After the period of mourning (one of epic length!), sacrifices are made and Puah makes ready to depart on the mission of avenging her brother. She asks Daniel to bless her efforts:
Will you not bless me so that I may go blessed
yea fortify me so that I may go fortified?
That I may smite the smiter of my brother
Destroy the destroyer of my mother’s child?
Daniel bestows his paternal blessing on Puah, who now makes herself ceremonially fit as a male hero by washing, rouging herself, donning a male hero’s garb and sheathing a sword. Reddening the body was, as we have already noted, men’s way of being ceremonially and militarily ready for action. Women used yellow paint; men, reddish brown.
Over her masculine attire, Puah wears a woman’s dress, apparently with the intent to deceive the murderer and gain access to his presence; and conceals her sword, somewhat as the Hebrew hero Ehud concealed his to gain entrance to his victim’s court (Judges 3:16). Puah is admitting to Yatpan’s presence; he welcomes her with mixed wine and (unwittingly?) boasts:
The hand that slew the hero Aqhat
Will slay thousands of Lady’s foes.
For a second time, they quaff the mingled wine, and our tablet comes to an end. That Puah avenges her brother by slaying Yatpan in the immediately ensuing section should follow, is a foregone conclusion. That Aqhat was brought back to life is equally clear from Ezekiel 14:16, where Daniel is listed among those who survived with sons and daughters. (Cyrus H. Gordon, The Common Background of Greek and Hebrew Civilizations [2d ed.; New York: Norton Library, 1965], 168-69)
