Chapter 61. The Myth of Balder.
A DEITY whose life might in a sense be said to be neither in heaven nor
on earth but between the two, was the Norse Balder, the good and
beautiful god, the son of the great god Odin, and himself the wisest,
mildest, best beloved of all the immortals. The story of his death, as it is
told in the younger or prose Edda, runs thus. Once on a time Balder
dreamed heavy dreams which seemed to forebode his death. Thereupon
the gods held a council and resolved to make him secure against every
danger. So the goddess Frigg took an oath from fire and water, iron and all
metals, stones and earth, from trees, sicknesses and poisons, and from all
four-footed beasts, birds, and creeping things, that they would not hurt
Balder. When this was done Balder was deemed invulnerable; so the gods
amused themselves by setting him in their midst, while some shot at him,
others hewed at him, and others threw stones at him. But whatever they
did, nothing could hurt him; and at this they were all glad. Only Loki, the
mischief-maker, was displeased, and he went in the guise of an old
woman to Frigg, who told him that the weapons of the gods could not
wound Balder, since she had made them all swear not to hurt him. Then
Loki asked, "Have all things sworn to spare Balder?" She answered, "East
of Walhalla grows a plant called mistletoe; it seemed to me too young to
swear." So Loki went and pulled the mistletoe and took it to the assembly
of the gods. There he found the blind god Hother standing at the outside of
the circle. Loki asked him, "Why do you not shoot at Balder?" Hother
answered, "Because I do not see where he stands; besides I have no
weapon." Then said Loki, "Do like the rest and show Balder honour, as
they all do. I will show you where he stands, and do you shoot at him with
this twig." Hother took the mistletoe and threw it at Balder, as Loki directed
him. The mistletoe struck Balder and pierced him through and through, and
he fell down dead. And that was the greatest misfortune that ever befell
gods and men. For a while the gods stood speechless, then they lifted up
their voices and wept bitterly. They took Balder's body and brought it to
the sea-shore. There stood Balder's ship; it was called Ringhorn, and was
the hugest of all ships. The gods wished to launch the ship and to burn
Balder's body on it, but the ship would not stir. So they sent for a giantess
called Hyrrockin. She came riding on a wolf and gave the ship such a
push that fire flashed from the rollers and all the earth shook. Then Balder's
body was taken and placed on the funeral pile upon his ship. When his
wife Nanna saw that, her heart burst for sorrow and she died. So she was
laid on the funeral pile with her husband, and fire was put to it. Balder's
horse, too, with all its trappings, was burned on the pile. 1
Whether he was a real or merely a mythical personage, Balder was
worshipped in Norway. On one of the bays of the beautiful Sogne Fiord,
which penetrates far into the depths of the solemn Norwegian mountains,
with their sombre pine-forests and their lofty cascades dissolving into
spray before they reach the dark water of the fiord far below, Balder had a
great sanctuary. It was called Balder's Grove. A palisade enclosed the
hallowed ground, and within it stood a spacious temple with the images of
many gods, but none of them was worshipped with such devotion as
Balder. So great was the awe with which the heathen regarded the place
that no man might harm another there, nor steal his cattle, nor defile
himself with women. But women cared for the images of the gods in the
temple; they warmed them at the fire, anointed them with oil, and dried
them with cloths. 2
Whatever may be thought of an historical kernel underlying a mythical
husk in the legend of Balder, the details of the story suggest that it belongs
to that class of myths which have been dramatised an ritual, or, to put it
otherwise, which have been performed as magical ceremonies for the sake
of producing those natural effects which they describe in figurative
language. A myth is never so graphic and precise in its details as when it
is, so to speak, the book of the words which are spoken and acted by the
performers of the sacred rite. That the Norse story of Balder was a myth of
this sort will become probable if we can prove that ceremonies resembling
the incidents in the tale have been performed by Norsemen and other
European peoples. Now the main incidents in the tale are two-first, the
pulling of the mistletoe, and second, the death and burning of the god; and
both of them may perhaps be found to have had their counterparts in
yearly rites observed, whether separately or conjointly, by people in
various parts of Europe. These rites will be described and discussed in the
following chapters. We shall begin with the annual festivals of fire and shall
reserve the pulling of the mistletoe for consideration later on. 3