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/199

 Graabak and Grafvollud, Ofner and Svafner, Must for aye, methinks, Gnaw the roots of that tree.

The norns, who dwell by the Urdar-fount, every day draw water from this spring, and with it, and the clay that lies around the fount, they sprinkle the ash, in order that the boughs may continue green, and not rot and wither away. This water is so holy that everything placed in the spring becomes as white as the film within an egg-shell. Thus the Elder Edda:

An ash know I standing Named Ygdrasil, A stately tree sprinkled With water, the purest; Thence come the dewdrops That fall in the dales; Ever blooming it stands O'er the Urdar-fountain.

The dew that falls from the tree on the earth men call honey-dew, and it is the food of the bees. Finally, two swans swim in the Urdar-fountain, and they are the parents of the race of swans. Thus all the tribes of nature partake of the universal tree.