bier for the body
which it bore. The fire was set to the funeral-pile, and the red flames
shot upwards to the sky; but their light was but a flickering beam when
matched with the sun-bright beauty of Balder, whose body they consumed.

Then the sorrowing folk turned away, and went back to their homes: a
cheerless gloom rested heavily where light gladness had ruled before.
And, when they reached the high halls of Asgard, the Asa-queen spoke,
and said,--

"Who now, for the love of Balder and his stricken mother, will undertake
an errand? Who will go down into the Valley of Death, and seek for
Balder, and ransom him, and bring him back to Asgard and the mid-world?"

Then Hermod the Nimble, the brother of Balder, answered, "I will go. I
will find him, and, with Hela's leave, will bring him back."

And he mounted Sleipner, the eight-footed steed, and galloped swiftly
away. Nine days and nine nights he rode through strange valleys and
mountain gorges, where the sun's light had never been, and through
gloomy darkness and fearful silence, until he came to the black river,
and the glittering, golden bridge which crosses it. Over the bridge his
strong horse carried him; although it shook and swayed and threatened to
throw him into the raging, inky flood below. On the other side a maiden
keeps the gate, and Hermod stopped to pay the toll.

"What is thy name?" she asked.

"My name is Hermod, and I am called the Nimble," he answered.

"What is thy father's name?"

"His name is Odin. Mayhap you have heard of him."

"Why ridest thou with such thunderous speed? Five kingdoms of dead men
passed over this bridge yesterday, and it shook not with their weight
as it did with thee and thy strange steed. Thou art not of the pale
multitude that are wont to pass this gate. What is thy errand? and why
ridest thou to the domains of the dead?"

"I go to find my brother Balder," answered Hermod. "It is but a short
time since he unwillingly came down into these shades."

"Three days ago," said the maiden, "Balder passed this way, and by his
side rode the faithful Nanna. So bright was his presence, even here,
that the whole valley was lighted up as it had never before been
lighted. The black river glittered like a gem; the frowning mountains
smiled for once; and Hela herself, the queen of these regions, slunk far
away into her most distant halls. But Balder went on his way, and even
now he sups with Nanna in the dark castle over yonder."