Appendix. The Second Version Of The Flood-Story.
This was found by the late George Smith at Nineveh when excavating for the proprietors of the Daily Telegraph, and was at first supposed to belong to the text translated on pp. 101-109. This, however, is impossible, as the narrative is in the third person instead of the first, and in the form of a conversation between Atra-ḫasis (= Pir-napištim) and the god Aê—
Tablet D. T. 42.
......................
....... may it be
....... like the vault of
....... may it be strong above
and below.
Enclose the ... and
...............
[At] the time that I shall send
to thee
Enter [the ship] and close the
door of the ship,
Into the midst of it [take] thy
grain, thy furniture, and [thy] goods,
Thy . . ., thy family, thy
relatives, and the artisans;
[The beasts] of the field, the
animals of the field, as many as I shall collect (?),
[I will] send to thee, and thy
door shall protect them.
[Atra]-ḫasis opened his mouth
and spake,
Sa]ying to Aê, his lord:
“......
a ship I have not made .......
Form [its shape (?) upon the
gr]ound.
Let me see the [plan], and [I
will build] the ship.
[Form] ...... on the ground
........
........ what thou hast said
.......
.........................
It is not improbable that the fragment published by the Rev. V. Scheil, O. P., belongs to this legend (see The King's Own,12 April 1898, pp. 397-400).