We said goodbye to Snorri Sturluson in his cellar. Tonight we open the book he saved: the stories of the Norse gods. And we begin where every mythology begins: before the beginning, when there was nothing at all.
Norse Myths · Part 1 · The beginning · B1
The Nine Worlds and the World Tree
Part 1 of the Norse Myths: how the Norse imagined the beginning of everything, a gaping emptiness between fire and ice, a giant whose body became the world, the first man and woman made from two trees, and the great ash tree Yggdrasil holding the nine worlds together. The present simple for descriptions, there is / there are, prepositions of place, and the passive (the sky was made from his skull), with Philo, Sophia, Marcos and Demetria.
SOPHIA
MARCOS
Nothing at all? That’s a short story.
SOPHIA
Not quite nothing, Marcos. Fire in the south, ice in the north, and between them a great empty gap. Where the fire met the ice, something began to drip, and grow, and wake. Tonight you’ll learn how the Norse built a whole universe, and the grammar for describing it.
PHILO
Every people imagines the beginning. Let us see how close the Norse came to our stories.
Read: fire, ice and the great tree
Before you read
The Norse imagination, from the Viking Age to Snorri
Almost everything we know about the Norse gods comes from two Icelandic books of the 13th century: the Poetic Edda, a collection of old poems preserved in the Codex Regius, and the Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson, who retold the myths for young poets. Both were written by Christians, two hundred years after Iceland’s conversion, so scholars read them carefully: they preserve real old beliefs, but some details may be Snorri’s own arrangement.
In the beginning, the myths say, there was Ginnungagap, the yawning gap, between Muspelheim, a world of fire, and Niflheim, a world of ice and mist. Where the heat met the frost, drops of melting ice formed the first giant, Ymir, and a great cow, Audhumla, who licked the salty ice and uncovered the first god. His grandsons, Odin and his two brothers, killed Ymir and made the world from his body: the earth from his flesh, the sea from his blood, the mountains from his bones and the sky from his skull. Walking on the shore, they found two trees and made from them the first man and woman, Ask and Embla.
At the centre of everything stands Yggdrasil, an enormous ash tree whose branches spread over the sky and whose three roots reach into different worlds. Among the nine worlds are Asgard, home of the gods; Midgard, “the middle enclosure”, where humans live, joined to Asgard by the rainbow bridge Bifröst; Jötunheim, land of the giants; and Hel, the realm of the dead. At the foot of the tree, three women, the Norns, water its roots and decide the fate of every life.
Every people tells the story of how the world began; each one tells us what they valued.
PHILO
Read the story. What was there before the world? Who was Ymir, and what happened to his body? Who were Ask and Embla? What is Yggdrasil?
SOPHIA
Then answer Section A.
The story
Retold for this lesson from Völuspá in the Poetic Edda and Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda (13th century).
In the beginning there was no sand, no sea, no grass and no sky: only a great yawning gap called Ginnungagap. To the south of it lay Muspelheim, a world of fire so hot that no one but its own people could live there. To the north lay Niflheim, a world of ice, freezing mist and darkness. Rivers of poison flowed from Niflheim into the gap and froze, layer upon layer, until the north side of the gap was filled with ice.
Where the hot winds from Muspelheim met the ice, it began to melt and drip, and from the drops came life. The first being was a giant called Ymir, the ancestor of all the frost giants. Then came a great cow, Audhumla, and Ymir drank the four rivers of milk that flowed from her. Audhumla licked the salty blocks of ice, and as she licked, a man’s hair appeared on the first day, his head on the second, and on the third his whole body: this was Búri, the first of the gods. Búri’s grandsons were Odin and his brothers Vili and Vé.
Odin and his brothers killed the giant Ymir, and so much blood flowed from his wounds that all the frost giants drowned except one, who escaped with his wife in a boat. Then the brothers carried Ymir’s body into the middle of the gap and made the world from it. From his flesh they made the earth, from his blood the sea and the lakes, from his bones the mountains, and from his teeth the rocks. They lifted his skull above the earth to make the sky, with a dwarf at each of its four corners to hold it up, and they took sparks from Muspelheim to make the sun, the moon and the stars.
One day, walking along the shore, the three brothers found two tree trunks lying on the sand. Odin gave them breath and life, Vili gave them understanding and movement, and Vé gave them faces, speech, hearing and sight. The man was called Ask, “ash tree”, and the woman Embla, perhaps “elm”, and from them came all the people of Midgard. And over all the worlds grew the ash tree Yggdrasil, the greatest and best of trees, with an eagle in its branches, a dragon gnawing at its roots, and the three Norns, Past, Present and Future, watering it every day from the well of fate.
The present simple for descriptions
MARCOS
Yggdrasil stands at the centre of the worlds. Its branches spread over the sky. A squirrel runs up and down the trunk. The Norns water its roots every day.
SOPHIA
We use the present simple to describe a permanent picture, like a map or a myth told as if it is always true. Remember the -s with he, she, it.
There is / there are and prepositions of place
DEMETRIA
There is an eagle at the top of the tree. There are three roots. A dragon lives under one root. Bifröst stretches between Asgard and Midgard. Midgard is in the middle.
SOPHIA
there is + singular / there are + plural. Place words: at the top of, at the bottom of, under, above, between, around, in the middle of, beyond.
The passive: made from
PHILO
The earth was made from Ymir’s flesh. The sky was made from his skull. The first humans were made from two trees. The worlds are held together by the ash tree.
SOPHIA
was / were + past participle; made from when the material changes completely (wine is made from grapes), made of when you can still see it (a table made of wood).
Sophia’s comparison: Chaos, and “the earth was without form”
SOPHIA
Hesiod, whose Theogony you know, also begins with a gap: Chaos, which means a yawning emptiness, almost the same word as Ginnungagap. And the Babylonians, in the Near East series, made the world from the body of Tiamat, as the Norse made it from Ymir.
PHILO
And our Genesis begins: “The earth was without form, and empty, and darkness was over the deep.” But there, no one is killed to make the world; God speaks, and it is. The differences tell us as much as the likenesses.
Sophia’s summary
| Words and forms | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Yggdrasil stands / its branches spread | present simple for descriptions | The Norns water its roots. |
| there is / there are | existence | There are nine worlds. |
| under, above, between, at the top of | prepositions of place | A dragon lives under one root. |
| was made from / were made from | the passive: materials | The sky was made from his skull. |
| made from / made of | material changed or visible | a table made of wood |
Practice
Read the story for Section A, then do the rest. Press “Check my answers” at the end. You can try again as many times as you like.
A · The story
Read the story and choose the best answer.
1. What was Ginnungagap?
2. Who was Ymir?
3. What was made from Ymir’s skull?
4. Who were Ask and Embla?
5. What is Midgard?
6. Who are the Norns?
B · Grammar and vocabulary
Write the missing word or words.
7. Yggdrasil at the centre of the worlds. (stand)
8. are nine worlds.
9. A dragon lives one of the roots. (below)
10. The sky was made Ymir’s skull.
11. Bifröst stretches Asgard and Midgard.
12. The first humans were from two trees. (make)
C · Right or wrong?
Is the sentence correct English?
13. “There is nine worlds in the tree.”
14. “The Norns water the roots every day.”
15. “The sea was made of Ymir’s blood.” (completely changed)
16. “An eagle sits at the top of the tree.”
Talk and write
Discussion and writing
Draw the nine worlds. In groups, draw Yggdrasil and the worlds, then describe your picture to another group using the present simple, there is / are and prepositions of place.
Discuss. 1. Why do you think the Norse imagined the world beginning between fire and ice? 2. Compare this story with another creation story you know. 3. Why might the myths have been changed when Christians wrote them down?
Write (100–120 words). Describe the Norse universe for someone who has never heard of it, using the present simple, there is / are and the passive.