The Creation

Retold by Thorfinn AOR

In the very beginning, there were two worlds. One was called Muspell, the fiery hot home of the Fire Giants, and their leader, Surt. The other was very, very cold and was called Niflheim. In between these two worlds was a big empty space called Ginnungagap, and it was in this space that hot and cold met. And when they met, they made a creature called Ymir. Ymir was the first of the Frost Giants.
From Ymir’s great armpit he sweated two children, and another from his leg, and they were to become the race of Frost Giants.
There was also a cow called Audhumla who fed Ymir on her milk, and licked at the ice of Niflheim to feed herself.
She licked and licked, and eventually the ice took on the shape of a man, named Buri.
Buri then married the daughter of Ymir, and had a son named Bor.
Bor did the same as his father, and had three sons. They were named Odin, Vili and Ve.
Now, Ymir was a Frost Giant with a heart of ice and a fiery temper, and Odin and his brothers got fed up with him. They made a plan to kill him, which they did. From his cuts, blood flowed like the sea and swept away all the Frost Giants except for two who escaped.
With his body they made a world in the middle of Ginnungagap, and used his blood to make the seas. His hair became trees and his bones became the mountains. The worms that crawled in Ymir’s body were shaped like small men, and these became Dwarves who live underground.
Ymir’s skull became the sky and four Dwarves were asked to hold it in place. They were Nordri, Sudri, Austri and Vestri.
Ymir’s brain was thrown into the air and became clouds, and last of all, his eyebrows were taken to make a large wall keeping the Frost Giants out. Sparks from Muspell flew into the air and became the Sun and Moon.
This walled land was called Midgard, and the Giants’ land outside the wall was called Jotunheim.
Above Midgard, Odin, Vili and Ve made a home for themselves and all the children they would have, calling it Asgard.
They also made other lands for the Light and Dark Elves.
When they finished their work they had made nine worlds, and connecting them all was Yggdrasil, the World Ash tree. They were happy with what they had made, and crossed over Bifrost, the rainbow bridge that connects Midgard with Asgard, and made their home.
But one thing was missing. Odin and his brothers looked around Midgard and found an Ash tree and an Elm tree together. They shaped these like a man and a woman, and named them Ask and Embla. They became the parents of mankind in Midgard.

And that is the story of the Creation.