Thrita, the First Healer

1 Zarathustra asked God: "O Lord, most beneficent Spirit, Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Who was he who first of the healthful, the wise, the happy, the wealthy, the glorious, the strong men of yore, drove back sickness to sickness, drove back death to death, and first turned away the point of the poniard and the fire of fever from the bodies of mortals?"

2 God answered: "Thrita it was who first of the healthful, the wise, the happy, the wealthy, the glorious, the strong man of yore, drove back sickness to sickness, drove back death to death, and first turned away the point of the poniard and the fire of fever from the bodies of mortals.

3 "He asked for a source of remedies; he obtained it from God, to withstand sickness and to withstand death, to withstand pain and fever, to withstand the disease, rottenness and infection which Satan had brought upon the bodies of mortals by his witchcraft.

4 "And I, God, brought down the healing plants that, by many hundreds, by many thousands, by many myriads, grow up all around the one Gaokerena.

5 "All this health do we ask for, by our blessings, by our prayers, by our praises, upon the bodies of mortals.

7 "O God, we ask Thee to drive away sickness, to drive away death, to drive away pain, to drive away fever, to drive away disease.

8 "By Thy might may we smite down the fiend! By Thy might may we smite the fiend! May Thou give to us strength and power, O Lord!

9 "In God's name I drive away sickness, I drive away death, I drive away pain and fever, I drive away the disease, rottenness, and infection which Satan has brought upon the bodies of mortals by his witchcraft.

10 "I drive away all manner of diseases and deaths, all sorcerers and female fiends, and all the wicked Gahis.

11 "May the much-desired helper come here, by God's leave, for the men and women of Zarathustra to rejoice, for the faithful to rejoice; with the desirable reward that is won by means of the law, and with that boon for holiness that is vouchsafed by the Lord!

12 "May the much-desired helper, by God's leave, smite all manner of diseases and deaths, all sorcerers and female fiends, and all the wicked Gahis."

13 "The will of the Lord is the law of holiness; the riches of the good mind shall be given to him who works in this world for God, and wields according to the will of the Lord the power He gave to him to relieve the poor.

"Whom hast thou placed to protect me, O Lord, while the hate of the fiend is grasping me? Whom but Thy sign, the fire, and the good thought, by whose work the holy world goes on? Reveal to me the rules of Thy law!

"Who is he who will smite the fiend in order to maintain Thy ordinances? Teach me clearly Thy rules for this world and for the next, that the angel Sraosha may come with good thought and help whomsoever Thou pleasest.

"Keep us from our hater, O Lord, and keep us in holy devotion! Perish, O fiendish one! Perish, O brood of the fiend! Perish, O world of the fiend! Perish away, O fiend! Perish away to the regions of the north, never more to give unto death the living world of the holy spirit!"