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Ancient Northern Myths 25
the mighty sire of the giants; likewise arose the cow
Odhumla, from whom the Asas of Asgard trace their
descent :
"Twas the source of the ages,
When Fmer builded.
No sand was, nor sea,
Nor soothing billows.
Nota^th /teaved itself up,
Nor /leaven above.
Gaping gulf there was,
But grass was not."
The gods slew Ymer, and of his flesh the earth they
made, of his bones the mountains they built; from his
hair the forests arose, the sea from his blood, his skull
was the sky. The Asas then formed the first human
pair from two trees, Ask and Embla (Ash and Elm).
But change and decay prevail in the world the Asas
created. Transitory, too, is the power of the Asas.
Subject are they to the Fates, to the Norns, the god-
desses three, who sit at the roots of the Yggdrasil ash
ever verdant, whose roots and whose branches encom-
pass the world.
A time will come when Ragnarok, the end of the
world, approaches. In nature ominous signs will ap-
pear, foreboding the end: the moon disappears, the
sun turns to darkness, and stars from the heavens are
hurled. Terrible storms arise, and all evil powers are
loosened.
Loud Blows Heimdall his watchman’s horn, calling
the gods to the last, the decisive fight with the powers
of evil. And last of all Surt, god of fire, throws out
his consuming flames o’er the earth.
A History of Sweden. 3.
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