Psychology of the Unconscious A Study of the...

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.

513. The close connection between δελφίς = Dolphin and δελφύς = uterus is emphasized. In Delphi there is the cavity in the earth and the Tripod δελφινίς = a delphic table with three feet in the form of a Dolphin. See in the last chapter Melicertes upon the Dolphin and the fiery sacrifice of Melkarth.

514. See the comprehensive collection of Jones. On the nightmare.

515. Riklin: “Wish Fulfilment and Symbolism in Fairy Tales.”

516. Laistner: “Das Rätsel der Sphinx.”

517. Freud: Jahrbuch, Vol. I, June: “Mental Conflicts in Children”: Collected Papers on Analytical Psychology.

518. “Epistola de ara ad Noviomagum reperta,” p. 25. Quoted by Grimm: “Mythology,” Vol. II.

519. Even to-day the country people drive off these nymphs (mother goddesses, Maira) by throwing a bone of the head of a horse upon the roof—bones of this kind can often be seen throughout the land on the farmhouses of the country people. By night, however, they are believed to ride at the time of the first sleep, and they are believed to tire out their horses by long journeys.

520. Grimm: Ibid., Vol. II, p. 1041.

521. Compare with that the horses whose tread causes springs to flow.

522. Compare Herrmann: “Nord. Myth.,” p. 64, and Fick: “Vergleich. Wörterb. d. indogerm. Sprache,” Vol. I.

523. Parallel is the mantic significance of the delphic chasm, Mîmir’s brook, etc. “Abyss of Wisdom,” see last chapter. Hippolytos, with whom his stepmother was enamoured, was placed after death with the wise nymph, Egeria.

524. That these matrons should declare by lots whether it would be to their advantage or not to engage in battle.

525. Example in Bertschinger: Jahrbuch, Vol. III, Part I.

526. Compare the exotic myths given by Frobenius (“Zeitalter des Sonnengottes”), where the belly of the whale is clearly the land of death.

527. One of the fixed peculiarities of the Mar is that he can only get out of the hole, through which he came in. This motive belongs evidently as the projected wish motive in the rebirth myth.

528. According to Gressmann: “Altorient. Text. und Bild.,” Vol. I, p. 4.