When the imagination begins to sprout a little more the savage invents a story telling how the first men and animals were made out of trees by some divinity. Thus Glooskap, the Algonquin divinity, made man in this way: “He took his bow and arrows and shot at trees, the basket tree, the ash. Then Indians came out of the bark of the ash trees.” In Norse mythology there is a similar legend, according to which there were no intelligent men on earth until there came three mighty and benevolent gods to the world. Men had no sense, nor blood, nor motive powers, nor goodly color. Odin gave spirit, Haemir gave sense, and Lodur gave blood by bestowing it upon the senseless ashes and elms.
The worship of trees is told of in stories from one end of the world to the other.
The Ainos of Japan have a story that “at the beginning of the world the ground was so hot that the creatures called men even got their feet burnt. For this reason no tree or herb could grow. The only herb that grew at that time was the mugwort. Of trees the only ones were the oak and pine. For this reason these two trees are the oldest among trees. This being so, these two trees are divine; they are trees which human beings worship.”
They also believe in a mystic pine tree made of metal which grew at the head of the world, against which the swords of the gods broke and bent where they attacked it. The Japanese god, Izanagi, repels the eight thunder gods in the infernal regions by throwing at them the three fruits of the peach tree that grew at the entrance of the level pass of the dark world.
There is also a Chinese peach tree of the gods which grows near the palace of Si Wang Mu, the West Queen Mother. Its fruit of immortality ripens once in thirteen thousand years and gives three thousand years of life to the eater. Tung Fang So stole three and lived nine thousand years.
The Hindoos have more than one marvellous mythical tree. According to the “Rig Veda,” the god Brahma himself was a tree and all the other gods are considered branches of the divine parent stem. There is also a supernatural tree sacred to Buddha. This cloud tree is the tree of knowledge and wisdom and is covered with divine flowers. It glows and sparkles with the brilliance of all manner of precious stones. The root, the trunk, the branches, and the leaves are formed of gems of the most glorious description. It grows in soil pure and delightfully even to which the rich verdure of grass imparts the tints of a peacock’s neck. This tree receives the homage of the gods. The arm of Maya, the mother of Buddha, when she stretches it forth to grasp the bough which bends toward her shines as the lightning illumines the sky. Beneath this tree Buddha, at whose birth a flash of light pierced through all the world, sat down with the firm resolve not to rise until he had attained the knowledge which maketh free. Then the tempter Mara advanced with his demoniacal forces. Encircling the sacred tree, hosts of demons assailed Buddha with fiery darts, amid the whirl of hurricanes, darkness and the downpour of floods of water, to drive him from the tree.
Buddha, however, maintained his position unmoved and at length the demons were compelled to fly.
Still another marvellous tree is that of the Persians. It is called the Haoma. It is the sacred vine of the Zoroastrians, which produces the primal drink of immortality, after which it is named. It is the first of all trees, planted in heaven by Ormuzd in the fountain of life. Near this tree grows another, called the “impassive” or “inviolable,” which bears the seeds of every kind of vegetable life. Both these trees are situated in a lake and guarded by ten fish, who keep a ceaseless watch upon a lizard sent by the evil power, Ahriman, to destroy the sacred Haoma. The inviolable tree is also known both as the eagle’s and the owl’s tree. Either one or the other of these birds sits perched upon the top. The moment he rises from the tree a thousand branches shoot forth; when he settles again, he breaks a thousand branches, and causes their seed to fall. Another bird, his constant companion, picks up these seeds and carries them to where the god Tistar draws water, which he then rains down upon the earth with the seeds it contains.