Johannes Ewald

“ A tree, as yet by men or gods seen never;
It bears a bough, which bough, when once ’tis harden’d
In Nastroud’s flames, can slay thee.
BALDER. Yes, I know it.
THOR. That knowest thou, friend! And is it a mere slumber,
A fleeting trance, a pleasant dream of battle,
With which the spear’s impregnated in Nastroud?
Ha! whom it slays wakes never up in Valhall;
In mist and darkness must he lie for ever.
From gods and men alike for ever parted,
Must Balder be detested—Hæla’s booty,
Not Odin’s quest?
BALDER. Aye; when the tree’s discover’d.
THOR. Well, now, attend and heed a father’s warning! ”

“ Could save thee but himself—the fool! his lofty
Courage shall prove his overthrow.
HOTHER. Ha, Vanfred!
LOKE. Well?
HOTHER. I do admire more and more thy wisdom.
But whilst we fought, where were the maids of battle?
LOKE. They were my dread; I quak’d at every shadow
And every leaf that mov’d, lest I should see them.
When I saw that no one of the sisters
Heard the high call, and din of shield and falchion,
My courage rose—I knew thou wast in safety:
They hear no fight where no one’s doomed to perish.
HOTHER. And now the spear thou spak’st about? ”

“ Thou die, or Balder! he—a half-god!
HOTHER. Nanna!
Thy tears insult me sore, and yet—I know not—
They gladden me—they torture—they enchant me.
I love them—I excuse them—I—I know not—
O tear—sweet, bitter tear, desist from flowing!
Thou showest tenderness—but ah! betrayest
Mistrust and slight respect!—ah, love thy Hother,
But oh! believe, he will deserve thee, Nanna:
Thy heart is far too noble for the coward
Who beareth shield and sword and yet can tremble.
HOTHER. The slave only feareth.
NANNA. The hero can fall! ”

“ NANNA, BALDER.
NANNA. Woe’s me! he will destroy himself.
BALDER. By Odin!
He shall not! Be composed! believe, I’ve power
To hinder it! Believe thy Balder, Nanna!
NANNA (she takes with fervour his hand and bends herself for some time over it) . I do believe thee, noble one, I know thee!
I feel all thy exaltedness. Thy virtues
I hold in reverence. Oh! that all my friendship,
That these hot tears were able to reward thee!
BALDER (casts himself upon his knees before her) . Oh glimpse! Oh wave of hope, in which I’m drowning!
NANNA (agitated) . What hopest thou? ”

“ Know, son of Odin, thou whom reason, friendship,
Whom scorn—e’en scorn—to move are all unable,
Know that prophetic were thy words! Fate hastens!
The Valkyrie prepares the spear already,
Its deadly point already does she sharpen.
Ah, see! the prince of battle holds it brandish’d;
He strikes! he strikes! and all the Aser sorrow.
BALDER. Dark is thy speech, O Thor! dark as thy visage.
THOR. Before my eyes are murky shadows flitting.
A mortal youth, with blood of Asa crimson’d!
The fight and death of gods, the fall of Asgara! ”

“ LOKE. I am an old and harmless creature.
BALDER. But Nanna’s bridegroom?
LOKE. Truly, sir, I wonder,
That one like thee, a dweller ’mongst these mountains,
Should know him not, the noblest and the bravest
Of all the sons of earth.
BALDER. Ye gods of heaven!
And who? His name?
LOKE. One who is bold as Odin,
And strong as Thor, and beautiful as Balder.
BALDER. Ha! kill me not, but answer: name him.
LOKE (with a loud voice) . Hother!
BALDER (with agitation) . What! Who? The Leire King?
The Skioldung Hother?
LOKE. Who here is foster’d up by Nanna’s father.
BALDER. Thou killest me! ”

“ BALDER. Thine—as thou callest him—thine Hother liveth.
NANNA (whilst she recognizes BALDER) . Ha Balder! thou hast slain him! Ah, forgive me!
My dream confuses me—thou see’st I tremble.
I heard the fall of gods—the gods lamenting;
And bloody by the Hall there stood a spectre:
Big was the ruddy wound whereto it pointed.
Like one deep musing it conceal’d its visage;
But big the tears were through its fingers streaming:
Ah, the pale son of night was tall as Hother!
BALDER. Ha! Hother can’t be dead.
NANNA. I do believe thee ”

“ HOTHER. I know thou fearest for the generous Balder;
But, noble maid, if thou my heart see’st into,
Thou know’st that he is safe as Thor in Valhall.
ROTA. Think’st thou to thwart the Norna’s will, young hero?
She pointed out the hidden tree; she bade me
Break off the bough of death; she bade me harden
Its point in Nastroud’s flames; she— But what will I?
My tears are wasted, like thy noble project.
Well, then: use thou this spear! Death is its surname,
And whom it smites eternal sleep shall fetter
In Hælheim’s silent night, if he is mortal ”

“ Has death among my tears and smiles its dwelling?
What shall I do? Reply! But thou art silent,
And from thine eyeball flames contemptuous anger.
THOR (he rises) . Ha! drivellest thou before the God of Thunder?
BALDER. To Thor, to Odin’s friend, I breathe my sorrow.
THOR. How long dost think, degenerate son of Odin,
Unmanly pining for a foolish maiden,
And all the weary train of love-sick follies,
Will move a bosom that is steeled by virtue?
Thou dotest! Dote and weep, in tears swim ever;
But by thy father’s arm, by Odin’s honour,
Haste, hide thy tears and thee in shades of alder! ”

“ Whilst NANNA in her terror makes every effort to raise him, they come into a familiar attitude, in which HOTHER, who has slain bears, and who is wiping the blood from his spear at the moment he appears, perceives them. He starts, and remains standing among the trees, so that he cannot hear what they say.
NANNA. Oh, rescue then my Hother!
Two savage bears among the bushes yonder
Attack’d him; if thou hast love for virtue,
Assist him quick; if thou delayest a moment,
The noblest heart that ever beat they’ll mangle!
Oh! quick: bethink thee not!
BALDER. No, cruel Nanna! ”

“ But with it trembles yet my lip—oh, canst thou
Pay virtue its reward—forget for ever thy Hother,
And—in course of time—love Balder?
NANNA. Oh, hush! oh, hush! my Hother!
HOTHER. He is virtuous,
He loves thee well, and Odin is his father.
NANNA. How cruel!
HOTHER. I must fly from thee for ever!
NANNA. Oh horror! Whither? What is thy intention?
HOTHER. To die! Thou know’st my oath! Ha! the sun hastens!
Seest thou how high? I swore by Hothbrod’s ashes
With Balder not to live a day! Release me! ”

“ Yes, Balder, worthy of thyself continue!
Canst thou wish Nanna to abandon Hother?
Wish her whose virtue thy high soul so worships
Should weak and base become for thy advantage?
But—does she love him? has he won her promise?
Who knoweth but she merely has dissembled,
And shown a fictious flame to prove thee, Balder!
Transporting dream!
NANNA, BALDER.
NANNA (rushes in, terrified) . Ha! Balder if thou lovest—Ah, if thou—
BALDER (casts himself at NANNA’S feet) . Heavens,
Nanna! canst thou doubt it? ”

“ HOTHER. BALDER.
BALDER (without perceiving HOTHER) . Gloomy was this night and horrid!
Around about me angry gods consulted.
What seek they? To affright the soul of Balder?
Now all is still.
HOTHER. Now unconcern’d and haughty
Walks the high demigod! Ah, little thinks he
Each breath he draweth is the gift of Hother.
BALDER. Who utter’d Hother’s name? I heard it utter’d,
But all is hushed as death. ”

“ As booming goes from the cold North a whirlwind;
Straight vanished wolf and spear; but deep a-forest
Was heard as from a thousand wolves a howling.
“See, see,” it howl’d, “the Skoldung Hother loses
His spear, and in his hand the sword is fragile.
Now have we peace, and Norway’s Kemps may slumber.”
Disturb’d at such dark sorcery, I seiz’d on
The spear of steel thou see’st, and laid lightning
And fiends’ death on its point, when I beheld thee.
THE THIRD (who hitherto has stood in deep thought) . Sharp is my sight in war; but here is darkness. ”

“ Balder. Hother.
Thor. Nanna.
Loke. The Three Valkyrier.
The place of action is a pine-wood on the Norwegian mountains. Round about it are seen steep and uneven rocks. The top of the hindermost and highest is covered with snow.
ACT THE FIRST.
BALDER and THOR are seated upon stones at some distance from each other. Both are armed—THOR with his hammer, and BALDER with spear and sword.
BALDER. Land whose proud and rocky bosom
Braves the sky continually!
THOR. Where should strength and valour blossom,
Land of rocks, if not in thee? ”

“ Fool that I am! the moon will soon break over
Gevar’s high rocks; and I, by Hothbrod’s ashes,
Like one who fearfully will prolong existence,
I’m paying heed to phantoms. Vanfred! Vanfred!
Fiend, who didst vow me friendship I detested!
Say, where is now the spear which kills for certain?
LOKE. Thou saw’st it.
HOTHER. Ha! I saw! I saw! Where is it?
LOKE. Do I not know that Odin’s maids prepar’d it
Only for thee, that fate will only suffer
Thine arm in Balder’s heart to thrust it?
HOTHER. Lately
Thou saidst, think’st thou they wish the death of Balder? ”

“ He disappears among the trees.
BALDER (alone) . And must I die? Ah well, I merely forfeit
A worthless breath, which is by Nanna hated.
Ha! hated. How that thought that Nanna hates me
Torments my breast! Death, only death, can drown it.
It burns, it scorches me, like Nastroud’s blazes.
Come, tenfold death, come quickly, and extinguish
The thought: destroy it, crush it, with this bosom.
Thanks be to Thor, for he my eyelids lifted,
Disclosing I had chance of rest—of dying!
E’en Surtur, he whose hostile fingers planted
The tree, the black tree, by the feeble starlight ”

“ He strikes LOKE on the head with the spear, and he instantly sinks howling into the earth. He is no sooner out of sight than everything becomes quiet. The sun rises in its full majesty. After HOTHER has for some time looked on all this with astonishment, he says:
Like thee fall every traitor
Who breatheth wickedness in the Skiolding’s bosom!
Ha, Balder! ”

“ NANNA, daughter of Gevar, beloved by Hother, and by Balder, son of Odin, according to Saxo, whose narration bears that Hother wedded Nanna, and afterwards slew Balder by the assistance of an enchanted belt which three nymphs had bestowed upon him.
NASTROUD, was properly the place where the ungodly were to be after the destruction of the world, but here the word is intended to signify the glowing and burning world towards the south, at whose extremest end Surtur had his habitation, and which is called in the Edda, Muspel, or Muspelheim. ”

“ With Balder’s strength; but ha! the fool prov’d tender;
He saw thy bride, and spar’d thee. Then up mounted
My courage and thine own.
HOTHER (to himself) . I blush: my courage!
(To LOKE) . What, courage! I was raging—blind with fury!
LOKE. Courage of fury—I, by Hæl, care little,
My youthful hero, which thine eyeball gleams with,
If thou seek vengence, and thine enemy falleth.
HOTHER. Who art thou—who? But speak; proceed; explain thee!
LOKE. Strong was thine arm, and strong ’gainst Jotun’s armour
Was Rota’s lance, but all too weak ’gainst Balder ”

“ Valhalla, thy daughters,
The blood-dropping wing:
Die, battle, and die!
Is the bidding they bring.
THE FIRST. Not fever’s foul pains.
THE SECOND. Not hunger.
THE THIRD. Not chains.
ALL THREE. But fight and delight. ”

“ Arm’d with the tree of death by Odin’s maidens,
Can be—so Fate decrees—this Balder’s slayer.
And he shall be it: quickly shall he brandish
The life-destroying bough, if Asa Loke,
By mighty art and wonderful delusions,
Knows how to work the maidens to his purpose.
He comes! I will conceal myself, and listen.
HOTHER, and presently LOKE—the first dressed like a Norwegian peasant, with a hunting-spear in his hand; the other undistinguished.
HOTHER (he comes down from the rocks and unbinds the skiers {2} from his feet ere he steps forward on the scene) . ”

“ He touches HOTHER’S eyelids. Immediately is seen the entrance of a vast cavern, which is only illumined by the flames which, with a continual roaring, now sinking, now rising, appear in its deepest part. At the entrance, on each side, is a little round altar. On the one a flame is burning in which lies the fatal spear. On the other stands a caldron. ”

“ HOTHBROD, the father of Hother, according to Saxo, who makes him king of Sweden, and thus Hother a Swede. Contrary to which, the author of this piece found himself justified in reckoning Hother amongst the Skioldungs.
HOTHER, according to Saxo, was king of Denmark and Sweden; but his Life, by the same, is a chain of fables, which has yet given considerable occasion to the contents of this piece.
LEIRE, the ancient place of residence of the Danish kings, whence they were termed “Kings of Leire.”
LIDSKIALF, in the Edda Klidskialf, a place in Asgard from which Odin surveys the whole world. ”

“ And yet he kneel’d; I saw the proud one palen.
But ha! he rear’d himself; my heart then fail’d me,
For I could best appreciate thy full danger;
Raised was his arm; bright appear’d the massive falchion ”