Imagine a tree so enormous, its branches tickled the clouds and its roots went down, down, down into secret, shadowy places. This was Yggdrasil, the World Tree, and it was super important!

Way down at the very bottom, in a dark and misty spot, lived a huge dragon named Nidhogg. Now, Nidhogg wasn't a friendly, pet-your-head kind of dragon. He was a bit grumpy, and he had a very important, if a little destructive, job: he gnawed on one of Yggdrasil's biggest roots. Munch, munch, munch he went, all day long. This root stretched all the way to a cold, foggy place, and Nidhogg was like the grumpy guardian of the deep.

And way, way up at the tippy-top of Yggdrasil, perched on the highest branch, lived a magnificent, wise old Eagle. This Eagle could see everything happening in all the worlds.

Now, how did Nidhogg and the Eagle ever talk to each other, being so far apart? Well, they had a very busy, very chatty helper: a squirrel named Ratatoskr! Ratatoskr was a speedy little fellow with a fluffy tail, and he loved to scamper. He would zip up the trunk of Yggdrasil, then skitter all the way down, then zoom back up again, all day long.

And what was he doing? He was carrying messages! But these weren't usually "hello, how are you?" messages. Oh no. The Eagle would say something a bit huffy about Nidhogg, and Ratatoskr would dash down and tell Nidhogg, maybe adding a little extra spice to make it sound even grumpier. Then Nidhogg would roar something not-so-nice about the Eagle, and Ratatoskr would scamper all the way up to deliver that message, probably making it sound even *more* cross!

Ratatoskr seemed to enjoy stirring up a little trouble between the dragon at the bottom and the eagle at the top. It kept things interesting on the World Tree!

So, Nidhogg kept munching on the root, the Eagle kept watch from above, and Ratatoskr kept them both annoyed with each other. It was a strange way to live, but that’s how things were in the world of Yggdrasil. The big tree stood strong, the grumpy dragon grumbled, the wise eagle watched, and the busy squirrel kept the gossip flying!

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