Before Woden was wise he would go to his uncle, Ingemynd, for council and advice. Ingemynd always had good council, for he had lived long and remembered. One day, Woden asked of his uncle how his Cynn, the Ése, came to be.
Wise Ingemynd began; "It was Ídel then, void of life, before the beginning of ages. There was hot shifting flame and cold swirling mist. At their farthest reaches the flames formed a white sparks and great fires, and where the mists were far away from the flames, they formed fresh snow and salty ice.
"But where these came together, they formed life. The first was a wight named Ysmir, and the second was a great cow named Gebreost. When Ysmir was awake he would suck rich milk from the teats of Gebreost, and when he slept she would eat the snow and lick the ice and grow fat again with milk.
"From time to time, drops of milk would drip from the teats of Gebreost, or flow undrinken from Ysmir's chin, and it mixed with the world. Where milk met the freshly fallen snow it formed the first of the Wani. Where milk met the ice it formed the first of the Ése."
Tired from recalling old memories, Ingemynd sent Woden away, so that he may rest a while. And so Woden left him, though he wished to know more.