shall be smitten and torn to pieces; he is driven away, he melts away like snow."

VII

41. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which of the two wolves deserves more to be killed, the one that a he-dog begets of a she-wolf, or the one that a he-wolf begets of a she-dog?

Ahura Mazda answered: "Of these two wolves, the one that a he-dog begets of a she-wolf deserves more to be killed than the one that a he-wolf begets of a she-dog.

42. "For the dogs born therefrom fall on the shepherd's dog, on the house-dog, on the Vohunazga dog, on the trained dog, and destroy the folds; such dogs are more murderous, more mischievous, more destructive to the folds than any other dogs.

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43. And the wolves born therefrom fall on the shepherd's dog, on the house-dog, on the Vohunazga dog, on the trained dog, and destroy the folds; such wolves are more murderous, more mischievous, more destructive to the folds than any other wolves.

VIII

44. "A dog has the character of eight sorts of people:

"He has the character of a priest,

"He has the character of a warrior,

"He has the character of a husbandman,

“ He has the character of a strolling singer,

"He has the character of a thief,

"He has the character of a disu,

"He has the character of a courtezan,

"He has the character of a child.

45. "He eats the refuse, like a priest; 14 he is easily satisfied,15 like a priest; he is patient, like a priest; he wants only a small piece of bread, like a priest; in these things he is like unto a priest

14 A wandering priest

15"Good treatment makes him joyous."- Commentary.

VOL. VII.-8.

"He marches in front, like a warrior; he fights for the beneficent cow, like a warrior; 16 he goes first out of the house, like a warrior; 17 in these things he is like unto a warrior.

46. "He is watchful and sleeps lightly, like a husbandman; he goes first out of the house, like a husbandman; 18 he returns last into the house, like a husbandman; 19 in these things he is like unto a husbandman.

"He is fond of singing, like a strolling singer; 20 he wounds him who gets too near,21 like a strolling singer; he is ill-trained, like a strolling singer; he is changeful, like a strolling singer; in these things he is like unto a strolling singer.

47. "He is fond of darkness, like a thief; he prowls about in darkness, like a thief; he is a shameless eater, like a thief; he is therefore an unfaithful keeper, like a thief; in these things he is like unto a thief.

• 22

"He is fond of darkness, like a disu; 23 he prowls about in darkness, like a disu; he is a shameless eater, like a disu; he is therefore an unfaithful keeper, like a disu; in these things he is like unto a disu.

48. "He is fond of singing, like a courtezan; he wounds him who gets too near, like a courtezan; he roams along the roads, like a courtezan; he is ill-trained, like a courtezan; he is changeful, like a courtezan; 24 in these things he is like

unto a courtezan.

"He is fond of sleep, like a child; he is tender like snow,

16" He keeps away the wolf and the thief."- Commentary.

17 This clause is, as it seems, repeated here by mistake from Section 46. 18 When taking the cattle out of the stables.

19 When bringing the cattle back to the stables.

20 The so-called Looris of nowadays.

21 He insults or robs the passer-by, like a Loori.-" The Looris wander in the world, seeking their life, bed-fellows and fellow-travelers of the dogs and the wolves, ever on the roads to rob day and night.”— Firdausi. 22" When one trusts him with something, he eats it up."- Commentary.

28 According to Framji, "a wild beast."

24 The description of the courtezan follows closely that of the singer: in the East a public songstress is generally a prostitute. Loori means both a singer and a prostitute.

like a child; he is full of tongue, like a child; he digs the earth with his paws, like a child; in these things he is like unto a child.

IX

49. "If those two dogs of mine, the shepherd's dog and the house-dog, pass by any of my houses, let them never be kept away from it.

For no house could subsist on the earth made by Ahura, but for those two dogs of mine, the shepherd's dog and the house-dog." 25

X

50. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When a dog dies, with marrow and seed dried up, whereto does his ghost go?

51. Ahura Mazda answered: "It passes to the spring of the waters, O Spitama Zarathushtra! and there out of them two water-dogs are formed: out of every thousand dogs and every thousand she-dogs, a couple is formed, a water-dog and a water she-dog.

52. "He who kills a water-dog brings about a drought that dries up pastures.

"Until then, O Spitama Zarathushtra! 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."

53. 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?

54, 55. 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 the murderer of the water-dog has been smitten to death on the spot, and the holy soul of the dog has been offered up a sacrifice, for

25" But for the dog not a single head of cattle would remain in existence."- Saddar 31.

three days and three nights, with fire blazing, with Baresma tied up, and with Haoma prepared.

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56. 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."

FARGARD XIV.- (THE DOG)1

1. Zarathushtra asked Ahura Mazda: "O Ahura Mazda, most beneficent Spirit, Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! He who smites one of those water-dogs that are born one from a thousand dogs and a thousand she-dogs,2 so that he gives up the ghost and the soul parts from the body, what is the penalty that he shall pay?"

2. Ahura Mazda answered: "He shall pay ten thousand stripes with the Aspahe-astra, ten thousand stripes with the Sraosho-karana.3

"He shall godly and piously bring unto the fire of Ahura Mazda ten thousand loads of hard, well dried, well examined wood, to redeem his own soul.

3. "He shall godly and piously bring unto the fire of

1 This Fargard is nothing more than an appendix to the last clause in the preceding Fargard (Section 50 seq.). How the murder of a waterdog (an otter) may be atoned for is described in it at full length. The extravagance of the penalties prescribed may well make it doubtful whether the legislation of the Vendidad had ever any substantial existence in practise. These exorbitant prescriptions seem to be intended only to impress on the mind of the faithful the heinousness of the offense to be avoided.

2 See preceding Fargard, Section 51.

3 He shall pay 50 tanafuhrs (= 15,000 istirs = 60,000 dirhems). "If he can afford it, he will atone in the manner stated in the Avesta; if he can not afford it, it will be sufficient to perform a complete Izasne (sacrifice)."- Commentary.

4 To the altar of the Bahram fire.

5"It is forbidden to take any ill-smelling thing to the fire and to kindle it thereon; it is forbidden to kindle green wood, and even though the wood were hard and dry, one must examine it three times, lest there may be any hair or any unclean matter upon it."- Gr. Rav. Although the pious Arda Viraf had always taken the utmost care never to put on the fire any wood but such as was seven years old, yet, when he entered Paradise, Atar, the genius of fire, showed him reproachfully a large tank full of the water which that wood had exuded (see Arda Viraf x).

Ahura Mazda ten thousand loads of soft wood, of Urvasna, Vohu-gaona, Vohu-kereti, Hadha-naepata, or any sweetscented plant, to redeem his own soul.

4. "He shall godly and piously tie ten thousand bundles of Baresma, to redeem his own soul.

"He shall offer up to the Good Waters ten thousand Zaothra libations with the Haoma and the milk, cleanly prepared and well strained, cleanly prepared and well strained by a pious man, and mixed with the roots of the tree known as Hadha-naepata, to redeem his own soul.

5. "He shall kill ten thousand snakes of those that go upon the belly. He shall kill ten thousand Kahrpus, who are snakes with the shape of a dog. He shall kill ten thousand tortoises. He shall kill ten thousand land-frogs; he shall kill ten thousand water-frogs. He shall kill ten thousand corn-carrying ants; he shall kill ten thousand ants of the small, venomous, mischievous kind.

6. "He shall kill ten thousand worms of those that live on dirt; he shall kill ten thousand raging flies.

"He shall fill up ten thousand holes for the unclean.

"He shall godly and piously give to godly men twice the set of seven implements for the fire, to redeem his own soul, namely:

7. "The two answering implements for fire; a broom; a pair of tongs; a pair of round bellows extended at the bottom, contracted at the top; a sharp-edged sharp-pointed adze; a sharp-toothed sharp-pointed saw; by means of which the worshipers of Mazda procure wood for the fire of Ahura Mazda.

8. "He shall godly and piously give to godly men a set of the priestly instruments of which the priests make use, to redeem his own soul, namely: The Astra; the meat vessel; the Paitidana; the Khrafstraghna; the Sraosho-karana;

• As everything that goes out of man is unclean, his breath defiles all that it touches; priests, therefore, while on duty, and even laymen, while praying or eating, must wear a mouth-veil, the Paitidana, consisting" of two pieces of white cotton cloth, hanging loosely from the bridge of the nose to, at least, two inches below the mouth, and tied with two strings at the back of the head."

"The "Khrafstra-killer "; an instrument for killing snakes, etc. It