8o TREES IN NATURE, MYTH & ART 



tive feminine organisations that attract admira- 

 tion for beauty, whilst nobody suspects the 

 toughness and resisting power with which the 

 graceful being is armed against the difficulties 

 of existence. The foliage of the ash is light 

 and pretty in small quantities, and masses 

 handsomely when there is an abundance 

 of it." 



The '* keys " here mentioned are samaras, 

 or seed-vessels, which hang from the branches 

 in clusters. The foliage of the ash, when 

 seen from a distance, has an indistinct appear- 

 ance, due to the subdivision of the leaf into 

 numerous leaflets, and this gives to the tree 

 much of its lightness of effect. Another 

 element of its gracefulness is the smallness of 

 the angle at which the branches divide off 

 from each other. Branch parts gradually 

 from branch, and all seem to be united in 

 harmonious relations. 



We have seen that, according to the Scan- 

 dinavian mythology, the first man was made 

 out of an ash, and the first woman out of an 

 elm. The appearance of the two trees would 

 suggest to us the reverse attribution. Odin 

 and his brothers must have been too wise to 



