Balder (distractedly).  Ha, Nanna! this is more—­’tis more, by Odin,
Than I can bear!

Nanna (terrified).  Ye mighty gods of heaven! 
Thou fright’nest me, forlorn one!

[She endeavours to escape, but Balder detains her by force, and flings himself at her feet.

Balder.  Oh my Nanna! 
Stay! by these burning tears I do adjure thee,
By all my sufferings!  Stay, oh stay!

Nanna (with disquiet).  What wilt thou?

Balder.  I scarcely know!  Ah!  I have hop’d, dear Nanna!

Nanna.  Unhand me!  Let me fly!  What hast thou hop’d for? 
Thou know’st who has my love.  Unhand me, Balder!

Balder.  No, by the gods! here at thy feet I’ll hear thee
Pronounce my doom.  Is there no hope remaining? 
Can all my tenderness—­these tears—­can nothing
Soften thy cruelty?  Oh, answer, Nanna! 
Say so at once!  Plunge in my heart the dagger!

Nanna.  Ah, wherefore, Balder, dost thou love a mortal?

Balder.  Perhaps thou doubtest my love, perhaps thou wishest
Its whole extent.  Ha, towards Heaven
I’ll lift my better hand, and vow eternal,
Eternal tenderness to thee, my Nanna! 
If greater proofs thou wish’st for, do but name them,
That I may show to thee how dear I love thee!

Nanna.  Ah, Balder, spare me! spare thyself!  What wilt thou? 
How often have I said my heart can never
Merit the like of thee!

Balder.  Accurst evasion! 
Why dost thou seek to spare me?  Crush me! kill me! 
Say that thou never wilt!

Nanna.  Ah, I love Hother! 
How can I?

Balder.  Perhaps thou only think’st thou lov’st him. 
Can he deserve thee, Nanna? he, a mortal?

Nanna (incensed).  He loveth virtue, Balder; he is valiant,
And great is he ’mongst kings; he ruleth over
The Danes!

Balder.  I’m more than any king, oh Nanna!

Nanna.  Wert thou a god, I’d still have none but Hother!

Balder (stretches his right hand despairingly towards heaven).  Although rejected—­hear it all ye heavens—­ Although rejected, I will love thee, Nanna!

[He has scarcely finished speaking when the Valkyrie Rota appears.  The Bird of Death sits upon her shoulder.  She averts her countenance, touches his skull with her spear, and says: 

To battle, friend! to wounds, and fall, and darkness!

[She immediately disappears, and as Balder and Nanna have their backs turned to her, and have both been too attentive to themselves to observe any one else, she is neither seen nor heard but by the spectators.