Prose Edda Prologue

Almighty God created heaven and earth and all things in them,
and lastly two humans from whom generations are descended,
Adam and Eve, and their stock multiplied and spread over all the
world. But as time passed mankind became diverse: some were
good and orthodox in faith, but many more turned aside to follow
the lusts of the world and neglected God’s commandments, and so
God drowned the world in a flood together with all creatures in
the world except those who were in the ark with Noah. After
Noah’s flood there lived eight people who inhabited the world
and from them generations have descended, and it happened just
as before that as the world came to be peopled and settled it
turned out to be the vast majority of mankind that cultivated
desire for wealth and glory and neglected obedience to God, and
this reached such a pass that they refused to mention the name of
God. But who was there then to tell their children of the mysteries
of God? So it happened that they forgot the name of God and in
most parts of the world there was no one to be found who knew
anything about his creator. But even so God granted them earthly
blessings, wealth and prosperity for them to enjoy in the world.
He also gave them a portion of wisdom so that they could
understand all earthly things and the details of everything they
could see in the sky and on earth. They pondered and were
amazed at what it could mean that the earth and animals and
birds had common characteristics in some things, though there
was a difference of quality. One of the earth’s characteristics
was that when it was dug into on high mountain tops, water
sprang up there and there was no need to dig further for water
there than in deep valleys. It is the same with animals and birds,
that it is just as far to blood in the head as in the feet. It is a second
property of the earth that every year there grows on the earth
vegetation and flowers and the same year it all falls and fades. It is
the same with animals and birds, that their hair and feathers grow
and fall off every year. It is the third property of the earth, that
when it is opened and dug, then vegetation grows on the soil
which is uppermost on the earth. Rocks and stones they thought
of as equivalent to teeth and bones of living creatures. From this
they reasoned that the earth was alive and had life after a certain
fashion, and they realized that it was enormously old in count of
years and mighty in nature. It fed all creatures and took posse-
ssion of everything that died. For this reason they gave it a name
and traced their ancestry to it. Similarly they learned from their
elderly relatives that after many hundreds of years had been
reckoned there was the same earth, sun and heavenly bodies. But
the courses of the heavenly bodies were various, some had a
longer course and some a shorter. From such things they thought
it likely that there must be some controller of the heavenly bodies
who must be regulating their courses in accordance with his will,
and he must be very powerful and mighty; and they assumed, if he
ruled over the elements, that he must have existed before the
heavenly bodies; and they realized that if he ruled the course of the
heavenly bodies, he must rule the shining of the sun and the dew of
the sky and the produce of the earth which is dependent on it, and
similarly the wind of the sky and with it the storm of the sea. But
they did not know where his kingdom was. And so they believed
that he ruled all things on earth and in the sky, of heaven and the
heavenly bodies, of the sea and the weathers. But so as to be better
able to give an account of this and fix it in memory, they then gave
a name among themselves to everything, and this religion has
changed in many ways as nations became distinct and languages
branched. But they understood everything with earthly under-
standing, for they were not granted spiritual wisdom. Thus they
reasoned that everything was created out of some material.

The world was divided into three regions. From south to west
and in up to the Mediterranean sea, this part was called Africa.
The southern part of this section is hot and burned up by the sun.
The second part from west and to the north and in up to the sea,
this is called Europe or Enea. The northern part there is cold so
that vegetation does not grow and habitation is impossible. From
the north and over the eastern regions right to the south, that is
called Asia. In that part of the world is all beauty and splendour
and wealth of earthly produce, gold and jewels. The middle of the
world is there too; and just as the earth there is more beautiful and
better in all respects than in other places, so too mankind there
was most honoured with all blessings, wisdom and strength,
beauty and every kind of skill.

Near the middle of the world was constructed that building and
dwelling which has been the most splendid ever, which was called
Troy. We call the land there Turkey. This place was built much
larger than others and with greater skill in many respects, using
the wealth and resources available there. Twelve kingdoms were
there and one high king, and many countries were subject to each
kingdom. In the city there were twelve chief languages. The twelve
rulers of the kingdoms were superior to other people who have
lived in the world in all human qualities.

The name of one king there was Munon or Mennon. He was
married to the daughter of the high king Priam; she was called Troan.
They had a son, he was called Tror; we call him Thor. He was
brought up in Thrace by a duke whose name was Loricus. When
he was ten he inherited his father’s weapons. He was as beautiful
to look at when he came among other people as when ivory is
inlaid in oak. His hair is more beautiful than gold. When he was
twelve he had reached his full strength. Then he lifted from the
ground ten bearskins all at once and then he killed his foster-
father Loricus and his wife Lora or Glora and took possession of
the realm of Thrace. We call this Thrudheim. Then he travelled
through many countries and explored all quarters of the world
and defeated unaided all berserks and giants and one of the
greatest dragons and many wild animals. In the northern part of
the world he came across a prophetess called Sibyl, whom we call
Sif, and married her. No one is able to tell Sif’s ancestry. She was
the most beautiful of all women, her hair was like gold. Their son
was Loridi, who took after his father; his son was Einridi, his
son Vingethor, his son Vingenir, his son Moda, his son Magi, his son
Sescef, his son Bedvig, his son Athra, whom we call Annar, his
son Itrmann, his son Heremod, his son Scialdun, whom we call
Skiold, his son Biaf, whom we call Biar, his son Iat, his son
Gudolf, his son Finn, his son Friallaf, whom we call Fridleif. He
had a son whose name was Woden, it is him that we call Odin. He
was an outstanding person for wisdom and all kinds of accom-
plishments. His wife was called Frigida, whom we call Frigg. Odin
had the gift of prophecy and so did his wife, and from this science
he discovered that his name would be remembeied in the northern
part of the world and honoured above all kings. For this reason he
became eager to set off from Turkey and took with him a very
great following, young people and old, men and women, and they
took with them many precious things. And whatever countries
they passed through, great glory was spoken of them, so that they
seemed more like gods than men. And they did not halt their
journey until they came north to the country that is now called
Saxony. Odin stayed there a long while and gained possession of
large parts of that land.


- Prose Edda, Prologue