Ask, the first man, came from an ash tree in Norse mythology.
The story appears in the poem Völuspá and in Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, both preserved in medieval Icelandic manuscripts. The gods Odin, Vili, and Vé find Ask and Embla lacking breath, understanding, movement, and appearance, then give them the qualities that make them human.
Ask's name is Old Norse for “ash,” while Embla is traditionally identified with an elm. The pairing connects the first human beings to trees and to the sacred importance of wood in Norse culture. The ash also has a central cosmic role through Yggdrasil, the world tree.
A common mix-up is confusing Ask with Yggdrasil itself. Ask is the name of the first man, whereas Yggdrasil is the enormous ash at the center of the cosmos. The gods' gifts vary slightly between retellings, but Ask's association with ash is the standard quiz answer.