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THEOET OF CREATION. 115
with metals and work them. They were imagined
to be dark as their home, and were therefore called
Svartalfar Dark EVoes—and their dwellings in the
earth, Svartalfaheimr.
The Eddas make no mention of the creation of
animals, which, however, the Asa doctrine con-
nected immediately with that of plants. Man is
the last and most perfect work of 'the creative
power. In the creation of man, as well as of the
world, the Divine power appears in a threefold
form. The three ^sir, Odin, Hsenir, and L65urr,
create the first human pair out of two Ash trees,
whence the names Ask and Embla,* and each one
imparts to them a gift corresponding to his own
nature. Odin gives them spirit (ond), the spiritual
life ; he is himself the Spirit of the "World, of which
man's is a reflection. Hgenir, Lights gives under-
standing (68r), the light of the soul. L65urr, Fi/re.^
gives them the warm blood and the blushing color,
together with the burning keenness of the senses.
The ^sir gave man, their favorite creation, a dwelling
place in Mid-Earth (in MiSgarb), which was
* Askr ; Dan. Ask ; Qerm. Esche ; A.-8. Msfi ; an ash tree
Embla may have denoted another species of Ash, -which the pea-
sants still regard as a female tree. Grimm says embla, emla, sig-
nifies a busy woman, from amr, ambr, ami, ambl, assiduous labor.
The words possibly bear the same relation to each other as Meshia
and Meshiane, the ancient Persian names for the first man and
woman, who were also formed from trees.
f L65urr is cogn. with the Qerm. lodern, and denotes the blazing
fire. This is without doubt the same being who is elsewhere
called Loki or Loptr.