The Dog

2 (3). The dog with the prickly back, with the long and thin muzzle, the dog Vanghâpara 1, which evil-speaking people call the Duzaka 2; this is the good creature among the creatures of the good spirit that from midnight till the sun is up goes and kills thousands of the creatures of the evil spirit.

3 (6). ‘And whosoever, O Zarathustra! shall kill, the dog with the prickly back, with the long and thin muzzle, the dog Vanghâpara, which evil-speaking people call the Duzaka, kills his own soul for nine generations, nor shall he find a way over the Kinvad bridge 3, unless he has, while alive, atoned for his sin by offering up a sacrifice to Sraosha 4.’

A thousand stripes with the Aspahê-astra, a thousand stripes with the Sraoshô-karana.

800 stripes with the Aspahê-astra, eight hundred stripes with the Sraoshô-karana.

700 stripes with the Aspahê-astra, seven hundred stripes with the Sraoshô-karana.

600 stripes with the Aspahê-astra, six hundred stripes with the Sraoshô-karana.'

500 stripes with the Aspahê-astra, five hundred stripes with the Sraoshô-karana.'

16 (48). ‘This is the penalty for the murder of a Gazu dog, of a Vîzu dog 2, of a Sukuruna dog 3, of a sharp-toothed Urupi dog 4, of a swift-running Raopi 5 dog; this is the penalty for the murder of any kind of dog but the water dog 6’

‘It is the dog who goes a Yugyêsti 1 round about the fold, watching for the thief and the wolf.’

‘It is the dog who goes a Hâthra round about the house, watching for the thief and the wolf.’

‘It is the dog who claims none of those talents, and only seeks for his subsistence 2.’

‘It is the same guilt as though he should serve bad food to a master of a house of the first rank 3.’

‘It is the same guilt as though he should serve bad food to a master of a house of middle rank.’

‘It is the same guilt as though he should serve bad food to a holy man, in the character of a priest 1, who should come to his house.’

‘It is the same guilt as though he should serve bad food to a young man, born of pious parents, and who can answer for himself 2.’

‘He is a Peshôtanu: two hundred stripes with the Aspahê-astra, two hundred stripes with the Sraoshô-karana 3.’

‘Ninety stripes with the Aspahê-astra, ninety stripes with the Sraoshô-karana.’

‘Seventy stripes with the Aspahê-astra, seventy stripes with the Sraoshô-karana.’

‘Fifty stripes with the Aspahê-astra, fifty stripes with the Sraoshô-karana.

28 (75). ‘For it is the dog, of all the creatures of the good spirit, that most quickly decays into age, while not eating near eating people, and watching goods none of which it receives. Bring ye unto him milk and fat with meat; this is the right food for the dog 1.’

30 (82). ‘They shall put a wooden collar around his neck, and they shall tie him to a post, an asti 1 thick if the wood be hard, two astis thick if it be soft. To that post they shall tie him; by the two sides 2 of the collar they shall tie him.

31 (86). ‘If they shall not do so, and the mad dog, or the dog that bites without barking, smite a sheep or wound a man, the dog shall pay for it as for wilful murder 3.

32 (88). ‘If the dog shall smite a sheep or wound a man, they shall cut off his right ear. If he shall smite another sheep or wound another man, they shall cut off his left ear.

33 (90). ‘If he shall smite a third sheep or wound a third man, they shall cut off his right foot 4. If he shall smite a fourth sheep or wound a fourth man, they shall cut off his left foot.

34 (92). ‘If he shall for the fifth time smite a sheep or wound a man, they shall cut off his tail.

‘Therefore they shall tie him to the post; by the two sides of the collar they shall tie him. If they shall not do so, and the mad dog, or the dog that bites without barking, smite a sheep or wound a man, he shall pay for it as for wilful murder.’

‘They shall attend him to heal him, in the same manner as they would do for one of the faithful.’

37 (102). ‘They shall put a wooden collar around his neck, and they shall tie him to a post, an asti thick if the wood be hard, two astis thick if it be soft. To that post they shall tie him; by the two sides of the collar they shall tie him.

38 (102). ‘If they shall not do so, and the scentless dog fall into a hole, or a well, or a precipice, or a river, or a canal, and he be wounded and die thereof, they shall be Peshôtanus.’

39 (106). ‘The dog, O Spitama Zarathustra! I have made self-clothed and self-shod, watchful, wakeful, and sharp-toothed, born to take his food from man and to watch over man’s goods.

I have made the dog strong of body against the evil-doer, and watchful over your goods, when he is of sound mind.

40 (112). ‘Whoever shall awake at his voice, neither shall the thief nor the wolf steal anything from his house, without his being warned, the wolf shall be smitten and torn to pieces; he is driven away, he flees away.’

42 (117). ‘Of these two wolves, the one that is born of a he-dog and of a she-wolf deserves more to be killed than the one that is born of a she-dog and of a he-wolf.

‘For there are born of a he-dog and of a she-wolf such dogs as 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 born as are more murderous, more mischievous, more destructive to the folds than any other dogs.

43 (121). There are born of a he-dog and of a she-wolf such wolves as 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 born as are more murderous, more mischievous, more destructive to the folds than any other wolves.

44 (124). ‘A dog has the characters of eight different 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 wild beast,

‘He has the character of a courtezan,

‘He has the character of a child.

45 (126). ‘He eats broken food, like a priest 1; he is grateful, like a priest; he is easily satisfied 2, like a priest; he wants only a small piece of bread, like a priest; in these things he is like unto a priest.

‘He marches in front, like a warrior; he fights for the beneficent cow, like a warrior 3; he goes first out of the house, like a warrior 4; in these things he is like unto a warrior.

46 (135). ‘He is watchful and sleeps lightly, like a husbandman; he goes first out of the house, like a husbandman 5; he returns last into the house, like a husbandman 6; in these things he is like unto a husbandman.

‘He sings like a strolling singer; he is intrusive 7, like a strolling singer; he is meagre, like a strolling singer; he is poor, like a strolling singer; in these things he is like unto a strolling singer.

47 (143). ‘He likes darkness, like a thief; he prowls about in darkness, like a thief; he is a shameless eater, like a thief; he is an unfaithful keeper, like a thief 1; in these things he is like unto a thief

‘He likes darkness, like a wild beast 2; he prowls about in darkness, like a wild beast; he is a shameless eater, like a wild beast; he is an unfaithful keeper, like a wild beast; in these things he is like unto a wild beast.

48 (153). ‘He sings, like a courtezan; he is intrusive, like a courtezan; he walks about the roads, like a courtezan; he is meagre, like a courtezan; he is poor, like a courtezan; in these things he is like unto a courtezan.

‘He likes sleeping, like a child; he is apt to run away 3, like a child; he is full of tongue, like a child; he goes on all fours 4, like a child; in these things he is like unto a child.

49 (163). ‘If those two dogs of mine, the shepherd’s dog and the house dog, pass by the house of any of my faithful people, 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 5.’

51 (167). ‘It passes to the spring of the waters 2, O Spitama Zarathustra! and there out of every thousand dogs and every thousand she-dogs, two water dogs are formed, a water dog and a water she-dog 3.

52 (170). ‘He who kills a water dog brings about a drought that dries up pastures. Before that time, O Spitama Zarathustra! 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.’

54, 55 (172). ‘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 and the holy soul of the dog has been offered up a sacrifice, for three days and three nights with fire blazing, with baresma tied up, and with Haoma uplifted 1.

56 (174). [‘Then sweetness and fatness will come back again to the land and to those fields, with health and healing, with fulness and increase and growth, and a growing of corn and grass 2.’]