Chapter 8
It's sorted, Rodgers. It's all sorted. I translated the last tablet just minutes ago and I'm typing this up because I need to share this before I leave. There is a lot going on at the moment in London, and I'm sure where you are is no picnic either. But in the face of all the recent turmoil, I have made travel plans. But I am getting ahead of myself again. Please be patient with me and I will do my best not to ramble.
The final tablet begins with Anat returning to the palace-palace. You can imagine that her heart is heavy as she now stands at a crossroads: does she stay to satisfy her lust for battle in a place where she feels she belongs or does she return to her home to celebrate with her brother and resume her duty among the divine council? And if she leaves, how will her host respond? We get a repeat of the rites of Anat: her ritual undressing stanzas from Tablet III. However, this time, there is a change. Below is the first stanza:
At the door, the violent goddess removes her battle-crown
At the threshold, she returns it to the (rabsaris).
She has no mouth yet she speaks,
"Why have you returned your battle-crown to the general?"
The violent goddess answers,
"Can I take with me items so singular in being?
Continue on, burning one. Such are the rites of Mount Inbubu."
Yes, the loanwords are back for describing attendants in the court of Sheol, but that's not the main call of interest. Here she isn't simply removing the battle-crown for a period of rest and setting it aside to don later; instead, she is returning the garb she has been gifted. Again her agency is at play here and it is almost a reflection of the underworld removing her godly garb. And look at what she gives as a reason: "Can I take with me items so singular in being?"
If you recall my last email, you will remember that I postulated that somehow the writer was conceptualising alternate worlds. That rather than just one earth, the writer was aware (or at least imagined) that alternate realities were possible. This is my conclusion, as wild as it is, to the mysterious phrase used to describe Neth'Kol: "place beyond the spheres".
If all the above is assumed, this would explain just what Anat means when she says the battle-crown is so "singular". The writer seems to believe that whatever happens or is created within Neth'Kol is more... "real" than anything within the spheres. And this makes sense. If you remember reading that recently published article from Ilya Smirnov I sent you a few months ago, you'll recall his theoretical items that he dubbed "monodimensional" to solve the ontological question of metaobjects. I believe that this concept is also indirectly being explored in this piece by the writer many millennia ago. What Anat has been gifted outside a sphere is somehow "more" that item than if it had been created inside a sphere. There wouldn't be multiple versions of it possibly existing in other realities: it would be singular in every way.
Each of the three gifted items is removed and returned to their respective attendants in order. At the end of it, she is bare again and from this point, she is only addressed as the "violent goddess" three more times (two by the narrator) and I believe each one is a deliberate choice. I will cover those when they come up.
Anat and her host go down to rest and Anat addresses the burning being as "beloved one" and there is no disputing this translation. I thought perhaps I was reading too much into the text. When considering the time and cultural context in which this must have been written, I didn't want to come in applying modern sensibilities; however, after this, you will see the writer was rather explicit that this relationship was more than just "and they were good friends".
In that rest the two shared songs,
Even in that time, the two exchanged psalms.
And a great cry went out from (Sheol),
A wailing in ([Beth]-Ayin),
As the Maiden Anat prepared to leave.
In the halls of Beth-Ayin, the burning one's magnificent palace, there is sadness. It seems Anat became more or less a member of their family. Whether it was because of her efficiency in battle or because of her acceptance by their matriarch, I do not know. But it does add to the rather melancholy tone to the pending separation.
After the final resting period, Anat must leave. The writer brings back the two lines from Tablet III but flips them to show that Anat is indeed separating from her beloved:
She rises with the burning one and does not dress for battle
Anat readies not with the scorching one and does not march for war.
And after this, her host has a parting lament:
She has no mouth yet she speaks,
"The halls of (Beth-Ayin) will not be the same,
Even the paths of (Sheol) not as they were.
My heart will ache on the battlefield.
And when I retire for the night
When the swarms have retreated for a time,
I will find only emptiness in my bed-chamber,
Only a void where there should be comfort.
For I have lost my right hand.
Even lost my violent goddess."
Yikes. It tugs at the heartstrings, does it not, Rodgers? I had to share it in its entirety because not only does it dispel the worried notion I had that I was reading too much into hers and Anat's relationship, but it also carries with it the lamentation and weight of losing a loved one. A person she loves dearly has come into her life and nothing will be the same after she has left. It conveys in a few short lines the utter loneliness and kenopsia of an empty bed and a silent home.
Anat, to her credit, is not at a loss for words and immediately responds with a similar short lament that I feel is just as poignant. It also raises an interesting question:
Maiden Anat responds,
"My eyes will long for the sight of your fight-dance
and my ears will long for the sound of your voice.
My nose will long for the scent of your (incense?)
And my mouth will long for the taste <...>.
I will long for your touch on Mount Inbubu.
We have fought side by side
Even slept breast to breast.
Yet I do not know your name
<...>"
First, let me get the second line out of the way: yes, this is as direct a translation as I could give. I am not sure what it is supposed to mean. It could mean she enjoys watching the scalding one fight or it could mean she enjoys fighting with her. But it could also mean they enjoy dancing, or perhaps the burning one dances for her which – considering their relationship – wouldn't be farfetched. Regardless, there is an intimate physicality to their relationship that Anat will miss.
Anat lists off each of her senses and how they will miss experiencing her beloved. Her eyes will miss the hapax legomenon fight-dance, her ears will miss her voice (yet she has no mouth), her nose will miss her scent (here the word is damaged and could be translated as incense, but I can't be confident), her mouth will long for the taste of something that has been "damaged", and in general she will miss her touch when she returns to her mountain.
I put the "damage" in quotes because I think this was vandalised, which makes sense. This isn't the first time the tablets have shown distinct and obvious signs of purposeful damage. Considering the rather scandalous content of this portion, I wouldn't put it past later generations to damage the tablets in an attempt to erase homosexual depictions of deities.
Finally, at the end, we get the question I've been wondering since Tablet II. Anat mentions that they've fought side by side and even slept breast to breast, yet she doesn't know her name. I find that remarkable.
The story has it that Anat and this fiery being have been fighting untold numbers of armies and warriors in this external place for an unspecified (perhaps technically infinite) period of time and yet the fiery one's name is not shared. That tells me likely two things: first, Anat has never been separate from the burning one, and second Anat and the scalding one are so in sync that they may not even need to address each other by name. Perhaps this lends credence to the burning one communicating mentally.
Anat's beloved responds and here we have probably one of the most maddening censorings. Rodgers, her name has been scratched out. The name of this being is scratched out, and quite deliberately, too. There is only a smidgen of the final characters available and I can barely make out /nl/. Likely "nul" or "nol", though I'm not sure which. Here, Rodgers, I've included it below:
She has no mouth yet she speaks,
"I have many names,
I have earned many titles.
You may call me <...>(nl?)
{Lady of} Ending-Flame."
We do get a rather delightful consolation prize: an epithet. The direct phrasing is Ending-Flame and it is given a feminine context, so I've translated it with extra English wording for the context to be communicated. Our mystery being is the Lady of Ending-Flame according to the writer. Though if I were to give way to what the writer likely intended, a more modern rendering could be Lady of Hellfire; or, more directly, just Hellfire.
This makes sense to me. Recall how she was described when she was introduced: her countenance was likened to the sun and the battle to save Anat did not end until fire was used. The exact term was "ending-flame" and looking back, hellfire could work just as well there. Recall that all her unofficial epithets relate to fire in an aggressive role: burning and scorching. And finally, Anat's description of her; I translated it as "lovely" but it could also be translated as "brilliant." As in a brilliant light.
Perhaps it is the cleansing fire roaring at my back in Vincent's fireplace that's making me feel poetic on such things, but I can't deny it's a perfect title for this character, this entity. I say "entity" and am reminded of your recent insight that she is never identified as a god. As you pointed out, she knows what a god is considering she identified Anat as one in Tablets II and III before introductions even took place. Curious, so what is she? Anyway, going forward I will be using "Hellfire" to refer to this mystery being.
After this revelation, Anat approaches Hellfire (whose primary name is frustratingly scrubbed out again), and a curious turn of phrase is used here:
Then Maiden Anat approaches <...>
The violent goddess before The [Lady of] Ending-Flame.
She has a mouth yet she does not speak.
Anat approaches and kisses her lips,
Her lips are sweet, sweet as pomegranate.
Maiden Anat embraces the burning one and there is passion.
The violent goddess holds the scorching one close
And there is (love?)
Every time Hellfire speaks throughout the story, the phrase "she has no mouth yet she speaks" or some form of it is used. I even commented on it when it first appeared and that has led to my above assumption that she speaks perhaps through mental suggestion or some other unexplained method. But here we see she can have a mouth but it isn't used to speak, instead it is to share a final tender moment. One might even imagine that she conjured one in that moment for a final fleeting goodbye.
The description of their embrace is similar to El and his two wives from The Lovely Gods, though instead of ending in bearing children, this ends with both going their separate ways. I am not confident in the final line's translation, but something just feels right about it. A burning feeling at the back of my brain, Rodgers. I can't explain it but somehow I know this translation to be correct.
This is the last place in the text where Anat is referred to as "the violent goddess". After the final goodbye, Anat turns to Desnu (who has apparently followed them to Sheol and stayed for the rest period) and asks that he accompany her back to "the sphere". Yes, "the sphere" is where Anat is going and now being at the end of this tablet, I am more than confident that my interpretation of this being a Canaanite many-worlds concept is correct. Unfortunately, Desnu replies that he cannot go back with her:
"Can a soul reverse its travel?
Can the transition from the underworld to this place be undone?
I cannot do what you ask,
To reverse the transit is something only the gods can do.
Now, my place is here
And <...>
It's one final painful nail in the coffin and demonstrates to the reader just how much this place of singularity beyond the spheres can take. Now, in previous tablets, there has been this sort of concept of "transit" from the underworld (or sphere in general) to Neth'Kol. In the last tablet, Anat says something that I didn't draw too much attention to because I wanted more time with the translation. But now, on reading Desnu's denial, I have to share the snippet from Tablet V:
"Why has Desnu come to this place?
Why has one of the Rephaim transitioned to the place beyond the sphere?
See how the journey has changed you.
See how your features have become as a foreigner."
See what I mean, Rodgers? I'm sorry to have to go back to a previous tablet, especially considering just how long this email is turning out to be, but all that talk about transit got me thinking. Travel to Neth'Kol is dangerous for a god, but for a human soul? It is permanent. It appears to be a one-way ticket as some sort of bodily transformation occurs that morphs the Rephaim into something else. I translated the word as "foreigner" but something still doesn't feel right about it. I feel like it isn't simply a foreign individual such as an alien from another land. I instead get the sense that Desnu's very core has been twisted, changed into something wholly unrecognisable.
I believe that my instincts would be proven correct had this section of text on the final tablet not been utterly damaged. There are at least four lines completely missing and another line with only the ending of the line readable.
So now that Anat has to abandon both Desnu and Hellfire, the violent goddess travels alone. To speak on that epithet, Anat from here forward is never addressed as "the violent goddess". Since undressing, we have only seen the term three times.
First, it is the only title that Hellfire uses to address Anat in the text as we see in the earlier lament. And this is despite Anat giving her name as well as her epithet "Mistress of the Peoples" on first meeting in Tablet III. Like Death, Hellfire seems to address Anat at her core rather than how Anat has been taught to present herself. But notice that there is ownership over Anat. Unlike Death, Hellfire calls Anat "my violent goddess" rather than "the violent goddess" and this makes it a more personal term, almost a term of endearment. Perhaps their names were never used in unrecorded conversations and instead, they referred to each other by titles or pet-names: Hellfire may have called Anat "my violent goddess" while Anat may have only referred to Hellfire as "scorching one" or "burning one". Or maybe even "beloved one"? It's quite likely and would explain why names were not exchanged.
The final two uses of the title are in the narrative and are within the dublets of their final embrace. It pairs up the term with the burning one's title of "Hellfire" (as the line before would have paired up Anat's personal name with Hellfire's primary name had the primary name not been scrubbed! Rodgers, I am still utterly upset about this). Then it uses the term for a final time in the final line of their embrace, which is also the final mention of Hellfire in the record.
I'm sorry, Rodgers. I let my mind wander after promising not to do that. I took a few minutes to collect myself and my thoughts while drinking some pop. Ordinarily, I would drink some tea at this time to stay awake, but it's been so hot recently that I've opted for a cooler caffeinated beverage. Now that I have my mind back on track, allow me to continue.
Anat must return to earth and has just learned that not only will she be leaving behind one who has become her lover, but she will also be leaving behind the member of the Rephaim who delivered the message. In response to all this, she says:
"Now I know that there is more to <...>
Now I understand that the earth,
Its heavens and its underworld,
Are not All-that-is."
Remember my theory about this being some sort of... Canaanite writer's understanding of alternate dimensions? Rodgers! This is direct proof of my interpretation! Anat admits that all she has ever known – the earth and heavens and even the underworld – are not "All-that-is". And this phrase is written as one sort of combined word. It means "everything" or "All together in totality," but writing a more raw translation, again, just felt right! It made sense.
Anat declares that she will return to do her duty and carry it out to the fullest. But she also now knows that their position as gods over the Canaanites is temporary. She now knows that things within the "spheres" aren't singular in nature: eventually, things change. They won't always be "top gods" as it were, and we see that in the historical record! Some of the Canaanites transition into Israelites and eventually their gods are discarded in favour of other gods. And when that time comes, she promises to return to Neth'Kol where "the fight is forever and the war is eternal." It's a poetic ending.
Rodgers, do you think that she's there now? Right now, beneath and outside, just fighting endlessly side by side with her beloved? Do you think they've reunited? I understand it is a silly question for a scholar to pose, talking about these characters as if they were real – but just let your mind wandor for a moment. If the writer of this tablet was able to write a sequel of sorts this millennia later, would Anat have returned? What do you think the writer would say happened to these gods?
With all that in mind, Anat returns to her sphere, naked. To quote her in an earlier line, "Bare I came into this place and so bare I must leave it."
The trials and travels she may have faced on the return journey are not mentioned and I don't know whether that's because they were unremarkable after having already fought the galla and other monsters of Neth'Kol or perhaps they were not deemed necessary stories to tell. Either way, she travels back into the underworld and reaches Earth at the time of sunset on the third day.
She heads for Mount Zaphon, Baal's divine mountain and she's given the same customary description for the gods when they stride over the earth. The same description was applied to Baal earlier and applied also to both Baal and Anat in the Baal Cycle itself. At the top of the mountain, Baal sees his sister approach and is ecstatic. Similar to how he reacted to her approach in the Baal Cycle is how he reacts here:
Baal sees his sister coming,
The Mistress of the Peoples approaching;
He dismisses his wives from his presence
He puts an ox before her,
Even a fatling right in front of her.
He dresses her in fine garments
He covers her in rich linens.
Again we see Baal's love and care for his sister. He sees her coming and dismisses his wives to have an intimate moment with his sibling. He prepares the feast and dresses her (as she is still unclothed) in the finest clothing at his disposal. She also goes through a process of beautification and cleaning. It's easy to assume that she's gotten dirty over the journey, so she bathes; however, the writer makes it clear that while she washes in the dew of heaven, this only cleanses her physical body, but inside she is still stained. A bath can only help so much.
Much of her cleansing process is damaged beyond recognition, but I can make out the word "murex" which was common for women to use, and likely the whole line would have read similar to the line on Tablet III of Baal. The line after has two final words that may translate out to "produces lamentation", but in such a damaged state, I can't say for certain. Whatever these damaged lines contained, it is clear that she is devastated and her spirits are low.
Baal, the ever-vigilant brother that this text depicts him to be, notices her sadness and asks her about it. Of course, he has no idea about what she has been through and is likely as ignorant of All-that-is as she was at the start of the tale. So he thinks it could be related to either his victory or some otherwise unmentioned enemy:
"Why are your eyes downcast, Maiden Anat?
Why does your soul seem burdened?
Did I not chase away our enemies?
Did I not drive away our foes?
I halted Yah and smashed his head in.
I prevented Wah and protected Mount Zaphon.
See the feast laid before you!
See the [servant–girls] dancing for your pleasure!
What enemy has risen against Anat,
What foe against the Mistress of the Peoples,
That she should be crestfallen?"
In comparison to what the previous Tablets have revealed, this victory feels so small. Think about the context, Rodgers: whatever battle Baal has fought and won was over a sliver of territory in the Middle East on a globe in a solar system, in a galaxy, in a vast universe... within a sphere among a myriad of other spheres that all exist in some sort of... primordial eternal cave. While not all of that is known to the writer, the Earth as a globe and just how small the Middle East is on it and such, I can't help but feel this cosmic irony was the contrast the writer was trying to communicate.
Anat answers her brother in a haunting way that seems to be a callback to his message to her in the Baal Cycle:
No enemy has risen against me that I cannot meet.
No foe against me that I cannot kill.
But I have a word to tell you, brother
A message to recount to you, Baal the Conquerer:
A word of tree and whisper of stone,
A word that gods do not know,
And the earth's masses cannot understand:
A murmur from beyond the heavens and below the Pit,
Of primordial waters to (black stars?);
I participated in battles that the heavens do not see.
I understand truths the gods do not know.
Come, and I will reveal it:
In the midst of my mountain, Mount Ugr.
Chilling, isn't it, Rodgers. It's as if she remembered the mystical message he had Gapn and Ugar deliver and twisted it to say, "You learned secrets of the world last time, but now I know secrets even deeper." Here, Rodgers, for your ease of comparison I have attached the message from Baal to Anat after his victory over Yam in the Baal Cycle:
For I have a word to tell you,
A message to recount to you:
The word of the tree and the whisper of the stone,
The word that people do not know,
And the earth's masses cannot understand:
The murmur of the heavens to the earth,
Of the seas to the stars;
I understand the lightning that the heavens do not know.
Come, and I will reveal it:
In the midst of my mountain, divine Zaphon,
In the sanctuary, in the mountain of my inheritance.
Just as poignant and beautiful, but there is an edge to Anat's message. Where Baal's was victorious in nature and presentation, Anat's is... foreboding and dangerous; as if what he learned he was destined to know but what she learned was forbidden in a way; an awful truth that even the greater gods shy away from.
There's something, and I hesitated to use the phrase, but, Lovecraftian about it. Similar to H. P. Lovecraft's theme of cosmic truth – that the universe is amoral and does not care about the plights and wishes of humans – here it seems the gods themselves have a cosmic truth that even they don't know. A truth that "meta-cosmically" speaking, they may as well be human.
Of course, I could just be shooting in the dark and reading into the text way more than I should. I must admit with utter frustration that there is more to this tablet that likely contained Baal's response. But this tablet was damaged at that point. The rest of the tablet has been completely scrubbed of writing and it makes my blood boil. I spoke with Vincent about this during one of my breaks and he said that there are more shards buried in that cave, but he didn't have the bandwidth at the time to do a full excavation.
I need to know how it ends, Rodgers. I need to know. Did Baal go with his sister? Did he decline and laugh it off? Are there other tablets that shed more light on this previously unknown concept of a place called Neth'Kol? Are there records from other civilizations with such... prolific use of loanwords and a strange multiversal view of the underworld and beyond? Did the burning one reunite with her violent goddess? So many questions possibly lost to the sands of time.
I've made arrangements to head out to Iraq. I will be leaving tomorrow. I know this is incredibly short notice, but I need someone with just as big a heart for old books as me to man the library. I understand it is a bit of a pain to get over here, but I can't afford to close the store up for as long as I'll be gone. The lease still needs to be paid and honestly, I wouldn't feel right leaving those old tomes without some company. Please, let me know if you will be able to get there within the week, Garrison. I promise I won't be long but I need to know how it all ends.
Your excited friend,
Woodrow Collins
Sigla
<...> : Indicates damage to the tablet
Italics : Indicates a most literal translation for a phrase for apparent nonce words
[word or phrase] : Indicates short gaps or missing words in the parent text due to damage. The text inside is restored by either the more fragmentary parallel version or by context clues.
(word?) : Indicates damaged text that is still mostly readable but I am not 100% certain in the reading.
{words} : Indicates words inserted to give a better rendering in english or explanatory insertions
Tablet VI
The violent goddess returns with the burning one to her palace-palace
Maiden Anat returns with the scorching one to their bed chamber.
At the door, the violent goddess removes her battle-crown
At the threshold, she returns it to the (rabsaris).
She has no mouth yet she speaks,
"Why have you returned your battle-crown to the general?"
The violent goddess answers,
"Can I take with me items so singular in being?
Continue on, burning one. Such are the rites of Mount Inbubu."
At the door, the violent goddess removes her armoured garments
At the threshold, she returns them to the (tartan).
She has no mouth yet she speaks,
"Why have you returned your armoured garments to the prince?"
The violent goddess answers,
"Shall I rob (Sheol) of armour so precious?
Continue on, scorching one. Such are the rites of Mount Inbubu."
At the door, the Maiden Anat removes her rough garments
At the threshold, she returns them to the (rabshakeh).
She has no mouth yet she speaks,
"Why have you returned your rough garments to the vizier?"
The Maiden Anat answers,
"Bare I came into this place and so bare I must leave it.
Continue on, beloved one. Such are the rites of Anat."
Maiden Anat goes down with the burning one for the last time.
She goes down with the scorching one a final time.
In that rest the two shared songs,
Even in that time the two exchanged psalms.
And a great cry went out from (Sheol),
A wailing in ([Beth]-Ayin), as the Maiden Anat prepared to leave.
She rises with the burning one and does not dress for battle
Anat readies not with the scorching one and does not march for war.
She has no mouth yet she speaks,
"The halls of (Beth-Ayin) will not be the same,
Even the paths of (Sheol), not as they were.
My heart will ache on the battlefield.
And when I retire for the night
When the swarms have retreated for a time,
I will find only emptiness in my bed-chamber
Only a void where there should be comfort.
For I have lost my right hand
Even lost my violent goddess."
Maiden Anat responds,
"My eyes will long for the sight of your fight-dance
and my ears will long for the sounding of your voice.
My nose will long for the scent of your (incense?)
And my mouth will long for the taste <...>.
I will long for your touch on Mount Inbubu.
We have fought side by side
Even slept breast to breast.
Yet I do not know your name
<...>"
She has no mouth yet she speaks,
"I have many names,
I have earned many titles.
You may call me <...>(n'l?)
[Lady of] Ending-Flame."
Then Maiden Anat approaches <...>
The violent goddess before the [Lady of] Ending-Flame.
She has a mouth yet she does not speak.
Anat approaches and kisses her lips,
Her lips are sweet, sweet as pomegranate.
Maiden Anat embraces the burning one and there is passion.
The violent goddess holds the scorching one close and there is (love?)
Anat says,
"Come, Desnu of the Rephaim, let us return the way we came.
Let us travel back to the sphere.
For my brother is waiting and I have longed to see him."
Desnu declines,
"Can a soul reverse its travel?
Can the transition from the underworld to this place be undone?
I cannot do what you ask,
To reverse the transit is something only the gods can do.
Now, my place is here
(And?) <...>
<...>
<...>
<...>
<...>(haste?) and do not delay."
Maiden Anat responds,
"Now I know that there is more to <...>
Now I understand that the earth,
Its heavens and its underworld,
Are not All-that-is.
I will return to my duty, to fight by my brother's side
But now I know that fight will not last forever and all things will end.
And on that day, I will find my way back to Neth'Kol.
I will return to this place where the fight is forever
And the war is eternal, To this place beyond the spheres."
So Maiden Anat travels to the underworld, bare.
(Stoic?) does she return to her sphere.
The God's Torch is nearly gone and Anat arrives above,
Shalim is close and Anat walks the earth.
She heads to Baal on the peak of Zaphon,
One thousand fields, ten thousand acres at each step.
Baal sees his sister coming,
The Mistress of the Peoples approaching;
He dismisses his wives from his presence
He puts an ox before her,
Even a fatling right in front of her.
He dresses her in fine garments
He covers her in rich linens.
She draws water and washes in the heavens' dew.
She washes and the body is cleaned.
She washes but the soul is still burdened.
<...>
<...>
<...> [with] murex
<...> (produces?) lamentation
<...>
[The Mistress] of the Peoples <...> anguish
Baal sees her disposition and his heart aches,
Her brother sees her unhappiness and his expression is worry,
He raises his voice and inquires,
"Why are your eyes downcast, Maiden Anat?
Why does your soul seem burdened?
Did I not chase away our enemies?
Did I not drive away our foes?
I halted Yah and smashed his head in
I prevented Wah and protected Mount Zaphon.
See the feast laid before you!
See the [servants] dancing for your pleasure!
What enemy has risen against Anat,
What foe against the Mistress of the Peoples
That she should be crestfallen?"
<...>
<...>
[The Mistress of the] Peoples answers,
"No enemy has risen against me that I cannot meet
No foe against me that I cannot kill.
But I have a word to tell you,
A message to recount to you:
A word of tree and the whisper of stone,
A word that gods do not know,
And the earth's masses cannot understand:
A murmur from beyond the heavens and beyond the Pit,
Of primordial seas to (black stars?);
I participated in battles that the heavens do not see.
I understand truths the gods do not know.
Come, and I will reveal it:
In the midst of my mountain, Mount Ugr."
The rest of the tablet is shattered from this point on, though the following line appears to be the scribe's name. I don't know if this is actually the end of the tablet or if this is even the end of the epic.