406
TFTK SAXONS IN ENGLAND.
[book I.
sidered a gigantic chaos to have preceded the world
of order. While the giant Ymer lived, the earth
was “ without form and void.” Listen to the words
of the Vaulu Spa, or Prophetess’s Song :
A'r var aida
par er Y'mir bygδi :
vara sandr né sær
né svalar unnir :
jorb fannék æva
né upphiminn,
gap var ginnunga,
en gras hvergi1.
When Ymer dwelt here,
,twas the dawn of time :
cool stre⅛ns were not,
neither sands, nor seas ;
earth was not
nor o’er it heaven,
yawned the gap,
and grass was nowhere.
The sons of Bur however, OJ>inn, Vile and Ve,
created the vast Midgard, or realm of earth :
Sol skein sunn an
a salar steina
J>a var grund groin
grænum Iauki2.
The stιn shone southward
on the stone halls,
then was earth grown
with green produce.
The constellations however as yet had no ap-
pointed course :
Sol pat ne vissi
hvar hon sali âtti,
ɪnani pat ne vissi
hvat hann megins atti,
Btjornur pat ne vissu
hvar pær staSi attu3.
But the sun knew not
where her seat should be,
and the moon knew not
what his might should be,
planets knew not
where their place should be.
So the holy Gods went to council, and divided
the seasons, giving names to night and noon and
morning, to undern and evening, that the years
might be reckoned4.
1 Vaulu Spa, st. 3.
’ Ibid. st. δ.
2 Ibid. st. 4.
4 Ibid. st. 6.
CH> xii,j HEATHENDOM. CREATION, ETO.
407
The construction of the world out of the frag-
ments of Ymer’s body, the doctrine of the ash
Yggdrasil, and of wondrous wells beneath its roots,
could of course find no echo here, after the conver-
sion. But it is very remarkable how nearly the
description of creation given in Cædmon sometimes
coincides with the old remains of heathendom :
Ne wæs her t>agiet
nymSe heolstersceado
wiht geworden,
ac Ses wɪda grund
stod deep and dim,
drihtne fremde,
ι'del and unnyt ;
on Sone eagnm wlat
StiSfrihS cining,
and Sa stowe beheold
dreama lease.
Geseah deorc gesweorc
sémian sinnιhte,
sweart under roderum,
wonn and wéste....
folde wæs Sagyt
græs ungréne ;
garβecg ]>eahte
sweart synnihte
wide and side
wonne wægas'.
There had not here as yet
save cavern shade
aught existed,
but this wide abyss
stood deep and dim,
strange to its lord,
idle and useless ;
on which looked with his eyes
the king firm of mood
and beheld the place
devoid of joys.
He saw the dark cloud
lour in endless night,
swart under heaven,
dusky and desert.. ..
the earth was yet
not green with grass ;
but ocean covered
dark in endless night
far and wide
the dusky ways.
Then follows the creation of light, the separation
of evening and morning, and the production of
organic life, as in the first chapter of Genesis. The
Wida grund, or vast abyss, is the Ginnunga gap,
yawning gulf, of the Edda, and a very remarkable
* Cædm. p. 7,1. 8 βej.