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rose not from that confusion, through fear of the righteous man.
6. And, again, the wicked Gêh shouted thus : 'Rise up, thou father of us! for in that conflict I will shed thus much vexation on the righteous man and the labouring ox that, through my deeds, life will not be wanted, and I will destroy their living souls (nismo)2; I will vex the water, I will vex the plants, I will vex the fire of Adharmazd, I will make the whole creation of Adharmazd vexed.' 7. And she so recounted those evil deeds a second time, that the evil spirit was delighted and started up from that confusion; and he kissed Gêh upon the head, and the pollution which they call menstruation became apparent in Gêh.
8. He shouted to Gêh thus : What is thy wish ? so that I may give it thee.' And Gêh shouted to the evil spirit thus: 'A man is the wish, so give it to me.'
9. The form of the evil spirit was a log-like lizard's (vazak) body, and he appeared a young man of fifteen years to Gêh, and that brought the thoughts of Gêh to him s.
1 The word vêsh or vîsh may stand either for bêsh, 'distress, vexation,' as here assumed, or for vish,poison,' as translated by Windischmann and Justi in accordance with the Pâz. MSS.
. That this is the Huzvâris of růbån, soul,' appears from Chap. XV, 3-5, where both words are used indifferently; but it is not given in the Huz.-Pâz. Glossary. It is evidently equivalent to Chald. nismâ, and ought probably to have the traditional pronunciation nisman, an abbreviation of nismman.
3 This seems to be the literal meaning of the sentence, and is confirmed by Chap. XXVIII, I, but Windischmann and Justi understand that the evil spirit formed a youth for Gêh out of a toad's body. The incident in the text may be compared with Milton's idea of Satan and Sin in Paradise Lost, Book II, 745-765.
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