THE BIBLE NARRATIVE AND HEATHEN TRADITIONS. 15 



World tree, and the Ash tree, Yggdrasil of the Scandinavians, the same as Dr. 

 Spiegel between Painless tree of the Persians and the Soma of the Hindoos. 



We shall quote fully and literally from the translation of the Edda as found 

 in Malletts Northern Antiquities. 



" Many ages before the earth was made, was Niflheim formed, in the 

 middle of which lies the spring called Hvergelmir, from which flow twelve rivers 

 — Gjoli the nearest to the gate of the abode of death." 



" But first of all there was in the southern region the world called Muspell. 

 It is a world too luminous and glowing to be entered by those who are not indig- 

 enous there. He who sitteth on its borders to guard it is named Surtur. In 

 his hand he beareth a flaming falchion, and at the end of the world shall issue 

 forth to combat, and shall vanquish all the gods and consume the universe with 

 fire. * * * Thus whilst freezing cold and gathering gloom proceeded from 

 Niflheim, that part looking towards Muspellheim was filled with glowing radi- 

 ancy, the intervening space remaining calm and light as wind-still air. And 

 when the heated blast met the gelid vapour it melted into drops, and by the 

 might of him who sent the heat, these drops quickened into life and assumed a 

 human semblance. The being thus formed was named Ymir, but the Frost 

 Giants call him Orgelmir. From him descend the Frost Giants." * * * 



" Thus it is said that when Ymir slept he fell into a sweat and from the pit 

 of his arm was formed a man and woman, and one of his feet engendered with 

 the other a son from whom descend the Frost Giants. The sons of Bor slew the 

 giant Ymir, and when he fell there rose so much blood from his wounds that the 

 whole race of Frost Giants was drowned in it except a single giant who saved 

 himself with his household. He escaped by going on board his bark, and with 

 him went his wife, and from them are descended the Frost Giants." * * * 



"Odin may justly be called the All Father for he is really the Father of All, 

 of gods and of men, and to his power all things owe their existence." * * * 

 In the beginning he appointed rulers, and bade them judge with him the fate of 

 men, and regulate the government of the celestial city. They met for this pur- 

 pose in a place called Idovoll, which is in the center of the divine abode. 

 Their first work was to erect a court or hall, where there are twelve seats for them- 

 sevles besides the throne which is occupied by All-Father. This hall is the 

 largest and most magnificent in the universe, being resplendent on all sides, both 

 within and without with the finest gold. Its name is Gladsheim. * * That 

 age was named the Golden Age. This was the age that lasted until the arrival 

 of the women out of Jotunheim who corrupted them. 



"Of Ymir's flesh was formed the earth; of his sweat (blood) seas; of his 

 bones, the mountains; of his hair, the trees; of his skull, the heavens; but with 

 his eyebrows the blithe gods built Midgard for the sons of men, whilst from his 

 brains the lowering clouds were fashioned. * * * One day as the sons of 

 Bor were walking along the sea beach they found two stems of wood out of 

 which they shaped a man and a woman. The first (Odin) infused into them life 

 and spirit ; the second (Vili) endowed them with reason and the power of mo- 

 tion ; the third (Ve) gave them speech, and features, and hearing, and vision. 



" The man they called Ask, and the woman Embla From these two descend 

 the whole human race, whose assigned dwelling was Midgard. * * * 



"The ash is the greatest and best of all trees. The branches spread over 

 the whole world and can reach above heaven. It has three roots. One of them 

 extends to the ^Esir, another to the Frost Giants, and the third stands over 

 Niflheim and under this root, which is constantly gnawed by Nidhogg is 

 Hvergelmir." 



