Combined 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.
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 of the fragments of the story owing to their mutilated condition; they must therefore be translated as they come.
K 2527.