 Davidson points out the " strange " phrase " apples of Hel " used in an 11th @-@ century poem by the skald <unk> <unk> . Davidson states this may imply that the apple was thought of by the skald as the food of the dead . Further , Davidson notes that the potentially Germanic goddess <unk> is sometimes depicted with apples and parallels exist in early Irish stories . Davidson asserts that while cultivation of the apple in Northern Europe extends back to at least the time of the Roman Empire and came to Europe from the Near East , the native varieties of apple trees growing in Northern Europe are small and bitter . Davidson concludes that in the figure of Iðunn " we must have a dim reflection of an old symbol : that of the guardian goddess of the life @-@ giving fruit of the other world . " 
