original belief is found in a more definite form in the ancient
story that "the mandrake was fashioned out of the same earth whereof God
formed Adam".[377] In other words the mandrake was part of the same
substance as the earth _didi_.[378]

Further corroboration of this confusion is afforded by a story from
Little Russia, quoted by de Gubernatis.[379] If bryony (a widely
recognized surrogate of mandrake) be suspended from the girdle all the
dead Cossacks (who, like the enemies of Re in the Egyptian story, had
been killed and broken to pieces in the earth) will come to life again.
_Thus we have positive evidence of the homology of the mandrake with red
clay or haematite._

The transference to the mandrake of the properties of the cowry (and the
goddesses who were personifications of the shell) and blood (and its
surrogates) was facilitated by the manifold homologies of the Great
Mother with plants. We have already seen that the goddess was identified
with: (a) incense-trees and other trees, such as the sycamore, which
played some definite part in the burial ceremonies, either by providing
the divine incense, the materials for preserving the body, or for making
coffins to ensure the protection of the dead, and so make it possible
for them to continue their existence; and (b) the lotus, the lily, the
iris, and other marsh plants,[380] for reasons that I have already
mentioned (p. 184).

The Babylonian poem of Gilgamesh represents one of the innumerable
versions of the great theme which has engaged the attention of writers
in every age and country attempting to express the deepest longings of
the human spirit. It is the search for the elixir of life. The object of
Gilgamesh's search is a magic _plant_ to prolong life and restore youth.
The hero of the story went on a voyage by water in order to obtain what
appears to have been a marsh plant called _dittu_.[381] The question
naturally arises whether this Babylonian story and the name of the plant
played any part in Palestine in blending the Egyptian and Babylonian
stories and confusing the Egyptian elixir of life, the red earth _didi_,
with the Babylonian elixir, the plant _dittu_?

In the Babylonian story a serpent-demon steals the magic plant, just as
in India _soma_, the food of immortality, is stolen. In Egypt Isis
steals Re's name,[382] and in Babylonia the Zu bird steals the tablets
of destiny, the _logos_. In Greek legend apples are stolen from the
garden of Hesp