of him who sent the heat,[1] these drops quickened into life and were shaped into the likeness of a man. His name was Ymer, but the frost-giants called him Aurgelmer. Ymer was not a god; he was bad (evil, illr), as were all his kind. When he slept, he fell into a sweat, and from the pit of his left arm waxed a man and a woman, and one of his feet begat with the other a son, from whom descend the frost-giants, and therefore Ymer is called the old frost-giant (Rhimthurs). Thus the Elder Edda, in the lay of Vafthrudner:
Countless winters
Ere earth was formed,
Was born Bergelmer;
Thrudgelmer
Was his sire,
His grandsire Aurgelmer.
From Elivagar
Sprang venom drops,
Which grew till they became a giant;
But sparks flew
From the south-world:
To the ice the fire gave way.
Under the armpit grew,
'Tis said, of Rhimthurs,
A girl and boy together;
Foot with foot begat,
Of that wise giant,
A six-headed son.
SECTION III. THE ORIGIN OF THE COW AUDHUMBLA
AND THE BIRTH OF THE GODS.
On what did the giant Ymer live, is a pertinent question. Here is the answer: The next thing, when the rime had been resolved into drops, was that the
- ↑ The supreme god.
