Then, to his great grief, the hollow voice of the prophetess replied that Balder was the expected guest, and that he would shortly be sent thither, slain by the hand of Hoder, the blind god of Darkness.
“Who then,” asked Odin, in sorrowful tones, “shall avenge the death of Balder?”
And she answered that the son of the Earth-goddess, Vali by name, should neither
“Comb his raven hair
Nor wash his visage in the stream,
Nor see the sun’s departing beam,
Till he on Hoder’s corse shall smile
Flaming on the funeral pile.”
And learning thus of the fate of his two favorite sons, All-Father Odin went sadly back to Asgard.
Meantime Mother Frigga had not been idle. Filled with anxiety for her darling son, she decided to send her servants throughout the earth, bidding them exact a promise from all things—not only living creatures, but plants, stones, and metals, fire, water, trees and diseases of all kinds—that they would do harm in no way to Balder the Beautiful.