THE CREATION OF THE WORLD.
4. Said Ganglere: How came the world into existence, or how did it rise?
What was before? Made answer to him Har: Thus is it said in the Vala’s
Prophecy:
It was Time’s morning,
When there nothing was;
Nor sand, nor sea,
Nor cooling billows.
Earth there was not,
Nor heaven above.
The Ginungagap was,
But grass nowhere.[12]
[Footnote 12: Elder Edda: The Vala’s Prophecy, 6.]
Jafnhar remarked: Many ages before the earth was made, Niflheim had
existed, in the midst of which is the well called Hvergelmer, whence
flow the following streams: Svol, Gunnthro, Form, Fimbul, Thul, Slid and
Hrid, Sylg and Ylg, Vid, Leipt and Gjoll, the last of which is nearest
the gate of Hel. Then added Thride: Still there was before a world to
the south which hight Muspelheim. It is light and hot, and so bright
and dazzling that no stranger, who is not a native there, can stand it.
Surt is the name of him who stands on its border guarding it. He has a
flaming sword in his hand, and at the end of the world he will come and
harry, conquer all the gods, and burn up the whole world with fire. Thus
it is said in the Vala’s Prophecy:
Surt from the south fares
With blazing flames;
From the sword shines
The sun of the war-god.
Rocks dash together
And witches collapse,
Men go the way to Hel
And the heavens are cleft.[13]
[Footnote 13: Elder Edda: The Vala’s Prophecy, 56.]
5. Said Ganglere: What took place before the races came into existence,
and men increased and multiplied? Replied Har, explaining, that as soon
as the streams, that are called the Elivogs, had come so far from their
source that the venomous yeast which flowed with them hardened, as does
dross that runs from the fire, then it turned into ice. And when this
ice stopped and flowed no more, then gathered over it the drizzling rain
that arose from the venom and froze into rime, and one layer of ice was
laid upon the other clear into Ginungagap. Then said Jafnhar: All that
part of Ginungagap that turns toward the north was filled with thick
and heavy ice and rime, and everywhere within were drizzling rains and
gusts. But the south part of Ginungagap was lighted up by the glowing
sparks that flew out of Muspelheim. Added Thride: As cold and all things
grim proceeded from Niflheim, so that which bordered on Muspelheim was
hot and bright, and Ginungagap was as warm and mild as windless air. And
when the heated blasts from Muspelheim met the rime, so that it melted
into drops, then, by the might of him who sent the heat, the drops
quickened into life and took the likeness of a man, who got the name
Ymer. But the Frost giants call him Aurgelmer. Thus it is said in the
short Prophecy of the Vala (the Lay of Hyndla):
All the valas are
From Vidolf descended;
All wizards are
Of Vilmeide’s race;
All enchanters
Are sons of Svarthofde;
All giants have
Come from Ymer.[14]
[Footnote 14: Elder Edda: Hyndla’a Lay, 34.]
And on this point, when Vafthrudner, the giant, was asked by Gangrad:
Whence came Aurgelmer
Originally to the sons
Of the giants?--thou wise giant![15]
he said
From the Elivogs
Sprang drops of venom,
And grew till a giant was made.
Thence our race
Are all descended,
Therefore are we all so fierce.[16]
[Footnote 15: Elder Edda: Vafthrudner’s Lay, 30.]
[Footnote 16: Elder Edda: Vafthrudner’s Lay, 31.]
Then asked Ganglere: How were the races developed from him? Or what was
done so that more men were made? Or do you believe him to be god of whom
you now spake? Made answer Har: By no means do we believe him to be god;
evil was he and all his offspring, them we call frost-giants. It is said
that when he slept he fell into a sweat, and then there grew under his
left arm a man and a woman, and one of his feet begat with the other a
son. From these come the races that are called frost-giants. The old
frost-giant we call Ymer.
6. Then said Ganglere: Where did Ymer dwell, and on what did he live?
Answered Har: The next thing was that when the rime melted into drops,
there was made thereof a cow, which hight Audhumbla. Four milk-streams
ran from her teats, and she fed Ymer. Thereupon asked Ganglere: On what
did the cow subsist? Answered Har: She licked the salt-stones that were
covered with rime, and the first day that she licked the stones there
came out of them in the evening a man’s hair, the second day a man’s
head, and the third day the whole man was there. This man’s name was
Bure; he was fair of face, great and mighty, and he begat a son whose
name was Bor. This Bor married a woman whose name was Bestla, the
daughter of the giant Bolthorn; they had three sons,--the one hight
Odin, the other Vile, and the third Ve. And it is my belief that this
Odin and his brothers are the rulers of heaven and earth. We think that
he must be so called. That is the name of the man whom we know to be the
greatest and most famous, and well may men call him by that name.
7. Ganglere asked: How could these keep peace with Ymer, or who was the
stronger? Then answered Har: The sons of Bor slew the giant Ymer, but
when he fell, there flowed so much blood from his wounds that they
drowned therein the whole race of frost giants; excepting one, who
escaped with his household. Him the giants call Bergelmer. He and his
wife went on board his ark and saved themselves in it. From them are
come new races of frost-giants, as is here said:
Countless winters
Ere the earth was made,
Was born Bergelmer.
This first I call to mind
How that crafty giant
Safe in his ark lay.[17]
[Footnote 17: Elder Edda: Vafthrudner’s Lay, 35.]
8. Then said Ganglere: What was done then by the sons of Bor, since you
believe that they were gods? Answered Har: About that there is not a
little to be said. They took the body of Ymer, carried it into the midst
of Ginungagap and made of him the earth. Of his blood they made the seas
and lakes; of his flesh the earth was made, but of his bones the rocks;
of his teeth and jaws, and of the bones that were broken, they made
stones and pebbles. Jafnhar remarked: Of the blood that flowed from the
wounds, and was free, they made the ocean; they fastened the earth
together and around it they laid this ocean in a ring without, and it
must seem to most men impossible to cross it. Thride added: They took
his skull and made thereof the sky, and raised it over the earth with
four sides. Under each corner they set a dwarf, and the four dwarfs were
called Austre (east), Vestre (West), Nordre (North), Sudre (South). Then
they took glowing sparks, that were loose and had been cast out from
Muspelheim, and placed them in the midst of the boundless heaven, both
above and below, to light up heaven and earth. They gave resting-places
to all fires, and set some in heaven; some were made to go free under
heaven, but they gave them a place and shaped their course. In old songs
it is said that from that time days and years were reckoned. Thus in the
Prophecy of the Vala:
The sun knew not
Where her hall she had;
The moon knew not
What might he had;
The stars knew not
Their resting-places.[18]
[Footnote 18: Elder Edda: The Vala’s Prophecy, 8. In Old Norse the
sun is feminine, and the moon masculine. See below, sections 11
and 12.]
Thus it was before these things were made. Then said Ganglere: Wonderful
tidings are these I now hear; a wondrous great building is this, and
deftly constructed. How was the earth fashioned? Made answer Har: The
earth is round, and without it round about lies the deep ocean, and
along the outer strand of that sea they gave lands for the giant races
to dwell in; and against the attack of restless giants they built a burg
within the sea and around the earth. For this purpose they used the
giant Ymer’s eyebrows, and they called the burg Midgard. They also took
his brains and cast them into the air, and made therefrom the clouds,
as is here said:
Of Ymer’s flesh
The earth was made,
And of his sweat the seas;
Rocks of his bones,
Trees of his hair,
And the sky of his skull;
But of his eyebrows
The blithe powers
Made Midgard for the sons of men.
Of his brains
All the melancholy
Clouds were made.[19]
[Footnote 19: Elder Edda: Grimner’s Lay, 40, 41. Comp.
Vafthrudner’s Lay, 21.]