“Deadly campaign”

In the letter "Deadly campaign,” (Readers’ Forum, Parsiana, January 7, 2007) there is mention of transporting corpses after death to a remote area. This reminded me of a tale I had read in a very old Persian story book.

Long ago, in a Persian village there lived a cruel "Zohak” who indulged in killing, drinking, raping and robbing people. He was hated and feared by all the villagers. When he was dying, he called a meeting of the elders of the village and told them that after death his body should be pierced by dagger wounds. He also wished not to be buried in their village, so as not to pollute their holy soil, but in the neighboring village.

When he died all the villagers came and stabbed his body with daggers and swords to honor his last wishes. They then carried his corpse to a neighboring village for burial. The people of that village became suspicious about why their neighbors should bring the dead "Zohak” to their burial ground and called the police. When the dead body was uncovered it was found to be pierced with wounds and bleeding. The police arrested the whole group of villagers for murder, severely punished and imprisoned them.

The moral of this story was: "Zohak not only harassed them while alive, but got them into trouble after death, for no fault of theirs. This was cruelty at its apex.”

So, dear readers, please heed the above and do not venture to transport the corpses of the dead elsewhere.

MINOO B. DALAL