18 Creation
water. The forms of the trees were beautiful. Odin
breathed life into them. Vili gave them the ability to
speak and think. Ve gave them warmth and color and
movement.
The gods gave them Midgard in which to live. All
human beings were descended from Ask and Embla.
Heimdall later created the three social classes of
men and women.
The Dwarfs The gods made gnomes and dwarfs
from the grubs in Ymir’s rotting corpse. They gave
them human form and endowed them with brains,
but they were ugly, misshapen creatures, greedy and
selfish. The gods gave them Svartalfheim, the dark
realm underground, and put them in charge of the
Earth’s treasures of gold, other precious metals, and
gems. The dwarfs were master smiths.
See also “Treasures of the Dwarfs” under Loki.
Asgard The gods created for themselves the
beautiful realm of Asgard, home of the Aesir gods.
It was linked to Midgard by Bilrost, the Rainbow
Bridge, and it was sheltered by the great World Tree,
Yggdrasil, which touched all of the worlds.