Editing World tree (section)

===Similar motifs===
The World Tree has also been compared to a World Pillar that appears in other traditions and functions as separator between the earth and the skies, upholding the latter.<ref>{{cite book|doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199680795.003.0009|chapter=What is a 'World Tree', and Should We Expect to Find One Growing in Anglo-Saxon England?|title=Trees and Timber in the Anglo-Saxon World|year=2013|last1=Tolley|first1=Clive|pages=177–185|isbn=978-0-19-968079-5}}</ref> Another representation akin to the World Tree is a separate World Mountain. However, in some stories, the world tree is located atop the world mountain, in a combination of both motifs.<ref name="lituanistika.lt"/>

A conflict between a serpentine creature and a giant bird (an eagle) occurs in Eurasian mythologies: a hero kills the serpent that menaces a nest of little birds, and their mother repays the favor – a motif comparativist Julien d'Huy dates to the Paleolithic. A parallel story is attested in the traditions of the [[indigenous peoples of the Americas]], where the [[Thunderbird (mythology)|thunderbird]] is slotted into the role of the giant bird whose nest is menaced by a "snake-like water monster".<ref>{{cite journal|last1=d'Huy|first1=Julien|title=Première reconstruction statistique d'un rituel paléolithique : autour du motif du dragon|journal=Nouvelle Mythologie Comparée|date=18 March 2016|issue=3|pages=http://nouvellemythologiecomparee.hautetfort.com/archive/2016/03/18/julien|url=https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-01452430/|language=fr}}</ref><ref>Hatt, Gudmund (1949). ''[http://publ.royalacademy.dk/books/248/1508?lang=da Asiatic influences in American folklore]''. København: I kommission hos ejnar Munksgaard, p. 37.</ref>