser's glory, +Love, base love, has prov'd thy bane. + +ROTA. I of slaughter swift purveyor, +Sorrow o'er the hero slain! +Balder, thou the Jotun-slayer, +Loke's falsehood was thy bane. + +CHORUS. Balder, thou the Jotun-slayer, +Loke's falsehood was thy bane. + +HOTHER. Hother's burning tears are flowing +O'er the mighty Balder slain; +Ah, thy heart with virtue glowing, +Noble Balder, was thy bane. + +CHORUS. Ah, thy heart with virtue glowing, +Noble Balder, was thy bane. + +NANNA. Nanna weeps with pallid feature +O'er the mighty Balder slain: +Friend of gods and every creature! +Fate alone has prov'd thy bane. + +CHORUS. Friend of gods and every creature! +Fate alone has prov'd thy bane. + +MANY VOICES answer one another among the rocks. The +mighty Balder is dead! + +CONCLUDING CHORUS. Thunders, burst your cloudy portals! +Heaven, earth, and ocean rave! +Weep and howl, ye gods and mortals, +O'er the mighty Balder's grave. + + + + +EXPLANATION OF THE MYTHOLOGICAL WORDS AND NAMES. + + +ALLFATHER was one of Odin's surnames, but it signifies in this piece the +highest being, who governs all things, and Odin himself. + +ALF, a spirit; the same as Demon amongst the Greeks. There were good and +bad Alf's or Elves, light and black, as the Edda calls them. + +ASER, was one of Odin's surnames, and on that account the name of Aser +was given to all the gods. + +ASGARD, the castle or city of the gods, erected by Odin and his brothers. + +THE FALL OF ASGARD. At the end of the world the heavens were to burst, +and the castle of the gods to fall. + +BALDER, son of Odin and Frigga, the best and most beautiful amongst the +Aser. His death and the circumstances which caused it in this piece--that +is, the whole plot--are taken partly from the Edda (43rd, 44th and 45th +falle), partly from the third book of Saxo, and something is, according +to poetic license, added or altered. + +FENRI'S wolf, was begot by Loke with the giantess Angerbode. This wolf +in the conflict of Surtur with the gods was to swallow Odin, who on +account of this prophecy kept him in chains. + +FIGHT AND DEATH OF GODS. At the destruction of the world, Odin and the +other gods were to fight with Surtur and his train, and all to perish in +this conflict. This period is termed, in the Edda, Ragnarokr, the +"twilight of the gods." + +FIND, a Trold or Demon of this name. + +FREYA, the most exalted of the goddesses next to Frigga. She was the +protectress of the human race in general, but particularly of lovers. + +FRIGGA, the wife of Odin and the mother of Balder; the most exalted of +all the goddesses. + +GELDER, king of the Saxons (according to Saxo, in the life of Hother). He +is presumed here to have been killed by Hother, who is therefore called +"the bane of Gelder." + +GEVAR, according to Saxo, a spaeman or prophet, the father of Nanna and +the foster-father of Hother. He makes him likewise king of Norway; but +Giver is not so in this piece. + +HAEL or HAELA, the goddess of death. She was the daughter of Loke and +the giantess Angerbode, and was hurled down by Odin to her horrible +habitation. + +HAELHEIM, Hael's dwelling. In the Edda it is called Helim, that is, +Hell; but as the word Hell has now a different signification, it was +necessary to invent here a word to express Hael's dwelling. + +HAELWAY, the way of the dead, or the path to Haelheim. + +HERTE, HERTA, or HERTHA, the earth, considered as a divine being and +worshipped as a goddess by the old German and Northern people, as +likewise by the Romans and others. The Edda calls this goddess Jord +(that is, earth), and makes her the daughter and wife of Odin, and the +mother of Thor, his first son. + +HERTEDAL, the place in Sielland where Herte's grove was. + +HOTHBROD, the father of Hother, according to Saxo, who makes him king of +Sweden, and thus Hother a Swede. Contrary to which, the author of this +piece found himself justified in reckoning Hother amongst the Skioldungs. + +HOTHER, according to Saxo, was king of Denmark and Sweden; but his Life, +by the same, is a chain of fables, which has yet given considerable +occasion to the contents of this piece. + +LEIRE, the ancient place of residence of the Danish kings, whence they +were termed "Kings of Leire." + +LIDSKIALF, in the Edda Klidskialf, a place in Asgard from which Odin +surveys the whole world. + +LOKE, a very wicked god, who, according to the Edda, was the cause of the +death of Balder, and was therefore conducted by the other gods to a +cavern, where they chained him to three rocks, there to suffer the most +painful punishment until the destruction of the world. By the giantess +Angerbode he begot Fenri's Wolf, Midgard's Serpent, and Hael. He was +reckoned among the Aser, and was, notwithstanding his wickedness, +beautiful of appearance. + +MIDGARD'S SERPENT, a serpent begot by Loke with the giantess Angerbode. +It was to be one of the occasioners of the world's destruction, and was +on that account cast by Odin into the deep sea, where it grew to such a +degree that it lay round the whole earth, and bit its own tail. + +MIMMER, the owner of a fountain wherein wisdom and knowledge of the +future lay concealed, out of which he drank every morning. Odin was once +obliged to lay one of his eyes in pawn, in order to obtain a draught from +this fountain. He was likewise, when Surtur should attack the gods, to +ride to this fountain and seek counsel from Mimer on his own and his +army's account. + +MIMRING, this is the sword called here, which Hother, according to the +relation of Saxo, took from a satyr or wild man of the same name. + +NANNA, daughter of Gevar, beloved by Hother, and by Balder, son of Odin, +according to Saxo, whose narration bears that Hother wedded Nanna, and +afterwards slew Balder by the assistance of an enchanted belt which three +nymphs had bestowed upon him. + +NASTROUD, was properly the place where the ungodly were to be after the +destruction of the world, but here the word is intended to signify the +glowing and burning world towards the south, at whose extremest end +Surtur had his habitation, and which is called in the Edda, Muspel, or +Muspelheim. + +NORNIES, were the goddesses of destiny, whose messages Odin himself was +compelled to fear and to attend to. They were three in number. But the +eldest, Urd (been), presided over the past; the second, Verande (being), +the present; and the youngest, Skuld (shall be), the future. + +ODIN, the god of war, the most exalted of the gods, and father of them +all. + +ROTA, one of the Valkyrier. See VALKYRIER. + +SKIOLDUNG. Skiold, son of Odin, was the founder of the Danish monarchy. +His descendants were called after him Skioldungs, or, contractedly, +Skiolds. + +SKULDA (in the Edda, SKULD), the youngest Nornie. See NORNIES. + +SURTUR (the Black), the ruler of the glowing or burning world, at whose +extremest end was his seat or dwelling. See above: NASTROUD. At the +fated time he was with his army to overcome and slaughter Odin and all +the gods, and thereupon set fire to the whole world. + +THOR, was the god of thunder and strength: with his hammer he slew Yults, +Trolds, and other foes of Odin and the gods. + +TYR, one of the bravest and wisest gods, so that it was customary to say +proverbially, "As bold as Tyr," "Wise as Tyr." + +VALFATHER, the father of the slain or fallen in battle: one of Odin's +surnames. + +VALHALL, (the Hall of the Slain), the place where all warriors who had +fallen by the enemy were so nobly entertained by Odin. It is commonly +called Valhalla; but Valhall is the right, and Valhalla only the +Latinized name in Resenius' edition of the Edda. + +VALKYRIER, were virgins, or war-maids, who waited upon the heroes in +Valhall. Three of them, amongst whom was Rota, were commonly dispatched +to the field of battle by Odin, in order to choose them who were to be +slain, which employment the name Valkyrier denotes. These three have +obtained a place in this tragedy, and Rota is made the principal of them. + +UDGAARD (UDGARD), Loke's dwelling outside of heaven. His usual name in +the Edda is Udgarda Loke, Loke of Udgard; and thus Saxo in the Life of +Gorm the first calls him Ugartilocum. + +YMER, the first giant, Yutt, or Jotun, who lived before the heaven and +the earth existed, and who was killed with all his offspring by Odin and +his brothers. Only one of this giant race, by name Borgeline, escaped, +together with his wife, and became the stem-father of the subsequent +Jotuns. + + + + +Footnotes: + + +{1} Wadmal, a coarse woollen stuff, much worn by Norwegian peasants. + +{2} Skiers are wooden pattens to run upon over the frozen snow + + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DEATH OF BALDER*** + + +******* This file should be named 13879.txt or 13879.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/8/7/13879 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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