It was a brisk spring evening, and a great feast was happening in the courtyard of the king of Gylfaginning. People who had been travelling for weeks from all the areas we now call Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark had arrived to feast with King Gylfi, the first king of Scandinavia.Â
The goddess of agriculture and fertility, Gefion, was very curious about this celebration that she wanted to attend herself. So, she transformed into a wandering woman and joined the feast too.
King Gylfi, throughout the feast, gave out various gifts to thank his guests for honouring him with their presence. When the turn of the transformed Gefion came, he said he would give her as much land from his kingdom as four oxen could plough in one day and night.Â
Gefion saw in the king’s gift the opportunity she was looking for to create a fertile and rich kingdom where people could prosper and flourish. So she called for help from her four sons, who were godlike and very strong since they had a JÇ«tunn for a father. The JÇ«tunn were giants of superhuman strength; so fearless were they that they could even confront the gods themselves.
Gefion transformed her sons into oxen, tamed them with her divine plough and began to plough in a southern region where the land met the sea. An area that today belongs to Sweden. For a day and a night, Gefion’s plough dug without ceasing. So deep did it carve into the land that it uprooted and cut it off from the rest.Â
Then, he commanded the oxen to pull this piece of land into the sea and travel it westward. When the oxen reached the coast of Denmark then, Gefion commanded, “Halt!” and she named the land Zealand.
Thus was created the island of Denmark on which the capital of Denmark, Copenhagen, is located today. One of Sweden’s lakes was created where the land was cut off. Scholars disagree on whether it is Mälaren or Vänern.