Ancient World

	ANCIENT WORLD According to Scandinavian mythology the fabric of the Universe was maintained by a gigantic ash tree named Yggdrasil. The race of men derived from the first man called Ask [ =Ash, and the first woman Embla (=Vine )] . The foliage of Yggdrasil was always green and it's boughs rose to the heights of the sky. It's three main roots penetrated other worlds. These worlds are the Underworld, the world of the giants, and the world of the Norns. The Norns were female spirits known for their great wisdom and as mistresses of fate. It was the Norns that cared for the tree, watering it daily so that it would not wither and die.
	The Gods had a consecrated space where two roots joined the vigorous trunk , a place of peace where they met daily to render justice. Malevolent demons continually schemed to destroy the ash Yggdrasil. A cunning monster, Nidhogg lurked under one root and gnawed at it ceaselessly. Four stags wandered among it's foliage and nibbled off all the young buds. Thanks however to the Norns the tree continued to put forth green shoots and rear it's indestructible trunk in the center of the earth.
	Like men, the Gods had ceaselessly *to struggle against enemies who were full of envy and deceit. The world which they sustained and protected* did not endure forever and the Gods themselves met their fatal destiny. They brought the blows of destiny on their own heads by breaking their agreements. From the moment when they broke their word to a giant all oaths, all treaties concluded in the world began to lose their force and validity. A new era opened, characterized by perjury, violence and warfare. Men, Giants and Gods were swayed by hatred and anger. A gigantic battle was to follow, in which the whole world was put to the torch, and in which all were to perish. Not quite all, because the devouring flames of the universal conflagration had been unable to consume the ash Yggdrasil. Enclosed in the wood itself, the ancestors of a future race of men had escaped death. However, they had to wait for ages before a new world was born. The remnants of the old world had sunk beneath the sea.