day is at its end, when
flocks and men lose their way, what shall the worshippers of Mazda do?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"The place in that house 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;--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 thro