Explore "The Wonderful Ash Tree" by Frank R. Stockton on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
The people who used to live in the northern parts of Europe were not very pleasant people, if we are to believe all the blood-thirsty stories we have heard about them, but they had a religion, although it was rather a queer one. There is one thing, however, to be said of their gods and goddesses, which is very much in their favor. They were generally honest, and tolerably strong-minded, which is much more than we can say about some of the gods of ancient Greece and Rome. Mercury, you know, was a great thief, and even Jupiter was none too good.
The Scandinavians believed that Ymer was the very first god of all, and he made his appearance in the following manner. Before the world was created heavy mists filled all the dark space. This space must have been have been very cold, for the frosty air condensed the mists, and out of this compressed fog, the god Ymer came into existence.