“It is even so as thou hast said, O righteous Zarathustra!  I, Ahura Mazda, seize the waters from the sea Vouru-kasha with the wind and the clouds.  I, Ahura Mazda, take them to the corpses; I, Ahura Mazda, take them down to the Dakhmas; I, Ahura Mazda, take them down to the unclean remains; I, Ahura Mazda, take them down to the bones; then I, Ahura Mazda, make them flow back unseen; I, Ahura Mazda, make them flow back to the sea Puitika.  The waters stand there boiling, boiling up in the heart of the sea Puitika, and, when cleansed there, they run back again from the sea Puitika to the sea Vouru-kasha, towards the well-watered tree, whereon grow the seeds of my plants of every kind by hundreds, by thousands, by hundreds of thousands.  Those plants, I, Ahura Mazda, rain down upon the earth, to bring food to the faithful, and fodder to the beneficent cow; to bring food to my people that they may live on it, and fodder to the beneficent cow.

“This is the best, this is the fairest of all things, even as thou hast said, O pure Zarathustra!”

With these words, the holy Ahura Mazda rejoiced the holy Zarathustra:  “Purity is for man, next to life, the greatest good, that purity, O Zarathustra, that is in the Religion of Mazda for him who cleanses his own self with good thoughts, words, and deeds.”

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One!  This Law, this fiend-destroying Law of Zarathustra, by what greatness, goodness, and fairness is it great, good, and fair above all other utterances?

Ahura Mazda answered:—­

“As much above all other floods as is the sea Vouru-kasha, so much above all other utterances in greatness, goodness, and fairness is this Law, this fiend-destroying Law of Zarathustra.  As much as a great stream flows swifter than a slender rivulet, so much above all other utterances in greatness, goodness, and fairness is this Law, this fiend-destroying Law of Zarathustra.  As high as the great tree stands above the small plants it overshadows, so high above all other utterances in greatness, goodness, and fairness is this Law, this fiend-destroying Law of Zarathustra.  As high as heaven is above the earth that it compasses around, so high above all other utterances is this Law, this fiend-destroying Law of Mazda.  Therefore, he will apply to the Ratu, he will apply to the Srao-sha-varez; whether for a draona-service that should have been undertaken and has not been undertaken; or for a draona that should have been offered up and has not been offered up; or for a draona that should have been intrusted and has not been intrusted.  The Ratu has power to remit him one-third of his penalty:  if he has committed any other evil deed, it is remitted by his repentance; if he has committed no other evil deed, he is absolved by his repentance forever and ever.”

How long shall the piece of ground lie fallow whereon dogs or men have died?

Ahura Mazda answered:—­