Before earth, or Midgard, there was a void of cold mists and darkness. At one side of the void was stagnant, lifeless, ice and rime. Bereft of any creative spark, it remained unchanged for unknown years or even centuries. But across the void was another realm of fire,motion and energy.
After some unknown amount of time passed, a river of the fiery essence of Muspelheim, wound its way to the bulging spread of Niflheim's ice. There the two met, and combined into an unfamiliar place. Amid the swirling vapors of that meeting a new being took form, Ymir, first of the giants.
Around the same time, the heat from this merging, melted some of the rime from part of Niflheim, to reveal another figure. A giant cow emerged from the frozen landscape. The cow, Audumla, became nursemaid for the newly uncovered frost giant. But, as she stayed close and provided Ymir's nourishment, she also licked at the salty rime around her until a new figure came forth. This would be the first Aesir, Buri.
Now in his slumbers, Ymir, touched by the raw magic of fiery creation, brought forth children from various parts of his flesh. His calves twisted and spawned a son, while a daughter sprang from one armpit, and another son from the other armpit. All giants, or Jotnar, were descendants.from these three and their progenitor father.
Buri had a son named Bor, though none know how this came to be since there is no proof that Buri had a wife; not even one of the giants. But one of Ymir's daughters bred with this son of Buri and gave birth to Odin, Vili, and Ve. There was perhaps already friction between the Aesir and the Jotnar, because Odin and his brothers abruptly killed Ymir and let his gushing blood drown all but a handful of the giant race.
The three sons of Bor, Odin, Vili, and Ve, then made a new world from the remains of their fallen foe. They used his body to create the world.His blood flowed, creating the rivers and oceans of this world. His bones became the craigs and stony mountains. His teeth and broken bones became rocks and pebbles. The trees came from his hair. His eyebrows were lifted heavenward to become clouds. Even his lashes were kept to make a great wall around the new home planned by the Aesir. And finally they lifted his mighty skull and placed above the new world.
With the sparks of Muspelheim as lights in the sky, the trio of gods placed a dwarf at each corner to lift the sky high overhead. These dwarves were among the first "people" of the new world of Midgard. They were created by the trio of gods from maggots or parasites within the flesh that had become our world's underground places. This was all long before the time of mankind, or so we are told.
