1. BECAUSE of the destruction of Tse'gow, there were hundreds of thousands of people rendered homeless and destitute, and groups were surging about in all places, crying out for food, or for some needful thing. I'hua'Mazda said to Zarathustra, the All Pure: The ill-fortune of mortals is the good fortune of the righteous Gods; but the good fortune of mortals is the glory of the evil Gods. Think not that because Tse'gow is burned, and the people hungry, the Voice of the Father is out of place. Now is the time they will give ear. By the loss of earthly treasures, the soul seeketh for that which will endure forever.
2. Go thou, therefore, O Zarathustra, and I will go with thee; and criers shall be sent out, calling the people to the valley of Tsoak'ya this night.
3. So it came about, when night set in, Zarathustra came before the people, and there were tens of thousands of them. I'hua'Mazda spake to them, explaining the Ormazdian law.
4. When he was done speaking, he took Hi'ti'us, the king's widow; her children, and forty others, and made a crescent of them; and he stood betwixt the horns thereof. And to his left and right were many of his companions. Thus prepared, Zarathustra sang a song, such as the I'hins had taught him in his youth.
5. And the drujas were ushered into the crescent, taking on sar'gis, the king amongst the number. And the spirit of the king was softened, for they sang peace to his soul and joy forever; and presently, he awoke from his craziness, and remembered he was dead; and he rejoiced in Zarathustra, and applauded him before all the people. And likewise the spirits of darkness who were with him did in the same manner.
6. Zarathustra said: Behold, I have not come in a dark age. Ye shall not worship any man born of woman, nor call him sacred. One only, Who is Ormazd, the Creator, is Master over all the world. Hear ye now my voice unto Him!
7. Zarathustra stretched his arms upward, full of energy, and I'hua'Mazda spake through him, saying: Light of Light, O Father, hear Thou Thy Son! With thy Almighty hand bless Thou these faithful sufferers! Hardly had these words been spoken, when there fell from the air above, fish and fruit and grains and roots, and all things good to eat, more than sufficient to feed the famished people for three days; and there were more than thirty thousand of them.
8. And all this while the sar'gis of the king looked on, and beheld what had been done; and he cried out with a loud voice: Blessed art Thou, O Ormazd! O that I had known Thee! O that I had sought to find Thee! Hi'ti'us, my wife! And my blessed babes! Swear ye to the king, ye will proclaim the I'hua'Mazdian law, forever! Swear it! Give me joy! Swear! swear! swear!
9. Then Hi'ti'us and the children held up their hands as directed by I'hua'Mazda, swearing a solemn oath to maintain the love of Ormazd and the Zarathustrian law, forever. After these, there came thousands and thousands of others, who also swore in p. 225b the same way. I'hua'Mazda then took away the sar'gis, and the spirits could not be seen by mortals.