Don't Know Much About Mythology - Kenneth C. Davis [146]
A final source of Norse myths are the Skald (the Icelandic word for a type of minstrel or bard), a complex form of Icelandic poetry that survives from the period from 900 through the 1200s CE. Most court poets in Scandinavia came from Iceland, and hundreds of these poems—many of which deal with contemporary rather than mythic figures—are preserved in the Icelandic sagas of the 1100s and 1200s. However, the Skald were composed after the Scandinavian countries began the conversion to Christianity, and so, as with the Christian-era Celtic literature, many of these myths have been layered over with Christian traditions, symbolism, and interpretation.
How do a giant’s armpit and a cow help create the Norse world?
According to the Eddas, two places exist before the creation of life—Muspel (“world’s end”), a fiery region in the south, and Niflheim (“dark world”), a northern land of ice and freezing mists. Between them lies Ginnungagap—the “beguiling void”—a great emptiness where the two worlds of heat and ice collide, congeal, and all things are created. Out of the merging of these two places comes the first living thing, a primordial frost giant called Ymir, who is soon joined by a primeval cow named Audhumla, whose four streams of milk keep Ymir alive. In time, Ymir gives birth to three beings, born from the sweat of his armpits and from one of his legs. Meanwhile, a second giant, Buri, is released from the primordial salty ice blocks of Niflheim after the cow Audhumla licks him free. Buri creates a son named Bor, who marries the giantess Bestla, and they have three sons—Odin, Ve, and Vili—who begin the first race of gods.
In a story with echoes of the Greek Creation accounts, Odin grows to manhood, joins with his brothers, and kills Ymir. The incredible flow of the primal giant’s blood creates a great flood that kills all of the frost giants except for Bergelmir and his unnamed wife, who escape the deluge in a boat and re-create the race of ice giants. Although the gods defeat the giants in this Creation battle, the giants’ descendants plan revenge on their conquerors—an enmity between these two races that permeates all Norse myths. (It is not known if this Norse Flood story predates the Christian era, or is an example of a biblical influence on Norse traditions.)
Having dispatched Ymir, Odin becomes—like Zeus—supreme ruler of the world, and goes on to create the earth from Ymir’s body and the sky from his skull. The giant’s blood becomes the oceans, his ribs the mountains, and his flesh the earth. The gods then happen upon two logs lying on the beach and turn them into the first two humans, Ask (ash) and Embla (elm or vine).
Supporting the entire creation is a giant ash tree known as Yggdrasil, which has three roots. One root reaches into Niflheim, the world of ice. Another grows to Asgard, the realm of the gods. The third extends to Jotunheim, land of the giants. Three sisters called Norns live around the base of the tree, and control the past, present, and future, determining the fates of men. A giant serpent, Nidoggr, loyal to the defeated race of giants, lives near the root in Niflheim and continually gnaws at the root, attempting to bring down the tree, and the gods of Asgard with it.
After the world is created, Odin and his brothers construct their heavenly home in Asgard. Odin and the other gods of Asgard are called the Aesir (the sky gods), but there is another race of lesser gods called the Vanir (earth gods), most likely fertility gods who existed before the Vikings took control of the region, though little is known of their origins. A bridge called Bifrost—usually described as a rainbow but sometimes associated with the Milky Way—connects Asgard to the earth, or Midgard, where men live. Within the walls of Asgard, the gods build their palaces and halls, including Valhalla, the Hall of the Slain. Here the kings and heroes fallen in battle are brought by the Valkyries—” choosers of the slain”—to spend their time feasting