The chief of all the great mythical trees is the Norse World Tree, an ash tree called “Ygdrasil.” One of the stems of this tree springs from the central primordial abyss, from the subterranean source of matter, runs up through the earth which it supports, and issuing out of the celestial mountain in the world’s center, called Asgard, spreads its branches over the entire universe. These widespread branches are the ethereal or celestial regions, their leaves the clouds, their buds or fruits the stars. Four harts run across the branches of the tree and bite the buds. These are the four cardinal winds. Perched upon the top branches is an eagle and between his eyes sits a hawk. The eagle symbolizes the air and the hawk the wind-still ether. A squirrel runs up and down the ash, and seeks to cause strife between the eagle and Nidhögg, a monster which is constantly gnawing the roots. The squirrel signifies hail and other atmospheric phenomena. Nidhögg and serpents which gnaw the roots of the tree are the volcanic agencies which are constantly seeking to destroy the earth’s foundation. Another stem springs from the holy Urdan-fountain where the gods sit in judgment. In this fountain swim two swans, the progenitors of all the species. These are by some thought to typify the sun and the moon. Near the fountain dwell three maidens who fix the lifetime of all men, called Norns. Every day they draw water from the spring and with it sprinkle the ash Ygdrasil in order that its branches may not rot and wither away. This water is so holy that everything placed in the spring becomes as white as the film within an egg-shell. The dew that falls from the tree upon the earth men call honey-dew, and it is the food of the bees. The third stem of the Ygdrasil takes its rise in the cold and cheerless regions of the North (the land of the Frost Giants), over the source of the ocean, which is typified by a spring called Mirmir’s Well, in which wisdom and wit lie hidden. Mirmir, the owner of this spring, is full of wisdom because he drinks of the waters.
In this myth the whole universe is symbolized as a tree, and so we see how the simple thoughts of the early savage about trees grow and expand until a great poet comes upon the earth and with his larger powers of imagination throws into a myth so much wonder and beauty that we can scarcely realize what a humble little beginning it had in the groping mind of a primitive savage.
In Greek mythology the woods are peopled with fauns and satyrs, dryads and hamadryads. The first were spirits or gods of the wood and were represented as goats with the heads of men. The principal of these was Pan, already mentioned as an example of an animal myth. Since, however, he is a personification of nature as a whole he partakes of the qualities of a plant myth, as do all the other gods of the wood.
The dryads and hamadryads sometimes appeared in the form of peasant girls, or shepherdesses, or followers of the hunt, but it was thought that they perished when certain trees which had been their abode died or were felled, and upon whose existence theirs depended. The Romans, whose mythology is based for the most part upon the Greek mythology, except that their names for the gods were different, have some special plant gods of their own. Faunus was worshipped as a god of fields and shepherds, and the god Sylvanus presided over forest glades and ploughed fields. Then there was Flora, the goddess of flowers, and Pomona, the goddess of fruit trees, and Vertumnus, the husband of Pomona, the guardian of fruit trees, gardens and vegetables.
Many lovely stories are based upon this idea that the plant world is also a living world, some of which you may read for yourselves in this chapter.
STORY OF THE AINO WHO FELL ASLEEP AT THE FOOT OF A PINE TREE
(Japanese)
There was once a young Aino who fell asleep at the foot of a pine of extraordinary height. While asleep there appeared to him in a dream the goddess of the tree. This pine was near the entrance of an immense cavern at the far end of which is a gleam of light, where there is an issue to another world. He found this cavern by pursuing a bear, who turned out to be a god, up a mountain of the underworld, until it took refuge in a hole in the ground which led into the cavern. When he awoke, he offered up thanks to the tree and set up divine symbols in its honor.