Note 53 — CANTO XIV. THE DELIVERANCE OF IDUNA.
William Edward Frye translation
Yggdrassil; see this name in the Alphabetical Catalogue. Yggdrassil, the mythological ash-tree, is called by the Scalds “the tree of life.” There is a Christmas ceremony at this day in Germany, wherein an artificial tree, generally made of fir, bears on its branches various little presents for children, for which they draw lots. May not this tree trace its origin from Yggdrassil, the tree of life, which distributes to the human race their different lots?
The human race has often been compared by poets to a tree, and the generations of mankind to its leaves. Homer has,
Ὁιη τῶν φυλλῶν γενεη τοιηδε και ανδρῶν.