The expanse did raise,
By whom the great
Midgard was made.
From the south the sun
Shone on the walls;
Then did the earth
Green herbs produce.
The moon went ahead
The sun followed,
His right hand held
The steeds of heaven.
Mundilfare was the father of the sun and moon. It is stated in the Younger Edda that Mundilfare had two children, a son and a daughter, so lovely and graceful that he called the boy Maane[1] (moon) and the girl Sol[A] (sun), and the latter he gave in marriage to Glener (the shining one).
But the gods, being incensed at Mundilfare's presumption, took his children and placed them in the heavens, and let Sol drive the horses that draw the car of the sun. These horses are called Aarvak (the ever-wakeful) and Alsvinn (the rapid one); they are gentle and beautiful, and under their withers the gods placed two skins filled with air to cool and refresh them, or, according to another ancient tradition, an iron refrigerant substance called ísarnkol. A shield, by name Svalin (cool), stands before the Sun, the shining god. The mountains and the ocean would burn up if this shield should fall away. Maane was set to guide the moon in her course, and regulate her increasing and waning aspect.
A giant, by name Norve, who dwelt in Jotunheim, had a daughter called Night (nótt ), who, like all her race, was of a dark and swarthy complexion. She was
- ↑ In the Norse language, as also in the Anglo-Saxon, the sun is of the feminine and the moon of the masculine gender.
