Creation Various accounts of the creation of the world and of human beings appear in Norse mythology. All begin in Ginnungagap (pronounced GIN-oon-gah-GAHP), a deep empty space between realms of heat and ice. Frost formed and became a giant, Ymir. A cosmic cow named Audhumla (pronounced OWD-hoom-lah) also appeared. Licking the cliffs of ice, she revealed a man who had three grandsons. One of them was Odin. With his two brothers, Odin killed the frost giant Ymir and formed the earth from his body, the seas and rivers from his blood,
And the sky from his skull, which was held suspended above the earth by four strong dwarfs.
The Voluspa says that Odin and his brothers made the first man and first woman out of an ash tree and an elm tree. They gave the humans life, intelligence, and beauty. A poem called “The Lay of Vafthrudnir” (pronounced vahft-HROOD-nir), however, says that the first man and first woman grew out of Ymir’s armpits before he was killed.
Once they had killed Ymir, Odin and the other gods created an orderly universe in three levels. Although journeys between the different levels of the universe were possible, they were difficult and dangerous, even for the gods. The top or heavenly level contained Asgard, the home of the Aesir; Vanaheim (pronounced VAN-uh-haym), the home of the Vanir; and Alfheim (pronounced AHLF-haym), the place where the light or good elves lived. Valhalla (pronounced val-HAL-uh), the hall where Odin gathered the souls of warriors who had died in battle, was also located on this level.
Connected to the upper level by the rainbow bridge, Bifrost (pronounced BIV-rost) was the middle or earthly level. It contained Midgard, the world ofmen; Jotunheim (pronounced YAW-toon-heym), the land ofthe giants; Svartalfaheim (pronounced SVART-ahlf-haym), the land of the dark elves; and Nidavellir (pronounced NEED-uh-vel-ir), the land of the dwarfs. A huge serpent called Jormungand (pronounced YAWR-moon-gahnd) encircled the middle world. The bottom level consisted of the underworld of Niflheim (pronounced NIV-uhl-heym), also known as Hel after Loki’s daughter Hel, who ruled there.
Running through this universe from bottom to top, holding it all together and linking the three worlds of heaven, earth, and underworld, was a great ash tree called Yggdrasill (pronounced IG-druh-sil). Its branches spread over the heavens, and its roots stretched into all three worlds. Springs rose from these roots. One, the Well of Urd, was guarded by the Norns, the three goddesses of fate. A serpent or dragon named Nidhogg (pronounced NEED-hawg) gnawed endlessly at the Yggdrasill’s roots, and an eagle perched on its topmost branch. Goats, deer, and other animals ate the tree’s shoots and lived in it, and a squirrel named Ratatosk (pronounced RAT-uh-tawsk) ran up and down its trunk, carrying messages and insults between the eagle and Nidhogg.
Good Against Evil Myths describe the gods’ interactions with one another and with the giants. One story, for example, tells how Loki helped
A frost giant kidnap Idun (pronounced EE-thoon), the goddess who tended the golden apples that kept the gods young. Without the magic apples the gods began to age, and they demanded that Loki rescue Idun. Donning a feathered cloak, he flew to Jotunheim, changed the goddess into a nut, and brought her back to Asgard. The giant took the form of an eagle and pursued Loki. But the gods lit a fire on the walls of Asgard that burned the giant’s wings, causing him to drop to the ground, where the gods killed him. The giant’s daughter was furious. However, Loki the jokester made her laugh, and she made peace with the gods.
Another myth tells of Fenrir, a wolf who was one of several monstrous children that Loki fathered. Fenrir grew up in Asgard among the gods, but he was so fierce that only Odin’s son Tyr (pronounced TEER) could feed him. Fearing what Fenrir might do, the gods tried to chain him down. The wolf, however, broke every metal chain as though it were made of glass. Odin ordered the dwarfs to produce an unbreakable chain. The suspicious Fenrir would not let the gods put it around his neck until Tyr placed his hand in the wolf s mouth. Once he discovered that he could not break this new chain, the enraged Fenrir bit Tyr's hand off. The gods left Fenrir bound on a distant island, from which his howls could be heard. When the final battle of Ragnarok approached, he would break free.
Ragnarok The twilight of the gods and end of the earth began when Loki used trickery to kill Balder, whose death was a sign that the orderly universe was falling apart. The gods chained Loki to a rock, but eventually he would break loose and lead the giants in a last bitter battle against the gods and the greatest heroes from Valhalla. Then, the bridge Bifrost will shatter, cutting Midgard off from Asgard, and all monsters will run free. Fenrir will kill Odin, while Thor will perish in the process of slaying the serpent Jormungand. In the end, all worlds will be consumed by fire and flood. One man and one woman will survive, sheltered in the World Tree Yggdrasill, to become the parents of a new human race.
World History
