Búri

Auðhumla licked the salty rime from the ice in Ginnungagap. Ice and fire had met there, and the ice had melted into water. Life arose from the melting. Ymir appeared first, a vast being who was both male and female. He became the ancestor of the frost giants. Auðhumla appeared too. She was a huge, hornless cow, and four streams of milk flowed from her udders. Ymir drank the milk and grew.

Auðhumla needed food. She licked the salt stones covered with rime. On the first day, a man’s hair appeared beneath her tongue. On the second day, his head emerged. On the third day, the whole shape of a man stood revealed. This was Búri, the first god and the ancestor of the gods.

The ice lay within Ginnungagap, between the frozen region of Niflheim and the burning region of Muspell. Cold rivers from the north met the heat from the south. Their mingling produced the melting that allowed Ymir and Auðhumla to appear. Auðhumla’s milk sustained Ymir. Her licking of the salty ice brought Búri into the world. Búri later had a son named Bor, who married the frost giantess Bestla. Their sons were Odin, Vé, and Vili.