[503]. Ship of the sun, which accompanies the sun and the soul over the sea of death to the rising.
[504]. Brugsch: Ibid., p. 177.
[505]. Similarly Isaiah li: 1: “... look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.” Further proof is found in A. von Löwis of Menar: “Nordkaukasische Steingeburtssagen,” Archiv für Religionswissenschaft, XIII, p. 509.
[506]. Grimm: “Mythology,” I, p. 474.
[507]. “Das Kreuz Christi. Rel.-hist.-kirchl.-archaeol. Untersuchungen,” 1875.
[508]. The legend of Seth is found in Jubinal: “Mystères inédits du XV. siècle,” Part II, p. 16. Quoted from Zöckler: Ibid., p. 241.
[509]. The guilt is as always, whenever possible, thrown upon the mother. The Germanic sacred trees are also under the law of an absolute taboo: no leaf may be taken from them, and nothing may be picked from the ground upon which their shadows fall.
[510]. According to the German legend (Grimm: Vol. II, p. 809), the redeeming hero will be born when the tree, which now grows as a weak shoot from the wall, has become large, and when from its wood the cradle can be made in which the hero can be rocked. The formula reads: “A linden shall be planted, which shall bear on high two boughs from the wood of which a “poie” shall be made; the child who will be the first to lie therein is destined to be taken by the sword from life to death, and then salvation will enter in.” In the Germanic legends, the appearance of a future event is connected most remarkably with a budding tree. Compare with this the designation of Christ as a “branch” or a “rod.”
[511]. Herein the motive of the “helpful bird” is apparent. Angels are really birds. Compare the bird clothing of the souls of the underworld, “soul birds.” In the sacrificium Mithriacum, the messenger of the gods (the “angel”) is a raven, the winged Hermes, etc.
[512]. See Frobenius: Ibid.