humans and the world of giants. And wherever I went I demanded the same promise of all: (sings) Fire and water, iron and ore, earth and stone beast and bird all that crawls and grows and walks, Give me now your solemn word, Balder's blood shall not be spilt! (She continues her wandering as light goes down on her. ANGERBODA'S laughter cuts across the scene. Light up on her and LOKI) ANGERBODA So where is it then, this 'great deed' of yours? This 'feat of great manliness' you were going to show me? LOKI (angry) Damn your tongue! ANGERBODA (Points at Frigg and laughs) Isn't it her over there you should be cursing? LOKI You don't know me quite as well as you think you do, Angerboda. ANGERBODA (strokes him teasingly on the cheek) Loki son of Farbauti…(smacks her lips) t- t-t-t-t! (turns suddenly and exits) LOKI (in a low voice, to the audience) She thinks I'm her dog, that I'll come running every time she whistles. A do that wags his tail every time she smiles and will do anything for the chance to shake her breasts. She thinks I'm like all the rest of them. Ha! SIGYN (enters) Loki come on! Come to Idavollen with me! (as she speaks, the lights go up and we see the hill where the Aesir are using Balder as their 'target') Balder is safe at least. Nothing can harm him now. LOKI But he still has his dreams? SIGYN I don't know. (drags Loki along with her. They walk arm in arm) But look! (Arrows, spears, knives, stones, swords are thrown;but they bounce off without harming Balder. All are happy) ODIN Come, half-brother. Let's see you try! (Hands him a spear) LOKI With pleasure! (He throws. The spear hits its mark but bounces off. Odin laughs with pleasure) SIGYN Isn't it marvellous? Now we have nothing to fear anymore! (Loki breaks away from her and makes to leave without a word) Loki? Where are you going? LOKI There's something I must attend to. SIGYN Why are you always just going somewhere ? We hardly see each other anymore…(As she says this Loki turns, goes back to her, kisses her lightly on the forehead. Then he leaves. HUGIN & MUNIN position themselves beside SIGYN) HUGIN Do you love him? SIGYN He's the father of my children. MUNIN But do you love him? SIGYN (Looking after Loki the whole time) Yes. I love him. (The whole stage 'freezes'. All those throwing or moving remain still. The only thing that moves is MIMIR'S HEAD as he continues to follow Loki's departure. Dream-light and music) MIMIR'S HEAD We had no idea then what Loki was really up to. None of us imagined that treachery could fathom such depths. And even as it opened at our feet not one of us saw the abyss… ODIN (stands by Mimir's head as he too follows the departing Loki with his gaze) We never thought that the enemy would come from within. (to Hugin & Munin) Why couldn't you have warned me? HUGIN (Humiliated) You have just given the answer yourself, master. (Hugin & Mugin wheel Mimir's Head off) ODIN My own half-brother! MUNIN (almost out) Ca-a-aaw! MIMIR'S HEAD (almost out) The spineless wretch! (The players remain 'frozen' apart from those mentioned. Now LOKI 'wakes'. He has been standing with his back to those talking about him. Now he puts on a dress and a headscarf, and hobbles over to FRIGG, who stands apart from the others) LOKI AS OLD WOMAN Good day to you, young miss! FRIGG (she too 'wakes') And a good day to you too. LOKI (pointing across the dream-like 'frozen sea' of people) Tell me, what's going on here? What strange kind of gathering is this? (NB:though the stage is quite still and silent, it might add to the dreamy, poetic atmosphere if we can hear the sounds of play - running feet, laughter etc - though there is no visible movement) FRIGG (No answer. She just laughs) LOKI (the voice becomes progressively squeakier) And who is that poor thing over there? The one they're all throwing things at? (claps her hands) Oh my goodness, isn't that Balder himself? But what on earth has he done to make everyone so angry with him? FRIGG Yes grandma - I know it looks as if everyone is using Balder for target practise - LOKI (interrupts) But that's not right! FRIGG Why no! LOKI No I should jolly well say it isn't! FRIGG But it isn't doing him any harm. LOKI Isn't doing him any - (interrupts himself) But I heard you say quite distinctly - (again interrupts himself)What kind of nonsense is this?(stamps her foot angrily) Not doing him any harm, you say? FRIGG (laughs) Don't worry. LOKI Don't worry? When they're torturing him and tormenting him like that? That nice boy? FRIGG (seriously) Neither weapons nor anything else can harm him. LOKI (suspicious) Mm? FRIGG (proudly) The whole world has given me its word. LOKI Given you its word? FRIGG That nothing and no-one will harm Balder. LOKI (claps her hands again) No. Well I never! Oh how wonderful! The whole world? FRIGG Everything. LOKI Every last twig? FRIGG Every last little twig! LOKI Every last teensy weensy little twig? FRIGG (laughs) Grandma! You really want to make quite, quite sure, don't you! (suddenly stops laughing and addresses the audience directly) How was I to know that it was Loki in disguise? And how could I know the evil he had in mind? I thought it was simply an innocent old woman. (As Frigg speaks Loki gradually withdraws from her. He removes his disguise and begins to search for the mistletoe she is about to mention)I thought she was fond of him. I trusted her. And when she wouldn't give up. When she kept on at me. Asking and probing. Trying to convince herself that I had asked absolutely everything. Until in the end it just slipped out. I said:No, there's one little shoot that grows west of Valhalla. A tiny little thing. It's called the mistletoe. I thought it was too young to give its word. And he said:so you walked straight by it? And I answered:Yes, I walked straight by. (LOKI pulls up the mistletoe. Holds it in triumph above his head) FRIGG How many times since have I wished that I had bitten off my tongue that day. (Now the stage 'wakes up'. Life and movement. The Aesir continue to amuse themselves by using Balder as a target. Balder looks like a martyr. Loki joins the crowd. Searching. Smiling and nodding. At last he finds the one he's looking for - Hod, the Blind) LOKI Hod, my friend - why aren't you joining the fun and shooting at Balder? HOD Because I can't see where he is, of course. LOKI Your blindness needn't be a hindrance. I can take aim for you. HOD In any case I have no weapon. LOKI Nonsense. Take this bow and this arrow. It's made from mistletoe…Now you can be like the others, Hod. You can honour Balder in the same way as the others. HOD Nothing would please me more. LOKI (guiding Hod's aim) Yes, isn't that so? Come on then. Face this way. There…a little bit more… (he aims at Balder) HOD (shouts) Balder! Look! I'm having a go too! BALDER Hod! (laughs and opens his arms, stretching them towards Hod) LOKI Now! (Hod releases the arrow. It hits Balder, who screams and falls to the ground. Silence at first, then chaos. Frigg runs forward to Balder. All make way for her. There is silence) FRIGG He's dead. (Chaos again. Everyone talking at the same time, the voices perhaps accompanied by babble from the loudspeakers) THE AESIR -Balder's dead. - Who killed him? - Hod! - How could it have happened? - Hod killed him! - Revenge! - We must avenge Balder. - Hold him! - Get the blind bastard! - A tooth for a tooth! (The crowd flocks threateningly round Hod. Some threaten Loki too, who shrugs his shoulders and puts his hands above his head while pointing to Hod. Thus he distracts the crowd) ODIN (with his back to them) Stop! (all stop and listen) This place is a sanctuary! There has been enough bloodshed for one day! (angry muttering. Odin turns and looks directly at the crowd) Balder was my son. Hod is my son. (looks at Loki)Loki is my half-brother. There is no meaning any more…(He leaves the stage) NANNA (holds the dead man's head in her lap)Balder is dead. There will never be anyone like him. There will never be another Balder. (several weep openly) FRIGG (to the audience) All of us understood just how much we had lost. NANNA And no-one can bring him back to us! FRIGG (to the audience) But I refused to bow down to fate! (to the other Aesir) Which of you…which of Odin's sons…is willing to earn my undying gratitude? Who will take a message for Frigg, who will ride the road to Hel in search of my son? Who will ask Hel what she wants to set him free, and let him return home again to Asgard? (A short pause. Then HERMOD steps forward) FRIGG Hermod? HERMOD I will ride the road to Hel, for Balder's mother. (he kneels before her. Lights out on the group. All leave in the darkness. The beating of horse's hooves fills the air and fades out. Lights up elsewhere on stage. LOKI and ANGERBODA are arguing) ANGERBODA You?! You'll never manage without me! LOKI We'll see about that, won't we! ANGERBODA Dolt! LOKI I don't need you anymore. ANGERBODA I made you what you are! LOKI And I'm grateful to you. (he bows)Really, Angerboda - I am grateful. But now…now it's time for a change of direction. ANGERBODA You need me! LOKI For what…my sweet?(he takes her arm and twists it behind her back, standing close behind her) ANGERBODA Let me go! LOKI Don't worry, we'll be letting go of each soon enough ! (draws a knife and holds it in front of her face) ANGERBODA What do you think you're doing? Have you gone mad? LOKI On the contrary. (waves the knife)I've finally come to my senses. ANGERBODA You're nothing without me! LOKI I might at least make a good father…? ANGERBODA Dolt! LOKI (harshly) I have a new partner. Her name is Hel! ANGERBODA Have you made a deal with Death?! LOKI (teasingly) It's something you might consider too. She is our daughter, after all. ANGERBODA (snarls) Dolt! All men are dolts! LOKI But we did have three lovely children - the wolf Fenrir, the World Serpent, and Hel. They'll weep for you, Angerboda. But I'll look after them. I'll give them advice and show them what to do. I'll be both father and mother to them. They'll do well in life, Angerboda. We're going to be powerful, the children and I. As for you - I don't need you any more. (stabs her. Angerboda collapses. Loki walks a few paces away. Turns and looks at the body. ) Say hello to our daughter - when you see her… (laughs and wipes the blood from the knife) (TWO WOLVES enter, growling. They howl 'Owoooo'. They take the corpse by the legs and drag it across the whole stage, as dead bulls are dragged from the bullring, before exiting…Loki stands and watches. Suddenly: weighty music. BALDER'S CORTEGE enters. ODIN and FRIGG first. THOR in his wagon drawn by two goats. FRIGG drawn by her cats. The Valkyries too. All the Aesir and all the friends of the Aesir. BALDER is carried on high on a litter of golden shields. SIGYN catches sight of Loki. She runs from the procession and over to him) SIGYN I knew you would come back to me. LOKI How could you have believed anything else? (puts his arms around her and the two of them join the cortege, which slowly leaves the stage. Two drummers at the rear drumming. The drumming turns into the sound of hoofbeats. Whinnying is heard. Light change. The music becomes sharper, more aggressive. HERMOD enters, cautious and watchful. A pale young woman halts him with an imperious gesture) MODGUNN - KEEPER OF THE GALLAR BRIDGE Who is this who wishes to cross the Giallar bridge? Who seeks an audience with Death and has not been called? HERMOD I am Hermod, son of Odin, chief of the Aesir. MODGUNN Five armies of dead men rode over this bridge yesterday, yet it shakes as much from your passage alone as it did for all of them. HERMOD That's as may be. (his hand rests on his sword)Will you let me pass? MODGUNN Neither you nor any other living creature can threaten my life…not now. If I let you pass it will be because it is my choice. HERMOD My business is urgent! MODGUNN Are you really in such a hurry to meet Death? HERMOD My haste is to catch up with one set out before me. MODGUNN Is he not …one of us either? HERMOD Yes. He is dead, as you are dead. MODGUNN Does he have a name? HERMOD His name is Balder. Heaven and Earth miss him. I have promised his mother that I will ride to Hel in search of him. Has he passed this way? MODGUNN All must pass this way. The one you seek rode across the bridge not long ago. HERMOD (a few paces towards her) Then let me pass, pale maiden! MODGUNN (steps aside) I shall allow you to cross the bridge. But what if I should prevent you from returning? HERMOD (goes close up to her) Of the two of us, the one who survives will best know the answer to that. MODGUNN I had almost forgot the smell of life…and the taste. (She lifts her lips to him;but Hermod turns his head aside and walks away. Light out on Modgunn) HERMOD (to the audience) I rode on, there was no time to lose. Sleipner, my father's horse, was like the wind, storming through the deep and dark valleys. At the gate of Hel I dismounted, tightened the cinches, mounted up again and spurred Sleipner on. He cleared the gatetop cleanly. Didn't even touch it! And on I rode until I came to the hall. There I dismounted and entered. At last, I was face to face with Hel, the goddess of death… (Lights up on two thrones pushed on stage by dark-clad, faceless figures. On them sit BALDER & NANNA) HERMOD (joyously) Balder! HEL (appears suddenly from behind the thrones with an imperiously lifted hand) Not one step nearer! BALDER Do as she says, Hermod. Her powers are greater than you can imagine. HEL (lays a hand on Balder's shoulder) So young, and so…wise… HERMOD And so dead! (Hel laughs - a young, rippling laugh) (Only now does Hermod realise that the woman beside Balder is Nanna. The dead couple look pale and weak…) HERMOD But why is Nanna here? She isn't dead is she? (to Nanna) Are you ghost? Or just a dream sent to confuse me? Why don't you answer? HEL Down here it is Hel who decides who shall remain silent…and who shall speak. (she snaps her fingers in front of Nanna, who 'wakes' as though from a trance) NANNA (like a doll) I am dead. HEL When they carried our friend here…when they carried the body of Balder out to the ship Ringhorne…and set it ablaze - NANNA (like a doll;interrupts) My heart broke. HEL …she died of grief, poor thing. So they threw her body up onto the blazing ship too. The faithful Nanna. (Again her unexpectedly attractive, girlish laugh) HERMOD I have come to… HEL I know why you have come. HERMOD And what is the answer? HEL The answer is no. HERMOD No? HEL No. HERMOD Balder. My brother! Why don't you say something? BALDER What is there to say? NANNA (like a doll)Leave us in peace, Hermod. Can't you see the state we're in? Will you add to our sufferings? Do you - HEL (interrupts with a snap of the fingers which 'turns off' the 'doll' Nanna. Again she sits silent and apathetic)That's enough! HERMOD But the world is devasated in grief! HEL (ironically) Joy is rarely the result of my summons. (Grey figures enter during this conversation and form a large, humming ring round the whole stage) HERMOD But weeping and sorrow such as this have never been seen before! HEL (teasingly) Never? HERMOD (with all the conviction of youth) Never! HEL And all for the sake of Balder? HERMOD All for Balder! HEL Was he really loved as much as all that? HERMOD No-one - ever - anywhere - has been loved as well as he! HEL You're right. (she turns to Balder and strokes him abstractedly on the cheek) Indeed you are. HERMOD That's why we demand that he be returned. HEL Demand? HERMOD Request. HEL You merely 'request'? HERMOD (eyes downcast) That's why we beg you:let us have Balder back! HEL Do you hear that, Balder? The gods beg me! (goes behind the two 'thrones' and lays one hand on Balder's head, one on Nanna's) What do you think we should tell them? No! Don't answer. I know what we'll tell them. (she approaches Hermod) You shall have them. Both of them. No! Wait a moment. Not straightaway. I make a condition. HERMOD Asgard will give you whatever you want! HEL You've made Hel curious. Now she's going to subject the living to a test. A test to see whether Balder really is as much loved as you claim. HERMOD What manner of test are you talking about? HEL Listen carefully:If everything in the world will weep for Balder, then he (now she looks at Nanna) and Nanna (looks at Hermod again) may return to the Aesir. But if even one thing refuses to cry, be it a person, an animal, a plant or a stone…if even one thing, no matter how small, refuses, than Balder and Nanna shall remain where they are. Here. With me. Go now. Hurry. Before I change my mind. (smiles) Balder will see you out. (she clicks her fingers and Balder rises) As you see, I am not unreasonable…(she turns and exits. Hermod bows to Nanna, turns, walks a few paces from her. Balder follows stiffly behind. ) BALDER Give this ring to my father. As a sign. HERMOD (takes the ring) This is Draupnir - (in surprise) the gift the dwarves once gave to Odin! BALDER He placed it on the pyre, the day I was burnt… HERMOD Brother - we shall have you back with us. BALDER Brother - my mouth is full of ash. (They part. Balder exits with Nanna. Hermod joins the great ringof grey figures which now consists of weeping Aesir, animals and people…HUGIN & MUNIN hop into the ring) HUGIN (through a funnel) Gnash of teeth, tears and sighs, will fan the flames of hopes that rise, flickering over the darkened view, Balder, Balder, we weep for you! MUNIN (straightaway) We winged our way around the world, Hugin and I, Odin's ravens, asking for the tears of every living creature for Balder. (the sound of crying from the circle rises and falls in great waves. Now Munin too picks up a 'megaphone') In the darkness of the night Balder's name it shines so bright; weep your sorrow, sob your pain, long for Balder once again. HUGIN (at once - not through his 'megaphone) And we were not the only ones. The whole of Asgard was busy. Everyone wanted to help. For there was so much at stake! Could we but persuade the whole world to cry then our god of innocence would rise from the dead and return to us. (through his 'megaphone') Up from Hel, arise and away, cross valley deep and blackest hill, our tears shall call you back this day, Have faith! Have faith! We know they will! MUNIN (at once - not through his 'megaphone') And all wept! Humans, animals, birds! The earth wept! The stones and the trees, the very ore in the ground! (through his megaphone. NB:the verses through the megaphone are chanted, not sung) In the darkness of the night Balder's name does shine so bright; weep your sorrow, sob your pain, long for Balder once again. ALL IN THE CIRCLE Long for Balder once again! HUGIN We did it! We made it! Everything is weeping for Balder! (An old woman enters and stumps over to Hugin. The stage in complete stillness) LOKI AS OLD WOMAN (low-voiced) Tokk isn't crying. HUGIN Hm? LOKI AS OLD WOMAN (loudly) I said, Tokk isn't crying! MUNIN And who is Tokk? LOKI Tokk - that's me. HUGIN And you aren't crying? LOKI I wouldn't dream of it. HUGIN & MUNIN Ca-aaaaw? LOKI What's it to me if one of the lords of Asgard is dead? Does Frigg weep when I lose one of my sons? Why should I weep when she loses one hers? MUNIN But it's for Balder! LOKI Balder-dash! What a lot of fuss and nonsense ! HUGIN But if you don't weep, then - LOKI (interrupts) Should I make a hypocrite of myself? Pretend to feelings I don't have? My eyes are dry! See? (pulls up her eyelid) I've wept too much in my time. Too much. I have no more tears left to cry. See? (She turns to Munin and raises the other eyelid) It's too late to offer me a job as a professional mourner. (shouts) Let Hel keep what she has! (Chaos and slow-motion disintegration of the scene. Revolving disco- lights, dissonant music. Most leave the stage. LOKI remains. Slowly removes the wig and dress so that we - the audience - can see who it is. The Aesir left on stage notice nothing. ODIN stands alone centre-stage, still. The scary music ends on a deep, humming note that seems as though it will never die out…) LOKI (strolls over to Odin) Half-brother of mine, I feel for you. This has been a terrible day for you. ODIN It has been a terrible day for us all. LOKI (puts a hand on Odin's shoulder) Is there anything I can do to help? ODIN No. (puts his hand over Loki's) But thanks anyway. LOKI You're wearing yourself out, half-brother of mine. ODIN Perhaps I am. But I love life. I love the world. I love the people. LOKI You should try to think of yourself a bit more often. ODIN I love all that I have created. (Loki strokes his hand, nods and moves on. Odin says after him:) Thank you for your support. LOKI (without turning round) You can always reckon on me. (stops - to himself:) You don't really have any choice - half-brother. (As Loki moves away from Odin, Hugin & Munin enter wheeling MIMIR'S HEAD) ODIN (directly after Loki's line - to the audience) I didn't know any better - back in those days (to Mimir) But who could have guessed that the enemy would come from within? That he was here with us, all the time, one of us? MIMIR'S HEAD At one time or another we've all been betrayed Or ourselves betrayed someone. ODIN But he was so close to me! MIMIR'S HEAD Who can make sense of up and down, in and out, back and forth? Who can say what happened? Or what could have happened? Or what might happen? Yet we must go on telling the story. All of it. ODIN Only by telling the story. Always the story. That's how we give life meaning. That's how we keep it from falling apart. (tired) But I feel it's getting late. It's getting late for the world. We've lived long lives, Mimir. Some would say too long… HUGIN (waves his large notebook) Strange winds are blowing, Master. Winters pass without snow and the rain falls all summer long. MUNIN The fish leave the sea, the rocks on the beach are washed yellow with slime and the great beasts forget to hibernate. HUGIN The forest is rotting, Master. Trees fall, or else lean against each other for support like brothers in sickness. MUNIN That's how it is in Midgard. MUNIN That's how it is in Jotunheim. ODIN And that's how it is, too, among the gods in Asgard. (Music. Lights down on the group. Powerful light on LOKI. Then suddenly - sharp spot on FENRIR, who sits in the audience. Now he stands up, tearing and pulling at his bindings) FENRIR Father! Free me! Cut me loose! Set me free! LOKI Soon. Soon, my boy. Soon you shall be free to roam where you will. FENRIR No! Now! LOKI Soon. FENRIR (wild and threatening) Now! ! (Lights out on Fenrir and Loki)