“I command the devout attention of all noble souls,
    Of all the high and the low of the race of Heimdall;
    I tell the doings of the All-Father,
    In the most ancient Sagas which come to my mind.

    “There was an age in which Ymir lived,
    When was no sea, nor shore, nor salt waves;
    No earth below, nor heaven above,
    No yawning abyss and no grassy land.

    “Till the sons of Bors lifted the dome of heaven,
    And created the vast Midgard (earth) below;
    Then the sun of the south rose above the mountains,
    And green grasses made the ground verdant.

    “The sun of the south, companion of the moon,
    Held the horses of heaven with his right hand;
    The sun knew not what its course should be,
    The moon knew not what her power should be,
    The stars knew not where their places were.

    “Then the counsellors went into the hall of judgment,
    And the all-holy gods held a council. 
    They gave names to the night and new moon;
    They called to the morning and to midday,
    To the afternoon and evening, arranging the times.”

The Voluspa goes on to describe how the gods assembled on the field of Ida, and proceeded to create metals and vegetables; after that the race of dwarfs, who preside over the powers of nature and the mineral world.  Then Vala narrates how the three gods, Odin, Honir, and Lodur, “the mighty and mild Aser,” found Ask and Embla, the Adam and Eve of the Northern legends, lying without soul, sense, motion, or color.  Odin gave them their souls, Honir their intellects, Lodur their blood and colored flesh.  Then comes the description of the ash-tree Yggdrasil, of the three Norns, or sisters of destiny, who tell the Aser their doom, and the end and renewal of the world; and how, at last, one being mightier than all shall arrive:—­

    “Then comes the mighty one to the council of the gods,
    He with strength from on high who guides all things,
    He decides the strife, he puts an end to struggle,
    He ordains eternal laws.”

In the same way, in the Song of Hyndla, another of the poems of this Edda, is a prediction of one who shall come, mightier than all the gods, and put an end to the strife between Aser and the giants.  The song begins:—­

    “Wake, maid of maidens!  Awake, my friend! 
    Hyndla, sister, dwelling in the glens! 
    It is night, it is cloudy; let us ride together
    To the sacred place, to Valhalla.”

Hyndla sings, after describing the heroes and princes born of the gods:—­

    “One shall be born higher than all,
    Who grows strong with the strength of the earth;
    He is famed as the greatest of rulers,
    United with all nations as brethren.

    “But one day there shall come another mightier than he;
    But I dare not name his name. 
    Few are able to see beyond
    The great battle of Odin and the Wolf.”