lasting war and feasting. They believed, because Odin himself had assured them, that whatever was buried or consumed with the dead, accompanied them to his palace. And another reason why the horse was buried with them was, that they durst not approach the palace of Odin on foot.[1] Probably this was a wise feature introduced into their religion, to impress upon them the value of cavalry, and a high regard for the services of the horse. At the funerals of Harold Hildetand and Skalagrim, horses were sacrificed to accompany these doughty warriors.
Balder, the beautiful and youthful god of eloquence and just decision, the innocent who appears brilliant as the lily, and in honour of whom the whitest flower received the name of Baldrian, was slain with a spear of the misletoe by the blind god Hoder, whose violent deeds the gods never forget, but whose name they never hear pronounced. The Prose Edda thus refers to his funeral: ‘Balder's body was then borne to the funeral pile on board the ship, and this ceremony had such an effect on Nana, the daughter of Nep, that her heart broke with grief, and her body was burnt on the same pile as her husband's Balder's horse was led to the pile fully caparisoned, and consumed in the same flames with the body of his master.’ Longfellow has beautifully described this scene:
‘They laid him in his ship
With horse and harness.
As on a funeral pyre.
Odin placed
A ring upon his finger,
And whisper'd in his ear.’
- ↑ Mallet. Northern Antiquities. 1847.
