, and the Asa folk collided with one another like
pine-trees during a storm. The ship, too, with its precious weight,
was well-nigh lost. At this Thor was wroth and, seizing his hammer,
would have slain the giantess had not the other Asas held him back,
bidding him not forget the last duty to the dead god. So Thor hallowed
the pyre with a touch of his sacred hammer and kindled it with a thorn
twig, which is the emblem of sleep.

Last of all, before the pyre blazed up, All-Father Odin added to the
pile of offerings his magic ring, from which fell eight new rings
every ninth night, and bending he whispered in Balder's ear.

But none to this day know the words that Odin spake thus in the ear of
his dead son.

Then the flames from the pyre rose high and the great ship drifted out
to sea, and the wind caught the sails and fanned the flames till it
seemed as though sky and sea were wrapped in golden flame.

"And while they gazed, the sun went lurid down
Into the smoke-wrapt sea, and night came on.
But through the dark they watched the burning ship
Still carried o'er the distant waters....
But fainter, as the stars rose high, it flared;
And as, in a decaying winter fire,
A charr'd log, falling, makes a shower of sparks--
So, with a shower of sparks, the pile fell in,
Reddening the sea around; and all was dark."

And thus did Balder the Beautiful pass from the peaceful steads of
Asgard, as passes the sun when he paints the evening clouds with the
glory of his setting.

_Note._--Most of the poetical extracts throughout this
chapter are taken from Matthew Arnold's "Balder Dead."

THE PASSING OF BALDER

I heard a voice, that cried,
"Balder the Beautiful
Is dead, is dead!"
And through the misty air
Passed like the mournful cry
Of sunward sailing cranes.

I saw the pallid corpse
Of the dead sun
Borne through the Northern sky.
Blasts from Niffelheim
Lifted the sheeted mists
Around him as he passed.

And the voice for ever cried,
"Balder the Beautiful
Is dead, is dead!"
And died away
Through the dreary night,
In accents of despair.

Balder the Beautiful,
God of the summer sun,
Fairest of all the Gods!
Light from his forehead beamed,
Runes were upon his tongue,
As on the warrior's sword.

All things in earth and air
Bound were by magic spell
Never to d