Ask (Old Norse Askr, “Ash Tree”) and Embla (Old Norse Embla, “Water Pot”[1])

Ask (Old Norse Askr, “Ash Tree”) and Embla (Old Norse Embla, “Water Pot”[1]) are the first two humans (male and female respectively) in Norse mythology. After the Aesir gods created the cosmos, they fashioned Ask and Embla from two tree trunks that had washed up onto the beach of the landmass the gods had recently raised out of the primordial waters. The gods, in this case led by Odin, endowed these newly-enlivened beings with önd (“breath/spirit”), óðr (“ecstasy/inspiration”), and lá (an otherwise unattested Old Norse word; no one really knows what lá means, but most scholarly suggestions have something to do with vital processes and health). Ask and Embla were then given Midgard, the world of human civilization, for their dwelling-place. They became the father and mother of the entire human species. Artwork by Robert Engels, 1919. -- source link

More pics about