Utanapishtim reminded Gilgamesh of his mortality, and advised the king that his only chance of cheating death lay in the possession of a plant called 'Never grow old', which grew at the bottom of the sea. Gilgamesh descended to the sea bed, retrieved the plant at great risk to himself, and returned to his kingdom. However, on the way there, he fell asleep under a tree, and a snake, smelling the wonderful perfume of the leaves of the plant, ate it, and immediately gained the ability to slough its skin. Seeing his chance lost, Gilgamesh wept. The nether world of the Bagobo tribes of Mindanao in the Philippines, Gimokodan is surrounded by a dark river which is guarded by a huge woman, whose body is covered in nipples, and she suckles the spirit of infants before they pass on.
Spirits go about at nights, in the daytime they turn into dew and rest in cupped leaves.
The wise king who, at the beginning of the Eddas , travels to Asgard to gain information from the Aesir as to the nature of gods, and the creation of the world. The empty space that existed in the world before the creation of the world, according to Norse myth. On one side it was bordered by Niflheim , and on the other, Muspellheim . The warmth from Muspellheim caused the ice of Niflheim to melt and topple over into the Ginnunga-Gap, and from this ice rose Ymir , father of the Ice Giants, and first being in the Norse world. The Norse equivalent of the River Styx , the Gioll surrounded the Lower World, which was ruled over by the goddess Hel .