In this first of Zarathustra’s speeches, he expounds upon the transformative journey of the human spirit through three stages or metamorphoses: the camel, the lion, and the child. This allegorical discourse delves into the processes by which an individual evolves spiritually and intellectually, shedding old values and creating new ones.

Three transformations of the spirit I name for you: how the spirit becomes a camel, and the camel a lion, and the lion at last a child.

The camel represents the stage where the spirit willingly takes on heavy burdens out of reverence and duty. It asks, “What is the heaviest thing?” and embraces challenges such as humility, self-denial, and the endurance of hardships for the sake of truth. This symbolizes the internalization of societal values and moral commitments, where the individual bears the weight of existing norms and expectations.

In the solitude of the desert, the camel transforms into the lion. The lion seeks to assert its freedom and become master of its own domain. It confronts the “great dragon” named “Thou Shalt,” whose shimmering scales bear the inscriptions of millennia-old values and commandments, referencing the biblical Ten Commandments and the general concept of divine or moral imperatives imposed by religion and society. The lion’s declaration of “I Will” signifies the spirit’s rebellion against external authority and the negation of imposed values. This stage is about freeing oneself from the constraints of tradition and asserting one’s own will, but according to Zarathustra, the lion cannot yet create new values.

The final metamorphosis is from the lion to the child. The child embodies innocence, forgetting, and a new beginning. It represents a fresh start, a free-spirited playfulness, and the capacity for creative affirmation—a “sacred Yes.” Unlike the lion, which could only negate, the child can create new values and meanings. This final stage symbolizes the spirit’s ability to generate its own values and embrace life with spontaneity and joy.

Innocence the child is and forgetting, a beginning anew, a play, a self-propelling wheel,
a first movement, a sacred Yea-saying.

At the end of this discourse, it is noted that Zarathustra was staying in a town called “The Colourful Cow” (“die bunte Kuh”). This may be an allusion to the Buddha’s own favourite town, Kalmasadalmya.