other · mythology

The Prose Edda

c. 1220 CE (written); oral tradition much older · Medieval (recording older oral tradition) · Iceland

Gylfaginning — The Tricking of Gylfi: Creation

1It was at the beginning of time, when Ymir lived.
2There was no sand nor sea nor salt waves;
3Earth had not been, nor sky above,
4Ginnunga-gap was all there was, and grass nowhere.
5Before the world was created, there was a void called Ginnungagap.
6To the north lay Niflheim, a world of ice and cold.
7To the south lay Muspelheim, a world of fire and heat.
8Where the cold and the heat met, the ice of Niflheim began to melt.
9The melting drops quickened with the power of life,
10And from them arose a giant named Ymir.
11The sons of Bor — Odin, Vili, and Ve — slew Ymir.
12Such was the flood of blood from his wounds
13That all the race of frost-giants was drowned in it,
14Save one, who escaped with his household.
15From Ymir's body the sons of Bor made the world:
16From his flesh the earth; from his blood the seas;
17From his bones the mountains; from his hair the trees;
18From his skull the sky.
19They took his brains and threw them up into the sky
20And made clouds of them.

Gylfaginning — The World Tree Yggdrasil

21"Tell me," said Gangleri, "What is there to say about Yggdrasil?"
22High replied: "Much could be said.
23Yggdrasil is the greatest of all trees and the best.
24Its branches spread out over all the world
25And stand above the sky.
26Three of its roots hold it up and spread out very far:
27One is among the Aesir; a second is among the frost-giants,
28In the place where Ginnungagap used to be;
29The third stands over Niflheim."
30"An eagle sits in the branches of Yggdrasil, and it knows many things.
31A hawk called Vedrfolnir sits between the eyes of the eagle.
32The squirrel called Ratatosk runs up and down the ash tree
33And carries messages of malice between the eagle on top
34And the serpent Nidhogg below."
35"Four stags run in the branches of Yggdrasil
36And nibble the shoots:
37Dainn, Dvalinn, Duneyrr, and Durathror.
38And in the roots of the tree, Nidhogg gnaws at the root,
39And so many serpents are there with him."

Gylfaginning — The Death of Baldr

40"Now I will tell you of the greatest misfortune that ever befell gods and men.
41The story begins when Baldr the Good had bad dreams about his life.
42And when he told the Aesir his dreams,
43They took counsel together, and all agreed to seek protection for Baldr
44From all kinds of harm."
45"Frigg exacted oaths from fire and water,
46Iron and every kind of metal, stones, earth, trees, sicknesses,
47Animals, birds, poison, snakes —
48That they would not harm Baldr.
49When this had been done it became a custom
50That Baldr should stand up at assemblies
51And all the Aesir would shoot at him,
52Or strike him, or throw stones at him,
53And whatever they did he was unharmed."
54"But Loki the Troublemaker went to Frigg and asked her:
55'Have all things sworn oaths to spare Baldr?'
56Frigg replied: 'One twig of mistletoe grows to the west of Valhalla.
57I did not make it swear, for it seemed too young.'"
58"Loki went and pulled up the mistletoe and brought it to the assembly.
59He guided the hand of the blind god Hodr to where Baldr stood.
60Hodr threw the mistletoe sprig, and it passed through Baldr,
61And he fell dead to the ground.
62This was the greatest misfortune to befall gods and men."

Gylfaginning — Ragnarok

63"What tidings can you tell me about Ragnarok?" asked Gangleri.
64High spoke: "First of all, three years will come
65In which great wars will rage all over the world.
66Then come three more winters without a summer;
67The sun will not shine. These are the Fimbulvetr, the Great Winter."
68"The Fenris-wolf will break free from his bonds.
69The Midgard Serpent will rise out of the sea.
70The ship Naglfar will be set free, made from dead men's nails.
71Surt will come from Muspelheim with flames.
72The sky will be rent asunder; the sons of Muspell will ride the breach."
73"Odin will fight the Fenris-wolf and lose his life.
74Freyr will fight Surt without his sword, which he gave to Skirnir.
75Thor will slay the Midgard Serpent and walk nine paces before falling dead from its poison.
76Loki and Heimdall will fight and kill each other."
77"And afterwards: the earth will rise up out of the sea
78And will be green and fair.
79The fields will bear crops unsown.
80Baldr will come back from the dead.
81The surviving gods will sit and speak of what has been,
82And they will find in the grass the golden chequers they used to play with."

notes

The Prose Edda (Snorra Edda) was written by the Icelandic chieftain and historian Snorri Sturluson around 1220 CE, but it records Norse mythological traditions that are considerably older — oral poetry and belief stretching back into the Migration Age and earlier. Snorri wrote the Prose Edda as a handbook for poets, explaining the stories that underlie the complex allusions of skaldic verse. It consists of three main sections: Gylfaginning (the tricking of King Gylfi, where the myths of creation, the gods, and Ragnarok are narrated), Skaldskaparmal (poetic diction), and Hattatal (verse forms). The cosmology Snorri preserves is among the most sophisticated mythological systems to survive from the ancient world: a nine-world structure centred on the world tree Yggdrasil, a pantheon of gods (Aesir and Vanir) who are themselves mortal and doomed to fall at Ragnarok, and a cyclical vision of time in which the world ends and is reborn. Translation after Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur (1916). Public domain.

currently held: Codex Regius; Codex Wormianus; manuscript tradition

NorseCosmologyPrimordial HistoryCreationAfterlife

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