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,