Åsu & Åpu and the Creation of the Northern Islands

Giants roamed the oceans.  They were so massive that even at the deepest parts of the oceans, their shoulders would still be seen as they wandered.  When a giant dies, their body would petrify and turn to stone.  Only the largest of the giants would have their bodies show above the surface.

However, there are other ways bodies of land formed around the ocean.  Mischievous giants would take parts of the seafloor and make mounds for them to play in.  One such account tells a story of twin brothers Åpu and Åsu. 

Åpu was playful but cautious and never going too far away from his brother.
Åsu was would always love to explore, never keeping still for too long.

One day, Åsu dropped a bolder next to his sleeping sibling, which abruptly woke up Åpu.  He stands up and sees that his brother has been digging up parts of the seafloor.  Åpu then joins his brother in digging so that Åsu doesn’t hurt himself.  Near the body of a fallen giant, they begin to dig, forming a trench.  From there they would gather underwater rocks and stack them.  Soon, they would resort to diving down to collect rocks the deeper they would dig.  When one pile couldn’t stabilize they made another.  Within a days time, they made 14 piles with only small peaks emerging above the water.

Nearing sundown, they twins became exhausted.  Åpu came out from their makeshift quarry and noticed that the ocean was now at his knees.  By carelessly digging, they made the ocean lower.  By doing this, more remains of the fallen giants from all parts of the ocean resurfaced.

This worried Åpu.  However, Åsu was thrilled to see what he and his brother made.  The twins then inspected their creations and noticed one island had a glowing reddish-yellow water in it.  The air would get hotter the closer they approached.  They would throw things it and watched as flames consumed them.  They shrugged it off and went to the other islands.

Although exhausted, Åsu still wanted to continue into the night, so he told his brother that he was going to dive down and get more rocks.  Moments pass and the tired Åpu, reluctantly and timidly dives down to see if he needed help.  To his shock, he sees his brother struggling.  A large bolder has pinned him to the floor.  It was too heavy even for giants.  Thinking fast, Åpu digs around his brother to help set him free.  He frantically claws at the floor but the bolder only pushes Åsu further down. 

Suddenly, the floor began to rumble and open from behin Åsu.  The same glowing water from one of the islands.  The heavy bolder that weighted Åsu, plunged him into the glowing hot water.  Unable to withstand the heat, Åpu couldn’t go any further and watched has his brother was consumed by this glowing water.  He tried to go in to save him but the hole closed, causing more boulders from above to fall down.  In a panic, he rushed to the surface while dodging the falling debris. 

As he emerged from the ocean, the island with the glowing water started to rise higher.  He then could hear his brothers voice coming out from it.  Distraught that he will no longer be with his brother, he climbs onto the island and leaps into the hot glowing water.

This whole ordeal was seen by an Utak, a giant bird.  It flew to Chaife, the god of Fire and the underworld, and told him what happened.  Learning that the twins found a way to make island without having a giant die, made him happy.  He took their souls and put them in all nature.  However, their actions caused the region to have volcanoes and in doing so, he made them guard over them.

So when something is burning, you’ll see Åsu rise up and dance in the air with Åpu following for a moment and then cautiously drifting back down.  If an eruption was to happen, Åsu would fly high into the sky and signal the neighboring islands and Åpu would cover the surrounding area.

Luckily, their older brother’s body didn’t sink into the ocean after all that