Message #119052

[Crissy Herrell]

p. 57

Ninsar in turn is impregnated by her father Enki and after nine days of gestation she gives birth to the goddess Ninkur. Ninkur, too, is then impregnated by Enki and so finally is born Uttu, the goddess of plants. To this plant-goddess now appears her great-grandmother Ninhursag, who offers her advice pertinent to her future relationship with Enki. Part of the passage is broken, and much of what is not broken I fail as yet to comprehend. But whatever the advice, Uttu follows it in all detail. As a result she is in turn impregnated by Enki and eight different plants sprout forth. But Enki eats up the plants; thus:


       Enki, in the swampland, in the swampland, lies stretched out,
       He says to his messenger Isimud:
       "What is this (plant), what is this (plant)?"

       His messenger, Isimud, answers him;
       "My king, this is the 'tree-plant'," he says to him.
       He cuts it off for him and he (Enki) eats it.

Enki: "What is this, what is this?"
Isimud: "My king, this is the 'honey-plant'."
       He tears it off for him and he eats it.


And so on until Enki has eaten all the eight plants. Thereupon Ninhursag, who, it will be recalled, is actually responsible for the creation of these plants, curses Enki. 58 The curse reads:


"Until thou art dead, I shall not look upon thee with the 'eye of life'."

Having uttered the curse, Ninhursag disappears. The gods are chagrined; they "sit in the dust." Up speaks the fox to Enlil:


"If I bring Ninhursag before thee, what shall be my reward?"

[paragraph continues] Enlil promises the fox a due reward and the latter succeeds in bringing her back; how he goes about this task is not clear, however, since part of the text is broken and much of the preserved part is as yet unintelligible. And so Ninhursag proceeds to remove the effects of her curse from the rapidly sinking Enki. This she achieves by giving birth

p. 58

to a special deity for each of Enki's pains. This passage which closes our poem runs as follows:


Ninhursag: "My brother, what hurts thee?"
Enki: "My . . . hurts me."
Ninhursag: "To the god Abu I gave birth for thee."

Ninhursag: "My brother, what hurts thee?"
Enki: "My hip hurts me."
Ninhursag: "To the god Nintul I gave birth for thee."

Ninhursag: "My brother, what hurts thee?"
Enki: "My tooth hurts me."
Ninhursag: "To the goddess Ninsutu I gave birth for thee."

Ninhursag: "My brother, what hurts thee?"
Enki: "My mouth hurts me."
Ninhursag: "To the goddess Ninkasi I gave birth for thee."

Ninhursag: "My brother, what hurts thee?"
Enki: "My . . . hurts me."
Ninhursag: "To the god Nazi I gave birth for thee."

Ninhursag: "My brother, what hurts thee?"
Enki: "My side hurts me."
Ninhursag: "To the goddess Dazimua I gave birth for thee."

Ninhursag: "My brother, what hurts thee?"
Enki: "My rib hurts me."
Ninhursag: "To the goddess Ninti I gave birth for thee."

Ninhursag: "My brother, what hurts thee?"
Enki: "My . . . hurts me."
Ninhursag: "To the god Enshagag I gave birth for thee."

Ninhursag: "For the little ones to which I gave birth
Enki: "Let Abu be the king of the plants,
       Let Nintul be the lord of Magan,
       Let Ninsutu marry Ninazu,
       Let Ninkasi be (the goddess who) sates the heart,
       Let Nazi marry Nindar,
       Let Dazimua marry Ningishzida,
       Let Ninti be the queen of the month,
       Let Enshagag be the lord of Dilmun."

       O Father Enki, praise!


And so, as the reader will note, the eight aches and pains which had come upon Enki as punishment for his eating

p. 59

the eight plants, were healed by the eight deities born of Ninhursag for that purpose. Moreover, the superficiality and barren artificiality of the concepts implied in this closing passage of our myth, although not apparent from the English translation, are brought out quite clearly by the Sumerian original. For the fact is that the actual relationship between each of the "healing" deities and the sickness which it is supposed to cure, is verbal and nominal only; this relationship manifests itself in the fact that the name of the deity contains in it part or all of the word signifying the corresponding aching part of Enki's body. In brief, it is only because the name of the deity sounded like the sick body-member that the makers of this myth were induced to associate the two; actually there is no organic relationship between them.