The island-country of Ghinlav was, until the late 1980s, completely unknown to modern scholars. However, in 1927 the papyrus-borne words of an ancient folk song know colloquially as Sumpa Padoo, or "Wise Animal's Father" were discovered on the shore of Astrakhan, near the Volga estuary.  Little importance was attached to the song and it remained in relative oblivion under glass within the Iranian National Museum in Tehran.  Then in the 1980s a small fleet of ancient ark-like sailing vessels, the platinasta, were uncovered during land-reclamation work at the Iranian port of Bãbol.  These vessels were thought to be the only remains of a mysterious lost culture from the midst of the Caspian Sea, until in 1993 work at the Laboratoire Linguano School of Languages in Milan made the association between the platinasta and the ancient script of the Sumpa Padoo.  Work continued through the 1990's, culminating in a relatively broad understanding of the lost country and civilisation of the Ghinlav people, including a partial reconstruction of its language and grammar.

Careful study and exploration of ancient records from the countries surrounding the Caspian Sea has lead experts to conclude that Ghinlav sank without trace during the year 1117AD, destroying an entire civilisation.

As far as it is possible to be certain under the circumstances, we believe the song Sumpa Padoo to have been sung by a young tribesman of Ghinlav at or around the time of the annual harvest period. It documents the pre-pubescent turmoil which even today can be seen in young members of our society. Set in Ghinlav at the turn of the first millennium, it concerns a youth whom we shall call Ghimdank.

Ghimdank has apparently discovered evidence upon his father's tribal cloak which leads him to conclude that during a recent sea voyage his father has committed some unknown sin against his mother.  This evidence is clearly described by Ghimdank as "Yellowy leaf mousse…" - leaf mousse would have been a traditional hors d'oeuvre on the island, illustrating the simplicity of the people's diet at this time.
BR> This period of Ghinlav history was marked by many exploratory missions, which brought the men of the island across the treacherous waves of the Caspian Sea, in search of geographical knowledge, and a need for spiritual and philosophical awareness.  Many were those who perished in those icy waters and it is thought that this period almost brought the country to the point of human extinction, such were the motivations which drove them.

Ghimdank, consumed by this suspicion about his father, decides to summon his mother, in order to describe his beliefs.  The first verse of the song expresses this moment, and culminates in Ghimdank's utterance of the traditional Ghinlav curse, presumably directed at his absent father, which is to become the chorus throughout the work.  The insult "Animal's Father" is clear enough, but Ghimdank immediately reiterates with a tempered version "Wise Animal's Father", crediting his father with the merit of wisdom, despite the situation he finds himself in.  He then continues with a respectful reference to adept pottery production and cleanliness; again the ingrained parental respect forcing through.  Next he suggests that his father is cowardly and would run into his hut at the slightest provocation; Ghimdank seeming to master his quandary at this point.  Yet at the end of the chorus Ghimdank only succeeds in uttering a confused melee of words "Wise animal", which is neither insult, nor praise.  His emotions at this point are lain bare for us to see.

In the second verse we see guilt arising within Ghimdank, as he chooses to make a confession of his own.  Cats were a hallowed creature in the Ghinlav society, respected for their ability to clean themselves.  Hence any attempt for a human to interfere with this cleansing process was deemed to be an insult to the Gods themselves.  The cats of Ghinlav were known to occupy mainly tree-borne dwellings and an intrusion into such a place by a human would naturally have been considered tantamount to trespass on the Kingdom of the Deities.  Ghimdank here is ready to confess to his mother that he has washed a cat, but that it certainly was not in a tree at the time.

The third line of this verse is confusing, since the relevance of wobbly women in the Ghinlav culture is not clearly understood.  However, the stringed drum, an ancient precursor to the modern snare drum is known to have been used in calling down good fortune from the Gods to bless the harvest.  It is possible that this wobbly woman was an ancient priestess, who collected a number of string drums together in preparation for the festival of harvest. The repeat of the chorus brings us back to the matter at hand, the emotional confusion Ghimdank is feeling at his father's indiscretion, and we are prepared for the final verse.

The final verse documents some of the rituals associated with Ghinlav harvest.  The main crop was a form of prickly fruit, not unlike the paupau , which grew beneath the soil, and so had to be dug from the ground.  To please the Gods special shoes were worn, reserved exclusively for use at harvest.  Ghimdank's mother is already wearing her digging shoes, so this places the story unequivocally in the harvest phase of the year.

Next we are given an insight into the insect life prevalent on the island, in the reference to a "weeping wasp".  It is possible that this was indeed a wasp capable of crying, equipped with the necessary tear-ducts and emotional fragility.  However, it is more likely that these wasps were exhibiting an early form of conjunctivitis, perhaps as a result of airborne dust particles caused by the substantial amount of digging at harvest.  In any event, sight of such an insect was deemed to bring luck to the harvest, and would have confirmed in the harvesters' minds the success of their stringed drum rituals.

The third line identifies an aspect of Ghinlav lifestyle that up until now we have only suspected - that of live offerings to the harvest Gods.  A hen, specially raised for the harvest period would have been brought forth, adorned in sacrificial colours and cloth and its beak (perhaps even its entire head) would be encased in a compound comprising mainly of faeces, probably that of the harvesters themselves.  This compound would have been frozen on to prevent the hen from escaping what would ultimately have been death by suffocation.  This reference to frozen faeces clearly places the harvest period within winter, which many will identify as a fundamental weakness in the Ghinlav culture.

The chorus repeats into a final, confused refrain, leaving us with the title of the song "Wise Animal's Father".

This, being the sole remaining documentation from the lost country of Ghinlav, stands alone as evidence that ancient society was not so very different from our own today.