transformation.

In the Northern conception of Nifl-heim we have an almost exact
counterpart of the Greek Hades. Moedgud, the guardian of the
Giallar-bridge (the bridge of death), over which all the spirits of
the dead must pass, exacts a tribute of blood as rigorously as Charon
demands an obolus from every soul he ferries over Acheron, the river
of death. The fierce dog Garm, cowering in the Gnipa hole, and keeping
guard at Hel's gate, is like the three-headed monster Cerberus; and
the nine worlds of Nifl-heim are not unlike the divisions of Hades,
Nastrond being an adequate substitute for Tartarus, where the wicked
were punished with equal severity.

The custom of burning dead heroes with their arms, and of slaying
victims, such as horses and dogs, upon their pyre, was much the same
in the North as in the South; and while Mors or Thanatos, the Greek
Death, was represented with a sharp scythe, Hel was depicted with a
broom or rake, which she used as ruthlessly, and with which she did
as much execution.

Balder and Apollo

Balder, the radiant god of sunshine, reminds us not only of Apollo and
Orpheus, but of all the other heroes of sun myths. His wife Nanna is
like Flora, and still more like Proserpine, for she, too, goes down
into the underworld, where she tarries for a while. Balder's golden
hall of Breidablik is like Apollo's palace in the east; he, also,
delights in flowers; all things smile at his approach, and willingly
pledge themselves not to injure him. As Achilles was vulnerable only
in the heel, so Balder could be slain only by the harmless mistletoe,
and his death is occasioned by Loki's jealousy just as Hercules was
slain by that of Deianeira. Balder's funeral pyre on Ringhorn reminds
us of Hercules's death on Mount OEta, the flames and reddish glow of
both fires serving to typify the setting sun. The Northern god of sun
and summer could only be released from Nifl-heim if all animate and
inanimate objects shed tears; so Proserpine could issue from Hades
only upon condition that she had partaken of no food. The trifling
refusal of Thok to shed a single tear is like the pomegranate seeds
which Proserpine ate, and the result is equally disastrous in both
cases, as it detains Balder and Proserpine underground, and the earth
(Frigga or Ceres) must continue to mourn their absence.

Through Loki evil entered into the Northern world; Prometheus's
gift of fire brought the same curse upon the Greeks. The pu