“Then, O Spitama Zarathustra! the Drug Nasu appears to wax stronger than she was before.  Stronger then are sickness and death and the working of the fiend than they were before.”

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One!  What is the penalty that he shall pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:—­

“The worshippers of Mazda shall bind him; they shall bind his hands first; then they shall strip him of his clothes, they shall cut the head off his neck, and they shall give over his corpse unto the greediest of the corpse-eating creatures made by the beneficent Spirit, unto the vultures, with these words:  ’The man here has repented of all his evil thoughts, words, and deeds.  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.’”

Who is he, O Ahura Mazda! who threatens to take away fulness and increase from the world, and to bring in sickness and death?

Ahura Mazda answered:—­

“It is the ungodly Ashemaogha, O Spitama Zarathustra! who in this material world cleanses the unclean without knowing the rites of cleansing according to the law of Mazda.  For until then, O Spitama Zarathustra! sweetness and fatness would flow out from that land and from those fields, with health and healing, with fulness and increase and growth, and a growing of corn and grass.”

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One!  When are sweetness and fatness to come back again to that land and to those fields, with health and healing, with fulness and increase and growth, and a growing of corn and grass?

Ahura Mazda answered:—­

“Sweetness and fatness will never come back again to that land and to those fields, with health and healing, with fulness and increase and growth, and a growing of corn and grass, until that ungodly Ashemaogha has been smitten to death on the spot, and the holy Sraosha of that place has been offered up a sacrifice for three days and three nights, with fire blazing, with Baresma tied up, and with Haoma prepared.  Then sweetness and fatness will come back again to that land and to those fields, with health and healing, with fulness and increase and growth, and a growing of corn and grass.”

SPELLS RECITED DURING THE CLEANSING

Zarathustra asked Ahura Mazda:—­

O Ahura Mazda! most beneficent Spirit, maker of the material world, thou Holy One!  How shall I fight against that Drug who from the dead rushes upon the living?  How shall I fight against that Drug who from the dead defiles the living?

Ahura Mazda answered:—­