the Finnish poem of Kalevala it is by the destruction of the great oak
that Wainamoien, aided by the hero of the sea, causes all things to
grow. The early clearing away of trees, as a first step towards
culture, may be symbolized in the shooting of arrows at the ash.

The wolf, as a beast for the deity to ride, is strongly Eddaic.

"Magic songs they sung,
rode on wolves,
the god (Odin) and gods."
[Footnote: _Rognnir og regin._ Odin and the Powers. Note by B.
Thorpe to the _Hrafnagalar Odins_, in Edda, p.30.]

We have here within a few lines, accordingly, the elm as the parent of
mankind, and wolves as the beasts of transport for the supreme deity,
both in the Indian legend and in the Edda.

As Glooskap is directly declared in one tradition to keep by him as an
attendant a being who is the course of the sun and of the seasons, it
may be assumed that the black and white wolf represent day and night.

Again, great stress is laid in the Glooskap legend upon the fact that
the last great day of battle with Malsum the Wolf and the frost-giants,
stone-giants, and other powers of evil, shall be announced by an
earthquake.

"Trembles Yggdrasil's
Ash yet standing,
groans that aged tree....
and the Wolf runs....