OF THE BABYLONIAN CREATION AND FLOOD STORIES. 315 



is a rendering of these lines, which are among the most impor- 

 tant in the text : — 



Enki the (water-god) in the house of Damgal-nunna uttered 

 the word. 



" Of Nin-hursagga one has destroyed the field — 

 To the field I will give life," Enki declared. 



Or, perhaps better : 



Enki in the house of Damgal-nunna announced : 

 " I have destroyed the field of Nin-hursagga. 

 To the field she will give life," Enki declared. 



The day was 1, its month 1 : 

 The day was 2, its month 2 : 

 The day was 3, its month 3 : 

 The day was 4, its month 4 : 

 The da} T was 5, its month 5 : 

 The day was 6, its month 6 : 

 The day was 7, its month 7 : 

 The day was 8, its month 8 : 



The day was 9, its month 9 — the month of the periodical 

 offering. 



Here come three lines of which the beginnings are wanting, 

 and the renderings of these are therefore somewhat uncertain. 

 Professor Langdon translates them as follows : — 



Like fat, like fat, like tallow, 

 Xin-tud, the mother of the land, 

 Had created them. 



Bizarre as the rendering seems to be, there is no doubt that 

 it is correct in the main, but I am inclined to think that there 

 are three gaps — there are certainly two — and I would translate 

 what remains somewhat as follows : — 



Like fat, like fat, like the fat of cream (1 butter), 

 the mother of the land, 



produced.* 



What this refers to is uncertain, but Langdon suggests that 

 it is a simile comparing the dissolution of living things to melted 



* [Zal-li-] dim zal-li-dim zal hi-nim-na dim 

 ama kalama — ka 



-in — tu — ud 



