The next two scenes are more difficult to interpret with anything approaching certainty. In one of them[846], Mithras is represented as standing upright before a tree from which he cuts or tears a large branch bearing leaves and fruit. He is here naked, save for the distinctive cap; but immediately after, he is seen emerging from the leafage fully clothed in Oriental dress. In the next scene—the relative order of the scenes seems settled by the places they most often occupy on different examples of the same sculptures[847]—Mithras in the Phrygian cap, Persian trousers, and flowing mantle generally worn by him, kneels on one knee drawing a bow, the arrows from which strike a rock in the distance and draw from it a stream of water which a kneeling man receives in his hands and lifts to his mouth[848]. Several variants of this scene exist, in one of which a suppliant is kneeling before the archer-god and raising his hands towards him as if in prayer; while in another, the rock may well be a cloud. M. Cumont can only suggest with regard to these scenes, that the first may be an allusion to the Fall of Man and his subsequently clothing himself with leaves as described in the Book of Genesis, and that the second scene may depict a prolonged drought upon earth, in which man prays to Mithras and is delivered by the god’s miraculous production of rain. He admits, however, that this is pure conjecture, and that he knows no Indian, Persian, or Chaldaean legend or myth to which the scenes in question can be certainly attached. It seems therefore useless to discuss them further here. Passing on, we come to a series of scenes, the meaning of which is more easily intelligible. In all of these a bull plays a principal part. It is abundantly clear that this bull is no terrestrial creature, but is the Goshurun or Heavenly Bull of the Zend Avesta, from whose death come forth not only man, but beasts, trees, and all the fruits of the earth[849]. In the Mithraic sculptures, we see the Bull first sailing over the waters in a cup-shaped boat[850] like the coracles still used on the Euphrates, or escaping from a burning stable to which Mithras and a companion have set fire[851]. Then he is depicted grazing peaceably or raising his head now and then as if alarmed by some sudden noise[852]. Next he is chased by Mithras, who seizes him by the horns, mounts him[853], and after a furious gallop casts him over his shoulders, generally holding him by the hind legs so that the horned head dangles to the ground[854]. In this position, he is taken into the cave which forms the chapel of Mithras.