[33] Hel’s palace was called Eliudnir. [Back]
And Odin answered, “I am Voltam, and I have come to ask why the table is so richly spread in Helheim and for whom the vacant chair stands waiting.” Thus Odin spoke, for he feared to tell her his name.
A silence fell over the dim old forest, and for a moment Odin feared that his spells could not compel the dead to speak. But at last a faint voice whispered, “It is for the shining Balder that Hel and all her hosts are waiting.”
“Who then shall send the Beloved of the gods to Helheim?” asked Odin, and he waited fearfully for the answer.
“Blind Höder shall slay him, for so it has been written, and so it shall be,” came the words which the anxious listener dreaded and yet waited to hear.
“And who shall avenge the death of Balder?” he asked sorrowfully. For a long time no answer came; then the voice, which sounded still farther away, cried mournfully:—
“Keep me no longer from my well-earned rest. For ages upon ages I have lain here, and the rain and snow have beat upon my head and the winds have sung their songs in my ears. Depart thou hence and leave me to my sleep.”
So Odin left the forest, for he knew that the dead would speak no more; and slowly and sorrowfully he returned to Asgard. He did not tell the gods of his visit to Helheim; but kept to himself the sad knowledge he had gained.
Meantime the goddess Frigga determined to avert, if possible, the unknown danger that threatened her son; so she went out one day from her palace and wandered over the whole earth. And as she went she begged everything which she met to swear by a solemn oath never to hurt Balder. Fire, water, rocks, trees, iron, brass, birds and beasts,—all were bound by a vow to do no harm to him; and everything on earth gave the promise gladly, for all the world loved the bright and joyous Balder. As Frigga was returning home, she saw just outside the gates of Asgard a small plant called the mistletoe; but it looked so harmless that she passed it by without asking for the promise, and hurried on to tell Odin of the success of her journey.
When the gods heard how everything had sworn never to hurt Balder, there was gladness again among them. But Odin, knowing the decree of the Norns, could not rejoice with the rest; though in the general happiness that reigned now in Asgard, no one marked his sadness. Then, to prove whether all the things which had given the promise would really keep their word to Frigga, the gods placed the youth as a target before them, and hurled at him huge stones and sharp-pointed spears and the weapons which they used in battle; but each missile turned aside, and refused to hurt the shining Balder. Even the deadly battle-axes fell harmless at his feet. Now Loki, who always hated everything beautiful, and who was jealous of Balder because the gods loved him, stood by watching the game. His heart was full of bitterness and envy, and he hated the glorious youth who could be so confident and secure in the love which all the world had owned for him. So he determined to work some harm to Balder.