How did the world begin according to the Norse?

Answer 1

To paraphrase...
In the beginning there was Niflheim and Muspelheim, the land of ice, and the land of fire. And between, the gunningugap ... gigantic gap, or yawning gap. A great void. The heat from the fires of Muspelheim melted the ice from Niflheim, and great rivers began to flow. From these rivers two beings came about. Ymir, and Audhumbla. Ymir was the first of the frost giants, and Audhumbla was a giant cow. Ymir fed off of Audhumbla's milk, and the cow in turn fed off a salty block of ice. Eventually the cow released a man, Burri. In the meantime, Ymir did some cloning. From under the sweat of his left armpit, a man and a woman formed. And one leg begot a son with the other leg (cosmic wet dream). From that son the race of Frost giants are descendant from. Burri married and had a child, Bur, who married Bestla, and they had three children. Odin, Hoenir, Lothur. They in turn, seeing the crudness of their ancestors, slew Ymir, and tore him apart. His blood poured into the gunningugap and filled the oceans, his bones became mountains and his flesh the ground. His teeth were the rocks, and maggots began to form in his flesh. The Gods made the maggots into the form of men, and called them Dwarves. Then four dwarves they stationed in the four corners of the earth, to hold up Ymir's Skull, the sky. His brains are the clouds. The names of the dwarves who hold up the sky are Nordri, Estri, Vestri, and Sudri. North, East, West, and South.