Gayomart

Gayo-maretan stood on the earth for three thousand years. In Persian Mythology, no other people were there before Angra-Mainyu crashed through the sky. The evil being caused mountains and valleys to form and unleashed repulsive creatures, including snakes, scorpions and lizards. He also heaped disease, hate, pain, hunger and greed upon the king.

Gayo-maretan managed to ward off the frightening fiend for thirty years. At last the attacks overcame him, and he collapsed dead in the dirt. Ahura-Mazda descended and infused the man's remains with golden light, purifying and warming them. The body remained where it fell while the sun shone brightly on that same spot for forty years. The attack first changed the land around him.

At the end of those forty years, a rhubarb plant forced its way from the soil. Its stalks and leaves became the bodies and limbs of a man and a woman, Mashya and Mashyanag. The stalks provided their bodies, while the leaves provided their limbs. They were father and mother of humankind. The couple broke free of the plant's roots and walked upon the Earth.