The nine worlds

The Norse cosmos as the Poetic Edda names it: "Nine worlds I knew, the nine in the tree", says the seeress, and the giant Vafthruthnir has been "To nine worlds ... to Niflhel beneath". The poems never list the nine; they name Mithgarth, Jotunheim, Alfheim, Niflhel and Hel, and Alvissmol speaks of the separate tongues of men, gods, Vanir, giants, elves, dwarfs and the dead.