(1) Zarathustra belonged to a pastoral tribe in northern Persia.

(2) Zarathustra interpreted the struggle between good and evil forces in ethical terms, and he believed that it pervaded the whole universe.

(3) When Zarathustra arrived at the nearest town which adjoineth the forest, he found many people assembled in the market-place; for it had been announced that a rope-dancer would give a performance.

(4) Zarathustra, however, remained standing, and just beside him fell the body, badly injured and disfigured, but not yet dead.

(5) Neither is Zarathustra indignant at a convalescent who looketh tenderly on his delusions, and at midnight stealeth round the grave of his God; but sickness and a sick frame remain even in his tears.

(6) Yes, I recognize Zarathustra. His eyes are clear now, no longer does he sneer with loathing. Just see how he dances along!

(7) People commended unto Zarathustra a wise man, as one who could discourse well about sleep and virtue: greatly was he honoured and rewarded for it, and all the youths sat before his chair.

(8) In Part IV, Zarathustra assembles in his cave a number of men who approximate, but who do not quite attain the position of the overman.

(9) The saint laughed at Zarathustra, and spoke: "Then see to it that they accept your treasures!

(10) When the morning dawned, however, Zarathustra found himself in a thick forest, and no path was any longer visible.

(11) So the thought of eternal return serves Zarathustra as, quote: one more reason for himself to be the eternal yes to all things: the incredible boundless yes sayer.

(12) Zarathustra came down from the mountains alone, meeting no one.

(13) "Hunger attacketh me, " said Zarathustra, "like a robber. Among forests and swamps my hunger attacketh me, and late in the night.

(14) "On mine honour, my friend, " answered Zarathustra, "there is nothing of all that whereof thou speakest: there is no devil and no hell.

(15) Mithra like the rest of the gods and goddess of the Iranian Pantheon was stripped of his sovereignty, and all his powers and attributes were bestowed upon Zarathustra.

(16) A classic example of enlargement is Nietzsche's encounter with Zarathustra, which made of the critic and aphorist a tragic poet and prophet. Another example is St.

(17) After a while consciousness returned to the shattered man, and he saw Zarathustra kneeling beside him.

(18) "A living man and a dead one, " said Zarathustra.

(19) In the Avesta, the holy book of the religion of Zarathustra, Ahura-Mazda was said to have created Mithras in order to guarantee the authority of contracts and the keeping of promises.

(20) And when he had said this, the buffoon vanished; Zarathustra, however, went on through the dark streets.

(21) At the gate of the town the grave-diggers met him: they shone their torch on his face, and, recognising Zarathustra, they sorely derided him.

(22) How many of you have heard Richard Strauss's Also Sprach zarathustra?

(23) He cited the example of Friedrich Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1891), which includes an incident almost directly lifted from a book published in 1835.