The Norse: The Beginning

Norse religion believed that before anything of the earth existed, the universe consisted only of a massive fire and a massive sheet of ice. When the two eventually collided, the fire turned the ice to steam, creating swirling particles. From these particles came the first living thing, a frost giant named Ymer. Also came a big cow, which nourished the giant, letting him grow bigger and stronger. The ice giant eventually created smaller ice giants. The cow continued to nourish them. But the cow was not nourished, so it licked the massive sheet of ice. She licked it so much that she carved another creature out of the ice. He was Bure, the ancestor of all Norse gods. He had great power, but relations between him and the frost giants were hostile. Bure knew that he had to kill the ice giants. He called upon his unborn sons and grandsons, who were then born, and assaulted the frost giants with a mighty force. In the end, Ymer was killed, and Odin looked upon his body and suggested that him and the other gods make his fluid body into a planet. This planet, earth, was to be designed flat and round, like a wheel. In the center of the planet, they created many mountains. In the center of these huge mountains, they planned the stronghold capitol city, Asgard. They used Ymer’s skull to create an archway to heaven. They transformed his blood into the blue ocean waters, which the gods used as a border from Giantland. They created great chariots to carry the sun and moons spirits across the sky at day and night. They stole great sparks to ignite the stars. They had created the earth. A certain form of life was still in Ymer, so his life lead to the creation of living things on the earth. Forests and animals both came about. The gods decided that these animals required their governing. But Odin, one of the head gods, said that the living things were not really theirs. They decided to create a master race—humans.