One somewhat far-afield angle to consider is looking into commentary on the Elder Futhark rune "Uruz", which means "Aurochs". The aurochs was the wild ancestor of domesticated cattle, and apparently a pretty tough beastie with rather long horns. It was also important to at least Germanic tribes as something you hunted as a test of manhood (and then made drinking horns out of its horns). Likely due to the drinking horn angle, the rune is also associated with wells and vital energy. Some of the details from the episode reminded me of commentary I've read on the rune, and lately I've been finding lots of places where Celtic and Germanic myths cast interesting lights on each other.

Cheers,
Jeff