In those days, in the days
when heaven and earth were created; in those nights, in the nights
when heaven and earth were created; in those years, in the years when
the fates were determined; when the Anunna gods were born; when the
goddesses were taken in marriage; when the goddesses were distributed
in heaven and earth; when the goddesses ...... became pregnant and
gave birth; when the gods were obliged (?) ...... their food ......
for their meals; the senior gods oversaw the work, while the minor
gods were bearing the toil. The gods were digging the canals and
piling up the silt in Harali. The gods, dredging the clay, began
complaining about this life.
At that time, the one of great wisdom, the creator of all the senior
gods, Enki lay on his bed, not waking up from his sleep, in the deep
engur, in the flowing water, the place the inside of which no other
god knows. The gods said, weeping: "He is the cause of the
lamenting!" Namma (Nammu), the primeval mother who gave birth to
the senior gods, took the tears of the gods to the one who lay
sleeping, to the one who did not wake up from his bed, to her son:
"Are you really lying there asleep, and ...... not awake? The
gods, your creatures, are smashing their ....... My son, wake up from
your bed! Please apply the skill deriving from your wisdom and create
a substitute (?) for the gods so that they can be freed from their
toil!"
At the word of his mother Namma, Enki rose up from his bed. In
Hal-an-kug, his room for pondering, he slapped his thigh in annoyance.
The wise and intelligent one, the prudent, ...... of skills, the
fashioner of the design of everything brought to life birth-goddesses
(?). Enki reached out his arm over them and turned his attention to
them. And after Enki, the fashioner of designs by himself, had
pondered the matter, he said to his mother Namma: "My mother, the
creature you planned will really come into existence. Impose on him
the work of carrying baskets. You should knead clay from the top of
the Abzu; the birth-goddesses (?) will nip off the clay and you shall
bring the form into existence. Let Ninmah act as your assistant; and
let Ninimma, Cu-zi-ana, Ninmada, Ninbarag, Ninmug, ...... and Ninguna
stand by as you give birth. My mother, after you have decreed his
fate, let Ninmah impose on him the work of carrying baskets."
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Enki ...... brought joy to their heart. He set a feast for his mother
Namma and for Ninmah. All the princely birth-goddesses (?) ...... ate
delicate reed (?) and bread. An, Enlil, and the lord Nudimmud roasted
holy kids. All the senior gods praised him: "O lord of wide
understanding, who is as wise as you? Enki, the great lord, who can
equal your actions? Like a corporeal father, you are the one who has
the me of deciding destinies, in fact you are the me."
Enki and Ninmah drank beer, their hearts became elated, and then
Ninmah said to Enki: "Man's body can be either good or bad and
whether I make a fate good or bad depends on my will."
Enki answered Ninmah: "I will counterbalance whatever fate --
good or bad -- you happen to decide." Ninmah took clay from the
top of the abzu in her hand and she fashioned from it first a man who
could not bend his outstretched weak hands. Enki looked at the man who
could not bend his outstretched weak hands, and decreed his fate: he
appointed him as a servant of the king.
Second, she fashioned one who turned back (?) the light, a man with
constantly opened eyes (?). Enki looked at the one who turned back (?)
the light, the man with constantly opened eyes (?), and decreed his
fate allotting to it the musical arts, making him as the chief ......
in the king's presence.
Third, she fashioned one with both feet broken, one with paralysed
feet. Enki looked at the one with both feet broken, the one with
paralysed feet and ...... him for the work of ...... and the
silversmith and ....... ( 1 ms. has instead: She fashioned one, a
third one, born as an idiot. Enki looked at this one, the one born as
an idiot, and decreed his fate: he appointed him as a servant of the
king.)
Fourth, she fashioned one who could not hold back his urine. Enki
looked at the one who could not hold back his urine and bathed him in
enchanted water and drove out the Namtar demon from his body.
Fifth, she fashioned a woman who could not give birth. Enki looked at
the woman who could not give birth, and decreed her fate: he made (?)
her belong to the queen's household. ( 1 ms. has instead: ...... as a
weaver, fashioned her to belong to the queen's household.)
Sixth, she fashioned one with neither penis nor vagina on its body.
Enki looked at the one with neither penis nor vagina on its body and
give it the name " Nibru eunuch (?)", and decreed as its
fate to stand before the king.
Ninmah threw the pinched-off clay from her hand on the ground and a
great silence fell. The great lord Enki said to Ninmah: "I have
decreed the fates of your creatures and given them their daily bread.
Come, now I will fashion somebody for you, and you must decree the
fate of the newborn one!"
Enki devised a shape with head, ...... and mouth in its middle, and
said to Ninmah: "Pour ejaculated semen into a woman's womb, and
the woman will give birth to the semen of her womb." Ninmah stood
by for the newborn ....... and the woman brought forth ...... in the
midst ....... In return (?), this was Umul: its head was afflicted,
its place of ...... was afflicted, its eyes were afflicted, its neck
was afflicted. It could hardly breathe, its ribs were shaky, its lungs
were afflicted, its heart was afflicted, its bowels were afflicted.
With its hand and its lolling head it could not put bread into its
mouth; its spine and head were dislocated. The weak hips and the shaky
feet could not carry (?) it on the field -- Enki fashioned it in this
way.
Enki said to Ninmah: "For your creatures I have decreed a fate, I
have given them their daily bread. Now, you should decree a fate for
my creature, give him his daily bread too." Ninmah looked at Umul
and turned to him. She went nearer to Umul asked him questions but he
could not speak. She offered him bread to eat but he could not reach
out for it. He could not lie on ......., he could not ....... Standing
up he could not sit down, could not lie down, he could not ...... a
house, he could not eat bread. Ninmah answered Enki: "The man you
have fashioned is neither alive nor dead. He cannot support himself
(?)."
Enki answered Ninmah: "I decreed a fate for the first man with
the weak hands, I gave him bread. I decreed a fate for the man who
turned back (?) the light, I gave him bread. I decreed a fate for the
man with broken, paralysed feet, I gave him bread. I decreed a fate
for the man who could not hold back his urine, I gave him bread. I
decreed a fate for the woman who could not give birth, I gave her
bread. I decreed the fate for the one with neither penis nor vagina on
its body, I gave it bread. My sister, ......." 2 lines
fragmentary
Ninmah answered Enki:
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( Ninmah's answer continues) "You (?) entered ....... Look, you
do not dwell in heaven, you do not dwell on earth, you do not come out
to look at the Land. Where you do not dwell but where my house is
built, your words cannot be heard. Where you do not live but where my
city is built, I myself am silenced (?). My city is ruined, my house
is destroyed, my child has been taken captive. I am a fugitive who has
had to leave the E-kur, even I myself could not escape from your
hand."
Enki replied to Ninmah: "Who could change the words that left
your mouth? Remove Umul from your lap ....... Ninmah, may your work be
......, you ...... for me what is imperfect; who can oppose (?) this?
The man whom I shaped ...... after you ......, let him pray! Today let
my penis be praised, may your wisdom be confirmed (?)! May the Enkum
and Ninkum ...... proclaim your glory ....... My sister, the heroic
strength ....... The song ...... the writing (?) ....... The gods who
heard ...... let Umul build (?) my house ......."
Ninmah could not rival the great lord Enki. Father Enki, your praise
is sweet!
