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SHAYAST LA-SHAYAST.
12. The rule is this, where a child is born, during three days, for protection from demons, wizards, and witches, a fire is to be made at night until daylight, and is to be maintained there in the day, and pure incense is to be put upon it, as is revealed in the thirtieth of the Sakâdûm Nask1.
13. The rule is this, that from a toothpick the bark is to be well cut off, for there are some of those of the primitive faith who have said that, when they shall make it for the teeth with the bark on, and they throw it away, a pregnant woman, who puts a foot upon it, is doubtful about its being dead matter.
5
14. The rule is this, that it is well if any one of those who have their handmaid (kakar) in cohabitation (zanih), and offspring is born of her, shall accept all those who are male as sons; but those who are female are no advantage, because an adopted son (sator) is requisite, and in the fourteenth of the Hûspâram Nask the high-priests
1 That is, in the first thirty sections of the Nask (see Chap. X, 25); the passage alluded to must have been in that portion which treated of new-born infants and their proper treatment.
2 §§ 13-16 are a repetition of Chap. X, 20-23, with a few varia
tions.
The word appears to be tôpo or tûfo, which would rather mean 'scum' or 'gum' (see Bund. XXVII, 19), unless it be considered a miswriting of tôgo or tôzo, which would mean 'thin bark' or 'bast.' It can also be read tûpar, 'a leather bag,' and the sentence can be so translated as to imply that a toothpick should be cut out of a leather bag, an alternative similar to that suggested by the text of Chap. X, 20.
See Chap. I, 3.
Reading amat, 'when,' instead of mûn, 'who' (see Bund. I, 7, note).
See Chap. X, 21.
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