Askefruer are a fictional race invented by Dr Anthony E. Smith. On 20 July 1999, Dr Smith writes in an article on the web site Encyclopedia Mythica [1] (http://www.pantheon.org/) about the purportedly Indonesian spirits Duc Ba: July 20 is the 201st day (202nd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 164 days remaining. ... 1999 is a common year starting on Friday of the Common Era, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ...

Like the Nymphae of Graeco-Roman mythology, the Askefruer of Northern Europe, and Yaksha (Hindu), the Duc Ba are feminine spirits of trees. They are worshipped by the Annam of Indonesia. [2] (http://www.pantheon.org/articles/d/duc_ba.html)

One month later, on 27 August 1999, Dr Smith writes an article on the same web site about these Askefruer: August 27 is the 239th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (240th in leap years), with 126 days remaining. ... 1999 is a common year starting on Friday of the Common Era, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ...

The Askefruer, or "Ash Maidens," are a northern variation on a common mythological theme: spirits, often depicted as human women, inhabiting trees. The ash tree was particularly important to ancient northerners: the World Tree, the axis about which the world revolved, was the ash tree Yggdrasil. [3] (http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/askefruer.html)

In good faith, a Wikipedian did on 19 September 2002 add this article to the project, with the text: Yggdrasil In Norse Mythology, Yggdrasil (also Mimameid and Lerad) was the World tree, a gigantic tree, thought to connect all the nine worlds of Norse cosmology. ... Wikipedians are the people who write and edit articles for Wikipedia. ... September 19 is the 262nd day of the year (263rd in leap years). ... 2002 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In Norse mythology, Askefruer ("ash maidens") were the Norse equivalent of nymphs. They were tree-dwelling spirits, similar to hamadryads.

This was later changed to: Norse mythology, Viking mythology or Scandinavian mythology refer to the pre-Christian religion, beliefs and legends of the Scandinavian people, including those who settled on Iceland, where the written sources for Norse mythology were assembled. ... For other uses of nymph see Nymph (disambiguation). ... Categories: Mythology stubs | Nymphs ...

In Scandinavian folklore, Askefruer ("ash maidens") were the Danish equivalent of nymphs. They were tree-dwelling spirits, similar to hamadryads.

Askefruer is actually "ash ladies" in Scandinavian (fru is the Scandinavian word for mrs.), askemøer or askejomfruer would be "ash maidens." By far more important, however, is that there are no such beings as askefruer in Norse mythology nor in later Scandinavian folklore. A Google search on .dk domains or .no does not give a single result. Nor does "askemøer" or "askejomfruer", nor do any of these names in singular, in definite form or in plural definite form, nor does their Swedish equivalents. Scandinavian folklore, i. ... For other uses of nymph see Nymph (disambiguation). ... Categories: Mythology stubs | Nymphs ... Scandinavian can mean: A resident of, or relating to Scandinavia A North Germanic language A music genre, Scandinavian metal This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Scandinavian languages are the three mutually intelligible North Germanic languages spoken in Scandinavia: Danish, Norwegian and Swedish. ... Mrs. ... Norse mythology, Viking mythology or Scandinavian mythology refer to the pre-Christian religion, beliefs and legends of the Scandinavian people, including those who settled on Iceland, where the written sources for Norse mythology were assembled. ... Scandinavian folklore, i. ... Google, Inc. ... .dk is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Denmark. ... .no is the Internet country code top-level domain ( ccTLD) for Norway. ...

However, a non country restricted search gave on 8 May 2005 some 583 hits on Google. [4] (http://www.google.se/search?hl=sv&q=askefruer&btnG=S%C3%B6k&meta=) Sadly, a vast majority of these are copies of either version of the above quoted Wikipedia text on sites sniffing Wikipedia. See for example: absoluteastronomy.com (http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia/A/As/Askefruer.htm), answers.com (http://www.answers.com/topic/askefruer), biography.ms (http://askefruer.biography.ms/), chicagovoyager.com (http://chicagovoyager.com/info/as/Askefruer.html), enlightenweb.net (http://www.enlightenweb.net/a/as/askefruer.html), explore-religion.com (http://www.explore-religion.com/mythology/A/Askefruer.html), factbook.org (http://www.factbook.org/wikipedia/en/a/as/askefruer.html), knowledgerush.com (http://www.knowledgerush.com/kr/jsp/db/viewWiki.jsp?title=Askefruer), wacklepedia.com (http://www.wacklepedia.com/a/as/askefruer.html), websters-online-dictionary.net (http://www.websters-online-dictionary.net/definition/ASKEFRUER), and many more. May 8 is the 128th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (129th in leap years). ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Wikipedia is a Web-based, free-content encyclopedia that is written collaboratively by volunteers. ...

Some pages, though, contain new-written paragraphs on the askefruer:

The Askefruer, or "Ash Maidens," were spirits, often depicted as human women, inhabiting trees. [5] (http://historymedren.about.com/library/day/blq010531r1.htm)

They are a variation of tree spirits [6] (http://www.houseofenlightenment.com/nogod.html)

The Askefruer were the Norse version of Dryads: female spirits living inside trees. The Askefruer inhabited the forest of the World Tree Yggdrasil. [7] (http://www.millennial-fair.com/literature/norse1.html#askefruer)

Ash maidens who were considered tree spirits. [8] (http://treetotem.com/mythac.htm)

Even a Spanish web page has a translation of Dr Smith's pice on the Askefruer:

Se trata de una variación nórdica de un tema común en la mitología: los espíritus, siempre descritos con la fuerma de una mujer humana que habitaba en los árboles. El fresno fue un árbol particularmente especial para los habitantes del norte de Europa en la antigüedad: el Arbol del Mundo, el eje con el que el mundo gira, fue el fresno Yggdrasil. [9] (http://www.mundomitologico.com/germanos/diccionario/a.phtml#askefruer)

Askefruer in Dark Age of Camelot

The MMORPG Dark Age of Camelot from 2001 (and thus before the creation of this article), features enemies in the form of Askefruer. We have the Askefruer Trainer (http://camelot.allakhazam.com/db/search.html?cmob=8487), the Fallen Askefruer (http://camelot.allakhazam.com/db/search.html?cmob=8477), the Fallen Askefruer Runemaster (http://camelot.allakhazam.com/db/search.html?cmob=8494), the Fallen Askefruer Guard (http://camelot.allakhazam.com/db/search.html?cmob=8491) and even the Fallen Royal Askefruer Guard (http://camelot.allakhazam.com/db/search.html?cmob=8478). Apparently there are also artifacts relating to Askefruer, such as the Askefruer Wing (http://camelot.allakhazam.com/item.html?citem=19804). A massively (or massive) multiplayer online role-playing game or MMORPG is a multiplayer computer role-playing game that enables thousands of players to play in an evolving virtual world at the same time over the Internet. ... Dark Age of Camelot is a 3-D medieval fantasy MMORPG that revolves around the war between three realms at the end of King Arthurs rule: Englands Albion, Scandinavias Midgard and Irelands Hibernia. ... 2001 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about artifacts in fantasy and roleplaying. ...