The Death of Balder

by Johannes Ewald

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, a Trold or Demon of this name.

FREYA, the most exalted of the goddesses next to Frigga. She was the protectress of the human race in general, but particularly of lovers.

FRIGGA, the wife of Odin and the mother of Balder; the most exalted of all the goddesses.

GELDER, king of the Saxons (according to Saxo, in the life of Hother). He is presumed here to have been killed by Hother, who is therefore called “the bane of Gelder.”

GEVAR, according to Saxo, a spæman or prophet, the father of Nanna and the foster-father of Hother. He makes him likewise king of Norway; but Giver is not so in this piece.

HÆL or HÆLA, the goddess of death. She was the daughter of Loke and the giantess Angerbode, and was hurled down by Odin to her horrible habitation.

HÆLHEIM, Hæl’s dwelling. In the Edda it is called Helim, that is, Hell; but as the word Hell has now a different signification, it was necessary to invent here a word to express Hæl’s dwelling.

HÆLWAY, the way of the dead, or the path to Hælheim.

HERTE, HERTA, or HERTHA, the earth, considered as a divine being and worshipped as a goddess by the old German and Northern people, as likewise by the Romans and others. The Edda calls this goddess Jörd (that is, earth), and makes her the daughter and wife of Odin, and the mother of Thor, his first son.

HERTEDAL, the place in Sielland where Herte’s grove was.

HOTHBROD, the father of Hother, according to Saxo, who makes him king of Sweden, and thus Hother a Swede. Contrary to which, the author of this piece found himself justified in reckoning Hother amongst the Skioldungs.

HOTHER, according to Saxo, was king of Denmark and Sweden; but his Life, by the same, is a chain of fables, which has yet given considerable occasion to the contents of this piece.

LEIRE, the ancient place of residence of the Danish kings, whence they were termed “Kings of Leire.”

LIDSKIALF, in the Edda Klidskialf, a place in Asgard from which Odin surveys the whole world.

LOKE, a very wicked god, who, according to the Edda, was the cause of the death of Balder, and was therefore conducted by the other gods to a cavern, where they chained him to three rocks, there to suffer the most painful punishment until the destruction of the world. By the giantess Angerbode he begot Fenri’s Wolf, Midgard’s Serpent, and Hæl. He was reckoned among the Aser, and was, notwithstanding his wickedness, beautiful of appearance.

MIDGARD’S SERPENT, a serpent begot by Loke with the giantess Angerbode. It was to be one of the occasioners of the world’s destruction, and was on that account cast by Odin into the deep sea, where it grew to such a degree that it lay round the whole earth, and bit its own tail.

MIMMER, the owner of a fountain wherein wisdom and knowledge of the future lay concealed, out of which he drank every morning. Odin was once obliged to lay one of his eyes in pawn, in order to obtain a draught from this fountain. He was likewise, when Surtur should attack the gods, to ride to this fountain and seek counsel from Mimer on his own and his army’s account.

MIMRING, this is the sword called here, which Hother, according to the relation of Saxo, took from a satyr or wild man of the same name.

NANNA, daughter of Gevar, beloved by Hother, and by Balder, son of Odin, according to Saxo, whose narration bears that Hother wedded Nanna, and afterwards slew Balder by the assistance of an enchanted belt which three nymphs had bestowed upon him.

NASTROUD, was properly the place where the ungodly were to be after the destruction of the world, but here the word is intended to signify the glowing and burning world towards the south, at whose extremest end Surtur had his habitation, and which is called in the Edda, Muspel, or Muspelheim.

NORNIES, were the goddesses of destiny, whose messages Odin himself was compelled to fear and to attend to. They were three in number. But the eldest, Urd (been), presided over the past; the second, Verande (being), the present; and the youngest, Skuld (shall be), the future.

ODIN, the god of war, the most exalted of the gods, and father of them all.

ROTA, one of the Valkyrier. See VALKYRIER.

SKIOLDUNG. Skiold, son of Odin, was the founder of the Danish monarchy. His descendants were called after him Skioldungs, or, contractedly, Skiolds.

SKULDA (in the Edda, SKULD), the youngest Nornie. See NORNIES.

SURTUR (the Black), the ruler of the glowing or burning world, at whose extremest end was his seat or dwelling. See above: NASTROUD. At the fated time he was with his army to overcome and slaughter Odin and all the gods, and thereupon set fire to the whole world.

THOR, was the god of thunder and strength: with his hammer he slew Yults, Trolds, and other foes of Odin and the gods.

TYR, one of the bravest and wisest gods, so that it was customary to say proverbially, “As bold as Tyr,” “Wise as Tyr.”

VALFATHER, the father of the slain or fallen in battle: one of Odin’s surnames.

VALHALL, (the Hall of the Slain), the place where all warriors who had fallen by the enemy were so nobly entertained by Odin. It is commonly called Valhalla; but Valhall is the right, and Valhalla only the Latinized name in Resenius’ edition of the Edda.

VALKYRIER, were virgins, or war-maids, who waited upon the heroes in Valhall. Three of them, amongst whom was Rota, were commonly dispatched to the field of battle by Odin, in order to choose them who were to be slain, which employment the name Valkyrier denotes. These three have obtained a place in this tragedy, and Rota is made the principal of them.

UDGAARD (UDGARD), Loke’s dwelling outside of heaven. His usual name in the Edda is Udgarda Loke, Loke of Udgard; and thus Saxo in the Life of Gorm the first calls him Ugartilocum.

YMER, the first giant, Yutt, or Jotun, who lived before the heaven and the earth existed, and who was killed with all his offspring by Odin and his brothers. Only one of this giant race, by name Borgeline, escaped, together with his wife, and became the stem-father of the subsequent Jotuns.