. And all the Asa-folk--save guilty Loki, who had fled for
his life--stood about them in dumb amazement. But Odin was the most
sorrowful of all; for he knew, that, with Balder, the world had lost its
most gladsome life.

They lifted the body, and carried it down to the sea, where the great
ship "Ringhorn," which Balder himself had built, lay ready to be
launched. And a great company followed, and stood upon the beach, and
bewailed the untimely death of the hero. First came Odin, with his
grief-stricken queen, and then his troop of handmaidens, the Valkyrien,
followed by his ravens Hugin and Munin. Then came Thor in his goat-drawn
car, and Heimdal on his horse Goldtop; then Frey, in his wagon, behind
the boar Gullinbruste of the golden bristles. Then Freyja, in her
chariot drawn by cats, came weeping tears of gold. Lastly, poor blind
Hoder, overcome with grief, was carried thither on the back of one of
the Frost-giants. And Old AEgir, the Ocean king, raised his dripping
head above the water, and gazed with dewy eyes upon the scene; and the
waves, as if affrighted, left off their playing, and were still.

High on the deck they built the funeral-pile; and they placed the body
upon it, and covered it with costly garments, and with woods of the
finest scent; and the noble horse which had been Balder's they slew, and
placed beside him, that he might not have to walk to the halls of Death.
And Odin took from his finger the ring Draupner, the earth's enricher,
and laid it on the pile. Then Nanna, the faithful wife, was overcome
with grief, and her gentle heart was broken, and she fell lifeless at
the feet of the Asa-queen. And they carried her upon the ship, and laid
her by her husband's side.

When all things were in readiness to set fire to the pile, the gods
tried to launch the ship; but it was so heavy that they could not move
it. So they sent in haste to Jotunheim for the stout giantess Hyrroken;
and she came with the speed of the whirlwind, and riding on a wolf,
which she guided with a bridle of writhing snakes.

"What will you have me do?" she asked.

"We would have you launch the great ship 'Ring horn,'" answered Odin.

"That I will do!" roared the grim giantess. And, giving the vessel a
single push, she sent it sliding with speed into the deep waters of the
bay. Then she gave the word to her grisly steed, and she flew onwards
and away, no one knew whither.

The "Ringhorn" floated nobly upon the water,--a worthy