[Faintly, as from a great distance, there rises a sound of many voices crying, “Odin! Asa Odin!” and the rumour of beasts in pain.]
Hark, now! from far below us, the deep moan And lowing of a mortal sacrifice. Speak, Thor! What seest thou at Odin’s altar?
THOR A mighty hunter and a twisted dwarf Make sacrifice; rivals they seem, in feud, And claim the hand of Thordis, thy priest’s daughter, And the priest cries on Odin for a portent To choose which of the brothers shall be bridegroom.
ODIN Lo, then, my portent! We ourselves, we four, Shall be those rival brothers, priest and bride; Loki and Thor shall ravish them with death That we, in resurrection, may take on Their bodies as our mortal vestiture. For I will act with you this mystery, Dreaming myself the priest of mine own shrine; And Freyja, child, thy goddess heart shall beat Within the heart of Thordis, mortal maid; Thy boundless spirit, Baldur, shall be pinched Within the gnarled limbs of the stunted dwarf, Twisted with pain, as now thy brother is; Thou, envious wolf, jealous of Baldur’s joys! Thy feverish being shall invest the power And glorious stature of the hunter. So Shalt thou have scope and license measureless To woo the heart of Freyja. So shall ye, Lovers, make proof of your conjoinèd love And trothèd meekness, whether these be strong To tame this wolf, and from his blinding lusts Evolve a nobler consciousness, or weak To let themselves be blasted, and the world Itself eclipsed in universal chaos.
FREYJA If we be strong?
ODIN The wolf-god shall be tamed.
FENRIS [In rage, half rising.] Oathless am I unto Odin ever! [He sinks back, faint.]
BALDUR [To Odin.] And tamed?
ODIN He shall go free.