Read Online The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson - Free Book Online Page A

was burned with him. Thor, however, walks to the court; wading those rivers named as follows:
    Kormt and Ormt
and the two Kerlaugs,
through these Thor will
wade each day
when he goes to judge
at the ash Yggdrasil,
because the bridge of the Æsir
burns with fire –
holy waters seethe.’       (
The Lay of Grimnir. 29
)
    Then Gangleri said, ‘Does fire burn over Bifrost?’
    High replied: ‘The red you see in the rainbow is the burning fire. The frost giants and the mountain giants would scaleheaven if Bifrost could be travelled by all who wanted to do so. There are many beautiful places in heaven and everything is divinely protected. A handsome hall stands under the ash beside the well. Out of this hall come three maidens, who are called Urd [Fate], Verdandi [Becoming] and Skuld 2 [Obligation]. These maidens shape men’s lives. We call them the norns. There are yet more norns, those who come to each person at birth to decide the length of one’s life, and these are related to the gods. Others are descended from the elves, and a third group comes from the dwarves, as is said here:
    Born of very different parents
I believe the norns are,
they do not share kinship.
Some are of the Æsir,
Some are of the elves,
Some are the daughters of Dvalin.’
    (
The Lay of Fafnir. 13
)
    Then Gangleri said, ‘If the norns decide the fates of men, then they do so in a terribly uneven manner. Some people enjoy a good and prosperous life, whereas others have little wealth or renown. Some have a long life, but others, a short one.’
    High said: ‘The good norns, the ones who are well born, shape a good life. When people experience misfortune, it is the bad norns who are responsible.’
16. THE CREATURES OF THE ASH TREE YGGDRASIL
    Then Gangleri said, ‘What more of importance can be said about the ash?’
    High replied, ‘There is much to be told. An eagle sits in the branches of the ash, and it has knowledge of many things. Between its eyes sits the hawk called Vedrfolnir [Wind Bleached]. The squirrel called Ratatosk [Drill Tooth] runs upand down the ash. He tells slanderous gossip, provoking the eagle and Nidhogg. Four stags called Dain, Dvalin, Duneyr and Durathror move about in the branches of the ash, devouring the tree’s foliage. 1 In Hvergelmir there are so many serpents with Nidhogg that no tongue can count them. As it says here:
    The ash Yggdrasil
endures hardship,
more than men know.
A stag bites from above
and its sides rot;
From below Nidhogg gnaws.
    (
The Lay of Grimnir. 35
)
    â€˜So it is said:
    More snakes
lie under the ash Yggdrasil
than any old fool imagines.
Goin and Moin,
they are Grafvitnir’s sons,
Grabak and Grafvollud, and
Ofnir and Svafnir
will always, I believe,
eat away the tree’s shoots.
    (
The Lay of Grimnir. 34
)
    â€˜It is also said that those norns who live beside Urd’s Well draw water every day from the spring and that they splash this, mixed with the mud that lies beside the well, over the ash so that its branches will not wither or decay. That water is so sacred that all things which come into the spring become as white as the membrane called
skjall
[skin] which lies on the inside of the eggshell. As it says here:
    I know an ash,
it is called Yggdrasil,
a high, holy tree,
splashed and coated with white clay.
From it come the dews
that fall in the valleys.
It will always stand
green over Urd’s Well.       (
The Sibyl’s Prophecy. 19
)
    â€˜People call the dew, which falls to the earth, honey dew, and bees feed on it. Two birds nourish themselves in the Well of Urd. These are called swans, and from them comes the species of bird with that name.’
17. THE HIGH ONE TELLS OF OTHER PLACES IN HEAVEN
    Then Gangleri said, ‘You know much to tell about the heavens. Are there other significant places besides the one at Urd’s Well?’
    High said, ‘There are many magnificent