“Thou shalt cleanse a priest for a blessing of the just.  Thou shalt cleanse the lord of a province for the value of a camel of high value.  Thou shalt cleanse the lord of a town for the value of a stallion of high value.  Thou shalt cleanse the lord of a borough for the value of a bull of high value.  Thou shalt cleanse the master of a house for the value of a cow three years old.  Thou shalt cleanse the wife of the master of a house for the value of a ploughing cow.  Thou shalt cleanse a menial for the value of a draught cow.  Thou shalt cleanse a young child for the value of a lamb.  These are the heads of cattle—­flocks or herds—­that the worshippers of Mazda shall give to the man who has cleansed them, if they can afford it; if they cannot afford it, they shall give him any other value that may make him leave their houses well pleased with them, and free from anger.  For if the man who has cleansed them leave their houses displeased with them, and full of anger, then the Drug Nasu enters them from the nose of the dead, from the eyes, from the tongue, from the jaws, from the sexual organs, from the hinder parts.  And the Drug Nasu rushes upon them even to the end of the nails, and they are unclean thenceforth forever and ever.  It grieves the sun indeed, O Spitama Zarathustra! to shine upon a man defiled by the dead; it grieves the moon, it grieves the stars.  That man delights them, O Spitama Zarathustra! who cleanses from the Nasu the man defiled by the dead; he delights the fire, he delights the water, he delights the earth, he delights the cow, he delights the trees, he delights the faithful, both men and women.”

Zarathustra asked Ahura Mazda:—­

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One!  What shall be his reward, after his soul has parted from his body, who has cleansed from the Nasu the man defiled by the dead?

Ahura Mazda answered:—­

“The welfare of Paradise thou canst promise to that man, for his reward in the other world.”

Zarathustra asked Ahura Mazda:—­

O 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 Nasu who from the dead defiles the living?

Ahura Mazda answered:—­

“Say aloud those words in the Gathas that are to be said twice.  Say aloud those words in the Gathas that are to be said thrice.  Say aloud those words in the Gathas that are to be said four times.  And the Drug shall fly away like the well-darted arrow, like the felt of last year, like the annual garment of the earth.”

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One!  If a man who does not know the rites of cleansing according to the law of Mazda, offers to cleanse the unclean, how shall I then 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:—­