“And he must fare across the dismal ice
Northward, until he meets a stretching wall
Barring his way, and in the wall a grate,
But then he must dismount and on the ice,
Tighten the girths of Sleipnir, Odin’s horse,
And make him leap the grate, and come within.”
There in that cheerless abode dead Balder was enthroned, but, said Frigga, he who braves that dread journey must take no heed of him, nor of the sad ghosts flitting to and fro, like eddying leaves. First he must accost their gloomy queen and entreat her with prayers:
“Telling her all that grief they have in heaven
For Balder, whom she holds by right below.”
A bitter groan of anguish escaped from Hoder when Frigga had finished her recital of the trials which must be undergone: