As promised I will cover the origin stories as told by our (European) Pagan ancestors all the way back to the PIE (Proto Indo-European) days.
I will be starting with the one I myself am most familiar with and that is the Norse creation story.
It starts with the world before anything was. Before there was soil, before there was sky, before there was any green thing. There was only the abyss of Ginnungagap. This chaos of perfect silence and darkness lay between the realms of Múspelheim and Niflheim, the lands of elemental fire and elemental ice.
(On a quick personal note I think it's funny how "perfect silence and darkness" is described as being chaotic. Perfect silence and darkness is where I find peace, especially after working and dealing with people all day)
Venomous water from the spring Hvergelmir in Niflheim flowed into this emptiness, freezing over and again, layer after layer of ice and frost. The hot winds of Múspelheim blew over the ice of Niflheim causing it to melt and to drip. Among the hissing and sputtering the drops formed themselves unto Ymir, the first of the godlike giants.
As Ymir slept he sweated and under his left arm out of the ooze man and woman grew and one of his legs fathered a six headed son with the other thus Ymir became the forefather of all (frost)giants.
A different part of the melting ice took on the form of a cow, named Auðhumla. From her teats ran 4 rivers of milk which gave enough nourishment for Ymir to feed upon (4 rivers, yeah that should be plenty even for a giant). Auðhumla herself fed upon the ice, licking the salty blocks. Her licking off the ice over a span of 3 days made one of the blocks form into a man. After one day of licking, she freed a man's hair from the ice. After two days, his head appeared. On the third day the whole man was there. This man became animated and the primordial man named Búri walked out.
(This part is still the subject of scholarly commentary and discussion).
Búri had a son named Bor. Bor married Bestla, the daughter of a giant. With Bestla he had 3 sons who we know as being Ódin, Vili and Ve.
Ódin together with his brothers slew the giant Ymir creating the world from his corps. From his blood they made the oceans and the lakes; from his flesh the earth we live upon; from his hair the trees and other vegetation; from his brain they fashioned the clouds; from his unbroken bones the mountains. They raised his skull over the earth (dome?) placing 4 dwarves at the 4 cardinal points to hold his skull aloft over the earth. Glowing embers from Múspelheim they threw into the sky fashioning from them the moon, the sun, stars and planets.
To protect themselves from the hostile giants they built a stronghold fashioned out of Ymir's eyebrows. This stronghold became Midgard, the realm of man.
One day the 3 brothers were walking along the land when they came upon 2 trees with their roots ripped out. One tree was an ash, the other an elm. These they fashioned into the first, primordial man and woman. Odín breathed in them the breath of life and spirit. Vili provided them with consciousness, wits and feeling hearts. Vé gave them the gifts of hearing and sight. This man and this woman, named Ask and Embla were given Midgard which to live in. All the races of men descended from them.
One of the giants had a daughter named Nótt (night); her son was named Dag (day) (dag in Dutch also means day). Ódin set them in horse-drawn chariots in the sky to ride around the world. Nótt leads the way, and her horse is named Hrim-faxi. The drips from his bit form the morning dew. Dag follows drawn by his horse Skin-faxi, whose gleaming mane lights up the sky and the earth.
A man living in Midgard had a son and daughter so beautiful that he called them Sól (sun) and Máni (moon). Angered by the man's daring, Ódin snatched the children and placed them high in the sky to guide the chariots of the sun and the moon. The sun and the moon are always in a great hurry because they are being chased by wolves, sons of a giantess.
From the maggots that crawled in Ymir's flesh, Ódin, Vili, and Vé created the dwarven kin. They have shape and wits of men (although smaller in stature), but they live under the earth in caves.
Finally, the 3 brothers form themselves built their own realm. Ásgard is a mighty stronghold, with green plains and shining palaces high over Midgard. They built the rainbow bridge Bifröst to link Ásgard to Midgarðd. The Aesir, the guardians of men, crossed over the bridge and settled in Ásgard. Ódin Alfadur (Allfather) is oldest and greatest of them all.
And this was the beginning of all that has happened according to the Norse Mythology.
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