In The Beginning...
Jun. 19th, 2009 09:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
athersgeoThe following is a retelling of the Norse creation myth, which I wrote as part of my 2006 NaNo novel. It never really fitted into the novel - what can I say; I needed some filler! - and has since been cut from the novel, but I liked the basic writing so I thought I'd share. *grin*
In the beginning, there is a void.
At the southern end is a place of biting flame and freezing heat. Muspell is its name. It is a place so hot and terrible that only those souls born to it can survive it. Black Surt waits there, his burning sword at the ready. He is the one who will lead his bretheren out of the fiery depths and into our world, vanquishing it and the Gods who dwell there, in raging fire.
Niflheim is the place at the northern end of the void. It is as different from Muspell as can be. This is a place of searing cold, of hard packed ice, sweeping snow and venomous frost. At its heart is a spring: Hvergelmir. From it flow the nine rivers of Elivagar, each one swifter and faster and more raging than the last. There is Svol and Gunnthra; Fjom and Fimbulthul; Slid and Hrid; Sylg and Ylg; Vid, Leipt and Gjoll. They tumble and ball and hurl themselves across those trackless wastes, a yeasty, bubbling flow of would-be rime.
Between these two ends stands Gunningagap. It is the darkness. It is the void between the two realms. It is where the Elivagar discharge themselves, spewing their poisonous flows into the blackness. It is where the sparks and embers of the Muspell fires gather as they are expelled in a molten barrage, turning the darkness bright.
At the northern end, as the Elivagar flow out into the void so the ice and frost and rime encroach. At the southern end, as the fires expand and grow so the void melts and turns soft and warm.
And in the middle of Gunningagap fire meets ice.
Heated breeze plays over icy mass and water drips into the void. There is life in those drips and so the first of the Frost Giants congeals, there in the void.
This is Ymir. An evil creature from the start, he sleeps where he lies and he sweats heavily. From that putrid ooze comes three more people. His armpits produce a man and a woman; one of his legs creates a second man on his other leg. He is the father of all Frost Giants and so they call him Aurgelmir.
More of the ice melts and the cow, Audumla, is formed. From her four great teats, she feeds Ymir with her milk and at the same time, she feeds from the remaining ice. She licks and on that first evening, the shape of a man's hair has appeared. At the end of the second day, more of the man has been defined and then, on the third evening, the man stands free of the ice. This is Buri; the first man. He has a son, Bor, who marries the daughter of one of the Frost Giants, and they have three sons: Odin, Vili and Ve.
But all this was in the time before. Before there was a sun and a moon. Before there was sand and sea and waves. Before there was ground and trees and land. There was simply icy Niflheim and fiery Muspell with the Gunningagap hanging in between.
Odin and his brothers have no liking for Ymir and his growing band of brutal and unruly Frost Giants. They decide that the time has come for them to act and so they attack and kill Aurgelmir. The foul blood that springs from his wounds gushes forth so fast and so deep that all the Frost Giants are killed, all except for Bergelmir and his wife who manage to escape in their makeshift boat.
With the giant now dead, Odin, Vili and Ve hoist his body onto their shoulders and, between the three of them, they drag it out into the middle of Gunningagap where they use it to create the world as we know it. From Ymir's flesh, they shape the land. From those bones that remain whole, they shape mountains, while those bones that they shattered, along with his teeth, are shaped into boulders and rocks and stones. With his blood, they create landlocked lakes and rivers and the sea and then they encircle the earth with an ocean so wide and so deep that few men would dare to consider crossing it.
With the earth created, the three brothers hoist Ymir's skull up to form the sky. To keep it in place, they set dwarves to hold each of the four corners. Each dwarf has a name; they are North, East, South and West. Then the trio of brothers call some of those sparks and embers that have escaped from Muspell's fires and use them to create the constellations and stars in the sky and so light the earth below.
Now there is sand and sea and waves. Now there is ground and trees and land. Now the void is filled, but the brothers' work is not yet finished.
On the round earth, they mark out great tracts of land. They create Jotunheim as a land for the Frost and Rock Giants, but the Giants remain so hostile that the brothers mark out a second tract, further inland. This vast land, shaped from Ymir's eyebrows, is Mitgard. The sun warms the stones there and the land is green with freshly growing plants. Odin gives the land one final touch as he throws Ymir's brains up into the sky to form every kind of cloud.
Then, one day, the sons of Bor are out walking and they come upon two fallen tree trunks. The trio of brothers use these to shape the first man and the first woman. Odin breathes the breath of life into them; Vili offers them sharp wits and feeling hearts; Ve gives them sight and sense and hearing.
And so the land becomes home to men. But still the brothers are not finished in their work.
In Jotunheim, the giant Narvi has a daughter. She is called Night and is as dark and swarthy as the rest of her people. She marries three times. Her first husband is a man called Naglfari, to whom she bears a son known as Aud. Her second husband is Annar and to him she bears a daughter, Earth. Her third husband, though, is Delling, who is of the same family as the sons of Bor. With him, Night bears a son who is named Day, and he is fair and shining just as his father is.
Odin takes her and her son and sets them high up in the sky, in horse chariots so that they may chase across the world. Night leads her son in her chariot drawn by the frosty-maned Hrimfaxi. Day follows his mother in his chariot drawn by the gleaming Skinfaxi.
And still the sons of Bor are not yet finished.
In Mitgard, the man known as Mundilfari has two beautiful children. He chooses to name his son, Moon, while his daughter is given the name Sun who is then married to a man known as Glen. This marriage angers Odin and his offspring, the Aesir, so in revenge he sets both Sun and Moon high in the sky, in horse chariots, so that they might guide two particular embers from Muspell that he and his brothers had placed there.
Moon leads the way across the sky. He guides the spark intended as the moon on its path and decides when that spark should wax and wane. His sister, Sun, follows him in her chariot drawn by the great horses Arvak and Alsvid. She is always in a hurry, for the wolf Skoll is at her heels. One day he will catch her and the sun will be extinguished.
And still there are tasks before the three brothers.
The only thing that remains of Ymir is the maggots that had burrowed into his flesh. Odin, Vili and Ve give them the shape of men and wits and set them to living beneath the mountains and in caverns and under the hills and in grottos. These maggot men are the dwarfs and they are the smiths and the artisans and the craftsmen. They are guardians of arcane knowledge and powerful rites. They are the last living creatures that the sons of Bor create.
Only one final task remains now for the trio.
High over the plains and wide spaces of Mitgard, the sons of Bor create their own place to live: Asgard. It is a place of sun-warmed grasses and shining high places; a stronghold where the Aesir may live in safety. As a final touch, the sons of Bor then build a bridge, Bilröst, to connect the two places. It is a shining, shimmering rainbow that arches down to Mitgard from the heights of Asgard. The Watch Man, Heimdall guards it, but it carries its own defences, too, for not everyone may tread along its shimmering length. The red that highlights the rainbow is the red of fire and only those worthy may brave its heat.
The sons of Bor are finished.
The world is created. Where once there was nothing but fire and frost and void there is now the earth and sea and sky. Where once there was only a single Frost Giant, there are men and giants and dwarfs and gods. And standing sentinel over it all is Yggdrasill, the world tree. That great ash gives life to that which is as yet unborn and has roots in each of Mitgard, Asgard and Niflheim, the home of the dead. It will survive the end of this world and pass into the next and remain for time immemorial.
In the beginning, there is a void.
At the southern end is a place of biting flame and freezing heat. Muspell is its name. It is a place so hot and terrible that only those souls born to it can survive it. Black Surt waits there, his burning sword at the ready. He is the one who will lead his bretheren out of the fiery depths and into our world, vanquishing it and the Gods who dwell there, in raging fire.
Niflheim is the place at the northern end of the void. It is as different from Muspell as can be. This is a place of searing cold, of hard packed ice, sweeping snow and venomous frost. At its heart is a spring: Hvergelmir. From it flow the nine rivers of Elivagar, each one swifter and faster and more raging than the last. There is Svol and Gunnthra; Fjom and Fimbulthul; Slid and Hrid; Sylg and Ylg; Vid, Leipt and Gjoll. They tumble and ball and hurl themselves across those trackless wastes, a yeasty, bubbling flow of would-be rime.
Between these two ends stands Gunningagap. It is the darkness. It is the void between the two realms. It is where the Elivagar discharge themselves, spewing their poisonous flows into the blackness. It is where the sparks and embers of the Muspell fires gather as they are expelled in a molten barrage, turning the darkness bright.
At the northern end, as the Elivagar flow out into the void so the ice and frost and rime encroach. At the southern end, as the fires expand and grow so the void melts and turns soft and warm.
And in the middle of Gunningagap fire meets ice.
Heated breeze plays over icy mass and water drips into the void. There is life in those drips and so the first of the Frost Giants congeals, there in the void.
This is Ymir. An evil creature from the start, he sleeps where he lies and he sweats heavily. From that putrid ooze comes three more people. His armpits produce a man and a woman; one of his legs creates a second man on his other leg. He is the father of all Frost Giants and so they call him Aurgelmir.
More of the ice melts and the cow, Audumla, is formed. From her four great teats, she feeds Ymir with her milk and at the same time, she feeds from the remaining ice. She licks and on that first evening, the shape of a man's hair has appeared. At the end of the second day, more of the man has been defined and then, on the third evening, the man stands free of the ice. This is Buri; the first man. He has a son, Bor, who marries the daughter of one of the Frost Giants, and they have three sons: Odin, Vili and Ve.
But all this was in the time before. Before there was a sun and a moon. Before there was sand and sea and waves. Before there was ground and trees and land. There was simply icy Niflheim and fiery Muspell with the Gunningagap hanging in between.
Odin and his brothers have no liking for Ymir and his growing band of brutal and unruly Frost Giants. They decide that the time has come for them to act and so they attack and kill Aurgelmir. The foul blood that springs from his wounds gushes forth so fast and so deep that all the Frost Giants are killed, all except for Bergelmir and his wife who manage to escape in their makeshift boat.
With the giant now dead, Odin, Vili and Ve hoist his body onto their shoulders and, between the three of them, they drag it out into the middle of Gunningagap where they use it to create the world as we know it. From Ymir's flesh, they shape the land. From those bones that remain whole, they shape mountains, while those bones that they shattered, along with his teeth, are shaped into boulders and rocks and stones. With his blood, they create landlocked lakes and rivers and the sea and then they encircle the earth with an ocean so wide and so deep that few men would dare to consider crossing it.
With the earth created, the three brothers hoist Ymir's skull up to form the sky. To keep it in place, they set dwarves to hold each of the four corners. Each dwarf has a name; they are North, East, South and West. Then the trio of brothers call some of those sparks and embers that have escaped from Muspell's fires and use them to create the constellations and stars in the sky and so light the earth below.
Now there is sand and sea and waves. Now there is ground and trees and land. Now the void is filled, but the brothers' work is not yet finished.
On the round earth, they mark out great tracts of land. They create Jotunheim as a land for the Frost and Rock Giants, but the Giants remain so hostile that the brothers mark out a second tract, further inland. This vast land, shaped from Ymir's eyebrows, is Mitgard. The sun warms the stones there and the land is green with freshly growing plants. Odin gives the land one final touch as he throws Ymir's brains up into the sky to form every kind of cloud.
Then, one day, the sons of Bor are out walking and they come upon two fallen tree trunks. The trio of brothers use these to shape the first man and the first woman. Odin breathes the breath of life into them; Vili offers them sharp wits and feeling hearts; Ve gives them sight and sense and hearing.
And so the land becomes home to men. But still the brothers are not finished in their work.
In Jotunheim, the giant Narvi has a daughter. She is called Night and is as dark and swarthy as the rest of her people. She marries three times. Her first husband is a man called Naglfari, to whom she bears a son known as Aud. Her second husband is Annar and to him she bears a daughter, Earth. Her third husband, though, is Delling, who is of the same family as the sons of Bor. With him, Night bears a son who is named Day, and he is fair and shining just as his father is.
Odin takes her and her son and sets them high up in the sky, in horse chariots so that they may chase across the world. Night leads her son in her chariot drawn by the frosty-maned Hrimfaxi. Day follows his mother in his chariot drawn by the gleaming Skinfaxi.
And still the sons of Bor are not yet finished.
In Mitgard, the man known as Mundilfari has two beautiful children. He chooses to name his son, Moon, while his daughter is given the name Sun who is then married to a man known as Glen. This marriage angers Odin and his offspring, the Aesir, so in revenge he sets both Sun and Moon high in the sky, in horse chariots, so that they might guide two particular embers from Muspell that he and his brothers had placed there.
Moon leads the way across the sky. He guides the spark intended as the moon on its path and decides when that spark should wax and wane. His sister, Sun, follows him in her chariot drawn by the great horses Arvak and Alsvid. She is always in a hurry, for the wolf Skoll is at her heels. One day he will catch her and the sun will be extinguished.
And still there are tasks before the three brothers.
The only thing that remains of Ymir is the maggots that had burrowed into his flesh. Odin, Vili and Ve give them the shape of men and wits and set them to living beneath the mountains and in caverns and under the hills and in grottos. These maggot men are the dwarfs and they are the smiths and the artisans and the craftsmen. They are guardians of arcane knowledge and powerful rites. They are the last living creatures that the sons of Bor create.
Only one final task remains now for the trio.
High over the plains and wide spaces of Mitgard, the sons of Bor create their own place to live: Asgard. It is a place of sun-warmed grasses and shining high places; a stronghold where the Aesir may live in safety. As a final touch, the sons of Bor then build a bridge, Bilröst, to connect the two places. It is a shining, shimmering rainbow that arches down to Mitgard from the heights of Asgard. The Watch Man, Heimdall guards it, but it carries its own defences, too, for not everyone may tread along its shimmering length. The red that highlights the rainbow is the red of fire and only those worthy may brave its heat.
The sons of Bor are finished.
The world is created. Where once there was nothing but fire and frost and void there is now the earth and sea and sky. Where once there was only a single Frost Giant, there are men and giants and dwarfs and gods. And standing sentinel over it all is Yggdrasill, the world tree. That great ash gives life to that which is as yet unborn and has roots in each of Mitgard, Asgard and Niflheim, the home of the dead. It will survive the end of this world and pass into the next and remain for time immemorial.