By the side of Mithra’s chariot,
     Mithra, lord of the wide pastures,
     Stand a thousand bows well-fashioned
     (The bow has a string of cowgut).

By his chariot also are standing a thousand vulture-feathered, gold-notched, lead-poised, well-fashioned arrows (the barb is of iron); likewise a thousand spears well-fashioned and sharp-piercing, and a thousand steel battle-axes, two-edged and well-fashioned; also a thousand bronze clubs well-fashioned.

     And by Mithra’s chariot also
     Stands a mace, fair and well-striking,
     With a hundred knobs and edges,
     Dashing forward, felling heroes;
     Out of golden bronze ’tis molded.

The second illustrative extract will be taken from Yasht 19, which magnifies in glowing strains the praises of the Kingly Glory.  This “kingly glory” (kavaem hvareno) is a sort of halo, radiance, or mark of divine right, which was believed to be possessed by the kings and heroes of Iran in the long line of its early history.  One hero who bore the glory was the mighty warrior Thraetaona (Feridun), the vanquisher of the serpent-monster Azhi Dahaka (Zohak), who was depopulating the world by his fearful daily banquet of the brains of two children.  The victory was a glorious triumph for Thraetaona (Yt. 19, 37):—­

     He who slew Azhi Dahaka,
     Three-jawed monster, triple-headed,
     With six eyes and myriad senses,
     Fiend demoniac, full of power,
     Evil to the world, and wicked. 
     This fiend full of power, the Devil
     Anra Mainyu had created,
     Fatal to the world material,
     Deadly to the world of Righteousness.

Of equal puissance was another noble champion, the valiant Keresaspa, who dispatched a raging demon who, though not yet grown to man’s estate, was threatening the world.  The monster’s thrasonical boasting is thus given (Yt. 19, 43):—­

     I am yet only a stripling,
     But if ever I come to manhood
     I shall make the earth my chariot
     And shall make a wheel of heaven. 
     I shall drive the Holy Spirit
     Down from out the shining heaven,
     I shall rout the Evil Spirit
     Up from out the dark abysm;
     They as steeds shall draw my chariot,
     God and Devil yoked together.

Passing over a collection of shorter petitions, praises, and blessings which may conveniently be grouped together as ‘Minor Prayers,’ for they answer somewhat to our idea of a daily manual of morning devotion, we may turn to the Vendidad (law against the demons), the Iranian Pentateuch.  Tradition asserts that in the Vendidad we have preserved a specimen of one of the original Nasks.  This may be true, but even the superficial student will see that it is in any case a fragmentary remnant.  Interesting as the Vendidad is to the student of early rites, observances, manners, and customs, it is nevertheless a barren field for the student of literature, who will find in it little more than wearisome prescriptions like certain chapters of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.  It need only be added that at the close of the colloquy between Zoroaster and Ormazd given in Vend. 6, he will find the origin of the modern Parsi “Towers of Silence.”