Chapter XIV: Section IV: The Norse Deluge and the Origin of Heaven and Earth

Bor’s sons, Odin, Vile and Ve, slew the giant Ymer, but when he fell there ran so much blood out of his wounds, that with that they drowned all the race of the frost-giants, save one, who got away with his household; him the giants call Bergelmer. He went on board his boat, and with him went his wife, and from them came a new race of frost-giants. Thus the Elder Edda:

Winters past counting,
Ere earth was yet made,
Was born Bergelmer:
Full well I remember
How this crafty giant
Was stowed safe in his skiff.

Odin, Vile and Ve dragged the body of Ymer into the middle of Ginungagap, and of it they formed the earth. From Ymer’s blood they made the seas and waters; from his flesh the land; from his bones the mountains; from his hair the forests, and from his teeth and jaws, together with some bits of broken bones, they made the stones and pebbles. From the blood that ran from his wounds they made the vast ocean, in the midst of which they fixed the earth, the ocean encircling it as a ring; and hardy, says the Younger Edda, will he be who attempts to cross those waters. Then they took his skull and formed thereof the vaulted heavens, which they placed over the earth, and set a dwarf at the corner of each of the four quarters. These dwarfs are called East, West, North, and South. The wandering sparks and red-hot flakes that had been cast out from Muspelheim they placed in the heavens, both above and below Ginungagap, to give light unto the world. The earth was round without and encircled by the deep ocean, the outward shores of which were assigned as a dwelling for the race of giants. But within, round about the earth, the sons of Bor raised a bulwark against turbulent giants, employing for this structure Ymer’s eye-brows. To this bulwark they gave the name Midgard.[30] They afterwards threw and scattered the brains of Ymer in the air, and made of them the melancholy clouds. Thus the Elder Edda, in the lay of Vafthrudner:

From Ymer’s flesh
The earth was formed,
And from his bones the hills,
The heaven from the skull
Of that ice-cold giant,
And from his blood the sea.

And in Grimner’s lay:

Of Ymer’s flesh
Was earth created,
Of his blood the sea,
Of his bones the hills,
Of his hair trees and plants,
Of his skull the heavens,
And of his brows
The gentle powers
Formed Midgard for the sons of men;
But of his brain
The heavy clouds are
All created.