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 of 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.

Reverse.

On another fragment are the following few words:—

Obverse.

Reverse.

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.

Reverse.

Many lines lost.

The next fragment is a small portion probably of the fourth tablet.

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 city 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 attempt at arrangement.

K 3641.

Column I.

(Columns II. and III. lost.)

Column IV.

The next fragment has lost the commencements and ends of all the lines.

The following fragment is in a similar condition.

The fourth fragment contains only five legible lines.

The last fragment is a small scrap, at the end of which the fox petitions Samas to spare him.

The incidental allusions in these fragments show that the fox was even then considered cunning, and the animal in the story was evidently a watery specimen, as he brings tears to his assistance whenever anything is to be gained by it. He had offended Samas by some means and the god sentenced him to death, a sentence which he escaped through powerful pleading on his own behalf.