There he found Baldur, sitting on the noblest seat of those who feasted, ruling among the people of the Underworld. With burning words Hermoder pled with Hel that she would permit Baldur to return to the world of gods and the world of men, by both of whom he was so dearly beloved. Said Hel:
"Come then! if Baldur was so dear beloved.
"And this is true, and such a loss is Heaven's —
"Hear, how to Heaven may Baldur be restored.
"Show me through all the world the signs of grief!
"Fails but one thing to grieve, here Baldur stops!
"Let all that lives and moves upon the earth
"Weep him, and all that is without life weep;
"Let Gods, men, brutes, beweep him; plants and stones.
"So shall I know the loss was dear indeed.
"And bend my heart, and give him back to Heaven."
Gladly Hermoder made answer:
"All things shall weep for Baldur!"
Swiftly he made his perilous return journey, and at once, when the gods heard what Hel had said, messengers were despatched all over the earth to beg all things, living and dead, to weep for Baldur, and so dear to all nature was the beautiful god, that the messengers everywhere left behind them a track of the tears that they caused to be shed.
Meantime, in Asgard, preparations were made for Baldur's pyre. The longest of the pines in the forest were cut down by the gods, and piled up in a mighty pyre on the deck of his great ship Ringhorn, the largest in the world.
