This Norse story of the origin of the earth, sky, and humanity is paraphrased from Snorri Sturluson's Edda, as translated by Anthony Faulkes. Sturluson lived in Iceland from 1179 to 1241, and he apparently composed the Edda as a compilation of traditional stories and verse. Many of verses he included appear to date from the times when Norse sagas were conveyed only in spoken form by Viking bards.
這個北歐故事是一個關於天、地、人起源的故事，它是由Anthony Faulkes在翻譯史洛里·斯圖拉松的冰島史詩《埃達》時改述而來的。從1179年到1241年，斯圖拉松都住在冰島上，顯然，《埃達》是他彙集了傳統故事與詩歌而成的。其中包含的許多詩歌都可以追溯至北歐薩加的時代，當時這些詩歌僅能靠維京吟遊詩人以口頭形式傳唱下來。
奧丁與尤彌爾
In the beginning of time, there was nothing: neither sand, nor sea, nor cool waves. Neither the heaven nor earth existed. Instead, long before the earth was made, Niflheim was made, and in it a spring gave rise to twelve rivers. To the south was Muspell, a region of heat and brightness guarded by Surt, a giant who carried a flaming sword. To the north was frigid Ginnungagap, where the rivers froze and all was ice. Where the sparks and warm winds of Muspell reached the south side of frigid Ginnungagap, the ice thawed and dripped, and from the drips thickened and formed the shape of a man. His name was Ymir, the first of and ancestor of the frost-giants.
起初，一切皆無：既沒有沙子，也沒有大海，更沒有涼爽的波浪。天與地都不存在。然而，早在大地出現之前，尼福爾海姆這個地方就已經出現了，從那裡的泉眼中孕育出十二條河流。向南是炎熱而明亮的火原穆斯貝爾海姆，這個地區由身配火焰劍的火巨人史特所看守。向北是寒冷的金倫加鴻溝，天寒地凍的，河川都凝結成冰。不過，當穆斯貝爾海姆的星火和暖風觸及寒冷的金倫加鴻溝南側，這裡的冰開始融化了，一滴滴地流下來，漸漸地加厚、凝固，形成了一個男人的形狀。他的名字叫做尤彌爾，他是第一個也是所有冰霜巨人的祖先。
As the ice dripped more, it formed a cow, and from her teats flowed four rivers of milk that fed Ymir. The cow fed on the salt of the rime ice, and as she licked a man's head began to emerge. By the end of the third day of her licking, the whole man had emerged, and his name was Buri. He had a son named Bor, who married Bestla, a daughter of one of the giants. Bor and Bestla had three sons, one of whom was Odin, the most powerful of the gods.
當冰滴下來的水越積越多時，它又形成了一頭母牛，從牠的乳頭上流出了四條牛奶河，哺育著尤彌爾。而母牛則以冰霜上的鹽為食，在牠舔舐冰霜時，出現了一個男人的頭。牠整整舔了三天，這人才從冰霜中顯露出來，他的名字叫布利。布利的兒子叫波爾，他娶了一個巨人的女兒貝絲拉為妻。他們倆共有三個兒子，其中一個是眾神中最強大的神，奧丁。
Ymir was a frost-giant, but not a god, and eventually he turned to evil. After a struggle between the giant and the young gods, Bor's three sons killed Ymir. So much blood flowed from his wounds that all the frost-giants were drowned but one, who survived only by building an ark for himself and his family. Bor's sons dragged Ymir's immense body to the center of Ginnungagap, and from him they made the earth. Ymir's blood became the sea, his bones became the rocks and crags, and his hair became the trees. Bor's sons took Ymir's skull and with it made the sky. In it they fixed sparks and molten slag from Muspell to make the stars, and other sparks they set to move in paths just below the sky. They threw Ymir's brains into the sky and made the clouds. The earth is a disk, and they set up Ymir's eyelashes to keep the giants at the edges of that disk.
尤彌爾是冰霜巨人，不是神，所以最後他還是墮落了。在巨人與諸神之戰後，波爾的三個兒子殺死了尤彌爾。大量的血液從他的傷口中湧出，淹死了所有冰霜巨人，只留下一位，這個巨人為自己和家人造了一艘方舟才能倖免於難。波爾的兒子們將尤彌爾龐大的軀體拖到金倫加鴻溝的中心，在他的身上造出大地。尤彌爾的血液變成大海、他的骨頭變成岩石和峭壁、他的頭髮變成樹木。波爾的兒子們用尤彌爾的頭骨創造出天空。他們將穆斯貝爾海姆的星火和熔渣固定在天空上，製造出星星，又將其他的星火放置在天空下方的路徑中，讓它們可以移動。他們將尤彌爾的大腦扔向天空創造出雲彩。大地是一個圓盤，他們豎起了尤彌爾的睫毛，將巨人區隔在圓盤的邊緣。
On the sea shore, Bor's sons found two logs and made people out of them. One son gave them breath and life, the second son gave them consciousness and movement, and the third gave them faces, speech, hearing, and sight. From this man and woman came all humans thereafter, just as all the gods were descended from the sons of Bor.
波爾的兒子們在海岸邊發現了兩根原木，就用它們造出人類。其中一個兒子給了他們呼吸與生命，第二個兒子給了他們意識與動作，第三個兒子給了他們面孔、言語、聽覺與視覺。從此，所有的人類都是這個男人和女人的後代，就如同所有的神都是波爾的兒子們所生的一樣。
Odin and his brothers had set up the sky and stars, but otherwise they left the heavens unlit. Long afterwards, one of the descendants of those first two people that the brothers created had two children. Those two children were so beautiful that their father named the son Moon[2] and the daughter Sol. The gods were jealous already and, when they heard of the father's arrogance, they pulled the brother and sister up to the sky and set them to work. Sol drives the chariot that carries the sun across the skies, and she drives so fast across the skies of the northland because she is chased by a giant wolf each day. Moon likewise takes a course across the sky each night, but not so swiftly because he is not so harried.
奧丁和他的兄弟們雖然造出了天空和星星，但是卻沒有照亮天空。很久以後，由這三兄弟所造出來人類也有了後代，這些後代中有一人生下了兩個孩子。這兩個孩子非常漂亮，他們的父親將兒子稱為瑪尼，將女兒稱為蘇爾。眾神本已相當嫉妒他們的容貌，接著又聽到這個父親傲慢的態度，他們索性就把這對兄妹拉上天空，讓他們開始工作。蘇爾駕駛著載著太陽的戰車穿過天空，而在北方的天空上，由於每天都有一隻巨狼追趕在後，所以她會快速的開過這裡。瑪尼每天晚上也同樣的穿過天空，但因為他不用這麼趕，所以速度並不特別快。
The gods did leave one pathway from earth to heaven. That is the bridge that appears in the sky as a rainbow, and its perfect arc and brilliant colors are a sign of its origin with the gods. It nonetheless will not last for ever, because it will break when the men of Muspell try to cross it into heaven.
眾神確實留下了一條從大地到天堂的路徑，也就是天空中會出現的彩虹橋，它完美的弧線與絢麗的色彩標誌著它與眾神的起源。不過，彩虹橋卻無法一直停留不變，因為當穆斯貝爾海姆的人想要跨過它到達天上的時候，它就會斷掉。
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