Page:Norse mythology or, the religion of our forefathers, containing all the myths of the Eddas, systematized and interpreted with an introduction, vocabulary and index.djvu/179

 CHAPTER I.

THE CREATION.

SECTION I. THE ORIGINAL CONDITION OF THE WORLD.

The condition of things before the creation of the world is expressed negatively. There was nothing of that which sprang into existence. This transition from empty space into being demands the attention of the whole human race. Therefore the vala, or wandering prophetess, begins her mysterious song, the grand and ancient Völuspá, the first lay in the Elder Edda, as follows:

Give ear All ye divine races, Great and small, Sons of Heimdal! I am about to relate The wonderful works of Valfather, The oldest sayings of men, The first I remember.

It was Time's morning When Ymer lived: There was no sand, no sea, No cooling billows; Earth there was none, No lofty heaven, Only Ginungagap, But no grass.

The beginning was this: Many ages, ere the earth was made, there existed two worlds. Far to the north