Chapters 44-95 - Germanic Mythology

egins. They have explained Mimir's grove to mean the world-tree, and argued that,
when Surt's flames destroy all other mortals, this one human pair have succeeded in
climbing upon some particular branch of the world-tree, where they were protected from
the destructive element. There they were supposed to live on morning dews until the end
of Ragnarok, and until they could come down from their hiding-place in Yggdrasil upon
the earth which has risen from the sea, and there become the progenitors of a more happy
human race.
According to this interpretation, Yggdrasil was a tree whose trunk and branches
could be grasped by human hands, and one or more mornings, with attendant morning
dews, are assumed to have come and gone, while fire and flames enveloped all creation,
and after the sun had been swallowed by the wolf and the stars had fallen from the
heavens (Gylfaginning 51; Völuspá 58)! And with this terrible catastrophe before their
eyes, Lif and Leifthrasir are supposed to sit in perfect unconcern, eating the morning
dews!
For the scientific reputation of mythical inquiry, it were well if that sort of
investigations were avoided when they are not made necessary by the sources
themselves.
If sufficient attention had been paid to the above-cited evidence furnished by
Vafþrúðnismál in this question, the misunderstanding might have been avoided, and the
statement of Gylfaginning would not have been interpreted to mean that Lif and
Leifthrasir inhabited Mimir's grove only during Ragnarok. For Vafþrúðnismál plainly
states that this human pair are in perfect security in Mimir's grove, while a long and
terrible winter, a fimbul-winter, visits the earth and destroys its inhabitants. Not until after
the end of this winter do giants and gods collect their forces for a decisive conflict on
Vigrid's plains; and when this conflict is ended, then comes the conflagration of the
world, and after it the regeneration. Concerning the length of the fimbul-winter,
Gylfaginning 51 claims that it continued for three years "without any intervening
summer."
Consequently, Lif and Leifthrasir must have had their secure place of refuge in
Mimir's grove during the fimbul-winter, which precedes Ragnarok. And, accordingly, the
idea that they were there only during Ragnarok, and all the strange conjectures based
thereon, are unfounded. They continue to remain there while the winter rages, and during
all the episodes which characterize the progress of the world towards ruin, and, finally,
also, as Gylfaginning reports, during the conflagration and regeneration of the world.
Thus it is explained why the myth finds it of importance to inform us how Lif and
Leifthrasir support themselves during their stay in Mimir's grove. It would not have
occurred to the myth to present and answer this question had not the sojourn of the
human pair in the grove continued for some length of time. Their food is the morning
dew. The morning dew from Yggdrasil was, according to the mythology, a sweet and
wonderful nourishment, and in the popular traditions of the Germanic middle age, the
dew of the morning retained its reputation for having strange, nourishing qualities.
According to the myth, it evaporates from the world-tree, which stands, ever green and
blooming, over Urd's and Mimir's sacred fountains, and drops from there "in dales"
(Völuspá 19, 28; Gylfaginning 16). And as the world-tree is sprinkled and gets its lifegiving
sap from these fountains, then it follows that the liquid of its morning dew is