Editing Yggdrasil (section)

===''Prose Edda''===
[[File:The Tree of Yggdrasil.jpg|thumb|The title page of Olive Bray's 1908 translation of the ''Poetic Edda'' by [[W. G. Collingwood]]]]
[[File:Die Nornen Urd, Werdanda, Skuld, unter der Welteiche Yggdrasil by Ludwig Burger.jpg|thumb|The norns Urðr, Verðandi, and Skuld beneath the world tree Yggdrasil (1882) by [[Ludwig Burger]]]]
Yggdrasil is mentioned in two books in the ''[[Prose Edda]]''; ''[[Gylfaginning]]'' and ''[[Skáldskaparmál]]''. In ''Gylfaginning'', Yggdrasil is introduced in chapter 15. In chapter 15, [[Gylfi|Gangleri]] (described as king [[Gylfi]] in disguise) asks where is the chief or holiest place of the gods. [[High, Just-As-High, and Third|High]] replies "It is the ash Yggdrasil. There the gods must hold their courts each day". Gangleri asks what there is to tell about Yggdrasil. [[High, Just-As-High, and Third|Just-As-High]] says that Yggdrasil is the biggest and best of all trees, that its branches extend out over all of the world and reach out over the sky. Three of the roots of the tree support it, and these three roots also extend extremely far: one "is among the [[Æsir]], the second among the frost jötnar, and the third over [[Niflheim]]. The root over Niflheim is gnawed at by the wyrm [[Níðhöggr]], and beneath this root is the spring [[Hvergelmir]]. Beneath the root that reaches the frost jötnar is the well [[Mímisbrunnr]], "which has wisdom and intelligence contained in it, and the master of the well is called [[Mímir|Mimir]]". Just-As-High provides details regarding Mímisbrunnr and then describes that the third root of the well "extends to heaven" and that beneath the root is the "very holy" well [[Urðarbrunnr]]. At Urðarbrunnr the gods hold their court, and every day the Æsir ride to Urðarbrunnr up over the bridge [[Bifröst]]. Later in the chapter, a stanza from ''Grímnismál'' mentioning Yggdrasil is quoted in support.{{sfn|Faulkes|1995|p=17}}

In chapter 16, Gangleri asks "what other particularly notable things are there to tell about the ash?" High says there is quite a lot to tell about. High continues that an eagle sits on the branches of Yggdrasil and that it has much knowledge. Between the eyes of the eagle sits a hawk called [[Veðrfölnir]]. A squirrel called [[Ratatoskr]] scurries up and down the ash Yggdrasil carrying "malicious messages" between the eagle and Níðhöggr. Four stags named Dáinn, Dvalinn, Duneyrr, and Duraþrór run between the branches of Yggdrasil and consume its foliage. In the spring Hvergelmir are so many snakes along with Níðhöggr "that no tongue can enumerate them". Two stanzas from ''Grímnismál'' are then cited in support. High continues that the norns that live by the holy well Urðarbrunnr each day take water from the well and mud from around it and pour it over Yggdrasil so that the branches of the ash do not rot away or decay. High provides more information about Urðarbrunnr, cites a stanza from ''Völuspá'' in support, and adds that [[dew]] falls from Yggdrasil to the earth, explaining that "this is what people call [[Honeydew (secretion)|honeydew]], and from it bees feed".{{sfn|Faulkes|1995|p=18–19}}

In chapter 41, the stanza from ''Grímnismál'' is quoted that mentions that Yggdrasil is the foremost of trees.{{sfn|Faulkes|1995|p=34}} In chapter 54, as part of the events of [[Ragnarök]], High describes that Odin will ride to the well Mímisbrunnr and consult Mímir on behalf of himself and his people. After this, "the ash Yggdrasil will shake and nothing will be unafraid in heaven or on earth", and then the Æsir and [[Einherjar]] will don their war gear and advance to the field of [[Vígríðr]]. Further into the chapter, the stanza in ''Völuspá'' that details this sequence is cited.{{sfn|Faulkes|1995|p=54}}

In the ''Prose Edda'' book ''[[Skáldskaparmál]]'', Yggdrasil receives a single mention, though not by name. In chapter 64, names for [[king]]s and [[duke]]s are given. "Illustrious one" is provided as an example, appearing in a Christianity-influenced work by the [[skald]] [[Hallvarðr Háreksblesi]]: "There is not under the pole of the earth [Yggdrasil] an illustrious one closer to the lord of [[monk]]s [God] than you."{{sfn|Faulkes|1995|p=146}}