Ask and Embla

The man was called Ask, which is the Old Norse word for the ash tree.

The woman was called Embla, a name whose meaning is uncertain, though it has often been connected with the elm or with a creeping plant such as a vine.

The gods gave them clothes, Snorri says, and names, and Midgard to live in, the sheltered land within the wall made from Ymir's eyebrows.

And from Ask and Embla came all the families of humankind.

They were the first of all people, standing together for the first time on the beach at the edge of the world.

blinking at the pale sky and the grey water, while the waves came in over the sand and the forest stirred on the hills behind them.

Their skin grew pink with ruddy color, and they received the gifts of speech, hearing, and sight.

Ask and Embla were their names, and the Ash and the Elm became the father and mother of the whole human race, whose dwelling was Midgard, under the eyes of the Aesir who had made them.

This is the story of The Beginning of Things.

End of The Beginning of Things

They gave them clothing and names.

The male was called Asgar, and the female Embla, and of them was mankind begotten, which received a dwelling-place under Midgard.

Next they made for themselves in the middle of the world a city which is called Asgard.

Men call it Troy.