Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 4.djvu/109

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deluge is sent as a punishment from God, whereas in the dualistic version it is a plague from the Daêvas: but the core of the two legends is the same: the hero in both is a righteous man who, forewarned by God, builds a refuge to receive choice specimens of mankind, intended some day to replace an imperfect humanity, destroyed by a universal calamity.

I.

I. Zarathustra asked Ahura Mazda:

O Ahura Mazda, most beneficent Spirit, Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Who was the first mortal, before myself, Zarathustra, with whom thou, Ahura Mazda, didst converse^[1], whom thou didst teach the Religion of Ahura, the Religion of Zarathustra?

2 (4). Ahura Mazda answered: The fair Yima^[2], the good shepherd, O holy Zarathus'tra! he was the first mortal, before thee, Zarathustra, with whom I, Ahura Mazda, did converse, whom I taught the Religion of Ahura, the Religion of Zarathustra.

3 (7), Unto him, O Zarathustra, I, Ahura Mazda, spake, saying: 'Well, fair Yima, son of Vlvanghat, be thou the preacher and the bearer of my Religion!'

And the fair Yima, O Zarathusra, replied unto me, saying:

'I was not born, I was not taught to be the preacher and the bearer of thy Religion.'

4 (11). Then I, Ahura Mazda, said thus unto him, O Zarathustra:

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1. 'On the Religion' (Comm.)
2. 'His being a good shepherd means that he held in good condition herds of men and herds of animals' (Comm)