UncleReagan

Tablets found on the bottom of the Tyrrhenian Sea, east of Sardinia Deep-dwelling Herdmother, unnumbered ancestors, forgive me! Forgive me? What forgiveness? What do I need forgiveness for? I did nothing, I have no blame – strike me blind and foot-deaf if I lie – it was they, it was the apes, confound them, it was they who ruined the world! See them squirming and clambering over each other, hear them jabbering and chittering as if they've done good. And yet I gave them help. Gods of the Valley, I did! Wither my trunk, Herdmother, bind my ankles and tear out my tongue. Reach back in time, I beg you, I beg you, I beg you, and stop my idiot self from bringing about this disaster. I feel myself suffocate – if only I'd suffocated first – if only I'd slipped into a ravine during the ascent – if only my mother, curse her bones, had purged me from her womb – I will cast myself down, I've seen the apes suffer long after a fall, but my body is heavier, and will burst on the crests before I