At the beginning, there was nothing but a void called Ginnungagap, meaning beginning gap. Along with this was Niflheim, the land of fog and ice, in the north, and Muspelheim, the land of fire, in the south.

There was a spring from the north, called Hvergelmir, from which eleven ice-cold rivers flowed, called the Elivagar. The rivers froze layer upon layer, filling the vast chasm of Ginnungagap. From the south, sparks and glowing embers filled the chasm, causing portions of the frozen rivers to melt. From this slush and heat, life emerged in the shape of a primeval giant who received the name ofYmir. And from Ymir came the dreadful brood of the frost giants, whom Ymir engendered by sweating a male and female from under his arms, and a son from both his legs when he slept.

From the melting rime also came the cow Audhumla, who fed Ymir with four rivers of milk that flowed from her teats. Audhumla got nourishment by licking the salty ice. From where she licked, a man's hair appeared on the first day, a whole head by the second, and by the third day, a whole man was freed from the ice and thus came the God Buri, and fathered Bor, who in turn fathered Odin, Vili, and Ve.

There was a lot of conflict between Ymir's children and the children of Bor. Odin finally led his brothers to killing the giant, Ymir, igniting the enemity between the gods and the giants in times to come. The flood from Ymir's blood killed all the giants, except Bergelmir and his family, who escaped in the first boat, out of a hollowed tree trunk, and ending up in Jotunheim, land of the giants.

After killing Ymir, Odin then led his brother to dragging the corpse into Ginnungagap, where Ymir's flesh became the earth and his blood, the sea. The mountains were his bones, and the trees were his hair. Maggots in his flesh became the dwarves and the dark elves. The world of dwarves was known as Nidavellir, and the world of the dark elves was called Svartalfheim. They lived deep in the earth, mining ore and minerals below mountains and hills. Some creatures living in the soil became the light elves, and were placed in the world known as Alfheim.

The brothers took Ymir's skull and made it into the sky over the earth, having a dwarf at each corner marking the four cardinal directions. They then took the sparks from the south and cast them into Ginnungagap to form the stars, the sun and the moon. Ymir's brains were cast into the air to become clouds. A world was made for the giants, known as Jotunheim, and another for the purpose of protecting the world from the giants. It was made from Ymir's eyebrows and was called Midgard.

Humans were created when Odin and his brothers were enthralled by two beautiful tree trunks that had been swept upon a sea shore, and set about to bringing life to them. Odin granted them a soul. Vili granted them motion and sense, whilst Ve granted them being and blooming hue. The beings were called Ask and Embla, and were given Midgard, to live in.

Next, the gods created night and day. Night was a beautiful giant with dark complexion and black hair. Her first husband was called Naglifari, and their son was Aud, following which she married Annar and birthed a daughter, Earth. Lastly, she married Delling, with a son called Day. Odin gave horses and chariots to Night and Day, for them to ride across the heavens.

The sun and the moon were guided across the heavens by Mundilfari's children. The children were so fair and beautiful that they were called Sun and Moon. The gods, enraged by the Mundilfari's arrogance, put the children into the sky to drive forward the sun and moon in chariots. The daughter, Sun, commanded the chariot of the sun, drawn by the horses Arvak and Alsvidh. The moon was driven across the sky by the son, Moon, with the horse Aldsvider. Both brother and sister could never stop, for they were chased by the wolves Skoll and Hati.

With the earth completed, the gods set out to create a home for themselves. They built a stronghold for themselves in the middle of the world, and called it Asgard. The bridge, Bifrost, was built to connect Asgard and Midgard. It served to guard against the giants and was said to be the rainbow linking heaven and earth.

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