According to the Zoroastrian cosmogony, Mashya and Mashyana were the first man and woman whose procreation gave rise to the human race.
Ahriman, the Spirit of Evil that dwelt in the Absolute Darkness, sought to destroy all that Ohrmuzd had created, and sent the demoness Jeh to kill Gayomard.
They promised to aid Ohrmuzd in his battle with Ahriman, and gave birth to fifteen sets of twins which scattered around the Earth and became the races of mankind.
In Norse mythology, Ask and Embla were the first man and woman, created from trees and given various gifts of life by three gods.
According to Benjamin Thorpe "Grimm says the word embla, emla, signifies a busy woman, from amr, ambr, aml, ambl, assidous labour; the same relation as Meshia and Meshiane, the ancient Persian names of the first man and woman, who were also formed from trees.