Then Gangleri asked, ‘How did they get on together? Who among them was the most powerful?’
‘The sons of Bor killed the giant Ymir,’ answered High. ‘When he fell, so much blood gushed from his wounds that with it they drowned all the race of the frost giants except for one who escaped with his household. The giants call that one Bergelmir. He, together with his wife, climbed up on to his wooden box,1 and there they kept themselves safe. From them come the races of the frost giants, as is said here:
Countless winters[^fn20] before the earth was created back then Bergelmir was born; that is the first I remember when the wise giant was placed on the box.’
(The Lay of Vafthrudnir. 35)
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wooden box : The word lúðr has several meanings. I translate lúdr as wooden box, because the word also means a stand for holding a handmill, that is, the wooden box that surrounds the millstone into which the ground flour falls. This box could function as a vessel. It is also somewhat like a coffin, and the usage of the word in this line carries the imagery both of a boat and of death. Another meaning for lúðr is a trumpet. ↩
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Countless winters : The passage of years was counted by winters. ↩