My Reading Profile by Devaansh BAHRANI (G6)

In Norse mythology, before the world was created, there was only a big dark vast emptiness called Ginnungagap. From this, two realms came into existence, Niflheim in the north (snow and cold) and Muspelheim in the south (fire and lava).

The coldest place
The spring called Hvergelmir is where all the cold rivers (Élivágar) are from. The water floated down from the mountains and turned into frost and ice in Ginnungagap.

The first giant
When Muspelheim and Niflheim met, the ice met and took the shape of the giant Ymir, the first giant in Norse mythology. Sweat from Ymir turned into two more giants; the third emerged when Ymir's legs joined.

The first god
When the cow Audhumbla licked an ice block, some human hair appeared. On the second day, a human head appeared, and on the third day, the body emerged from the ice. The creature that came out of the ice was the first god, Borr, who had a son named Buri and his sons Odin, Villi, and Ve.

The death of Ymir
Odin and his brothers were bothered by the fact that the giants outnumbered the Aesir. Therefore they assaulted the giant Ymir while he was sleeping. All the giants drowned in Ymir's blood except Bergelmir and his wife, who fled to a safe place. All future giants descended from this couple.

Creation of the world

The world was created from the remains of the giant Ymir by the brothers in Ginnugagap.

The blood became the oceans, rivers, and lakes.
The flesh became the land.
The bones became the mountains.
The teeth were made into rocks.
The hair became the grass and trees.
The eyelashes became Midgard.
The brain became the clouds as they threw it in the air
the skull became the sky
The brothers grabbed some of the sparks from Muspelheim to make stars
In Idavoll, they built Asgard
They built Jotunheim far away from Asgard (giants' home)

The first dwarves
While Odin and his brothers were creating the world, worms kept spouting out from his rotting remains; the worms became dwarves. The brothers were afraid that the sky would fall, so they put a dwarf in each corner of the world to hold up the sky. The rest of the dwarves made homes in caves and rocks.

The first humans
One day Odin, Vili and Vé, walked on the beach. There were 2 logs of wood. Odin gave the logs spirit and life, Ve gave them movement, mind and intelligence, and Vili gave them shape, speech, feelings, and the five senses, and the first two humans were created. They lived in Midgard (Earth).

Sun and moon
A man named Mundilfari from Midgard had two children; he named his son Mani “Moon” and his daughter Sol “Sun”.Due to the father's arrogance, the gods threw the children into the sky. Sol would ride in a chariot pulled over the sky by two horses, Árvakr and Alsviðr, while only One horse Aldsvider pulls Mani. Two wolves pursue them, Sköll “Treachery” and Hati “Hate” each day; they will one day catch the sun and the moon, which will happen at Ragnarök.

Day and night
However, there is also a story about a giant Nörvi who had a daughter called Nótt” Night”. The daughter Nótt had a son Dagr “Day”. These are followed by the two wolves, Sköll and Hati, which makes it confusing since there are multiple and conflicting sagas about this part in Norse mythology.

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