At the ancient time, there was a young man named Liu Danting near Luoyang. He was a flower lover since he was a child, and became a flower grower. Among all the flowers, he was especially fond of peonies, and planted many flowers and peonies in front of his yard and behind his house. However, because he was a good flower grower, he was often attacked by urchins. He was so angry that every time he caught a person, he punished him with a long morning's labor, or with a few strokes on the board. Therefore, the local urchins gave him a nickname called "outlaw Liu". This gradually spread, and over time it replaced his name and became "Daimyo"
The Legend of "Peony in Lotus Bag"
In ancient times, there was a state named Ruzhou 200 miles southeast of the city of Luoyang, and there was a small town named Miaoshita on the west side of the state. Here surrounded by mountains, pleasant scenery, there is a wonderful custom: once the young man and woman betrothed, the woman must personally give the man sent a embroidered mandarin ducks purse, which is the meaning of the self-evident. If it is a baby marriage, but also by the woman's family sister-in-law or neighbors over the big sister embroidered a send, as a lifelong token.
There is a beautiful girl living in the town, named Jade. Jade female years Fang eighteen, dexterity, natural intelligence, embroidery and weaving skills, especially embroidered on the purse of a variety of floral patterns, often attracted bees and butterflies fall on top of the visible kung fu deep.
Such a good girl, the bridegroom is crowded through the threshold, but were the girl's family one by one politely declined. The girl has her own favorite man, and her family is also acquiescing. Unfortunately, the young man in the army has been two years outside the Seychelles, there is no news, not to mention never get the purse. The Jade Maiden looks forward to it day after day and thinks about it night after night, thinking about it so hard that she embroiders a purse every month as a token of her longing and hangs it on the peony branches in front of the window. Over time, the bags formed a string and became what people call "peonies in lotus bags".
The Legend of "Peony with Dead Branches"
In the late Northern Song Dynasty, when the Jin soldiers invaded the Central Plains, a general named Bian led his troops to pass through Luoyang, which was in the midst of the winter season, and there was a bleak scene of withered grasses and withered trees.
The general was in a hurry to urge his horse to journey, and his whip broke, so he skimmed a piece of dead branch on the roadside, and beat his horse to the east.
After several battles, one day he led his troops to the town of Bicang in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province, where they were exhausted and in need of rest and recuperation. The general dismounted, looked around, the right as a whip of the withered branch into the ground, in order to make the troops camped here ......
The following year's spring, the withered branch inserted into the ground actually drew out shoots, displaying the new leaves, and with the rain, and magically bloomed a bright and beautiful flowers. The local people heard about this, from a hundred miles have rushed to watch the flowers and burn incense. After the medicinal farmer recognized it, he knew it was a peony. The people told each other, "There is hope for the Great Song Dynasty!" And they called this peony "Peony with Dead Branches". Later, the local people donated money to build a platform and constructed the "Peony Garden" where the peony was enshrined.
The Legend of "Liu Shi Ge"
At the end of Sui Dynasty, there was a place where the Liu family lived, Liu Jia Guan, to the east of Miaoxia Town in Ruzhou, Henan Province. Here there is a beautiful naive girl, born in a family of books, since childhood, qin, chess, calligraphy and painting, know nothing about, and is highly loved by relatives and neighbors. When her parents passed away, she came to settle in Chang'an with her brother and sister-in-law, who were officials in Chang'an. After the fall of the Sui Dynasty, her brother and sister-in-law passed away, leaving her alone with no place to go, and having seen the world, she became a nun.
When she became a nun, she brought to the nunnery the white peonies that she had planted in the courtyard of her former home to show her dedication to Buddhism and to keep herself clean. Under her careful management, the white peonies grew luxuriantly and beautifully. The white peonies are slightly reddish, crystal clear and moist, like the skin of a beautiful woman and the jade face of a child. The viewers all praise the best, praise its good, so every April, many women have come to this nunnery to worship Buddha to see the flowers, and flowers to the Buddha for fun, the more prosperous incense.
This flower is from "Liu's Honorable Residence", so it is named "Liu's Pavilion", also called "Liu's Master Pavilion". Later, this variety of peony was spread to Tianpeng in Sichuan Province, Heze in Shandong Province, etc., and its fragrance spread far and wide.
The Legend of "Ten Thousand Scrolls of Books"
In the Ming Dynasty, there was a scholar named Ouyang Boyun in Bozhou, Anhui Province, whose name was Ouyang Boshu. Originally born in the official family, because of the family's decline, gradually decline, very poor. However, the scholar was not willing to fate, not to mention the fence, determined to take the "merit", shining ancestor, but I do not know for years failed the examination. A kind-hearted gentleman told him: "The latter is too poor, but also need to read thousands of books, in order to invoke the God of heaven and earth."
So he spent his days copying books and practicing writing. However, his family was poor and paper was too expensive, so he had to copy articles on the walls and door panels. One day, he was bored in his room, so he went to the backyard to take a break. Seeing that the peony bush in the backyard, which had not blossomed for many years, was in full bloom, he was pleasantly surprised, and on a sudden whim, he returned to the room, fetched a brush and ink stone, and copied the article on the petals of the peony, using the flower as a substitute for paper. The kind gentleman who passed by and saw this scene called the peony "Ten Thousand Scrolls of Books". This may have touched the "Flower God", and in the following year, Ouyang Boyun really won the title of "Lifted Man".
All birds flock to the phoenix
A long, long time ago, the phoenix is just a very insignificant bird, the feathers are also very common, not like the legend of that glorious. But it had one advantage: it was very hard-working, unlike other birds that know how to play when they have enough to eat, but busy from morning to night, picking up all the fruits that other birds threw away one by one and collecting them in their holes.
What is the meaning of this? It's not a big, fat fool, but it's a big, big, fat fool. Don't underestimate this kind of food storage behavior, at a certain time, he can play a big role!
One year, there was a great drought in the forest. Birds can not find food, are hungry and dizzy, can not support. At this time, the phoenix rushed to open the cave, their own years of stored down the dried fruit and grass seeds out to share with everyone, and everyone **** through the difficult times.
After the drought, in order to thank the phoenix for saving their lives, the birds all chose one of the most beautiful feathers from their own bodies and plucked it down to make a brilliant coat for the phoenix, and unanimously elected it as the king of the birds.
Afterward, every time the phoenix birthday, birds from all directions will fly to the phoenix to express congratulations, this is the hundred birds towards the phoenix.
Beixinqiao
There is a place in Beijing called Beixinqiao, which is called a bridge, but there is actually no bridge, let alone a bridge wing. There's a folk legend about it.
It is said that after Gao Liang pierced the water basket transformed by the dragon lady with a shot, the dragon lady fled to the Black Dragon Pool in the northern part of the mountain with her injured daughter and settled down there. Now, in the Black Dragon Pool, there is a kind of small fish that can hit the stone, which is rumored to be the "Dragon Seed", the children and grandchildren of the Dragon Lady. After Gao Liang broke the water basket, he angered the Dragon Lord, who chased Gao Liang with a huge wave of water. After Gao Liang died, the water was returned to its original state. However, the Dragon Lord could not swallow his breath, but he could not afford to annoy Liu Bowen, so he took the Dragon Son and the Dragon Son's stomach of sweet water, and drilled into the ground along the spring of the Jade Spring Mountain. This is the reason why the spring water of Jade Spring Mountain is so abundant and sweet. In his heart, Mr. Long thought, "Liu Bo Wen, Liu Bo Wen! I can't afford to mess with this Niubizi of yours, so let's just leave it at that. City, you always have a time to finish repairing, repairing after you LiuBoWen gone, then should listen to my old dragon! So, the dragon male, the dragon son in the ground in the spring head to bear down.
One day, two days, one month, two months, one year, two years, Beijing's eight arms which scolded the city finally finished. Liu Bo Wen is ready to go back to see the emperor, suddenly remembered that the trouble of the evil dragon. He thought: this hateful evil dragon is not sure after I left he will come again to make trouble! Alas, if only Yao Guangxiao were here to take charge, it would be good, but he has become a monk, what can be done?
So Liu Bo Wen had to find Yao Guang Xiao first. This day, Liu Bo Wen found Yao Guangxiao in a temple outside the southwest city, after indicating his intention, Liu Bo Wen said: "eight-armed Nezha city map, it is the two of us drew, I go back to the police, say Beijing is also the two of us to repair, you are still the second military division master." Yao Guangxiao was very happy to hear this and agreed. So Liu Bo Wen packed his luggage, took his entourage, and left Beijing to meet the emperor to deliver his message.
When that Dragon Lord heard that Liu Bo Wen had left, he took his dragon son and followed the underground waterways, coming this way to Beijing. Father and son came to the bottom of Beijing, saw a sea eye, and hit up, do not want to, but did not hit out, the dragon head also hit a big bag, it turned out that there is a "town thing". Then, the dragon male, the dragon son and hit several sea eye, head are swollen, but also did not hit out, they really hate Liu Bowen in their hearts. This day, walking to the northeast of Beijing, and saw a sea eye, the dragon with the Dragon and the Dragon again hit, I did not expect, this time a hit on the ground. This place is later known as Beixinqiao.
Dragon and Dragon hit the eye of the sea, the Dragon became an old man, the Dragon became a young man, father and son with the water up. The water in the eye of the sea, isn't it awesome? In the blink of an eye, the south, north, east and west of Beixinqiao became a big river. The people in the neighborhood cried out and fled for their lives. Only the Dragon King and the Dragon Son, floating on the surface of the water, walked around with such a high degree of complacency.
At this time, someone reported to Yao Guangxiao, the second army commander. Yao Guangxiao heard, said in his heart: Liu Bo Wen really have two skills, he expected the evil dragon to make trouble, really evil dragon came! Yao Guangxiao changed his clothes, took a sword, and ran quickly to Beixinqiao. To the north new bridge, he pointed with the sword, three strokes, two strokes, the water stopped, followed by a leap, also jumped to the water, shouted: "evil, still dare to send the water flooding Beijing city? Let you see the power of the second army master!" Long Gong was surprised, thought: Liu Bo Wen is obviously not in Beijing, how come out a second military division? This second military division, but also really not soft, sword a stroke, the water will stop not rise, we have to be careful to guard him! Thinking about it, he made a wink to the dragon son, the father and the two of them each lit up a green dragon sword, not to be separated, viciously towards Yao Guangxiao, Yao Guangxiao rush to meet, only to see a piece of cold sword light, the three people immediately killed in a place. Yao Guangxiao was able to subdue the Dragon Duke alone; he was even more successful with the Dragon Son alone. However, when the father and son teamed up, Yao Guangxiao couldn't handle it. Yao Guangxiao sword slower than a sword, see is about to lose, is this critical moment, in front of the eyes of a flash of cloud light, only to hear the dragon public ouch, just lying in the water, thigh blood flow. This thing came very quickly, not only Yao Guangxiao do not know what is going on, is the dragon son also froze. When Yao Guangxiao was looking for silhouettes on the opposite side, he heard someone shouted out, "Master Yao, quickly take the little dragon, I am Yue Fei of the Great Song Dynasty is also." Upon hearing this, Yao Guangxiao was very happy, and while thrusting his sword at the dragon son, he shouted, "Marshal Yue stay back!" Marshal Yue did not reply. Little Dragon was in this daze, and was stabbed down by Yao Guangxiao's sword. The Dragon Lord and the Dragon Son were captured, and the waters of Beixinqiao, one south, one north, one east, and one west, fell with them, and will never rise again.
After locking up the dragon-gong and the dragon's son, Yao Guangxiao was in a difficult position, where to put the two evil dragons of this size? He thought about it, came up with a good idea: the dragon male locked in the sea eye of the Beixinqiao, the eye of the sea on the repair of a deep well tube, chained to a long big chain, the well and then repair a temple of three halls. What kind of idol is in the temple? Yao Guangxiao remembered to help him hold the dragon is not Marshal Yue Marshal, let Yue Fei. Before he was locked into the eye of the sea, Long Gong asked, "Master Yao, do you want to lock me up for a thousand or ten thousand years? When will I come out?" Yao Guangxiao said, "When this bridge is old and the fins are repaired, that will be the day you come out." Since here, this place has been called Beixinqiao, and Beixinqiao has never had any bridge fins. Yao Guangxiao locked the dragon again in the eye of the sea under the Chongwenmen Bridge, and the dragon asked, "Master Yao, is it possible to lock me up for a thousand or ten thousand years? When will I come out?" Yao Guangxiao said, "As long as you hear the opening of the city gate to hit the iodine, you can come out." From here on, Chongwenmen no longer struck iodine when the city gate was opened or closed, but always struck the bell. Older people said, "Beijing has nine gates and eight iodine bells". People see the north of Beixinqiao there is a Zhenhai Temple, more believe this legend.
"Eight bowls" of the origin
Legend has it that the eight immortals across the sea to anger the Dragon King, a long time to fight hard to win, tired and exhausted, retired on the beach to rest a little bit, quite feel empty stomach, hunger, they will be split up to find food to feed the hungry, which know that a glance at the beach of the thin land, deserted. In addition to Cao Guoyu a person did not return to the rest of the people who returned to the fun.
Cao Guoyu a person tirelessly, clouds and fog, line to the mainland, a strange fragrance, do not feel dying three feet, and immediately seek incense into the mortal world on a manor, disguised as a farmer in the manor house peeping, only to see the four-way table eight people around the table, guessing the order, drinking freely, tempting dishes one after another on the ground. State uncle thought: I was originally the court uncle of state, the palace dishes I enjoy the fatigue, peasant dishes I have not seen, why not first let me feast, suddenly thought of all the fairy friends empty stomach I can not enjoy alone, and then take seven dishes, and remembered that the nuns do not eat meat, so it is also for the only one to bring - vegetarian - green vegetables and bean curd, counting the eight bowls and message: uncle for the masses! The message was: "I'm sure I'll be able to repay you in the future for the eight bowls of vegetables you borrowed.
The Eight Immortals devoured the food and found it very fragrant, and after they had enough to eat, their spirits were boosted and they won the battle against the Dragon King.
Afterwards, people changed the square table to the Eight Immortals' Table for the auspicious celebration, sat eight guests, and ate eight dishes (eight cold dishes, eight bowls of food) which have been passed down to the present day.
The origin of "lion's head"
"Lion's head", in Yangzhou dialect, is a large chopped meat, which is called "big meatballs" or "four happy balls" in northern dialect. "four happy meatballs". It is said that its "distant ancestor" is the North and South Dynasties, "food scripture" recorded on the "jumping pills hot" (see "Qimin Yaoji. The eightieth"). History records that when Emperor Yang took his concubines and concubines, rode a dragon boat and a thousand ships south along the Grand Canal, "all the states and counties that he passed through, within 500 miles, all made food offerings. From one state to a hundred mikoshi, the food was extremely rare on land and water" (Ziji Tongjian). Yang Guang saw the Yangzhou agaric, especially on the Yangzhou Wansongshan, the money pier, ivory forest, sunflower Gang four famous scenery is very fond of. After returning to his palace, he ordered the imperial chefs to make four dishes with the above four scenes as the theme. Imperial chefs in Yangzhou under the guidance of a famous chef, finally made a lot of effort squirrel cinnamon fish, money shrimp cake, elephant buds chicken strips and sunflower chopped meat of these four dishes. Yang Guang tasted, very happy, and then gave the banquet, a time Huaiyang cuisine overwhelmed the court.
During the Tang Dynasty, as the economy prospered, officials and dignitaries became more particular about their diets. On one occasion, Wei Jiaozhi, the Duke of Zhenguo, hosted a banquet, and Wei Juyuan, the famous chef of his house, made these four famous dishes from Yangzhou, accompanied by delicacies of the sea and the land and water, which made the guests marvel at them. When the dish "sunflower chopped meat" was served, only to see that the huge meat ball made of sunflower heart exquisite, like a lion's head. The guests took the opportunity to persuade the wine, said: "郇国公半生戎马，战功彪, should wear a lion seal of honor." Wei Jiaozhi happily raised his glass and drank it down, saying, "In honor of today's event, 'Sunflower Chopped Meat' might as well be renamed 'Lion's Head'." A call for a hundred promises, from Yangzhou on the addition of "lion's head" this famous dish.
During the Qing Dynasty, when Qianlong traveled to the south of the Yangtze River, he brought this delicacy to Kyoto, making it one of the dishes of the Qing Palace. During the Jiaqing period, Ganquan Lin Lanzhi authored "Ganjiang three chants", also sang Yangzhou's "sunflower meatballs". The preface says: "The meat is chopped finely and chopped roughly into balls, fried in meat and vegetable oil to a sunflower yellow color, commonly known as sunflower meatballs." The poem reads, "The kitchen has been cut frequently, and this sunflower ball is new. Full stomach should also think to the sun, have meat and food er who."
The beginning of chaos
In the ancient times when Ymir was alive,
there was no sand or sea, no raging waves;
there was no earth or sky in the world,
only the cracked, inch-by-inch chasms.
- The Book of Sybil's Prophecies
Long, long ago, in the time of the Flood, there was a chaos in heaven and earth, no sand or stone, no sea, no sky or earth. In the middle of this chaos, there was only a deep, gaping, immense chasm called the Ditch of Kingenga. Inside the entire chasm was emptiness and nothingness, no trees or weeds.
To the north of the Ginga Chasm is the vast, icy world of Niflheim. There, a thick fog shrouds the 10,000 year old ice and snow all year round, and it is very cold and dark. A great spring rushes out of the deepest and darkest part of Niflheim, forming many streams that flow endlessly; these streams, entrapped in the ten thousand years of cold from the world of ice and snow, some of which are highly poisonous, come rushing from north to south towards the Golden Enga Chasm. As the streams merged into the chasm, the rushing rapids plunged into the bottom of the incomparably deep ditch with a thunderous roar. At the same time, the countless chunks of ice from Niflheim were entrained by the stream, and over the course of millions of years, they slowly piled up many ice mounds alongside the Jinenga chasm.
South of the Golden Enga Chasm lies the Land of Flame known as Mosbyheim, where rushing flames shoot up all year round, and the whole place is an unbelievably intense blaze of light and heat. A massive being called Sutt, armed with a sword of light, guarded the side of the Flame Land of Mosbyheim.
The rushing flames that shot out of the Flame Kingdom splashed out many violently hot sparks that fell on the banks of the Jinnga Chasm and on the ice mounds piled up beside the chasm. When the ice met the hot sparks, it dissolved into water, and was frozen again by the strong cold wind blowing from Niflheim. And so the cycle repeated itself for thousands and thousands of years, and under the constant action of the heat of the Fire Country and the cold of the Ice Country, these ice mounds slowly gave birth to life. And so the great living spirit Ymir was born.
In the midst of endless darkness and filling fog, Ymir, with his massive body, wandered through the world of Chaos in search of food. After a long time, he met Odumbra, a cow that had also been born in the Ice Hills from the heat and cold. The huge cow flowed four streams of milk beneath her, which merged into four rivers of unending white. So the massive Ymir fed on the milk of the Odumbra, while the cow licked the snow and ice for a living, especially some of the occasional salt frost on the icy ground. In the chaotic, dark, icy age of the Flood, only two such enormous beings existed.
After countless years, Ymir, who had been drinking cow's milk all his life, became very strong. Once, when he had finished drinking the cow's milk and fell into a deep sleep, two giants, a male and a female, suddenly grew out from under his arms. Then a son of his grew out from under his feet. And the two giants that came out from under his arms became husband and wife, and begat many children of giants. One of their many children was called Mimir, a giant of great wisdom. Born from the feet of Ymir was an evil giant with six heads, who later had many descendants as well. But most of his descendants were giants of great size and stupidity, some with many heads, others beasts. Ymir himself, the ancestor of the giants, begat some other giants afterward. All the giants that came out of Ymir were known as the Giants of Frost, masters of the Giant Worlds, destroyers of the world order and enemies of the gods and goddesses.
Odumbra, the female cow, licked the snow and ice day and night, constantly searching for salt and frost. One day, while licking hard at some grains of salt from a rock, it suddenly licked some hair out from under its tongue. It continued to lick, and the next day a complete head appeared; by the third day it had licked out a living human form. Thus was born Bri, the originator of the gods. Bri was a tall, handsome man, strong and powerful, and of a gentle disposition. He soon gave birth to an equally tall and majestic son, Bor.
Bor, when he was old enough, married the giantess Pestra. Pestra was the daughter of the pair of giants that grew from beneath the arms of Ymir, and the sister of the wise giant Mimir. Bor and Pestra soon had three sons, Odin, Willy, and Vi. There are no words beneath heaven and earth to describe their height and majesty; they were three great gods and would be masters of all the worlds.
Bor's sons grew and became stronger and stronger, and at the same time began to be no longer content to live in such a world of darkness, cold and chaos. After much planning, the three gods Odin, Wily, and Vi launched an attack on the ruler of the flooded world, Ymir, the originator of the giants, and finally succeeded in killing the behemoth. However, when Ymir fell with a thud, an endless mass of blood flowed from his wounds, creating a huge river of blood. This river of blood ended up causing the first flood in the Flooded World, drowning the giants of Frost who lived around Ymir. Of them all, only one giant, called Begelmi, escaped the flooding deluge by a thousand miracles, sitting with his wife in a small boat that resembled a stone mortar. Thus, as Odin, the Lord of the Gods, looked back on the past years, he said:
"Before the creation of the earth,
in the long, endless winter,
there was born the giant Begelmee;
and the first thing that I can remember
is how that vigilant giant,
hid himself in peace in his ark."
After escaping the great catastrophe, they had many more offspring. The clan of the giants of Frost began to multiply again from Begelmee.
The creation of heaven and earth and of men
Then, in the midst of the beautiful heavens and earth,
the sons of Bor built rivers and mountains;
the sun shone from the south on the walls of their palaces,
and on the earth green leeks began to sprout.
- The Book of Sybil's Prophecies
After slaying the hulking giant Ymir, the ancestors of the three gods Odin, Willi, and Vi began to plan for the creation of a world of comfort and beauty.
The three earliest gods and goddesses agonized over how to create the world on a bleak, cold world, constantly searching for materials to create with. But with nothing but snow and ice and streams in front of them, the mighty gods struggled with the problem. Finally, one day, Odin cried out to the hulking corpse of Ymir, which was rotting in front of him:
"Use Ymir's body as the material for a new world!"
The other two gods and goddesses also felt a sense of enlightenment and praised Odin's good idea. So, the gods worked together and dismembered Ymir's huge body. They placed Ymir's flesh right in the middle of the Kinegar chasm, using the flesh that filled the chasm as the earth. The gods in turn made oceans and lakes out of his blood, hills and mountains out of his bones, rocky cliffs and pebbles out of his teeth and bits of palate bone, and trees and grass out of his hair and beard.
After the earth had been made, the gods threw Ymir's brains on top of it to form the sky, and scattered his brains above it to form the clouds. To keep the sky from falling from above, the gods sent four gnomes to each of the four corners of the sky, southeast, northwest, and north, to support the corners of the sky with their shoulders. These four gnomes who carried the sky were given their names as East, South, West and North.
After creating the earth and the sky, Odin, Willy, and Vi took many sparks from the flaming country of the south and scattered them at random across the sky. These sparks then stayed in the sky and became stars that filled the sky and illuminated the whole world.
Long before the gods thought of creating the world from Ymir's corpse, many maggots arose from Ymir's rotting flesh. These maggots seized the essence of the body of the ancestor of the giants and turned out to be spiritually rich creatures. Under the judgment of Odin and the other gods, they all took on human-like forms and intelligence. The maggots that grew out of the light side of the corpse became elves or light elves, and those that grew out of the backlit side of the corpse became dark elves, and people generally called them gnomes. The four gnomes that support the sky, the four gnomes of the south-east, the north-west and the north-west, were born from the corpse of Ymir.
The elves are shiny, bright and beautiful. They are usually gentle, cheerful and warm-hearted, and can communicate with trees, flowers and plants, and swimming fish and birds, so the gods take them as friends of the gods. They also often help the gods to manage the world, especially the sun, moon, stars and other kinds of affairs.
The gnomes are the same thing as the elves, but they are the opposite. They are short and ugly, black as pitch, but also greedy for money and sex, cunning and love to lie.
At the beginning of the world's size, the ancestors of the gods began to think about creating a perfect creature that could live on the rich, fertile earth. The three gods and goddesses often walked between the heavens and the earth with this question in mind, inspecting their performance in creating the heavens and the earth. One day, while Odin, Willy and Vi were walking on the beach, the waves washed up two pieces of wood, one of a (Muzen) tree and one of an elm tree. The gods picked them up and, thinking that they would be just the right material for the creation of a human being, began to carve each of them into two human figures with their knives. As a result of the gods' careful carving, the section of wood became a lifelike man's shape, while the elm took the form of a woman.
After the trees were shaped, the three gods and goddesses breathed life into them.
Odin first took the human forms in his hands and gave them life and breath;
Willi then gave them souls and intellect;
and finally, Vi gave them body heat and the sense of their five senses. Humanity was born.
According to their origins, the ancestors of the gods named the man Ask (meaning (Muchen) tree) and the woman Ebola (meaning Elm tree). The gods made the pair, the originators of mankind, live on the earth, which was surrounded by the sea, so that they could marry and have children. From Askew and Ebola, mankind has flourished on the earth from generation to generation, and continues to this day.
At the same time that humans were created and placed on the earth, the ancestors of the gods also set aside a place for the gods to live, as the Kingdom of the Gods, above the earth, at the very center of the universe. Because of their beauty and gentleness, the luminous elves were able to live next door to the gods, and built exquisite elven kingdoms around the Kingdom of the Gods.
To the east of the earth where humans lived, the gods set aside a place for the giants to live. It was in this land of giants, called Jotunheim, that the giant Begelmee, who had escaped from the Flood, dwelt, and bred many giants of Frost.
The black gnomes were punished by the gods for their bad character by being forced to live only beneath the earth and not to be exposed to the light of day, or else they would turn to stone or dissolve away. For this reason, the dwarf gnomes cut holes under the earth or in the rocks to make nests, forming a kingdom of dark elves, or gnomes.
The wise giant Mimir had a beautiful, dark-skinned daughter whose name was Night. Night often rode her steed across the starry firmament. Then the beautiful Night fell in love with Derin, the Dawn Elf who ruled the light in the land of the Elves, and they had a son who was as handsome and radiant as his father, and he was named Day.
From then on, when the red rays of the morning sun shone on the earth and the sea, the elves known as the Awakeners would sing a morning song outside the walls of the Dawn Elf Derin's palace, and Night's son, Daylight, would mount his steed to the sound of the song and ride off into the infinite heavens. Meanwhile, his mother, Night, returned wearily to her palace to rest after a night of racing.
In the land of the giants, there was a giant who had a son and a daughter, handsome, beautiful, and radiant, called the Moon and the Sun. The proud giant often praised his son and daughter to other beings for how outstanding they were, and this attracted the attention of the gods. Then the gods took these two beautiful children away from the giant's kingdom and gave them two steeds and a large carriage, so that they could roam the sky day and night.
From that time on, the girl called the sun glowed with golden light and followed the day, and the boy called the moon glowed with silver light and followed the night, and ran over the sky continually, respectively.
Two hideous wolves chased the sun and the moon, salivating to devour them. They kept growling towards the sun and the moon, following closely behind them. But Yavik and Elvis, whom the Sun used to drive the car, were two unparalleled steeds whose manes shone with golden light and dragged the jewel-encrusted solar car forward at great speed. So the sun was always able to get away from the vicious wolves that were chasing it.
When the golden sun sailed over the western horizon, she arrived at the palace of the dusk elf, Billing. After a long day of traveling, the weary sun rested on the magnificent bed that Birin had arranged for her. The servants of the Spirit of Beelzebub surrounded her bed with lighted candles and torches, guarding her. When the morning sun once again appeared on the horizon, the sun would once again step into her carriage and ride her steed across the sky.
While the Sun embarked on his journey, the Moon drove back to the twilight palace of Beelin. As the moon rested on his gorgeous bed, a group of sleep sprites surrounded him as they dozed off to sleep.
And so it came to pass that mankind on the earth had day and night, as well as the warmth of sunlight and the warmth of moonlight.
The Cosmic Tree Yogatlahi
I tell of the giants of the Age of Annihilation,
the giants who have fed me in ages past;
I project the nine worlds, the great (Muzen) Tree,
the nine great roots that run through the earth.
--The Book of Sybil's Prophecies
At the center of all everything, the center of the universe, stands a great (Muzen) tree of unparalleled greatness, called Yogatlahi. This gigantic (muzen) tree is the origin and carrier of all things in the universe.2 It is full of life, and its dense branches cover the whole of the heavens and the earth.
Three huge roots support the cosmic tree Yogatlahi and make it stand upright. These three roots led to the Kingdom of Gods, the Kingdom of Giants, and the icy world of Niflheim. At the end of each of these roots are three springs that provide water to the Cosmic Tree.
The spring in the northernmost Niflheim is called Helvegelmar, and it is frigidly cold and steaming with cold mist in a land of ice and snow. A hideous poisonous dragon, Nithogh, coiled there, day and night, devouring the roots of the huge trees that reached into the spring. The poisonous dragon was born a demon in an attempt to eventually bite through the giant roots of the Cosmic Tree and destroy the world.
Jotunheim, where the land of the giants is located, was originally the site of the Ginga Chasm, as was the land of mankind. Here, the spring that connects the giant roots of the Cosmic Tree is guarded by the wise giant Mimir, so the spring is called Mimir Spring. Mimir was the son of a pair of giants born from under the arms of Ymir, the ancestor of the giants, and had been wise from his childhood. By the time he guarded the spring, he had become an old giant.
The waters of the spring of Mimir were full of knowledge and wisdom, and the knowledge of all things that happened in the whole of heaven and earth, in the nine worlds, was melted in the clear, transparent waters of this spring. Therefore, whoever drinks from the spring of Mimir, be it a god, an elf, a giant, a dwarf, or a human, becomes both knowledgeable and wise.
But the old giant Mimir watched over the spring without a step, not allowing any god or giant to come a step closer. No living being on earth or in heaven has ever been able to drink from Mimir's spring, except the old giant himself. Every evening, when the gorgeous evening sun illuminated the surface of the spring in a picturesque manner, the old Mimir would draw a cup of the spring of knowledge and wisdom in a delicate horn cup and enjoy it slowly. As the days went by, the giant