The Viking Age. Volume 1 (of 2): The early history, manners, and customs of the ancestors of the English-speaking nationsDu Chaillu, Paul B. (Paul Belloni)
History
The Viking Age. Volume 1 (of 2): The early history, manners, and customs of the ancestors of the English-speaking nations
Then all the powers went
To their judgment seats,[43]
The most holy gods
Counselled about this;
To night and the quarters of the moon
Gave they names;
They gave names to
Morning and midday,
To afternoon and eve,
That the years might be reckoned.
(Völuspa.)
Then we have the origin of the wind and of winter. Hræsvelg means the
swallower of corpses.
_Odin._
Tell me ...
Whence the wind comes
Who goes over the waves;
Men do not see him.
_Vafthrudnir._
_Hræsvelg_ is called
He who sits at heaven’s end,
A Jötun in an eagle’s shape;
From his wings
It is said the wind comes
Over all mankind.
_Odin._
Tell me ...
Whence the winter came,
Or the warm summer,
First with the wise gods.
_Vafthrudnir._
_Vindsval_[44] is called
The father of winter,
And _Svasud_[45] the father of summer.
Another amplification of the Creation is given in Gylfaginning.
Thridi said:
“They took Ymir’s skull, and made thereof the sky, and raised it over
the earth with four sides. Under each corner they set four Dvergar,
which were called Austri, East; Vestri, West; Nordri, North; Sudri,
South. Then they took glowing sparks that were loose and had been cast
out from Muspelheim, and placed them in the midst of the boundless
heaven, both above and below, to light up heaven and earth; they gave
resting-places to all fires, and set some in heaven; some were made free
to go under heaven, but they gave them a place and shaped their course.
In old songs it is said that from that time days and years were
reckoned.”
The creation of the world, and of the heavens and planets, is followed
by that of the Dvergar and of man and woman, who were helpless and
fateless (their destinies not having been spun by the Nornir); from
these two mankind are descended.
Then all the gods went
To their judgment-seats,
The most holy gods,
And counselled about
Who should create
The host of Dvergar
From the bloody surf[46]
And from the bones of Blain.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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