Yet it is not easy to pluck out the heart of its mystery; and the descriptions of certain ancient representatives of Yggdrasil do not lessen the difficulty.

With nostrils and legs akimbo, she towered over him like some human Yggdrasill, blotting out the sun.

1996, Carolyne Larrington (editor and translator), The Seeress's Prophecy, The Poetic Edda, page 6,
I know that an ash-tree stands called Yggdrasill,
a high tree, soaked with shining loam;
from there come the dews which fall in the valley,
ever green, it stands over the well of fate.

In Norse mythology, for example, the World Tree, or Yggdrasil, connected the nine existences that straddled the worlds of gods and men with its mighty roots. Yggdrasil was reputedly a gigantic ash tree (and was the central feature of Norse cosmology), around the base of which the serpent Níôhöggr had twisted its body.

“Yggdrasil!” Gudbjartur's voice was filled with awe. “It is Yggdrasil, the world-tree!” He looked at Halfdan, his eyes wide. “The Sacred Grove is here in this land!”

Yggdrasil

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