If it is a double foetus with five feet, serious hostility in the country, the house of the man will perish, his stall[45] will be destroyed.
If it is a double foetus with six feet, the population will be diminished, confusion in the land.
If it is a foetus within a foetus, the king will weaken his enemy, his possessions will be brought into the palace[46].
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If a foetus gives birth to a second foetus[47], the king will assert himself against his opponent.
It will be observed that in quite a number of cases two alternative interpretations are given, one of an official character referring to the public welfare, or to occurrences in the royal household[48], the other of an unofficial character bearing on the welfare of the individual to whom the mother lamb that had produced the monstrosity belonged. One foetus issuing from the other, or one within the other, appears to have been a favorable or an unfavorable sign, according to the position of the second. If the one lay above the other, the association of ideas pointed to a control of the ruler over his enemy. In some cases, the association of ideas leading to the interpretation is not clear; and we must perhaps assume in such instances an entry of an event that actually occurred after the birth of the monstrosity in question. A certain measure of arbitrariness in the interpretations also constitutes a factor to be taken into consideration; and the last thing that we need to expect in any system of divination is a consistent application of any principle whatsoever.
The text passes on to an enumeration of the case of an ewe giving birth to more than two lambs. The ‘official’ interpretations are throughout unfavorable[49], and the priests were quite safe in their entries which were purely arbitrary in these cases, since such multiple births never occurred. It is worth while to quote these interpretations as an illustration of the fanciful factor that, as already indicated, played a not insignificant part in the system unfolded.
If an ewe gives birth to three (lambs), the prosperity of the country will be annulled, but things will go well with the owner of the ewe, his stall will be enlarged.
If an ewe gives birth to three fully developed (lambs), the dynasty will meet with opposition, approach of an usurper, the country will be destroyed.
If an ewe gives birth to four, the land will encounter hostility, the produce of the land will be swept away, approach of an usurper, destruction in the land.