ed, and in a moment was face to face with the
terrible queen of the kingdom of the dead. Beside her, on a beautiful
throne, sat Balder, pale and wan, crowned with a withered wreath of
flowers, and close at hand was Nanna, pallid as her husband, for whom
she had died. And all night long, while ghostly forms wandered restless
and sleepless through Helheim, Hermod talked with Balder and Nanna.
There is no record of what they said, but the talk was sad enough,
doubtless, and ran like a still stream among the happy days in Asgard
when Balder's smile was morning over the earth and the sight of his face
the summer of the world.

When the morning came, faint and dim, through the dusky palace, Hermod
sought Hel, who received him as cold and stern as fate.

"Your kingdom is full, O Hel!" he said, "and without Balder, Asgard is
empty. Send him back to us once more, for there is sadness in every
heart and tears are in every eye. Through heaven and earth all things
weep for him."

"If that is true," was the slow, icy answer, "if every created thing
weeps for Balder, he shall return to Asgard; but if one eye is dry he
remains henceforth in Helheim."

Then Hermod rode swiftly away, and the decree of Hel was soon told in
Asgard. Through all the worlds the gods sent messengers to say that all
who loved Balder should weep for his return, and everywhere tears fell
like rain. There was weeping in Asgard, and in all the earth there was
nothing that did not weep. Men and women and little children, missing
the light that had once fallen into their hearts and homes, sobbed with
bitter grief; the birds of the air, who had sung carols of joy at the
gates of the morning since time began, were full of sorrow; the beasts
of the fields crouched and moaned in their desolation; the great trees,
that had put on their robes of green at Balder's command, sighed as the
wind wailed through them; and the sweet flowers, that waited for
Balder's footstep and sprang up in all the fields to greet him, hung
their frail blossoms and wept bitterly for the love and the warmth and
the light that had gone out. Throughout the whole earth there was
nothing but weeping, and the sound of it was like the wailing of those
storms in autumn that weep for the dead summer as its withered leaves
drop one by one from the trees.

The messengers of the gods went gladly back to Asgard, for everything
had wept for Balder; but as they journeyed they came upon a giantess,
called