go forth.  From there they come to kill and strike at heart, and they bring locusts as many as they want.  The twelfth of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was Ragha of the three races.  Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created the sin of utter unbelief.  The thirteenth of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the strong, holy Kakhra.  Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created a sin for which there is no atonement, the cooking of corpses.  The fourteenth of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the four-cornered Varena, for which was born Thraetaona, who smote Azi Dahaka.  Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created abnormal issues in women and barbarian oppression.  The fifteenth of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the Seven Rivers.  Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created abnormal issues in women and excessive heat.  The sixteenth of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the land by the sources of the Rangha, where people live who have no chiefs.  Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created Winter, a work of the Devas.  There are still other lands and countries, beautiful and deep, longing and asking for the good, and bright.”

[Footnote 10:  This chapter is an enumeration of sixteen perfect lands created by Ahura Mazda, and of as many plagues created in opposition by Angra Mainyu.  Many attempts have been made, not only to identify these sixteen lands, but also to draw historical conclusions from their order of succession, as representing the actual order of the migrations and settlements of the old Iranian tribes.  But there is nothing in the text to support such wide inferences.  We have here nothing more than a geographical description of Iran, seen from the religious point of view.]

MYTH OF YIMA

Zarathustra asked Ahura Mazda:—­

“O Ahura Mazda, most beneficent Spirit, Maker of the material world, thou Holy One!  Who was the first mortal, before myself, Zarathustra, with whom thou, Ahura Mazda, didst converse, whom thou didst teach the Religion of Ahura, the Religion of Zarathustra?”

Ahura Mazda answered:—­

“The fair Yima, the good shepherd, O holy Zarathustra! he was the first mortal, before thee, Zarathustra, with whom I, Ahura Mazda, did converse, whom I taught the Religion of Ahura, the Religion of Zarathustra.  Unto him, O Zarathustra, I, Ahura Mazda, spake, saying:  ’Well, fair Yima, son of Vivanghat, be thou the preacher and the bearer of my Religion!’ And the fair Yima, O Zarathustra, replied unto me, saying:  ’I was not born, I was not taught to be the preacher and the bearer of thy Religion.’  Then I, Ahura Mazda, said thus unto him, O Zarathustra, ’Since