“Thirty paces from the fire; thirty paces from the water; thirty paces from the consecrated bundles of Baresma; three paces from the faithful;—­on that place they shall dig a grave, half a foot deep if the earth be hard, half the height of a man if it be soft; they shall cover the surface of the grave with ashes or cow-dung; they shall cover the surface of it with dust of bricks, of stones, or of dry earth.  And they shall let the lifeless body lie there, for two nights, or three nights, or a month long, until the birds begin to fly, the plants to grow, the hidden floods to flow, and the wind to dry up the earth.  And when the birds begin to fly, the plants to grow, the hidden floods to flow, and the wind to dry up the earth, then the worshippers of Mazda shall make a breach in the wall of the house, and two men, strong and skilful, having stripped their clothes off, shall take up the body from the clay or the stones, or from the plastered house, and they shall lay it down on a place where they know there are always corpse-eating dogs and corpse-eating birds.  Afterwards the corpse-bearers shall sit down, three paces from the dead, and the holy Ratu shall proclaim to the worshippers of Mazda thus:  ’Worshippers of Mazda, let the urine be brought here wherewith the corpse-bearers there shall wash their hair and their bodies.’”

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One!  Which is the urine wherewith the corpse-bearers shall wash their hair and their bodies?  Is it of sheep or of oxen?  Is it of man or of woman?

Ahura Mazda answered:—­

“It is of sheep or of oxen; not of man nor of woman, except a man or a woman who has married the next-of-kin:  these shall therefore procure the urine wherewith the corpse-bearers shall wash their hair and their bodies.”

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One!  Can the way, whereon the carcasses of dogs or corpses of men have been carried, be passed through again by flocks and herds, by men and women, by the fire of Ahura Mazda, by the consecrated bundles of Baresma, and by the faithful?

Ahura Mazda answered:—­

“It cannot be passed through again by flocks and herds, nor by men and women, nor by the fire of Ahura Mazda, nor by the consecrated bundles of Baresma, nor by the faithful.  They shall therefore cause a yellow dog with four eyes,[13] or a white dog with yellow ears, to go three times through that way.  When either the yellow dog with four eyes, or the white dog with yellow ears, is brought there, then the Drug Nasu flies away to the regions of the north, in the shape of a raging fly, with knees and tail sticking out, droning without end, and like unto the foulest Khrafstras.  If the dog goes unwillingly, O Spitama Zarathustra, they shall cause the yellow dog with four eyes, or the white dog with yellow ears, to go six times through that way.  When either the yellow dog with four eyes, or the white dog with yellow ears, is brought there, then the Drug Nasu