The Un-Holy Bible (B.C. edition)

I have attained it! ecstatically he shouted: Gold, much gold, the beam has indicated; it was beneath the dark-hued region, in the waters it was too!

With pounding heart Alalu a decision was contemplating: Shall he on the dry land his chariot bring down, perchance to crash and die?

Shall he to the waters his course direct, to perchance into oblivion sink?

Which way shall he survive, will he the treasured gold discover?

In the Eagle's seat Alalu was not stirring; to fate's hands the chariot he entrusted.

Fully caught in Earth's attracting net, the chariot was moving faster.

Its spread wings became aglow; Earth's atmosphere like an oven was.

Then the chariot shook, emitting a mortifying thunder.

With abruptness the chariot crashed, with a suddenness altogether stopping.

Senseless from the shaking, stunned by the crash, Alalu was without moving.

Then he opened his eyes and knew he was among the living; At the planet of gold he victoriously arrived.

Now this is the account of the Earth and its gold; It is an account of the Beginning and how the celestial gods created were.

In the Beginning, When in the Above the gods in the heavens had not been called into being, And in the Below Ki, the Firm Ground, had not yet been named, Alone in the void there existed Apsu, their Primordial Begetter.

In the heights of the Above, the celestial gods had not yet been created; In the waters of the Below, the celestial gods had not yet appeared.

Above and Below, the gods had not yet been formed, destinies were not yet decreed.

No reed had yet been formed, no marshland had appeared;