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Platypus Fragments

A Fragment from Thus Spoke Utnapishtim:


Now Utnapishtim sat upon his rock and his disciple sat at his feet, and he begged Utnapishtim to tell him of peoples and places, and of all that he had seen since the coming of the Flood. And Utnapishtim smiled and said:

"I can remember the coming of Arius and his sons, for I saw them from my mountain, oh my disciple. Were they not each the image of a god of war; red of hair and skin like new-cast bronze. Each carried a long spear and a well-honed sword at his hip, and they rode on chariots while their men drove the long-horned cattle behind them. Were not these the names of the sons of Arius: Hit, Cadmu, Persis, Ind, and Hy? Do I not know what the sons of Arius did at the great banquet they made on the day that they defeated the people of the two rivers?"

"Know then, oh my disciple, that I saw it all. They made a great banquet upon the plain and each drank from the skull of a prince of Ur. There they slaughtered untold numbers of bulls to the gods of the north: the lady of battles, the lord of battles, and the lord of thunder. And when the meat had been consumed and the wine had been drunk, they fell to quarreling. Then did the sons of Arius cast their father down upon the altar and mingled his smoking flesh with the victims. And Hy drew his sword and smote off the feet of his father, and Ind took his ax and smote off his thighs, and Persis and Cadmu divided his arms and his chest. Then Hit took up a great curved sword and clove the head from his father's body. Now when the deed was done, the sons of Arius came to their senses and their eyes grew dark as they looked down up their shame."

But Hit cried out with a loud voice: "Oh my brothers, what is this thing we have done? Are we not now both the enemies of gods and men?"

"Then each brother took up a piece of his father's body and fled. Thus were the sons of Arius dispersed to the four winds. Know, then, oh my disciple, that the mark of this crime is ever upon the true sons of Arius; that they divide and destroy whatever they come across. Sharp are their knives, but Wisdom's is sharper!"

Thus Spoke Utnapishtim

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