Chapter VI: The Universe-Tree

Wide distribution of the conception—Its plausibility to the primitive
mind; especially to the inhabitants of level countries—Earliest
version of the world-tree found in an Accadian hymn of great
antiquity—Probably a poetical amplification of the sacred
spirit-inhabited tree—The world-tree and the world-mountain—The
two conceptions combined in the Norse Yggdrasil, as described in
the Eddas—Indian and Persian versions of the world-tree—Buddhist
development of the idea—The cosmogony of the Phoenicians—Egyptian
variants; the Tât-pillar; the golden gem-bearing tree of the
sky—Traces of the world-tree in Chinese and Japanese mythology—A
similar tradition amongst North American Indians.

The Eastern conception of the stars as fruits of the world-tree, and
as jewels hung thereon—A motive common in Oriental art—The golden
apples of the Hesperides—Other instances of the world-tree in
European legend—The monster oak of the Kalevala—Corresponding
tradition amongst the Esthonians.

The food of the gods, a conception associated with that of the
world-tree—The Persian haoma, a mystical tree, producing an
immortalising juice—Its terrestrial counterpart; the haoma
sacrament—The Vedic soma; not only a plant but a powerful
deity—Identification of the plant—De Gubernatis on the soma
ritual—The effect of the soma drink—Corresponding conceptions
amongst the Greeks—Origin of the idea 109