Below you'll find some links to other sites with stories and information about Norse Mythology, for those of you who are interested.
In the beginning there was no earth or heaven, no sand nor see nor cooling waves. There was only Ginnungagap, a great void. In the north there was Nilfheim, filled with the ice and frost. The southern part was lit by the sparks and glowing embers of Muspelheim. Where the heat from the south met the coolness in the north the ice was thawed and it began to drip. Life appeared as the drops of the running fluid formed into the likeness of a giant, given the name Ymir, and a cow, Audhumla. By day, Ymir was fed from four rivers of cow's milk. At night, as he slept, the sweat from his underarms formed a male and female frost giant, while his two legs begat another male. Audhumbla lived by licking the ice-blocks which were salty, and by the evening of the first day there appeared a man's hair where she licked. On the second day, a man's head appeared, and by the third day the whole man was freed from the ice. This man was called Buri. He had a son named Bor who was the father of Odin, Vili, and Ve.
There was great strife between the offspring of Ymir and the children of Bor. Odin led his brothers against Ymir and they eventually killed him. As the brothers dragged Ymir's body into the void, his flesh became the earth, his blood the sea. His bones became the mountains, his hair the trees, and his teeth the stones. Odin and his brothers discovered maggots living in what had been Ymir's flesh. They turned these into dwarves and dark elves. The sons of Bor then took Ymir's skull and fashioned from it the sky and set it over the earth. Under each corner they placed a dwarf and it is from the names of these dwarves that we get the directions, North, South, East and West.
They then fashioned a world for the families of giants known as Jotunheim. Away from this land they fashioned a stronghold from Ymir's eyebrows to surround the world. It was called Midgard. One day while Odin and his brothers were walking along the sea shore they came upon two tree trunks. The gods saw great beauty in the trunks and set forth to bring them to life. Odin gave them soul, Vili gave motion and sense, and Ve gave being and blooming hue. These beings were the first humans, named Ask and Embla. Midgard was given to them to inhabit. The gods then built for themselves a stronghold in the middle of the world known as Asgard. They built a bridge, Bifrost, to connect Asgard and Midgard. Asgard is sheltered by the great world tree, Yggdrasil, which touches upon all of the worlds.
Asgard was were Odin built his home, Valhalla. It's been described as made of gold inside and out, with 13 thrones for the gods, and 540 doors. It was in Valhalla that he trained his chosen warriors, the Einheriar. The Valkyries chose which warriors in battle would be slain and summoned these honored heroes to Valhalla to train. Each night the maidens would serve mead which forever flowed from the udder of Odin's goat, Heidrun. They also served the warriors meat that came from the boar Saehrimnir. The boar magically came back to life before the next meal. After eating, the warriors would go outside the hall and fight each other to the death only to be brought back to life before the next feast. All of this fighting was practice for when Odin would lead the Einheriar to his final battle, Ragnarok.
Ragnarok was to be the final epic battle where the forces of good, represented by Odin and his kind, are to fight the forces of evil, represented by Loki and the giants of Jotumheim. Alas, it was here that Odin was destined to die, along with the mightiest of the gods. Evil triumphed, but they themselves were to be destroyed down to the last creature. Odin's fate was sealed when he was swallowed whole by Fenris the wolf, a child of Loki.
After the destruction, a new and idyllic world arose from the sea, repopulated by the descendants of Lif and Lifthrasir, a man and woman who sought shelter from the battle inside the world tree. Some of the gods survived, others were reborn. Wickedness and misery no longer existed and gods and men lived happily together.
The information above was paraphrased from writings taken from the links below.
|
