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:

"Mother, a dreadful way is this thou showest;
No journey for a sightless god to go."

And she replied:

"... Thyself thou shalt not go, my son;
But he whom first thou meetest when thou com'st
To Asgard and declar'st this hidden way,
Shall go; and I will be his guide unseen."

Meantime the Asa folk had felled trees and had carried to the seashore
outside the walls of Asgard a great pile of fuel, which they laid upon
the deck of Balder's great ship, _Ringhorn_, as it lay stranded high
up on the beach.

"Seventy ells and four extended
On the grass the vessel's keel;
High above it, gilt and splendid,
Rose the figurehead ferocious
With its crest of steel."

Then they adorned the funeral pyre with garlands of flowers, with
golden vessels and rings, with finely wrought weapons and rich
necklets and armlets; and when this was done they carried out the fair
body of Balder the Beautiful, and bearing it reverently upon their
shields they laid it upon the pyre.

Then they tried to launch the good ship, but so heavily laden was she
that they could not stir her an inch.

The Mountain-Giants, from their heights afar, had watched the tragedy
with eyes that were not unpitying, for even they had no ill-will for
Balder, and they sent and told of a giantess called Hyrroken, who was
so strong that she could launch any vessel whatever its weight might
be.

So the Asas sent to fetch her from Giantland, and she soon came,
riding a wolf for steed and twisted serpents for reins.

When she alighted, Odin ordered four of his mightiest warriors to
hold the wolf, but he was so strong that they could do nothing until
the giantess had thrown him down and bound him fast.

Then with a few enormous strides, Hyrroken reached the great vessel,
and set her shoulder against the prow, sending the ship rolling into
the deep. The earth shook with the force of the movement as though
with an earthquake