Such texts were composed only in the Old Hittite period (seventeenth century bce) (Beckman 1995b: 31-3; Guterbock 1938: 101-13). In this genre we frequently encounter legends at home in particular localities, rather than ‘‘national’’ traditions (Uchitel 1999).
5.1 The best-known example of this type of text is a chronicle of the troubled relations between Hattusa and the city of Zalpa, located on the Black Sea coast near the mouth of the MaraSsanta (Halys or Kizil Irmak) River (Laroche 1971: no. 3; edition Otten 1973; partial translation Hoffner 1998a: 81-2; cf. tJnal 1986). Prefaced to an account ofwarfare stretching over three generations that culminated in the destruction of Zalpa is an anecdote of primordial events, set in the city of Kaness, an early focal point of Indo-European settlement in Cappadocia:
The queen of Kanes gave birth to thirty sons in a single year. She said: ‘‘What is this - I have produced a horde!’’ She caulked containers with grease, placed her sons therein, and launched them into the river. The river carried them to the sea, at the land of Zalpa. But the gods took the sons from the sea and raised them.
When years had passed, the queen once more gave birth - to thirty daughters. She raised them herself. The sons were making their way back to Kanes...
A break intervenes soon thereafter, just as the boys, who have retraced their childhood journey along the river, are ignorantly preparing to marry their sisters, despite the misgivings of the youngest son. In a way now unclear, the classic Marchen motif of the exposed royal child (cf. Moses, Oedipus, and Sargon of Akkad) is adduced in explanation of the origins of hostility between the regions of central and coastal Anatolia. As far as the damaged text allows a judgment, the ensuing narration of the wars of Zalpa with Hattusa contains no further fantastic events.
5.2 The very fragmentary account of the deeds of the early Hurrian ruler Anum-Hirbi in southern Anatolia also seems to begin with the abandonment of a baby, who on this occasion is rescued by a herdsman and his animals (Laroche 1971: no. 2; Helck 1983: 272-5; tinal 1986: 132-5; Uchitel 1999: 62-4).
5.3 The Puhanu Chronicle (Laroche 1971: no. 16; edition Soysal 1987, cf. 1999: 11037; partial translation Hoffner 1997) is a narration of Hittite campaigns in Syria and against a Hurrian foe, much of it spoken by the otherwise unattested Puhanu. The text is, as so often with this material, fragmentary and enigmatic. Along with the reported speech of gods, the Hittite monarch, and lesser mortals (including the song ‘‘Clothes of Nesa’’ discussed in section 2 above), we find an aetiology for the existence of a pass through the Taurus mountains between Anatolia and Syria:
He [the Storm-god?] became a bull, and his horns were a bit cracked. I ask him (the king?) why his horns are cracked, and he says: ‘‘When I used to go on campaign, the mountains were difficult for us. But this bull was strong, and when he came along, he lifted that mountain, turning it aside, so that we conquered the sea(coast). Therefore his horns are cracked.’’
5.4 Also set in northern Syria is the very incomplete composition known to scholars as the ‘‘Menschenfresser (Cannibal) Text’’ (Laroche 1971: no. 17; edition Guterbock 1938: 104-13; cf. Soysal 1988, 1999: 137-45). Mentioned among cities and peoples well known for this region in the early second millennium (Aleppo, Ilanzura, Suteans) is a population under the leadership of a man called ‘‘Mighty Son of the Steppe.’’ Of this group it is said: ‘‘If they spot a fat man, they kill him and eat him up!’’ This fate indeed befalls an unfortunate woman later on in the story. Although some writers have understood this reported cannibalism as realistic ethnographic description, there can be little doubt that we are dealing here with a folkloristic motif.
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