User:Mathewmeaders/Old Norse religion/Bibliography

According to D'Aulaires' book of Norse Myths the Norse story of creation is that in the beginning of time there was Niflheim and Muspelheim separated by a large void called Ginnungagap. Niflheim was a region of cold ice and fog while Muspelheim was a land of raging flames and for eons ice from Niflheim and embers from Muspelheim flew around in the Ginnungagap abyss. As the ice crystals and flames whirled around each other in the void they sparked the creation of Ymir. Ymir was the first frost giant and started the race of the Jötunn s, the cow, Auðumbla came with him out of the void. Together they lived on the edge of Ginnungagap where Ymir lived off of four rivers of milk that came from the ice cow’s udders which allowed him to reach an enormous size. Ymir fell into a deep sleep and during which a male and female Jötunn came to life from the warmth in his left armpit and started the race of frost giants. The cow licked salty ice from the edge of Niflheim and created Búri, the ancestor of the Æsir. Búri had a son named Borr who married a frost giant named Bestla, the two had three sons Odin Hœnir and Lóðurr the first of the Æsir gods. The three gods were bright and good and could not coexist with the dark and evil Ymir and so the Æsir rose up against Ymir and cast him into the Ginnungagap, where the brine from his body filled the pit and spilled over drowning Auðumbla and all creatures except two Jötunn s who escaped by floating on icebergs to the far shores of the sea made from Ymir's wounds. The two Jötunns created Jötunheimr and the race of frost giants. The Jötunn s blamed and hated the Æsir for killing Ymir and their kinsmen. The Æsir rose Ymir’s body out of the sea to create Midgard, the giant’s flesh made the soil, his bones created mountains, Ymir’s teeth became stone and boulders. The Æsir gods pushed Niflheim deep underground, they created the sky from Ymir’s skull to protect the world from the flames of Muspelheim before capturing sparks from the fiery realm and attaching them to the sky as the sun stars and moon. Odin, Hœnir and Lóðurr created two horse teams to pull the sun and moon across the sky to create day and night; The Jötunn s were creatures of darkness and hated the light and so a few changed into the shape of wolves and started the chase after the horses causing the sun and moon to move across the sky. The Vanir were a group of gods related to the Æsir they sent rain showers to earth and as the sun shined on Ymir’s bones his beard sprouted green grass that spread, and his hair grew into forests. The young Æsir gods created the first man and woman from an Ash and Alder tree while walking along the ocean shore. The gods blew life and soul into the trees to create mankind each supplying their own aspect of life. Odin gave mankind its soul, Hœnir gave mankind the will to move and think, and Lóðurr gave them warm blood and emotion.