The Fridthjof's Saga: A Norse Romance on Balder

Pmb 113 > StartThe Small Print!For Public Domain EtextsStart** > Iii

• attestation: In Tegnér's poem, Balder is personified as goodness enthroned on the midsummer sun; the good are equated with light and the evil with darkness, and Balder's fall to Hel symbolizes the fading of goodness.

  "Balder, the kingly, is pictured there, throned on the sun at midsummer, Which pours from the firmament riches untold,-- personified goodness; For lights are the good, radiant, resplendent, but the evil are darkness."

Pmb 113 > StartThe Small Print!For Public Domain EtextsStart** > Ingeborg,

• attestation: In Tegnér's poem, Balder is called 'the bloodless god', watching over his temple with frowning glances at those who bring human love into sacred space.

  "And Balder too, the bloodless god looked down On me with frowning glances full of threats."

Pmb 113 > StartThe Small Print!For Public Domain EtextsStart** > Balder'S Funeral Pile.

• attestation: At midnight, Fridthjof came to Balder's temple while priests with silver beards and flint knives held burning brands around the temple wall at the time of Balder's bale-fire ceremony.

  "Balder's bale-fire, symbol bright, On sacred hearth was burning,-- Soon is quenched its wasted light, Hoder's reign returning.

Priests around the temple wall Burning brands were grasping; Silver-bearded, old men all,-- Their hard hands flint knives clasping."

• attestation: In Tegnér's poem, Balder's bale-fire on the sacred hearth symbolizes his yearly death, and when it is quenched Hoder's reign of darkness returns.

  "Balder's bale-fire, symbol bright, On sacred hearth was burning,-- Soon is quenched its wasted light, Hoder's reign returning."

Pmb 113 > StartThe Small Print!For Public Domain EtextsStart** > Fridtimof At His Father'S Grave.

• attestation: In the vision, Valhal's gods sat with golden crowns and azure robes in the new silver-walled temple modeled on Breidablik, Balder's abode, with a winter-sky vault of sparkling stars.

  "An imaged Breidablik its wall upreareth, (So burnished silver on the cliff had shone), Each pillar cut of deep blue steel appealeth, The altar is a single precious stone, A power unseen the vaulted roof upbeareth, A winter sky with sparkling stars o'erstrewn; And there with golden crowns and robes befitting, Of azure splendor. Valhal's gods are sitting."

Pmb 113 > StartThe Small Print!For Public Domain EtextsStart** > The Reconciliation.

• attestation: The rebuilt Balder's temple stood on a mountain cliff mirrored in the ocean wave, with Balder's dale stretching round it with sighing groves and birdsong — a home where peace might reign supreme.

  "It stood there in its grandeur on the mountain cliff, And mirrored in the ocean wave its lofty brow, While round about it, like a zone of beauteous flowers, Far stretched the dale of Balder with its sighing groves. Its song of birds, a home where peace might reign supreme."

• attestation: Balder's altar in the rebuilt temple was hewn from one huge block of northern granite, coiled by a graven serpent covered in runes from the Vala and Hávamál; above it was a dark blue wall filled with golden stars, with a silver image of the mild god.

  "At farthest end stood Balder's altar. It was hewn From one huge block of northern granite: round it coiled A graven serpent, covered o'er with written runes, - Profoundest thoughts from Vala and from Ha'vama'l; But in the wall above was left an open space,-- A dark blue ground all filled with golden stars; and there A silver image sat--the pious god--as calm And mild as sits the silver moon in heaven's blue."

• attestation: Twelve temple virgins in silver gauze with rose-glowing cheeks danced at the consecration of the new temple, singing of pious Balder and how he was beloved by every being, how he fell under Hoder's dart, and how earth and sea and heaven wept.

  "In couples entered now Twelve temple virgins, clad in robes of silver gauze, With roses glowing on their cheeks, and roses in Their guileless hearts. Before the image of the god, Around the altar newly consecrate they danced, As light spring winds above the flowing fountains flit, As dance the forest elves amid the waving grass.

And while they danced they joyful sang a sacred song Of pious Balder, and how dearly he was loved By every being; how he fell 'neath Hoder's dart, And earth and sea and heaven wept."

• attestation: The rebuilt temple's consecration song described Balder falling under Hoder's dart, with earth and sea and heaven weeping, echoing the standard Norse account of Balder's death.

  "Of pious Balder, and how dearly he was loved By every being; how he fell 'neath Hoder's dart, And earth and sea and heaven wept."

• comparison: The rebuilt Balder's temple was compared in durability to Upsala's shrine, described as built for all eternity.

  "And joined with active skill, a noble giant work For all eternity (as is Upsala's shrine,)"

Pmb 113 > StartThe Small Print!For Public Domain EtextsStart** > Glossary.

• attestation: The glossary defines Balder as 'the best' — the mildest, wisest and most eloquent of the gods; also the god of innocence and the White God.

  "BALDER (the best). The mildest, the wisest and the most eloquent of the gods. He is the god of innocence, the White God."

• attestation: According to the glossary's extended gloss on Balder, citing Norse Mythology p. 294, Balder dies in nature when the woods lose their foliage and winter howls; he dies in the spiritual world when the soul grows dark and forgets its heavenly origin.

  ""Balder dies in nature when the woods are stripped of their foliage, when the flowers fade and the storms of winter howl. Balder dies in the spiritual world when the good are led away from the paths of virtue, when the soul becomes dark and gloomy, forgetting its heavenly origin."