Study › Runes & Norse › Audhumla
Audhumla is the first cow of Norse mythology. Her milk fed the giant Ymir, and by licking the salty ice she freed Buri, the first of the gods and grandfather of Odin.
Who is Audhumla?
Audhumla is the primeval cow, one of the first beings to take shape in the newborn cosmos. From her udder flowed four rivers of milk that nourished the giant Ymir, the ancestor of the giants.
How Audhumla freed the first god
Audhumla herself lived by licking the salty rime-ice of the void. As she licked, she uncovered a being frozen within it: on the first day a man's hair appeared, on the second his head, and on the third the whole of Buri, the first of the gods and grandfather of Odin. Through this gentle, strange act the two great lineages of Norse myth — giants and gods — both trace back to the same primal dawn.
She fed Ymir; Buri's grandson was Odin.
Questions
Who did Audhumla feed?
The giant Ymir.
What did Audhumla lick free from the ice?
Buri, the first of the gods.