An ash know I standing

Named Ygdrasil,

A stately tree sprinkled

With water, the purest;

Thence come the dewdrops

That fall in the dales;

Ever blooming it stands

O’er the Urdar-fountain.

The dew that falls from the tree on the earth men call honey-dew, and it is the food of the bees. Finally, two swans swim in the Urdar-fountain, and they are the parents of the race of swans. Thus all the tribes of nature partake of the universal tree.

CHAPTER III.
EXEGETICAL REMARKS UPON THE CREATION AND PRESERVATION OF THE WORLD.