Yggdrasil

I know an ash standing

Yggdrasil hight,

a lofty tree, laved

with limpid water:

thence come the dews

into the dales that fall

ever stands it green over

Urd's fountain.

31. Three roots stand

on three ways

under Yggdrasil's ash:

Hel under one abides,

under the second the Hrimthursar,

under the third mankind.

32. Ratatösk is the squirrel named,

which has to run

in Yggdrasil's ash;

he from above

the eagle's words must carry,

and beneath to Nidhögg repeat.

33. Harts there are also four,

which from its summits,

arch-necked, gnaw.

Dain and Dvalin,

Duneyr and Durathror.

34. More serpents lie

under Yggdrasil's ash,

than any one would think

of witless mortals:

Goin and Moin

they are Grafvitnir's sons

Grabak and Grafvöllud,

Ofnir and Svafnir,

will, I ween,

the branches of that tree

ever lacerate.

35. Yggdrasil's ash

hardship suffers

greater than men know of;

a hart bites it above,

and in its side it rots,

Nidhögg beneath tears it.

"That is at the Ash of Yggdrasill; there the gods must give judgment everyday. [...] The Ash is greatest of all trees and best: its limbs spread out over all the world and stand above heaven. Three roots of the tree uphold it and stand exceeding broad: one is among the Æsir; another among the Rime-Giants, in that place where aforetime was the Yawning Void; the third stands over Niflheim, and under that root is Hvergelmir, and Nídhöggr gnaws the root from below. But under that root which turns toward the Rime-Giants is Mímir's Well, wherein wisdom and understanding are stored; [...] The third root of the Ash stands in heaven; and under that root is the well which is very holy, that is called the Well of Urdr; there the gods hold their tribunal."

"An eagle sits in the limbs of the Ash, and he has understanding of many a thing; and between his eyes sits the hawk that is called Vedrfölnir. The squirrel called Ratatöskr runs up and down the length of the Ash, bearing envious words between the eagle and Nídhöggr; and four harts run in the limbs of the Ash and bite the leaves. They are called thus: Dáinn, Dvalinn, Duneyrr, Durathrór. Moreover, so many serpents are in Hvergelmir with Nídhöggr, that no tongue can tell them..."