Editing Yggdrasil (section)

====''Grímnismál''====
In the poem ''[[Grímnismál]]'', Odin (disguised as ''[[List of names of Odin|Grímnir]]'') provides the young [[Agnarr Geirröðsson|Agnar]] with cosmological lore. Yggdrasil is first mentioned in the poem in stanza 29, where Odin says that, because the "[[Bifröst|bridge of the Æsir]] burns" and the "[[sacred waters]] boil," [[Thor]] must wade through the rivers [[Körmt and Örmt]] and two rivers named [[Kerlaugar]] to go "sit as judge at the ash of Yggdrasill". In the stanza that follows, a [[Horses of the Æsir|list of names of horses]] are given that the Æsir ride to "sit as judges" at Yggdrasil.{{sfn|Larrington|1999|p=56}}

In stanza 31, Odin says that the ash Yggdrasil has three roots that grow in three directions. He details that beneath the first lives [[Hel (being)|Hel]], under the second live frost jötnar, and beneath the third lives humanity. Stanza 32 details that a squirrel named [[Ratatoskr]] must run across Yggdrasil and bring "the eagle's word" from above to Níðhöggr below. Stanza 33 describes that four [[Red deer|hart]]s named Dáinn, Dvalinn, Duneyrr and Duraþrór consume "the highest boughs" of Yggdrasil.{{sfn|Larrington|1999|p=56}}

In stanza 34, Odin says that more serpents lie beneath Yggdrasil "than any fool can imagine" and lists them as Góinn and Móinn (possibly meaning Old Norse "land animal"{{sfn|Simek|2007|p=115}}), which he describes as sons of Grafvitnir (Old Norse, possibly "ditch wolf"{{sfn|Simek|2007|p=116}}), Grábakr (Old Norse "Greyback"{{sfn|Simek|2007|p=115}}), Grafvölluðr (Old Norse, possibly "the one digging under the plain" or possibly amended as "the one ruling in the ditch"{{sfn|Simek|2007|p=116}}), Ófnir (Old Norse "the winding one, the twisting one"{{sfn|Simek|2007|p=252}}), and Sváfnir (Old Norse, possibly "the one who puts to sleep = death"{{sfn|Simek|2007|p=305}}), who Odin adds that he thinks will forever gnaw on the tree's branches.{{sfn|Larrington|1999|p=56}}

In stanza 35, Odin says that Yggdrasil "suffers agony more than men know", as a hart bites it from above, it decays on its sides, and Níðhöggr bites it from beneath.{{sfn|Larrington|1999|p=57}} In stanza 44, Odin provides a list of things that are what he refers to as the "noblest" of their kind. Within the list, Odin mentions Yggdrasil first, and states that it is the "noblest of trees".{{sfn|Larrington|1999|p=58}}