previously desired, Hiawatha digs his grave in mother earth, and soon afterwards from this grave the young and fresh maize grows for the nourishment of mankind.
Concerning the thought of this fragment, we have therein a beautiful parallel to the mystery of Mithra, where first the battle of the hero with his bull occurs. Afterwards Mithra carries in "transitus" the bull into the cave, where he kills him. From this death all fertility grows, all that is edible.[29] The cave corresponds to the grave. The same idea is represented in the Christian mysteries, although generally in more beautiful human forms. The soul struggle of Christ in Gethsemane, where he struggles with himself in order to complete his work, then the "transitus," the carrying of the cross,[30] where he takes upon himself the symbol of the destructive mother, and therewith takes himself to the sacrificial grave, from which, after three days, he triumphantly arises; all these ideas express the same fundamental thoughts. Also, the symbol of eating is not lacking in the Christian mystery. Christ is a god who is eaten in the Lord's Supper. His death transforms him into bread and wine, which we partake of in grateful memory of his great deed.[31] The relation of Agni to the Soma-*drink and that of Dionysus to wine[32] must not be omitted here. An evident parallel is Samson's rending of the lion, and the subsequent inhabitation of the dead lion by honey bees, which gives rise to the well-known German riddle:
"Speise ging von dem Fresser und Süssigkeit von dem Starken
(Food went from the glutton and sweet from the strong)."[33]
