Embla

Embla is the first woman, mother of all humankind. Walking the seashore, Odin and his brothers Vili and Ve (or Hoenir and Lodur in the Voluspa) find two lifeless logs, ash and elm, and make them human. Odin gives breath and spirit, the second gives wit and movement, the third gives blood, warmth, and fair color. From driftwood she and her partner Ask become living people, given homes in Midgard, and every human born since springs from the two of them. She is the elm shaped into the mother of a race.