Urstier

Urstier in Chinese and Persian mythology. There is said to be erected in China, at Miako, in a large pagoda, a statue of a bull entirely of gold. If the reports of the Holland expeditions are true, it is marvelous what a similarity there is in the fable of this bull and that worshipped by the Persians and Egyptians. He is represented as in the act of springing, with the intention of breaking an egg that lies swimming in the water close by a rock. The Chinese, Egyptians, and Persians agree in saying that in this egg the world lay hidden. This egg was swimming about the water until a rock appeared in the water, against which it leaned itself. Then the Urstier came, cracked the shell with his horns, and from this egg there sprang the world and all that is in the world and the breath of the bull gave man life.