What is the importance of the Ge'ez language?

But we pulled at the grill [on the ground] and it gave way. and then we saw iron rings as steps leading down a shaft into a darkness without bottom. … it was a great tunnel. its walls were hard and smooth to the touch; it felt like stone, but it was not stone. on the ground there were long thin tracks of iron, but it was not iron; it felt smooth and cold as glass. we knelt, and we crawled forward, our hand groping along the iron line to see where it would lead. but there was an unbroken night ahead. what is the most likely explanation for the walls described in the bold text?

Afigure of speech which explicitly compares two different things using the words "like or as", sometimes referred to as approximations?

What is the meaning of the word repent based on its context in this passage? charley knew it was his fault that the whole family had to cancel their winter vacation. it all started when he’d snuck out of his house and hid at his friend laurie's place. the whole family had spent the morning looking for charley all over the neighborhood. by the time they’d found him, it was afternoon. they had missed their flight for hawaii. now charley felt guilty for his actions. he approached his father to repent for his poor behavior. but his father would not listen to him and instead declared that there would be no vacation this winter.