“‘An ash know I standing, Yggdrasil it hight, A lofty tree besprinkled With white water; Thence cometh dew Which in the dales falleth; Ever green it standeth Over Urda’s well.’ “The dew which comes from it is called Honey-dew, and is the food of the bees. Two birds are fed in the Urdar-fount: they are called swans, and from them is descended this species of birds. “In the branches of the ash Yggdrasil sitteth an eagle, who knows many things; between his eyes sitteth a hawk, called Vederlöfner (Storm-damper). A squirrel, named Ratatösk, runs up and down in the tree, and seeks to set strife between the eagle and the Snake-king Nidhug. Four harts run about in the branches of the tree, and bite the buds. In Hvergelmer, by the root of the tree, are so many snakes, that no tongue can tell it. So, in Grimnis-mâl, “Ratatösk hight the squirrel, Who shall run Through the Ash Yggdrasil: The eagle’s words He from above shall bear, And tell to Nidhug below. There are also four harts, Who the branches’ buds Wry-necked gnaw, Dain and Dvalin, Dunuir and Durathror. More snakes lie Beneath the ash Yggdrasil Than any one can think. ———— The Ash Yggdrasil Endureth toil More than men know. The hart gnaws it above: In the side it rotteth; Nidhug wastes it below.”