Emblas Saga

Ek dreyma umb eldr

Ek dreyma umb dauðl

Hvar stjornur hrjóða grima himinn

Eldr ok dauðl, myrkr ok rauða

Tveir andilt þú hafa

O grima þǫgn

In the beginning there was only darkness

Of icy mist and smoke

A darkness so completely dark

By war and death invoked

Sparkling flames would dare to reach

Across the arid void

And melt the rim of ice and frost

That framed it from the north

The birth of gods, the fall of foes

Oh, children of the tree

Now listen close, and hear the truth

Of how you came to be

First was the giant, Ymer his name

Then the cow Authumla, out of the melting ice the came

From Ymers' palm another pair of giants, born and bred

Then left and right, his feet would mate to birth a child with several heads

Authumla fed on frost in all her pride and grace

She woke the very first of gods by licking on his face

She ate away the icy cage that held him in his fury

A man of beauty and of might by the name of Burí

Burí somehow got a son, who somehow got a wife

Burí, Borr and Bestla, the avengers of their time

Then Bestla bore the children who made this story true

Vile, Ve and Odin, who created me and you

Memories will fade from man

The snow of death will fall upon

The children of Wodan

Distant echoes, whispering

Of how it all began

For the children of Wodan

Three were the brothers, three were the gods

In a world of giants, conspiring how to turn the odds

They slayed the very oldest, the one who was the first

Within the flowing blood, every giant was submerged

These waters of decay would never cease to flow

Creating every sea and every river that we know

And while the giants drowned, the gods got the idea

To take the corpse of Ymer and make the earth appear

His body would become the soil, his skull became the sky

And then they threw his giant brains aloft to form the clouds

His teeth became the rocks, they made mountains from his bones

And on the meadows through his hair the summer breeze was blown

Out of the ashes and into the light

The dead will make room for the living

Deep in the darkest of nights

The end is another beginning

The fire in my dreams

The death so long foreseen

The darkest sky

Adorned by lights

What does it hide?

Out of the ashes rise

The glowing seed of life

The darkest sky

Two faces hides

Oh, silent night

When the gods were done

They took a little break

A stroll upon the beach

To take a breath and contemplate

Two logs of ash and elm

Lay stranded on the shore

The children of the forest

The children of the gods

From dead to animated

And no longer adrift

For like the fairy godmothers

They gave them special gifts

The first would grant them spirit

And life beyond the plant

The second gave them movement

And the wit to understand

The third would give them faces

Their hearing and their sight

And thus the very first of humans

Were brought to life

Memories will fade from man

The snow of death will fall upon

The children of Wodan

Distant echoes, whispering

Of how it all began

For the children of Wodan