The complaint of the ox.
In one of the oldest religious texts anywhere, the soul of the ox goes up to heaven and complains: it is being beaten, herded and slaughtered, and it wants a protector with power. The assembly answers that the only man found is Zarathustra, who has a weak voice. The ox says, in effect, that this is not what it asked for.
Yasna 29, the Complaint of the Ox's Soul, is among the oldest surviving religious texts and it is genuinely odd. The soul of the ox — geush urvan, standing for the whole domestic animal world and by extension the good creation — cries out to the divine assembly: for whom did you shape me, who made me, fury and violence and cruelty oppress me, I have no protector but you, so procure for me good pasture. Asha replies that no judge free of enmity is known for the ox. Ahura Mazda declares that Zarathustra alone has listened to the teaching. And the ox's soul answers, in most translations, with something close to dismay — that it wanted a powerful lord with a strong arm and has been given a man with a feeble voice. It is a founding text in which the creation being saved openly doubts the credentials of the saviour, and no later editor removed it.
For whom did you shape me? Who created me? Fury and violence and cruelty and outrage oppress me. I have no shepherd other than you — obtain good pasture for me.
Gathas, Yasna 29.1 (rendered)The soul of the ox, addressing the divine assembly. It goes on to object that the protector offered has a weak voice.
The same ground, other faiths
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