Hair and Nails

1 Zarathustra asked God: "O Lord, most beneficent Spirit, Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which is the most deadly deed whereby a man increases most the baleful strength of the devils, as he would do by offering them a sacrifice?"

2 God answered: "It is when a man here below, combing his hair or shaving it off, or paring off his nails, drops them in a hole or in a crack.

3 "Then for want of the lawful rites being observed, the devils gain strength in the earth; for want of the lawful rites being observed, those Khrafstras are produced in the earth which men call lice, and which eat up the corn in the corn-field and the clothes in the wardrobe.

4 "Therefore, O Zarathustra, whenever here below thou shalt comb thy hair or shave it off, or pare off thy nails, thou shalt take them away ten paces from the faithful, twenty paces from the fire, thirty paces from the water, fifty paces from the consecrated bundles of baresma.

5 "Then thou shalt dig a hole, a disti deep if the earth be hard, a vitasti deep if it be soft; thou shalt take the hair down there and thou shalt say aloud these fiend-smiting words: 'Through His holiness God made the plants grow up.'

6 "Thereupon thou shalt draw three furrows with a knife of metal around the hole, or six furrows or nine, and thou shalt chant the Ahuna-Vairya three times, or six, or nine.

7 "For the nails, thou shalt dig a hole, out of the house, as deep as the top joint of the little finger; thou shalt take the nails down there and thou shalt say aloud these fiend-smiting words: 'The words that are heard from the pious in holiness and good thought . . .'

8 "Then thou shalt draw three furrows with a knife of metal around the hole, or six furrows or nine, and thou shalt chant the Ahuna-Vairya three times, or six, or nine.

9 "And then: 'Look here, O bird of holiness! here are the nails for thee: look at the nails here! May they be for thee so many spears, knives, bows, falcon-winged arrows, and sling-stones against the Mazainya devils!'

10 "If those nails have not been dedicated to the bird, they shall be in the hands of the Mazainya devils so many spears, knives, bows, falcon-winged arrows, and sling stones against the Mazainya devils.

11 "All such sinners, embodiments of the fiend, are scorners of the law: all scorners of the law are rebels against the Lord: all rebels against the Lord are ungodly men; and any ungodly man shall answer for it before God."