Gray's fragments of Norse Lore, at any rate, will give one no notion
of it;--any more than Pope will of Homer. It is no square-built gloomy
palace of black ashlar marble, shrouded in awe and horror, as Gray gives
it us: no; rough as the North rocks, as the Iceland deserts, it is; with
a heartiness, homeliness, even a tint of good humor and robust mirth in
the middle of these fearful things. The strong old Norse heart did not
go upon theatrical sublimities; they had not time to tremble. I like
much their robust simplicity; their veracity, directness of conception.
Thor "draws down his brows" in a veritable Norse rage; "grasps his
hammer till the _knuckles grow white_." Beautiful traits of pity too, an
honest pity. Balder "the white God" dies; the beautiful, benignant; he
is the Sungod. They try all Nature for a remedy; but he is dead. Frigga,
his mother, sends Hermoder to seek or see him: nine days and nine nights
he rides through gloomy deep valleys, a labyrinth of gloom; arrives at
the Bridge with its gold roof: the Keeper says, "Yes, Balder did pass
here; but the Kingdom of the Dead is down yonder, far towards the
North." Hermoder rides on; leaps Hell-gate, Hela's gate; does see
Balder, and speak with him: Balder cannot be delivered. Inexorable! Hela
will not, for Odin or any God, give him up. The beautiful and gentle has
to remain there. His Wife had volunteered to go with him, to die with
him. They shall forever remain there. He sends his ring to Odin; Nanna
his wife sends her _thimble_ to Frigga, as a remembrance.--Ah me--!

For indeed Valor is the fountain of Pity too;--of Truth, and all that
is great and good in man. The robust homely vigor of the Norse heart
attaches one much, in these delineations. Is it not a trait of right
honest strength, says Uhland, who has written a fine _Essay_ on Thor,
that the old Norse heart finds its friend in the Thunder-god? That it
is not frightened away by his thunder; but finds that Summer-heat, the
beautiful noble summer, must and will have thunder withal! The Norse
heart _loves_ this Thor and his hammer-bolt; sports with him. Thor is
Summer-heat: the god of Peaceable Industry as well as Thunder. He is the
Peasant's friend; his true henchman and attendant is Thialfi, _Manual
Labor_. Thor himself engages in all manner of rough manual work, scorns
no business for its plebeianism; is ever and anon travelling to the
country of the Jotuns, harrying those chaotic Frost-monsters, sub