slew the giant Ymer, and the blood ran
from his wounds in such abundance, that
it caused a general inundation, wherein
perished all the giants, except only one,
who, saving himself in a bark, escaped with
all his family. Then a new world was
formed. The sons of Bor, or the gods,
dragged the body of the giant into the
abyss, and of it made the earth: the sea
and rivers were composed of his blood; the
earth of his flesh; the great mountains of
his bones; the rocks of his teeth and of the
splinters of his smashed bones. Of his skull
they formed the vault of heaven, which is
supported by four dwarfs, named south,
north, east, and west. They fixed there
tapers to enlighten it, and assigned to
other fires certain spaces which they were
to run through, some of them in heaven,
others under the heaven: the days were
distinguished and the years were numbered.
They made the earth round, and surrounded
it with the deep ocean, upon the banks of
which they placed the giants. One day it
chanced, as the sons of Bor, or the gods,
were taking a walk, they found two pieces
of wood floating upon the water; these they
took, and out of them made a man and a
woman. The eldest of the gods gave them
life and souls; the second, motion and knowledge;
the third, the gift of speech, hearing,
and sight, to which he added beauty and
raiment. From this man and this woman,
named Askus and Embla, is descended the
race of men who are permitted to inhabit
the earth.” It is easy, as M. Mallet observes,
to trace out, in this narration, vestiges
of an ancient and general tradition, of
which every sect of paganism hath altered,
adorned, or suppressed many circumstances,
according to its own fancy, and which is
now only to be found entire in the books of
Moses.
Superstition held great sway over the
minds of the pagans, and magicians and
sorcerers abounded *.
Upon the subject of the final dissolution
of the world, and the notions entertained by
* A long and interesting history of the different
kinds of magic among the Icelanders, both during
the continuance of paganism, and for a considerable
period after, may be seen in the Foyage en Istande,
v. h i. p. 78 and seq.