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GylfaginningGylfaginning is the first part of Snorri's Edda. It's supposed to be an introduction for young poets to myths and is a very important source of modern knowledge of Norse Mythology. It tells us about the Swedish king Gylfi, who diguises himself as the beggar Gangleri and visits Asgard in order to find out everything about aesir and their wisdom. Odinn appears in the guise of three kings, Har ('tall'), Jafnhar ('As tall') and Thridji ('the third') and greets Gylfi. The three kings (Odinn) answere Gylfi's questions about the history of the world from the beginning to the end, of what the world looks like and of life in Asgard (heaven). When Snorri wrote Gylfaginning he used Völuspá as a source. The classical 'magister - discipulus' form that Snorri uses is common in mediaeval bookThe worldNordic people had a clear vision of the world, which is described in Snorri's Edda.The brothers Odin, Vilji og Ve made the world out of the giant Ymir's body. Ymir's skull is being held by four dwarfs, in west, east, north and south, so it won't fall down upon the earth. The skull represents the sky and inside it are the sun and the moon. The sky is like a bowl standing upside down on the flat earth which is surrounded by sea. In the middle of earth there's Midgardur, inhibated by men. Around Midgard is a big wall for protection against the giants, which live along the seaside. Above the earth is a big tree, called Askur Yggdrasils. It's crown reaches above the sky. The tree has three roots, each of which lies in a well. One well, called Mimisbrunnur, is situated in Joetunheimar, or the giants' world. One, i.e. Hvergelmir, is in Niflheimar, which is a very cold world far up in the north. The third well is called Urdarbrunnur and is in Asgardur, in heaven. Asgardur is the home of the Aesir. From Asgardur a bridge lies down to Midgardur on earth. The bridge is called Bifrost but we know it as the rainbow. Far in the south is a very hot world, called Muspell. In Edda it says that when the wolves that chase sun and moon catch them (and eat them) the world will come to an end. The end of the worldThe world's end starts with three years of great war, followed the great Fimbulvetur (which means three winters in a row with no summers in between). Then the wolf Skoll swallows the sun and the wolf Hati Hrodvitnisson swallows the moon and spatters blood all over the sky. The stars in the sky disappear. Next the Fenrisulfur and Midgardsormur spew fire and poison all over the world. In Edda the final battle of good and evil is described. Everyone is killed and Surtur (a giant of fire) throws fire all over the world and burns everything to ashes. Now everything gets quiet again. In Edda good people go to Gimli and other nice places but bad people go to Nastroend where they'll be punished eternally and the worst people are placed in the Hvergelmir Well where the dragon Nidhoeggur will torture them. The earth rises from the sea again and new gods will take control. |
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Created by Ţröstur Ţorsteinsson web_iceland_turdus@turdus.net
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