If a woman gives birth, and the child has only one foot, which is attached to the belly (?) and does not [touch] the ground[125] the land will suffer misfortune, the house will be destroyed.
If a woman gives birth, and it has three feet of which two are entwined in one another[126] with the body, destruction will prevail in the land.
If a woman gives birth, and it has four feet and genital member and pudenda are there, the land will suffer misfortune, a strange ruler will appear on the scene.
If a woman gives birth, and the right leg is missing, the land of the ruler will go to ruin.
If a woman gives birth, and the left leg is missing, the enemy’s land will go to ruin.
In general, malformations are looked upon as unfavorable, as are also excess organs or parts e. g. six fingers or six toes; and it is only occasionally that a peculiarity such as shortened arms or a protruding upper lip, receives a favorable interpretation. The variations in the interpretations themselves are not numerous, and for the most part are probably selected in an entirely arbitrary fashion, though here, too, as has been pointed out several times, association of ideas enters as a factor, as, e. g., where large ears are made to point to increased power. At the same time, it is also clear that the great majority of the malformations and abnormalities in the text that we have just discussed are such as actually do occur and with the help of medical works on human malformations[127], many of the omens described in this and in other texts can be identified. There can, therefore, be no doubt that the collections of the bârû-priests dealing with birth-omens observed in infants, likewise, rest upon actual observations, though the field was extended by passing on from actual to purely fanciful and impossible abnormalities. The extent to which this attempt to provide for all kinds of contingencies was carried in the collections is illustrated by a portion of the first tablet of a series[128] dealing with human birth-omens. This section treating in part of the birth of shapeless abortions reads as follows:
If a woman gives birth to pudenda[129], the royal dynasty will be changed.
If a woman gives birth to a head[130], the land will encounter distress.
If a woman gives birth to a form of some kind[131], king against king,—his rival, will prevail.
If a woman gives birth to a foetus[132], the land will encounter distress.