THE CREATION
The origin of the world is told in different sources (Vsp 1-8, Gif chs 7-14) and is regarded as one example of the distinctive character of the Old Norse religion. Creation, according to one version, began when an icy region came into contact with a fiery region.
This contact created the giant Ymir, who was fed by the cow Audhumbla. The cow licked the rime of the ice, out of which a man called Buri appeared. He is said to have become the forefather of the gods, but is thereafter not mentioned in mythology. At the same time Ymir’s toes sired children with each other. This brought other giants into existence (Gif chs 6-7). The offspring of Buri were Odinn, Vili and Ve who killed (or sacrificed) Ymir and created the earth from his body. The mountains were made of his bones, the sky of his skull, and the sea of his blood. All the giants drowned in this sea except Bergelmir and his family, who thus became the ancestors of new generations of giants (Gif ch. 7; Vm 21). Another story tells us that these gods lifted the earth, called Midgardr, up from the abyss (Vsp 4).Some scholars have pointed out parallels to this creation myth in the Persian
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