The construction of the world out of the fragments of Ymer’s body, the doctrine of the ash Yggdrasil, and of wondrous wells beneath its roots, could of course find no echo here, after the conversion. But it is very remarkable how nearly the description of creation given in Cædmon sometimes coincides with the old remains of heathendom: Ne wæs hér ðágiet There had not here as yet nymðe heólstersceado save cavern shade wiht geworden, aught existed, ac ðes wída grund but this wide abyss stód deóp and dim, stood deep and dim, drihtne fremde, strange to its lord, ídel and unnyt; idle and useless; on ðone eágnm wlát on which looked with his eyes stíðfrihð cining, the king firm of mood and ða stowe beheóld and beheld the place dreáma leáse. devoid of joys. Geseah deorc gesweorc He saw the dark cloud sémian sinnihte, lour in endless night, sweart under roderum, swart under heaven, wonn and wéste ... dusky and desert ... folde wæs ðágyt the earth was yet græs ungréne; not green with grass; gársecg þeahte but ocean covered sweart synnihte dark in endless night wíde and síde far and wide wonne wægas[767]. the dusky ways. ----- Footnote 767: Cædm. p. 7, l. 8 _seq._ ----- Then follows the creation of light, the separation of evening and morning, and the production of organic life, as in the first chapter of Genesis. The Wída grund, or _vast abyss_, is the Ginnunga gap, _yawning gulf_, of the Edda, and a very remarkable parallel lies in the assertion that there was no _grass_ anywhere to make green the earth.