OF THE BABYLONIAN CREATION AND FLOOD STOKIES. 313 



Tilmun is bright, Tilmun shines exceedingly. 



Alone in Tilmun he took rest — 



Where Enki with his spouse took rest, 



That place is pure, that place shines exceedingly. 



Alone (in Tilmun he took rest—) 



Where Enki with Nin-ella (took rest), 



That place is pure, (that place shines exceedingly). 



In Tilmun the raven croaked not. 



The tarn-bivd the voice of the tarri-bird uttered not. 



The lion slew not. 



The wolf plundered not the lambs. 



The dogs approached not the kids in repose. 



The boar devouring the grain did not .... 



He did not .... 



The bird of heaven his young forsook (?) not. 

 The dove did not take to flight (V). 

 As for the sore eye : "I am sore-eyed," one said not. 

 As for the head-sick : " I am sick-headed " (mad 1), one said not. 

 As for the old woman : " I am an old woman," one said not. 

 As for the old man : "I am an old man," one said not. 

 As for the maiden, one did not put her to shame in the city. 

 "A man has changed a waterway," one said not. 

 The prince withheld not his wisdom (1) (so Langdon). 

 " A deceiver deceives," one said not (so Langdon). 

 " The city-chief is a despot (?)," one said not. 

 Nin-ella to her father Enki 

 spake : 



" My city thou hast founded, my city thou hast founded, my 



fate thou hast set. 

 " Tilmun, my city, thou hast founded, my city thou hast 



founded, my fate thou hast set." 



This is practically the last complete line of the first column, 

 which originally had eight or ten more, some of them at least of 

 the same nature. 



How much of allegory there may be in the substance of this 

 first column is uncertain, but the purity, the glory, and the 

 exceeding brightness attributed to the land of Tilmun is pro- 

 bably due to the fierce, dazzling sunshine of the summer months, 

 during which, like Enki and his spouse, the great desire of the 

 inhabitant of that holy place was to lie down and take rest. 

 Here, again, we have Enki, " the lord of the land," who is 

 generally identified with Ea, the god of the waters and the 

 streams of Babylonia. In this double character — i.e., as god 

 of the land and of water too — he became one of the great 

 creators of the living things in the world. As, in the 31st line 



