In Asgard; and the golden halls were dumb.
Then Hermod knew what labor held the gods;
And through the empty streets he rode, and passed
Under the gate-house to the sands, and found
The gods on the seashore by Balder's ship.
III. FUNERAL.
The gods held talk together, grouped in knots,
Round Balder's corpse, which they had thither borne;
And Hermod came down towards them from the gate.
And Lok, the father of the serpent, first
Beheld him come, and to his neighbor spake,—
"See, here is Hermod, who comes single back
From hell; and shall I tell thee how he seems?
Like as a farmer, who hath lost his dog,
Some morn, at market, in a crowded town,—
Through many streets the poor beast runs in vain,
And follows this man after that, for hours;
And late at evening, spent and panting, falls
Before a stranger's threshold, not his home,
With flanks a-tremble, and his slender tongue
Hangs quivering out between his dust-smeared jaws,
And piteously he eyes the passers-by;
But home his master comes to his own farm,
Far in the country, wondering where he is,—
So Hermod comes to-day unfollowed home."
And straight his neighbor, moved with wrath, replied,—
"Deceiver! fair in form, but false in heart!
Enemy, mocker, whom, though gods, we hate,—
Peace, lest our father Odin hear thee gibe!
