I’m sure you’ve all heard that it was “a sin to kill a mocking bird”?
Well, according to the 9th century middle persian text, the Dadestan Menogit’s a sin to kill a beaver too. A really, really bad one.
The Dadestan is a book of questions that has no known author. The oldest copy is in the British Library from around 1500 but it was retold in oral tradition much, much earlier than that. It’s one of those secondary religious texts that tell you how to live your life according to the Spirit of Wisdom who is repeatedly questioned by a high priest of Zoroastrianism.
Zoroastrianism (also known as Zarathustra) is one of the world’s oldest continuously practiced religions, and probably THE FIRST monotheistic one. It is pre-muslim, pre-Christian, pre-you name it and scholars have argued that constructs like heaven and hell are based on it. In general it is based on the juxtaposition of good and evil in all things.
According to Zoroastrian tradition, Zoroaster had a divine vision of a supreme being while partaking in a pagan purification rite at age 30. Zoroaster began teaching followers to worship a single god called Ahura Mazda.
And before you say you never heard of it, you have too. This iconic introduction is set to the music of Ricard Strasse “Thus Spake Zarathustra“.
Well, of course when the high priest has the spirit of wisdom alone he asks him the obvious question. “You gave me a big list of sins, but of that list, which one is the worst?” A cynic like myself would think this translates as, I’m never ever going to be able to follow ALL of these rules, so give me the top one or two, will you?
And the spirit of wisdom generously produces a “Top list” of thirty three, Some of which you might expect and some extolling the ridicuius don’t be gay philosophy. But I thought you’d enjoy learning about number seven.
Okay it’s true that killing a beaver is only number seven on the list, but it’s SEVEN of THIRTY THREE so that means it’s still a very big deal. In fact it’s the ONLY one on the list that says “Don’t kill”. You are welcome to kill your parents or your wife or that man who bugs you but NO ONE can kill a beaver.
I don’t know if you can read the footnotes there but it basically says that the beaver is mysteriously called “The ANGEL of the waters” perhaps to draw the contrast between it and “The Demon of the waters”- which I was very amused yesterday to read some scholars have argued is the river otter.
According to the Dadestan killing a beaver is such a mighty sin that if it’s committed the only way you can get back in God’s good graces is to kill a bunch of serpents, which is bad news for the snake people. But come ON, we’re it’s pretty rare news for team beaver.
Maybe the part I like best about this, is the term “water-dog”. Because beaver heads as they swim in the water are very similar to dog hears, just working a LOT LESS HARD.
