Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What
shall be the place of that man who has carried a corpse alone? Ahura
Mazda answered: "It shall be the place on this earth wherein is least
water and fewest plants, whereof the ground is the cleanest and the
driest and the least passed through by flocks and herds, by the fire of
Ahura Mazda, by the consecrated bundles of Baresma, and by the
faithful." O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How far from
the fire? How far from the water? How far from the consecrated bundles
of Baresma? How far from the faithful? Ahura Mazda answered: "Thirty
paces from the fire, thirty paces from the water, thirty paces from the
consecrated bundles of Baresma, three paces from the faithful. There, on
that place, shall the worshippers of Mazda erect an enclosure, and
therein shall they establish him with food, therein shall they establish
him with clothes, with the coarsest food and with the most worn-out
clothes. That food he shall live on, those clothes he shall wear, and
thus shall they let him live, until he has grown to the age of a Hana,
or of a Zaurura, or of a Pairista-khshudra. And when he has grown to the
age of a Hana, or of a Zaurura, or of a Pairista-khshudra, then the
worshippers of Mazda shall order a man strong, vigorous, and skilful, to
cut the head off his neck, in his enclosure on the top of the mountain:
and they shall deliver 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.'" O Maker of the
material world, thou Holy One! Who is the third that rejoices the Earth
with greatest joy? Ahura Mazda answered: "It is he who fills up most
burrows of the creatures of Angra Mainyu." O Maker of the material
world, thou Holy One! Who is the fourth that rejoices the Earth with
greatest joy? Ahura Mazda answered: "It is he who sows most corn, grass,
and fruit, O Spitama Zarathustra! who waters ground that is dry, or
drains ground that is too wet. Unhappy is the land that has long lain
unsown with the seed of the sower and wants a good husbandman, like a
well-shapen maiden who has long gone childless and wants a good husband.
He who would till the earth, O Spitama Zarathu