Editing Ratatoskr (section)

==Attestations==
[[File:Ekorn.jpg|thumb|A [[red squirrel]] in an evergreen tree in [[Norway]]]]
In the ''Poetic Edda'' poem ''[[Grímnismál]]'', the god [[Odin]] (disguised as ''[[List of names of Odin|Grímnir]]'') says that Ratatoskr runs up and down Yggdrasil bringing messages between the eagle perched atop it and Níðhöggr below it:

<blockquote>
{|
|
:<small>[[Old Norse]]:</small>
:Ratatoskr heitir íkorni,
:er renna skal
:at aski Yggrdrasils;
:arnar orð
:hann skal ofan bera
:ok segia Níðhöggvi niðr.
|
:<small>[[Benjamin Thorpe]] translation:</small>
:Ratatösk is the squirrel named, who has run
:in Yggdrasil's ash;
:he from above the eagle's words must carry,
:and beneath the Nidhögg repeat.<ref name="THORPE23">Thorpe (1907:23).</ref>
|
:<small>[[Henry Adams Bellows (businessman)|Henry Adams Bellows]] translation:</small>
:Ratatosk is the squirrel who there shall run
:On the ash-tree Yggdrasil;
:From above the words of the eagle he bears,
:And tells them to Nithhogg beneath.<ref name="BELLOWS97">Bellows (1936:97).</ref>
|
|}
</blockquote>

Ratatoskr is described in the ''Prose Edda''{{-'}}s ''[[Gylfaginning]]''{{'s}} chapter 16, in which [[High, Just-As-High, and Third|High]] states that

<blockquote>An eagle sits at the top of the ash, and it has knowledge of many things. Between its eyes sits the hawk called Vedrfolnir [...]. The squirrel called Ratatosk [...] runs up and down the ash. He tells slanderous gossip, provoking the eagle and Nidhogg.<ref name="BYOCK26">Byock (2005:26).</ref></blockquote>