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Poetic Edda
Vafthruthnir spake:
21.[1] "Out of Ymir's flesh was fashioned the earth,
And the mountains were made of his bones;
The sky from the frost-cold giant's skull,
And the ocean out of his blood."
21.[1] "Out of Ymir's flesh was fashioned the earth,
And the mountains were made of his bones;
The sky from the frost-cold giant's skull,
And the ocean out of his blood."
Othin spake:
22.[2] "Next answer me well, if thy wisdom avails,
And thou knowest it, Vafthruthnir, now:
Whence came the moon, o'er the world of men
That fares, and the flaming sun?"
22.[2] "Next answer me well, if thy wisdom avails,
And thou knowest it, Vafthruthnir, now:
Whence came the moon, o'er the world of men
That fares, and the flaming sun?"
Vafthruthnir spake:
23.[3] "Mundilferi is he who begat the moon,
And fathered the flaming sun;
The round of heaven each day they run,
To tell the time for men."
23.[3] "Mundilferi is he who begat the moon,
And fathered the flaming sun;
The round of heaven each day they run,
To tell the time for men."
Othin spake:
24. "Third answer me well, if wise thou art called,
If thou knowest it, Vafthruthnir, now:
Whence came the day, o'er mankind that fares,
Or night with the narrowing moon?"
24. "Third answer me well, if wise thou art called,
If thou knowest it, Vafthruthnir, now:
Whence came the day, o'er mankind that fares,
Or night with the narrowing moon?"
- ↑ Ymir: the giant out of whose body the gods made the world; cf. Voluspo, 3 and note.
- ↑ In this and in Othin's following questions, both manuscripts replace the words "next," "third," "fourth," etc., by Roman numerals.
- ↑ Mundilferi ("the Turner"?): known only as the father of Mani (the Moon) and Sol (the Sun). Note that, curiously
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