BABYLONIAN FABLES.  
Fables.—Common in the East.—Description.—Power of speech in animals.—Story of the eagle.—Serpent.—Samas.—The eagle caught.—Eats the serpent.—Anger of Birds.—Etana.—Seven gods.—Third tablet.—Speech of eagle.—Story of the fox.—His cunning.—Judgment of Samas.—His show of sorrow.—His punishment.—Speech of fox.—Fable of the horse and ox.—They consort together.—Speech of the ox.—His good fortune.—Contrast with the horse.—Hunting the ox.—Speech of the horse.—Offers to recount story.—Story of Istar.—Further tablets.
 
 
OMBINED with these stories of the gods, traditions of the early history of man, and accounts of the Creation, are fragments of a series in which various animals speak and act. As these resemble the beast-fables of other races, more especially the African, they may be conveniently classed under the general heading of “Fables.” The idea that animals can speak, or have spoken in some former age of the world, even occurs in Genesis, where we have a speaking serpent; in Numbers, where Balaam’s ass reproves his master; and in the stories of Jotham and Joash, where the trees are made to talk; as also in the Izdubar legends, where the trees answer Hea-bani.
 
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Four fables have been preserved among the fragmentary records of Assur-bani-pal’s library.
 
The first contained at least four tablets each having four columns of writing. Two of the acting animals in it are the eagle and the serpent.
 
The second is similar in character, the leading animal being the fox or jackal, but there are only four fragments of it; it may belong to the same series as the fable of the eagle.
 
The third is a single tablet with two columns of writing, and contains a discussion between the horse and ox.
 
The fourth is a single fragment in which a calf speaks, but there is nothing to show the nature of the story.
 
I. The Story of the Eagle.
 
This story appears to be the longest and most curious of the fables, but the very mutilated condition of the various fragments gives as usual considerable difficulty in attempting a translation of it. One of the actors in the story is an ancient monarch named Etana, who, like Ner, ruled over Babylon in the mythical period that followed the Deluge, and whose phantom was believed to sit, crowned, on a throne in Hades along with the shades of the other heroes of old time. The story of Etana was supposed to have been written by an early poet named Nis-Sin.
 
It is impossible to determine the proper order of142 the fragments of the story owing to their mutilated condition; they must therefore be translated as they come.
 
K 2527.
 
Many lines lost at the commencement.
 
1. The serpent in ...
2. I gave a command (?) .....
3. to the eagle .....
4. Again the nest .....
5. my nest I have left in .....
6. the assembly? of my people .....
7. I went down and entered:
8. the sentence which Samas has pronounced on me .....
9. the ear of corn (?) which Samas thy field the earth ....
10. this thy fruit ....
11. in thy field let me not ....
12. the doing of evil the goddess Bahu (Gula) ....
13. The sorrow of the serpent [Samas saw and]
14. Samas opened his mouth and a word he spoke:
15. Go, along the way pass ....
16. he covered thee ....
17. open also his heart ....
18. .... he placed (?) ....
19. .... birds of heaven ....
Reverse.
 
1. The eagle with them ....
2. the god? had known ....
3. he descended, the flesh he ....
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4. to cover the ....
5. to the midst at his entering ....
6. the cutting off of the feathers of his wings ....
7. his claws? and his pinions to ....
8. death by hunger and thirst ....
9. for the work of Samas the warrior, the serpent ....
10. he took also the serpent ....
11. he opened also his heart ....
12. seat he placed ....
13. peace the birds of heaven ....
14. May the eagle ....
15. with the young of the birds ....
16. The eagle opened his mouth ....
Five other mutilated lines.
On another fragment are the following few words:—
 
Obverse.
 
1. .... fierce to him also ....
2. .... the god (?) my father ....
3. like Etana thy death ....
4. like thee ....
5. the god Etana the king ....
6. they stripped him in ....
Reverse.
 
1. Within the gate of Anu, Bel (and Hea)
2. they are established ....
3. within the gate of Sin, Samas, Rimmon, and ....
4. .... I opened ....
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5. its ... I devastated ....
6. .... in the midst ....
7. the king ....
8. the god also ....
9. I overshadowed the throne ....
10. I took (?) also ....
11. to the great one also I have explained (?) ....
12. The eagle to him also even to Etana ....
13. his .... the mouth ....
14. may thy city submit ....
The next fragment, K 2606, is curious, as containing an account of some early legendary story in Babylonian history. This tablet formed the third in the series, and from it we gain part of the title of the tablets.
 
K 2606.
 
1. ....... the god had placed ....
2. of the city he had fixed its brickwork ....
3. he had shepherded them ....
4. Etana gave them ....
5. .... corn ....
6. the seven spirits of earth ....
7. .... they took their counsel ....
8. .... the world ....
9. .... all of them the angels ....
10. .... they ....
11. In those days also ....
12. and a sceptre of crystal ....
13. the bowing down of the world ....
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14. the seven gods over the people raised ....
15. over the men they raised ....
16. the city of the angels Surippak
17. Istar the streets ....
18. and the king flew ....
19. the god Inninna the streets ....
20. and the king flew ....
21. Bel encircled (?) the sanctuary of the god ....
22. he worshipped also ....
23. in the wide country ....
24. the kingdom ....
25. he brought and ....
26. the gods of the country ....
Reverse.
 
Many lines lost.
 
1. from of old he caused him to wait ....
—–———–———–———–
2. Third tablet of “The city he left (?) ....”
—–———–———–———–
3. The eagle his mouth opened and to Samas his lord he spake.
The next fragment is a small portion probably of the fourth tablet.
 
1. The eagle his mouth (opened) ....
2. ..........
3. the people of the birds ....
4. ..........
5. peace he speaks ....
6. peace I speak ....
7. in the mouth of Samas the warrior ....
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8. the people of the birds ....
9. The eagle his mouth opened and ....
10. Why do I go ....
11. the god Etana his mouth opened and ....
Such are the principal fragments of this curious legend. According to the fragment K 2527, the serpent had committed some sin for which it was condemned by the god Samas to be eaten by the eagle; but the eagle declined the repast.
 
After this, some one, whose name is lost, baits a trap for the eagle, and the bird going to get the meat, falls into the trap and is caught. Now the eagle is left, until dying for want of food it is glad to eat the serpent, which it takes and tears open. The other birds then interfere, but the tablet is too mutilated to allow us to discover for what purpose.
 
The other fragments concern the building of some city, Etana being king, and in these relations the eagle again appears; there are seven spirits or angels principal actors in the matter, but the whole story is obscure at present, and a connected plot cannot be made out.
 
This fable has evidently some direct connection with the mythical history of Babylonia, for Etana is mentioned as an ancient Babylonian monarch in the Izdubar legends. He seems to be the Titan of the Greek writers, who lived after the Deluge and made war against Kronos or Hea shortly after the confusion of tongues. The city built by Etana may be the city147 mentioned in Gen. xi. 4 as built at the same time as the Tower of Babel. If the Sibyl can be trusted Titan was a contemporary of Prometheus, in whom we may perhaps see the Inninna of the cuneiform inscription. That Etana was closely associated with the story of the Deluge appears plain from the fact that he ruled at Surippak, the home and kingdom of the Chaldean Noah. The legend of Etana seems in the fable to be put into the mouth of the eagle.
 
II. Story of the Fox.
 
The next fable, that of the fox, was ascribed to an author called Lal-Merodach, the son of Eri-Turnunna, but the fragments are so disconnected that they must be given without any a............