1. WHEN night came, the king sat privately with Zarathustra; and I'hua'Mazda cast a light on the wall, and the soul of So-qi came and appeared before Asha. So-qi said: Knowest thou who I am? And Asha said: Yea, So-qi.
2. So-qi said: True, O king, the soul is immortal! And then it disappeared. Asha said: It seemeth to be So-qi. And yet if it were he, would he not have called me, Asha, instead of, O king? Then spake Zarathustra, saying: Call thou for some other spirit? Asha said: Suffer, then, the soul of my wife to appear.
3. Again the light appeared, and the soul of Asha's wife inhabited it, and he saw her. Asha said: It is, indeed. And then she disappeared. Asha said: Had it been she, she had spoken. Zarathustra said: Call thou for another spirit. Asha called Choe'jon, the songster, who looked like no other p. 187b man under the sun. And Choe'jon also appeared; and even sang one of the songs about the slaughter of the infants.
4. Asha said: It was like Choe'jon; but had it been he, he had surely mentioned the miracle. Then Zarathustra said: Call yet for another spirit. And Asha called, and another appeared; and thus it continued until twenty souls of the dead had shown themselves, and talked with him, face to face, and every one had related things pertinent to themselves.
5. Then spake Zarathustra, saying: To-morrow night shalt thou again sit with me. Now, on the next night, twenty other spirits of the dead appeared and spake face to face with the king. But yet he believed not. Then spake I'hua'Mazda through Zarathustra, saying: What will satisfy thee, O man? For I declare unto thee, that spirit is not provable by corpor, nor corpor by spirit. There are two things; one groweth by aggregating, and the other groweth by dissemination, of which All Light is the highest. As by darkness light is known, and by light darkness known, similarly diverse are corpor and spirit known.
6. I'hua'Mazda said: Thy generations, O king, have been long bred in unbelief in spirit, and unbelief is so entailed upon thee that evidence is worthless before thee. Who thinkest thou I am?
7. Asha said: Zarathustra. Then Zarathustra asked him, saying: Who thinkest thou I am?
8. Again Asha said: Zarathustra. To which I'hua'Mazda said: Because thou seest with thine eyes this corporeal body, and heareth with thine ears this corporeal voice, so dost thy corporeal judgment find an answer.
9. But I declare to thee, O king, there is a spiritual judgment as well as a corporeal judgment. There is a spiritual man within all men, and it never dieth. The spiritual man, which is within, is the only one that can discern spiritual things. It is the only one that can recognize the spirits of the dead.
10. Then Asha said: How shall I prove there be not some element belonging to thee personally, that is as a mirror, to reproduce a semblance of whatsoever is within thy thoughts?
11. I'hua'Mazda said: What would p. 188b that profit thee if proven? And what profit if not proven? Hear me, then, for this is wisdom: There are millions of souls in heaven that are in the same doubt thou art now in, not knowing that they themselves are dead. Especially those slain in war and in unbelief of spirit life.
12. The king said: Who, then, sayest thou, thou art? I'hua'Mazda said: First, there is Ormazd, Creator, Who is over all and within all, Whose Person is the Whole All. Then there are the unseen worlds in the sky; then this world, and the stars, and sun, and moon. After them, mortals, and the spirits of the dead.
13. Hear me, O king; because the dead know not the All High heavens, the Ormazd, Whose name signifieth Master of All Light, sendeth His exalted angels down to the earth as masters and teachers, having captains and high captains, that their labor be done orderly. The highest captain is therefore called I'hua'Mazda, that is, master voice over mortals and spirits for their exaltation.
14. Know, then, O king, I, who speak, have thee and thy city and thy country within my keeping. I am come to stay man's bloody hand. And through Zarathustra will I reveal the laws of Ormazd; and they shall stand above all other laws. Because thou art the most skilled of men, I made thee king; because thou hast seen that man must have an All Highest Law, I have come to thee. Yea, from thy youth up, and during thy long life, I have spoken to thy soul, saying: Asha, find thou the All Highest: Asha, thou shalt have a strange labor before thou diest! Asha, thou, that hast attained to the measurement of the stars, shalt find a Power behind the stars!
15. The king said: Enough! Enough! O stranger! Thou turnedst my head with wonders. I scarce know if I am living or dead, because of the mastery of thy wisdom. Alas, my kindred are dead; my friends are fools! I have none to tell these wonders to. All thy days shalt thou live in my palace, and whosoever thou demandest for wife, shall be granted unto thee.
16. I'hua'Mazda said: Till I come again to thee, O king, keep thine own counsel. For the present, I must return to the forest. Give me, therefore, of thy choicest ink and brushes p. 189b and writing cloth, and send thou two servants with me. Asha said: Suffer thou me to be one of thy servants, and I will abdicate my throne!
17. I'hua'Mazda said: I shall need thee where thou art. Thus ended the interview with the king. The next day Zarathustra returned to the forest, to write the Zarathustrian laws.