My friends in the Norse trading ship used to tell me that you just sailed North (that's the way the Sun doesn't go, except at very Very Midsummer) and eventually you came to Big Mountains of Ice. Beyond them the World finishes. And Another One begins. I've forgotten the name [Lord Bowland says it's Niflheim] but there are Giants there. Anyway, between there and here is a big chasm. Or so the Norsemen say. But I haven't been there.
There was a merchant we met in Miklagard who said that he had travelled further
East than Anybody. There he met some yellow men - yellow like pale sunshine,
not honey-golden-brown like me - who told him that they knew the way to the
Edge of the World. They start out by going to their coast and setting sail towards
the rising Sun. Logically they say that the Sun needs to rest after shining
down on people all day long and seeing all the war, suffering and misery. I
say they haven't experienced the Village going on Holiday there yet.
Anyway, they sail East, and after a couple of days (or more) they come to some
islands. The islands are ruled over by a Panjandrum and are an Archipelago.
That means that there are lots of them, but all close together. Each one is
different, though. There are supposed to be Bears on one but I have never met
a Bear who says he's from there. But perhaps they don't want to leave, if they
live there.
Beyond the Archipelago there is a Lot of Ocean, right to the skyline. Which
is where the World Ends. Occasionally people go to Look at it. Occasionally,
but less Often, they Come Back. The ones that come back tend to be the ones
that take Lots of Natives with them to paddle their Boats away from the Edge.
The way I've heard about starts with sailing as well. You start from where I used to live, in the Bear Country, and go South (that's towards where the Sun always is even in Deep Mid Winter). You get to the coast and you get a ship to the Dreamland. That's a Big Island south of the Bear Country, but very Big and Empty. You arrive, at Bruceport (which is where I was when I was kidnapped by the people who sold me to the Norsemen), and then you get ready for the trek Inland. The Dreamland is Very Big and Empty and it is also Hot and Dry. So you have to take a Lot of water and enough Food. A Long Time Ago, someone must have Thought about this and there are animals there, called Kamels, which can live for Weeks on next to nothing. You feed and water them at Bruceport and at the Springs which are on the other side of the Great Dry Desert. It takes about two weeks to cross the Desert. On the far side (if you can find them) are the Springs, where there is Water and Food and People (some People live in the Desert, but they're Strange and Magical).
On this side of the desert are Hills and Mountains. And Water and Trees. There
are Bears, that live in the Trees, but (so I've been told) they Speak a Different
language and chew Leaves a lot. If you ask the Right People, they can tell you
exactly which Valley the Cave is in. The Cave is just about the right size for
a Bear (so a Person might find it a bit of a squeeze. Though there may, for
all I know, be another Cave specially for People), and it goes into the Mountain
and Down. No two Bears' seem to agree on what's in there - one Bear told me
there's a big cave full of blue crystal, and another one says he saw a forest
full of birds and fruits and flowers and bees. But they all agree that, on the
far side, there is a Hole, and beyond that just Night and Stars, and if you
are careful (and Other Bears hold your feet) you can just look Up and see the
other side of the Mountains going into the Night, and nothing else and that
is how you how it is the Edge of the World.