Ninurta-paqidat’s Dog Bite and other comic tales

Ninurta-Pāqidāt's Dog Bite, and Notes on Other Comic Tales Author(s): A. R. George Source: Iraq, Vol. 55 (1993), pp. 63-75 Published by: British Institute for the Study of Iraq Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4200367 Accessed: 30-12-2017 17:09 UTC JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://about.jstor.org/terms British Institute for the Study of Iraq is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Iraq This content downloaded from 86.1.83.146 on Sat, 30 Dec 2017 17:09:19 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 63 NINURTA-P?QID?T'S DOG BITE, AND NOTES ON OTHER COMIC TALES By A. R. GEORGE A new look at the three best-known examples of Babylonian humour prompts a revised edi text, the Tale of Ninurta-p?qid?t's Dog Bite, and gives an opportunity to present sign collations of the other two, At the Cleaners, and the Tale of the Poor Man of Nippur. 1. The Tale of Ninurta-P?qid?t's Dog Bite This text, inscribed on a Neo-Babylonian tablet excavated in a private house at Uruk,1 is the most recently discovered of the comic tales that are the subject of this paper. It was first published by Ant Cavigneaux in 1979.2 At that time not all the text was properly understood, though the gist of the sto was clear: a man of Nippur is healed by a priest at Isin, and invites him to Nippur to be his guest. arriving at Nippur the priest follows his patient's instructions but misunderstands what is said to by a gardener woman and, in doing so, causes such offence that he is driven out of the city. A sec translation of the text was made in 1986, by Erica Reiner.3 Her study of its literary structure threw light on the nature of the humour, but she had little new to offer in the way of decipherment of the par of the text that were not already fully understood. Cavigneaux rightly saw the text to be a story that belongs to the "Schulmilieu".4 My interest in tale stems from my own schooldays, as it were, for I first read it as a student with my teacher, Profe W. G. Lambert. Two significant improvements in the understanding of the text came of t experience.5 Reading it recently with students of my own, along with the other texts discussed in th paper, encouraged a new appraisal of the tale and its problems, and at length produced further import breakthroughs in decipherment. Accordingly it has been thought worthwhile to present the entire s in a new edition. Before going on to do just that, it may be instructive to examine the nature of the text again, particularly with reference to the traditions and practices of the "Schulmilieu". The scholarly background of the text is clear from the very start, when, in lines 1-3, the protagonist is introduced by name and family. Like most of the other names in the text, the names of the protagonist and his family are of a highly elaborate kind, and are written in Sumerian: Ninurta-sagentarbi-zae-men, brother of Ninurta-mizides-kiaggani, nephew of Enlil-Nibru-kibi-gi. As Cavigneaux observed, these three names also appear together in a bilingual list of personal names, among which are several scribal ancestors of the Kassite period and later:6 mdnin. urta. sag. ?n. tar. za. e. me. en = m?nin-urta-pa-q?-da-at mdnin. urta. m?. zi. de. es. ki. ?g. g?. g? = m?nin-urta-s?-kun-na-a-i-ra-mu mden .??. nibrukl. ki. bi. gi = mden-l?l-ni-ip-pu-ru-ana-?s-ri-s?~te-er Though Lambert pointed out that there was a revival in Sumerian names in the Kassite period,7 nevertheless at least some of the Sumerian names given in the list, and one suspects all those that are as fancy as the three given to the protagonist of our story and his family, are back-translations from Akkadian. This suspicion is given substance by the orthographies used to write the name of the famous redactor whose name appears in the list as mes.g?.zi.gi.in.a = m?-sag-g?l-ki-in-ap-li (iii 44). This scholar, who flourished in the reign of the post-Kassite king Adad-apla-iddina (1067-46 B.C.), has recently been brought to greater renown by I. L. Finkel.8 We now know that his Sumerian name of apprentices at the feet of a scholar. 1 For the exact find-spot see the catalogue of finds in UVB 5 See below the commentary on 11. 14 and 24. 2 *'Texte und Fragmente aus Warka (32. Kampagne)", Bagh. 6 Copy of Pinches, V R 44, iii 37?39. Discussion by Lambert, Min. 10, pp. 111-17, no. 1. It has not been possible to collate JCS 11 (1957), p. 5 ff.; cols, ii and iii are edited ibid., the tablet. p. 12f. 3 ** 'Why do you cuss me?' ", Proceedings of the American 7Ibid., p. 6. Philosophical Society (PAPS) 130, pp. 1-6. 8 "Adad-apla-iddina, Esagil-k?n-apli, and the series sa.gig", 4 The colophon confirms the school environment: ana sitassi in E. Leichty et al., A Scientific Humanist: Studies... Somalie, "for the recitation of the apprentice scribes" (1. Abraham 35). Sachs (Philadelphia, 1988), pp. 143-59. By "school" I mean the gathering of probably a small number 31-32, p. 55, sub W 23558 = IM 78552. Iraq LV (1993) This content downloaded from 86.1.83.146 on Sat, 30 Dec 2017 17:09:19 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 64 AR. GEORGE exists in more (dumuxuS). These than one variants or can o principles of logography. This list, written m?-sag-gil-ki-i-ni- Esagil-k?n-apli, regardless of t Sumerian version of the name thus in the present text I differ p?qid?t, following the list's ri have used Akkadian versions o fnin. lugal. abzu = B?lt mki. ?g. gi. den. bi. lu. lu = The purpose of cryptography i of a text (e.g. ud.gal.nun) or, a understanding to the small ban ship, into the most esoteric tr expository texts show, the inte up with the inherent ambiguit versions of Akkadian names ca once to show off his scholarshi of this device throughout our In fact there is plenty more e obscure logographic orthograp pseudo-Sumerian names alread gardener woman first replies five cases of difficult logogram the back-translation into Sumer Once again it has the twofold same time of restricting acces seemingly for its own sake a practice is exceedingly commo A further that is scholarly the habit that orthography, i wh instructions as to how the prie two entries from a list of stre e.sir sila.dagal.la = re-bi-tum (11. 11 and 18) e.sir tilla4.zi.da = stasila) ?nuska u ?nin-imma (11. 1 Although the first of these equations is attested lexically for the common certainly dealing with proper nouns. Quotation of material from lists, whe a scholarly habit best known from the commentaries, where it is a standar device. The only text known to me from which two such lines might have be dium of topographical, theological and calendrical miscellanea that is publis Nippur Compendium.15 Unfortunately the text of this work is not much mo no list of streets of Nippur survives. But the existence in antiquity of such way of a parallel one may note that a list of streets of Babylon which usuall survive, incorporated in Tablet V of the topographical work devoted to Bab 9 The use of the Akkadian name in the title of Finkel's article Babylon is written four different ways (see A. R. George, Babylonian incidentally demonstrates his tacit acceptance of it asTopographical the norm. Texts (Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta, on 40; 1. Leuven, 10These are justified in the commentary below, 13. 1992; hereafter abbreviated Topog. Texts), p. 242). 11 In 1. 8 tug.bar.a - sub?t e?tii, pad.pad.da = i4MSL V, p. 56, Hh II 69: sila. dagal. la = re-bi-t?; ?, KA.bar = uttatui; in I. 33, [i?hab?].ba = ishappul; in 1. 34, im.su. kam = imsukku. Note also ad.me.k?r = also Igituh I 346 (VAT 10270 ? 22, cited in AHw, p. 964). 15 Topog. Texts, pp. 143ff., no. 18. sattu in the colophon (1. 36), where rare and difficult Sumerian 16 Topog. Texts, p. 66f., V 62-81, of which 62-64, 67-74 writings are to be expected, however. 12 Written sanga dME.ME in 1. 5, ?.bar dgu-la in 1. 17.and 81 are in the two column format, after the pattern sila name) = suq (everyday name). 13 Cf. for example the famous barrel inscription of Cyrus, V(ceremonial R 35 + BIN II 32, in which in fourteen occurrences the name of This content downloaded from 86.1.83.146 on Sat, 30 Dec 2017 17:09:19 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms NINURTA-P?QIDATS dog bite, and notes on other comic tales 65 Further evidence of a didactic function of the text can perhaps be observed in the relationships of the persons involved, which allude to the theological status quo of the gods Ninurta, who appears in the names of the protagonist and his brother (or, more likely, co of Enlil, whose name is used in turn as the theophoric element in the name of the closest m of the preceding generation, Ninurta-p?qid?t's uncle. Both families, divine and human, are Nippur. Baba, a name of Gula, is associated with her city Isin, for this is the home of the do Baba. The gardener woman, B?lt?ya-sarrat-Aps?, is the daughter-in-law of Nis?-ana-E goddess B?lt?ya is Zarp?n?tum, the daughter-in-law of Ea, Marduk's father. Human daught and father-in-law, like their divine counterparts, are related to a Marduk, but unfortunat ceases at this point to replicate theology exactly, for R?'im-k?ni-Marduk is the father of B? Aps?, not her husband. The failure of the parallel here is an argument against viewing the n characters as artificial or invented. That would have meant in turn that some or all of the c in the story were fictional, and we know from the bilingual list quoted above that Ninurtahis family, at least, were real people. I imagine that the gardener woman's husband is not because reality would not permit it: B?lt?ya-sarrat-Aps? was presumably a widow. But this i has not hindered the subtle exposition in the story of a little theology. This brings us finally to the episode when the priest from Isin asks directions from the Nippur and cannot understand her replies. Each of these replies is first given in a mixture o and Kassite-period Sumerian, or solely in Sumerian, then, following the outrage of the incom priest, who thinks he is being abused, in Akkadian alone: a) an-ni lugal. mu (1. 23), repeated as an-ni be-li (1. 24) b) en nu'.tus.me.en (1. 28), repeated as be-li ul a-sib (1. 29) c) ? dingir.bi dsu.zi.an.na s is kur gaba.ri mu.un.bal (1. 30), repeated as [ana? ? d i n g] i v-s? ?su-zi-an-na ni-iq gaba.ri i-naq-q? (1. 32) Previous scholars have taken this device of alternation between Sumerian and Akkadian literally, supposing that the gardener woman actually answers in Sumerian and that is why the priest of Isin cannot understand.17 For Reiner this is, in fact, the whole joke of the story: the failure of a supposedly learned doctor to understand the Sumerian he encounters on the streets of Nippur.18 A small objection to this interpretation is that Akkadian anni appears in both versions of the first reply, so the opposition between Sumerian and Akkadian is not absolutely intact. But the interpretation raises a potentially more damaging objection. This is the big question of the use of spoken Sumerian on the streets of Nippur. When did Sumerian die out as a vernacular tongue? Scholarly opinion offers varying ideas on this subject, but the argument is chiefly as to whether spoken Sumerian survived into the period of the Ur III dynasty, or even just into the early years of the Isin-Larsa period, or whether it died out somewhat earlier.19 The gap in time between the end of the third millennium and the period of our text, which cannot be earlier than the Kassite period, is immense?at least five hundred years, probably nearer a thousand. Since at all periods a basic grounding in Sumerian was part and parcel of learning to write Sumero-Babylonian cuneiform, we know that Sumerian of a kind was still spoken by scholars, scribes and their apprentices at Nippur (and elsewhere) in the Kassite period and after. But by a woman selling vegetables on the street? With all respect for Jacobsen's opinion it does not seem likely. We should accept it as possible only if another explanation is not forthcoming. It is my belief that there is a different way of understanding the alternation in this passage between Sumerian and Akkadian. As we have seen, the writer of the text is keen on showing off his knowledge by adopting Sumerian orthography, using back-translation from Akkadian. I suggest that he is again doing just that in the first telling of each of the woman's three replies. However, he is not using this device in a random manner. The point of the story is that the woman's words are at first misunderstood by the stranger from Isin. What the scribe has done is to depict the incomprehensibility of her words figuratively, by converting the short phrases of her replies into the other language at his disposal, the learned Sumerian of scholarship. The use of Sumerian thus provides a reminder?both visual, for the 17 Cavigneaux, Bagh. Mitt. 10 (1979), p. 114; Reiner, PAPS 19 See the useful discussion and bibliography collected by M.130 (1986), p. 1; Thorkild Jacobsen, JAOS 108 (1988), p. 124; L. Thomsen, The Sumerian Language, pp. 15?20. The only A. Livingstone, AOAT 220 (1988) = Fs D?lier, p. 183. wildly dissenting voice is the late Thorkild Jacobsen, loc. cit., ]*PAPS 130 (1986), p. 4, followed by A. Livingstone, loc. cit. who used the text under discussion as evidence. This content downloaded from 86.1.83.146 on Sat, 30 Dec 2017 17:09:19 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 66 AR. GEORGE reader (cf. modern concrete p scribes?that her words are ali In the failure This can analysis must be seems clearly to the humour ca that of a man be be confirmed seen to be by open up with a failure in communica and the speed with which he t humour, and in particular to a the new edition. IM 78552 (W 23558) Copy: A. Cavigneaux, Bagh. Mitt. 10 (1979), pp. 112-13 Text 1 [mdnin].urta.sag.?n.tar.bi.za.e.me.[en] (= Ninurta-p?qid?t) 2 [0/1/(ses) mdni]n.urta.m?.zi.de.es.ki.?g.g?.a.n[i] (= Ninurta-sa-kunn?-irammu) 3 [m?tidumu) ah]i(sts)-s? s? mden.lfl.nibruki.ki.bi.gi (= Ellil-Nippuru-ana-asr?su-t?r) 4 ?kalbu(ur.g\1)'i is-suk-su-[m]a ana wi/i(PA.SE)kl ?/(uru) ?be-let-balati(?-.la) a-?a bu-tallu-ti-s? illik(g\n)lk 5 ml?.dsul (= Am?l-B?ba) rlu1/si>i(PA.SE)kl-w lusangM(sanga) dgw/?(ME.ME) Jmur(igi)-s?-ma sipta(?n) iddi(sub)-s?-ma ?-bal-lit-su 6 la^-na bul-lu-ti-ka-ma an-ni-i ?en-l?l b?l(en) nippuri(mbru)ki lik-ru-ub 1 [a-n]a nippuri(nibru)kl ?li(uru)-ia tal-la-kam-ma 8 sub?t ?/7ri?(t?g.bar.a) a-na-?s-si-ka pad.pad.da-a a-qar-ras-ka ? 2 sappl(ssb) sikar(kdis.sa.g) uttati? (? a.bar) a-saq-q?-k[tf !(e?)] 9 a-na ?li(uru)-ka nippuri(ni [ b ] ru)kl a-a-am-ma lul-li-ka 10 a-na r nippuri(n\bru)Wn [?l]i(uru)-ia tal-la-kam-ma abul.mah ter-ru-ba 11 e. s [ ir sila. daga ] 1.r la? re-bi-tum 12 e.sir [til]la4.zi.[d]a sw^sila) ?nuska u ?nin-imma ana sum?li(a.g\xb)-{Bi}-ka tasakkan(gax)an 13 fn[in.lugal.a]bzu (= B?ltiya-sarrat-Aps?) /r?rar(dumu.munus) mki.?g.gi.den.bi.lu.lu ( = R? 'im-k?ni-Marduk) 14 fk[allat(?.gi4.a) mni]s?(?g)me*-a-tm*1-d?-a-tak-la 15 fnu[karibbat(nu?nkiri6) &*]fa>?(kiri6) h?.nun.den.l?l s? ina qaq-qar 16 sila ti[lla4.zi.d]a ussabu(??r)-ma {u^arq?ti(nissa)mci ipassaru(b?r)ru ta-sal-si-ma ?-kal-lam-ka 17 mrl?.dsul! (= Am?l-B?ba) i?^isin(PA.SE)ki'[?^ ?? san gu(?.bar) dgu-la a-na nippuri(nibru)Wt itteh?(te)a 18 [a]bul.mah i-ter-ba ^.s?r1 sila.dagal.la re-[bi-tum} 19 ^.s?r tilla4.zi.da s[?q(si\a) ?nuska u] ld"nin-imma ana sumeli(?.g\xb)-s? i[l-ta-ka]n 20 [fni]n.lugal.abzu (= B?ltiya-sarrat-Aps?) m?raf(dumu.munus) rmkP.?g.gi.den.bi.lu.l[u] ( = R? 'im-k?ni-Marduk) 21 [ffo/]/af(?.gi4.a) m^nis?{\\gymtl-ana-??-a-tak-la fnukaribbat(nu.&skiri6) ^kir?(kiri6) h?.nun.den. [l?l] 22 [s? ina qa]q-qar tilla4.zi.da ussabu(a?r)-ma ?arq?ti(niss?)mei ipassaru(b?v)m i-ta-[ma]r 23 ^ninMluJgal.abzu (= B?lt?ya-sarrat-Aps?) an-ni lugal.mu (= b?li) am-me-ni ta-at-ta-nam-zar-in-ni 24 am-me-n[i at-t]a-nam-zar-ka an-ni be-l? aq-bi-ka 25 bltu(?) s? "^nin1 .u[rta.sa]g.?n.tar.bi.za.e.me.en (= Ninurta-p?qid?t) 26 ahi(ses) mrdlnin.urta.m[?] .zi.de.es.ki.?g.g?.a.ni (= Ninurta-sa-kunn?-irammu) 27 m?ridumu) ahi(scs)-s? s? mden.l?l.nibruki.ki.bi.gi (= Ellil-Nippuru-ana-asr?su-t?r) a-sal-kima tu-kal-lam-in-ni 28 ren nu!l .tus.me.en (= b?li ul asib) am-me-ni ta-at-ta-nam-zar-in-ni }For attempts at identifying exactly how her words are ambiguous see the comments on 11. 24, 29 and 32. This content downloaded from 86.1.83.146 on Sat, 30 Dec 2017 17:09:19 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms NINURTA-PAQIDATS DOG BITE, AND NOTES ON OTHER COMIC TALES 67 29 am-me-ni at-ta-nam-zar-ka be-li ul a-sib aq-bi-ka 30 r?-w!l il-lik ? dingir.bi (= ina/ana bit ii?su) dsu-zi-an-na siskur gaba.ri mu.un.bal (= n?q mehri inaqqi) 31 [am-me-n]i ta-at-ta-nam-zar-in-ni am-me-ni at-ta-nam-zar-ka 32 [ana bit i7]i(dingir)-Si< dsu-zi-an-na ni-iq mehri(gaba..n) i-naq-qi 33 [ishap]pumr!([}?HABl].BA)-ma su-? 34 m[?r?(?nm\x)mtl m]u-um-me lip-hu-ru-ma ina imsukki(\m.s?.kam)-s?-nu abul.mah li-se-su-[s?] 35 [a-na] si-tas-si-i l?samall?(lab.tur)me? satir(sar) wrw/c(unug)kl '[i?mn <ud Jt.kam)] 36 [a]d.me.kar l.kam dmarduk(ama.r.utu)-ba-lat-su-iq-bi sarrw(lugal) dannu(ka\a.ga) s?r babili(tm.l?T)[k?.(kc4)] Translation Ninurta-p?qid?t, [the brother of] Ninurta-sa-kunn?-irammu [and nephew] of Enlil-Nippuru-anaasrisu-t?r, was bitten by a dog and went to Isin, the city of the Lady of Health, to be healed. 5 Am?lBaba of Isin, the high priest of Gula, saw him, recited an incantation for him and healed him. "May Enlil, the lord of Nippur, bless (you) for the healing you have done! You must come to my city Nippur, so that I can bring you a coat, carve off the choicest cuts for you and give you barley beer to drink, two jugs full!" "Where exactly should I come to in your city Nippur?" io ??when you come to my city Nippur you must enter by Grand Gate. Keep Broad Avenue, the boulevard, and Right Street, the road of Nuska and Ninimma, on your left. B?lt?ya-sarrat-Aps?, the daughter of R?'im-k?ni-Marduk and [daughter-in-law of] Nis?-ana-Ea-takl?, 15 who tends the garden called Abundance of Enlil, will be sitting at a plot on Right Street selling vegetables?ask her and she will show you." Am?l-Baba of Isin, the high priest of Gula, came to Nippur. He entered by Grand Gate. He kept Broad Avenue, the boulevard, and Right Street, the [road of Nuska and] Ninimma, on his left. He found [20 B?lt?ya]-sarrat-Aps?, the daughter of R?'im-k?ni-Marduk and [daughter]-in-law of Nis?-ana-Ea- takl?, who tends the garden called Abundance of Enlil and sits [at a] plot on Right Street selling vegetables: "B?lt?ya-sarrat-Aps??" "Yes, sir?" "Why are you being rude to me?" "Why am I being rude to you! What I said to you was, 'Yes, sir?' " 25 "The house of Ninurta-p?qid?t, the brother of Ninurta-sa-kunn?-irammu and nephew of Enlil- Nippuru-ana-asr?su-t?r?I am to ask you and you will show me." "He's not at home, sir." "Why are you being rude to me?" "Why am I being rude to you! What I said to you was, 'He's not at home, sir'." 30 "Where has he gone?" "He's at the chapel of his god, Suzianna, making an offering." "[Why] are you being rude to me?" "Why am I being rude to you! He's [at the chapel of] his god, Suzianna, making an offering... He's a [real idiot], this one! The students should form a mob and drive him out of Grand Gate with their practice buns!" 35 Written [for] the recitation of the apprentice scribes. Uruk. [Month m.] Year 1, Marduk-bal?ssuiqbi, strong king, king of Babylon. Commentary 4. The Lady of Health, B?let-balati, is a name of Gula of Isin, of course: see the references collected by CAD B, p. 48. The title is also an epithet of this goddess typically used in medical incantations (AMT 81, no. 3, rev. 9; K?cher, BAM 105, 10; 543, iii 5G; etc.), and the allusion is, as here, to her powers of healing. The name is also used for its alliterative properties: B?let-bal?ti ana butalluti, which in a This content downloaded from 86.1.83.146 on Sat, 30 Dec 2017 17:09:19 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 68 A. R. GEORGE humorous 5. The Bagh. text use of Mitt. Sumerian such the 10 (1979), column. mam?l-dba-ba6, renown, as as rare p. Were since others this in might logogram 1111. that A text Am?l-Bab the list cert 8. This line contains what must b in Nippur. The promised hospitali these will no doubt be costly. The obscurity. is not yet The phrase found tug. bar. independently in (MSL XVI, p. 228): tug.bar.ra = su-bat e-lu-ti t?g.bar.ra.si.?.l? = su-bat e-li-tim Another possibility is that t u g . b a r . a is to be understood in the light of tug.ni.bar usum, at Mari, which was an expensive luxury item, probably a kind of cape (see J.-M. Duran 21, p. 412f.; MARI 3 (1984), p. 133; G. Bardet, ARMT 23, p. 30f.). The second item promised, the object of qarasu, can be interpeted in the light of the equat = qa-ra-sum (MSL XVI, p. 163, Nabn?tu XVII 292). The verb is employed with both bread and its object (cf. the cognate noun qirsu, which is also used of bread and meat). With bread it se describe the action of nipping off bits of dough to make individual loaves (cf. k ? d = qar?su XVII 293). With meat in a culinary context it will probably mean to remove pieces of flesh fro Since meat is more expensive than bread I suspect that the best cuts of meat are what Ninur promised Am?l-Baba. The reading of pad.pad.da-o remains a problem. The word pad, s u k u, has to do with food portions, of course ( = Akk. kurummatu, kus?pu), and the reduplica is entered in a forerunner to Hh XXIII (SLT 18, iii 13'-20' = MSL XI, p. 121, 6.2): pad, pad, d?n.pad, pad.pad.r?, pad . diNANNA, pad . 0??a??a, pad.hai.la, pad.rsiVA? The present orthography, with what appears to be a piene final vowel as phonetic indicator, suggests the presence of a loan-word, i.e., pappaddu, but the existence of such a word remains to be confirmed. The promised drink is beer, but not just ordinary beer, for kas . sag is qualified with the signs KA.BAR. There are two alternatives in dealing with ka.bar. The closest parallel I can find to the whole phrase is in a NB document: \-en sap-pa s? sikar(kas) uttati(se.bar) (VAS VI 85, 3-4; Nbn). "Barley beer" is best-quality beer the world over, and suits our purpose. The possibility exists that ka.bar is a rare or cryptic orthography for uttatu, which is usually se.bar, of course. Perhaps we might read it s ^ . b a r? A second solution would be to understand ka.bar as Akkadian. An orthography ka-bar for the status rectus of the adjective kabru, "fat", would be acceptable in a later copy, but on this tablet with its impeccably regular morphology one would have to propose that the sign group is a pseudo-logogram. Although kabru is not an obviously appropriate adjective for beer, it is for grain: se yu kabru is the plump barleycorn ripe for harvest. This usage is found, e.g., in the stative in an apodosis of Summa ?lu LXI which predicts storm-damage to a standing crop: e-nu-ma se'u(se) ka-bar dadad(iskur) irahhis(ra)1^', "when barley is plump Adad will inundate/trample it" (CT 39 16, 42). A more common version of this apodosis, found in meteorological omens, indeed seems to use ka.bar as a pseudo-logogram: dodad (ina) <fe7(se) ka.bar irahhis, "Adad will inundate/trample (in) plump grain" (ACh Samas VIII 4; IX 75; X 32; XI 73). In our text sikaru kabru would then be interpreted as "beer made from plump (i.e., best) <barley>". 10. As Cavigneaux pointed out the Grand Gate appears on the celebrated map of Nippur, where it is the middle one of three gates on the south-west stretch of city wall. In addition it is the first gate of Nippur listed in Kagal I (MSL XIII, p. 228, 2, = a-bu-ul-ma[h]), and is probably to be found in the cultic commentary of Nippur (OECT XI 69, i 15). It is well known from late documents, often as abul. ?. mah (BE IX 48, 30; X, p. 69, index; McEwan, LB Tablets, no. 34, 1.3.6). 13. My rendering of the name written in Sumerian fnin . lugal. abzu is not substantiated by an entry in a list, but is easily justified. "My Lady" B?lt?ya is best known as a title of Zarpan?tum, the consort of Marduk. As the daughter-in-law of Ea, this goddess is commonly kallat Apsi, but she This content downloaded from 86.1.83.146 on Sat, 30 Dec 2017 17:09:19 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms NINURTA-PAQIDAT'S dog bite, and notes on other comic tales 69 can also take the epithet sarrat Aps?, which properly belongs to Damkina, by virtue of her name dn i ab zu (CT 25 35, obv. 17). With back-translation in mind it becomes clear that in the name of t woman's father k i. ? g and g i are not simply a variation on k i. ? g . g ? (cf. Reiner's ''Kiang Enbilulu"), but separate elements. Names of the type DN-r? 'im-kitti are very common, but simple g suggests k?nu rather than kittu. The theophoric element written de ?. b i. 1 u . 1 u is most likely to sta for Marduk himself. This family evidently held the gods of Babylon in great respect, and it is all t more interesting that the daughter has married the son of a man whose name, constructed as it is wit Ea as the theophoric element, demonstrates allegiance to the cult of the same divine family. T importance of the cult of Marduk at Nippur in the Middle Babylonian period is witnessed by the nam given by Adad-apla-iddina to the city walls, Imgur-Marduk and N?mit-Marduk (see Topog. Tex p. 350). Personal names with Marduk as the theophoric element were very popular in MB Nippur (se the indexes of pns in, e.g., BE XV, BE XVII/1, and PBS II/2), as well as later. 14. The reading r ? ? . [ g ] i4 . a = kallatu (conflation of this line and 21), against Cavigneaux d [ a g . g ] i. a = b?btu, is the idea of W. G. Lambert. What is expected after it is thus not a quarte name (cf. Cavigneaux: "eine Frau des Viertels 'Beschw?rer der Stra?en, vertrauet auf Ea' "; Rein "from the city quarter of the Priests of Ana-Ea-takla Street"), but simply the name of B?lt?ya-sarrat-aps?' father-in-law. This will begin with the determinative written with the di? sign, like all other masculi personal names in this text, and thus the complex of wedges read as i s i b sil ame? by Cavigne has to be deciphered differently. The new reading m?gme? = nisu needs collation in 1. 14, but looks convincing in 1. 21. It has the obvious advantage of very nicely providing takl? with a subject of th correct gender and number, as well as producing a name that is highly acceptable, if unique. 16. Instead of ussabu one might instead read asbat (or, in MB, asbatu). Cavigneaux's reading of the middle part of this line with reference to the ancient shrine du6.n?mun.b?r.(ra) is now see to be wrong (delete the citation of this passage in Topog. Texts, p. 454). Also mistaken is the alternativ idea that the gardener woman was pulling up reeds (Reiner, PAPS 130 (1986), p. 1; Jacobsen, JA 108 (1988), p. 124 f.). One could refine that idea and argue thatpas?ru refers here to the thinning o seedling vegetables, but the debate as to whether in an agricultural context this word can mean "to weed" or not is still unresolved (cf. the differing opinions of G. van Driel, Bull, of Sum. Agr?cultur 5 (1990), p. 239; and M. A. Powell, Aula Or. 9 (1991), p. 163; according to M. Stol, Bull, of Su Agriculture 4 (1988), p. 181, weeding has no place in the traditional agriculture of Mesopotamia). Th verb as?bu in hendiadys implies a stationary activity, and it is safer for the moment to propose that t activity is the vending of the garden's produce. For pas?ru in the sense of "to sell" see the referenc collected in AHw s.v. G 3; the expression is elliptical for ana kaspip., "to dispose of for silver". Wha could be more natural than that a gardener woman should sit by the side of the road to sell her produc 22. The restoration oi?tamar is already implicit in Reiner's translation, "he set eyes on" (loc. cit.). 24. The misunderstanding arises from the ambiguity of anni: it can mean "Yes!", but it could also mean "My sin!" (this insight derives from W. G. Lambert). So when the woman of Nippur asks this way what the priest of Isin wants, he takes her apparently innocuous reply as a curse. 28. Cavigneaux's reading [nam?] does not compare well with the sign as written elsewhere o the tablet. Pending collation, the phrase as read here, en nu.tus.me.en, more nearly transla the Akkadian b?li ul asib; in this analysis the apparently erroneous 1st p.sg. enclitic suffix on the ver must signify the 1st p.sg. possessive suffix on the noun. 29. I am uncertain how b?li ul asib comes to be taken as rude language. Perhaps the priest of Isin heard the insolent reply b?li ul asim, "my lord is not worthy (to be given that information)", and too offence at such blunt lack of respect for his social and professional position?we might expect the pri to be portrayed to comic effect as self-important and pompous. If this is correct note that the ambigu of the language may be bolstered by a learned play within the Sumerian writing of ben ul asib: en nu . tus/d?r . me. en > en nu.du7.me.en, "Sir, you are not worthy". 30. Cavigneaux read [e] -ka at the beginning of the line, but the expected orthography of this wo in NB would be e-ka-a, and there is in any case a shortage of space on the tablet. The writing a-is f ay?s is also known from OBGTl 715-17 (MSL IV, p. 57). As for the woman's reply, in older Sumerian one would expect the first complex to be ? dingir-ani DN-ak-a (or -e). The lack of c postpositions and the use of the impersonal possessive suffix with personal referent are symptoma of clumsy back-translation from Akkadian, done mechanically phrase by phrase without regard for authentic Sumerian syntax and grammar. This content downloaded from 86.1.83.146 on Sat, 30 Dec 2017 17:09:19 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 70 ?. 32. of As R. A GEORGE preposition space. for that After the can is woman's be required this, the third identified as at reply, a t traces p likely so be taken as an oath, si anni, "Bego at Nippur went under various nam ?g.g?.su.du7 (Nougayrol, RA (Mesopotamian Civilizations, 41 5; existence in the Middle Babylonia was a building of 15 musar in are Ninurta 33. (I. From almost Bernhardt the syntax certain to it be and S. seems a N. that nominal c pronoun as subject. The line mark willing to help him, or at least pre for him to be driven out of town. impatience with the individual wh imagine, her mounting contempt fellow out as feeble-minded or so in Akkadian, e.g. nu 'u, ahurr?, is often appear grouped as rough sy with mimation present before th looking for a logogram. In norma orthographic virtuosity, we would no such logogram comes to mind special orthographic features of t suggestion of [lu. h ab] .ba is mad 10:11 : l?.is.h?b = as-ha-ap-pu-u t?arahara(L?.HAB) = is-hap-pw, ahurr?, ishappu, guzallw, etc.; a 34. The school word written (Cavigneaux's i m . s ? . k restoration of town, and we can confidently e apprentice scribe. The spelling i m is translated rendering of and s i m . by the obvious Akkadian i is now lo imsukku known to as b it is hard to imagine pieces of cla the simile k?ma imsukki, which i wrapped around the gall-bladder s.v.; Nougayrol, Iraq 31 (1969), p. several such similes is that an im 11 // CT 30 31, Rm 153, 12': ina s on the favourable side the liver see it, the point of the simile is n envelope, but its distinctive shape learning, for me the meaning of i but also a name for the bun-shaped inscribed with simple school ex Babylonian school tablets from The etymology of imsukku in the which means either "hand-(sized) thrown!), or discussed by alternatively, "list M. Civil (M?langes This content downloaded from 86.1.83.146 on Sat, 30 Dec 2017 17:09:19 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms NINURTA-PAQIDATS DOG BITE, AND NOTES ON OTHER COMIC TALES 71 pas ? confondre avec i m - s ? = imsukku qui d?signe une enveloppe de tablette". Civil showed that the im.su designates a tablet on which a student wrote work assignments, as mentioned in several Sumerian 'Edubba' texts. A piece of evidence absent from his discussion was the lexical entry im. su.gub.ba = ?u-w, i.e. imsugubb?, in Hh X 444 (MSL VII, p. 102), explained as qa-tum s? tup-pi, "list, i.e. on a tablet", in Hg A II 118 (ibid., p. 113). In the light of the passages collected by Civil it is clear that im.su g u b means "to assign an exercise tablet" in the context of setting homework (loc. cit., p. 75: Edubba A 6.76). Happily enough, this fact tallies very well with the common use of lenticular clay buns as practice tablets. The spellings found in Hh X 468-69 are probably to be viewed as phonetic variants. (Elsewhere a word written im.su inescapably means "chamber-pot", as proved by a witchcraft incantation (Lambert, AfO 18 (1957-58), p. 293, 50: k ? s i m . s ? = s?n?t imsukki?). Even if one is right to read imsukku here, in the light of the etymology proposed above this cannot be the same word as the scribal imsukku (cf. Nougayrol, loc. cit.), though no doubt the similarity of the two terms caused much mirth when beginners at school were shown their first imsukku.) In our current state of knowledge lenticular tablets are typical of OB schools, of course, and might be thought a little anachronistic in the present text. In fact we possess rather few practice tablets from the periods between OB and the seventh century, and hardly any are published (post-OB practice tablets from Nippur are typically oblong, with the text of the obverse and reverse running along different axes: a good example is the one published by Jeffrey H. Tigay, The Evolution of the Gilgamesh Epic, pp. 264-65, photograph p. 297; the obverse is Gilgames, the reverse, lexical. I am told by M. Civil that such tablets could be from as late as the eighth century). However, it is possible that the word imsukku became attached to the notion of "practice tablet", and remained in use even after these ceased to be round. Arguing from a different starting point, as it were, in his discussion of im.su, Civil himself noted that in the colophon of a metrological text im.su refers to an individual mathematical problem or exercise, and that at Nippur such exercises could be found on little tablets that were not round but "carr?es aux coins arrondis" (loc. cit., p. 7613). He concluded that "la 'tablette de main' serait donc sinon une lentille au moins une tablette plut?t petite avec un seul probl?me math?matique ou un court extrait de texte". Whether round or not, such tablets would be freely available to students; and being of no value and fitting neatly in the palm of the hand, they would serve as wonderfully effective missiles The Joke Having been able to advance an effectively complete translation of the text for the first time, we must ask again: what is the joke? In his edition Cavigneaux was not sure whether the priest Am?l-Baba' exit was dignified or undignified, and could only suggest that the text was "eine wahrscheinlich humoristische Geschichte". Such caution was rendered unnecessary by Erica Reiner, who recognized the story for what it is, a comic tale similar in spirit to the Tale of the Poor Man of Nippur. But unlike that story it is not quite a typical folk-tale. The characters who appear in it are not the anonymous rascal and dupe universal in folk-tales ancient and modern.21 We know that one of them, Ninurta-p?qid?t, actually existed, and was probably a wise (not to mention crafty) old scholar of Nippur. Given the origin of the story in a scribal environment it is likely that the students would identify him as one of their own. Perhaps he was even their professor. If he was a real personage then the other characters which appear in the story would also be taken from life. Quite probably the gardener woman, B?lt?ya-sarrat-Aps?, was a local character well known to students. They may have patronized her stall every day on the way to and from their teacher's house. This would account for their seemingly fortuitous and unexplained presence at the climax of the story, when she calls on them to chase Am?l-Baba out of town. And for the greatest comic effect Am?l-Baba, the priestly doctor from Isin, should also have been a figure known to the students, if only by reputation. For Reiner, as we have seen, the joke of the tale lay in the inability of a learned doctor to understand spoken Sumerian. We have already expressed doubts as to the survival into such a late period of Sumerian as a vernacular language, but it seems unlikely that this is the joke for another reason also: if the priestly doctor is the butt of a satire which marks him down as a know-nothing, the integrity of the tale is destroyed by the opening episode, in which he successfully cures Ninurta-p?qid?t, and is clearly depicted as an expert in his profession. 21 On these stock characters and the anonymity that typifies them, see Heda Jason, JCS 31 (1979), p. 191 f., with special reference to the Tale of the Poor Man of Nippur. This content downloaded from 86.1.83.146 on Sat, 30 Dec 2017 17:09:19 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 72 AR. GEORGE Nevertheless, of provincial there is obviousl difficulty with neighbours, and there may ha Yorkshire in England, that urg with the local dialect. A similar getting the better of a man o p?qid?t of Nippur has been bit in Isin, the city of Gula azuga is done by the recitation of a m Mesopotamia was the preserve herbal lore and surgery (as we incantations to drive out the d were the preserve of literate, the healing is effected by mea Am?l-Baba is not just a doctor Egal-mah of Gula. This is a very a career track for a gifted scri service. The point is that Ninu just any doctor from Isin, but man is successful. there is, as it were a Harley Now comes the catch: Ninurta-p?qid?t is faced with the bill for treatment, no doubt a substantial one, given the elevated status of his healer?he has an obligation to perform. And here is what I feel to be the central concern of the story: how the citizen of Nippur gets out of his obligation to the man of Isin, without being seen to renege on his promise. To protect himself from the loss of face which is the reward of those who publicly go back on their word, Ninurta-p?qid?t must arrange matters so that, while Am?lBaba fails to collect what is his due, he himself is not implicated in the ruse which ensures such a result. Accordingly he promises Am?l-Baba that he will entertain him royally at Nippur. Naturally Am?l-Baba is keen to take up this offer of lavish hospitality, and asks for instructions to get to his patient's house. However, Ninurta-p?qid?t does not tell him exactly where the house is; he tells him how to find someone who will tell him, a gardener woman who sits at her pitch by the side of one of the main thoroughfares of Nippur selling vegetables. She may be chosen simply as someone with local knowledge who is easy to find, but alternatively she may be the kind of malevolent old crone, notorious for never doing anybody a favour, that one might expect to find in a comic tale. However that may be, the directions are, in themselves, designed to confuse the doctor ("keep Right Street on your left"),23 and are thus also intentionally humorous. For good effect the directions are repeated as narrative, and the suspense mounts in anticipation of the tale's inevitable and expected conclusion?victory for Nippur at Isin's expense. The ruse works. The gardener woman either genuinely tries to give Am?l-Baba directions so that he may find Ninurta-p?qid?t, or she intentionally mocks him as a stranger by giving answers that she knows he will take as insults. Whether she is honest and direct or wilfully malicious, the outcome is the same. The man from Isin finds her language so incomprehensible that he does indeed keep accusing her of insulting him. Obviously the word plays involved in this episode are also intended to provoke laughter. Finally she is so exasperated?or pretends to be?that she turns to the crowd that we may presume has gathered around, invites them to consider what a stupid fellow the stranger is, and incites the scribal apprentices from the local school to drive him from the city by pelting him with their practice tablets. Ninurta-p?qid?t has got out of his obligation, but is, on the face of it, innocent of guilt: it can hardly be his fault that the good doctor never took up his offer, now can it? 23 The injunction to place the right on the left may also act as 22 The classic article is E. Ritter, "Magical-expert (= asipu) a subtle literary device, signalling to the audience that from this and physician (= as?): notes on two complementary profesthings will be the opposite of what they seem. It thus sions in Babylonian medicine", AS 16, pp. 299-321. moment The the contradictory ambivalence, intentional or subject is now brought up to date by R. D. Biggs, "Medizin.anticipates A. otherwise, of the woman's words. In Mesopotamien", RIA VII, pp. 623-29, with bibliography; and M. Stol, JEOL 32 (1991-2), pp. 58-62. This content downloaded from 86.1.83.146 on Sat, 30 Dec 2017 17:09:19 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms NINURTA-P?QIDAT'S DOG BITE, AND NOTES ON OTHER COMIC TALES 73 2. At the Cleaners The humorous composition named "At the Cleaners" by its first editor, C. J. Gadd, as t of "Two sketches from the life at Ur",24 has been recently edited afresh by A. Livingston edition represents a significant improvement in the understanding of this difficult text, of the technical vocabulary remains obscure. Livingstone evidently did not have the benefit knowledge of the tablet on which the text is written, relying instead on the copy publish 1966 as UETWl 414. Since Gadd made his copies of the literary tablets from Ur they hav and cleaned, and experience has shown that there is often more to see on them than there With this in mind I have collated the tablet, to see if anything could be gained that would understanding of the text. Collations The damaged section of the obverse, 11. Uff., contains many traces not copied by Gadd. I have recopied 11. 9-20 (Fig. 1), and about these and the last line I offer the following remarks: 10. At the end, after Ue^-di-, the spacing of the tablet suggests that only one more sign is likely. Gadd suggested i[g] for the broken sign, and I have no better idea. 11. After ki-im-di-im-ma the verbs are ?ta-x-pa^-ar ? te-{x-ni/ir^. In the first verb ? = na or ka-: nap?rum would be new, but kap?rum, "to wipe", is possible in the context. 12. The middle of the line reads ta-z[A-]x ki-*mai su-tu-^um^. The wedges copied by Gadd at the very end of the line seem to me to belong to -im at the end of 1. 33 on the reverse. There are traces of stray wedges between the ends of 11. 33 and 34 which suggest that 1.12 continued some way further on to the reverse, but was subsequently overwritten. This would make it likely that the sign at the end of 1. 12 is incomplete, and account for our failure to read it. 13. After me-es-ke-er-tim it would seem that only the verb is missing, and the traces now suggest tata-\[\ x]. A slight trace of the last sign may in fact be visible, though it is possible that what was seen at the right edge of the tablet was not significant. 14. The first sign on Gadd's copy, ??, is now only present in its final upright wedge, and cannot be verified. After it the wedges suggest te-fpa-x^ (so also Gadd), or up-{\ ??. To me the last sign, read as(ll) by Gadd, looks most like a rather ornate nar, but given what follows, which I read gassam(\m.babbar) t[u-ba-la-a]l, "you mix gypsum", it is tempting to see it as naga instead. The cleansing properties of a mixture of soap and gypsum are attested in an incantation ritual which opens with the following instruction: uhula(naga) gas-sa q?t?(su)m*n-su imessiQuhy^], "he washes his hands in soap and gypsum" (KAR 21, rev. 1 // CT 23 17, 33). 15. I read [i-na a]bnim(na4) ta-ma*-[ah-ha-s]??, " [on a] stone you slap if\ This presupposes the provision of a flat stone slab on which to slap wet washing in the traditional manner. Such an expensive luxury was presumably not available to every washerman, and can be seen as just another of the customer's excessive demands. 16. The end of this line is likely to read ta-ma-ar-r[a-as ? ta/te-... ], "you stir (it) in a terhum-vessel and you [...]". 17. The word after zi-im-tam appears to be written over an erasure: te-me-s? (<em?duml) i possible, followed perhaps by a second verb beginning t[a-. The third verb may be tu-na-*?a?-[ad], "you comb". 18. Presumably tu-ta-a[r-ra-ak], "you hit (it) with a stick of e'ru-wood". 19. The first word is not s[a-g]a-am but i[t-q]?-am, "tuft, fleece; fleecy fabric"; napalsahtam probably refers to flattened nap. 42. The last word is te-mi-id. I understand the phrase ters?tam pagarka temmid as parallel in meaning to the foregoing libbak?mi ihhammat, and render 11. 40-42 as "your heart will become inflamed and you will inflict a red flush (of anger) on your body", i.e., you will have an apoplectic fit. In this analysi ter situm is taken as the *taprist stem from the verb rus su, "to redden" (AHw rasu II). 24Iraq 25 (1963), pp. 177-88. The tablet, U 7793, was found 26 at A comprehensive programme of collation of Gadd's copies No. 7 Quiet Street (see Charpin, Le clerg? d'Ur, pp. 31 and 37). for UET VI is now being undertaken by M.-C. Ludwig and M. in J. Geller. 2344 'At the Cleaners' and notes on humorous literature", AOAT 220 = Fs D?lier, pp. 175-87. This content downloaded from 86.1.83.146 on Sat, 30 Dec 2017 17:09:19 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 74 A. R. GEORGE 11/2- 42 pa-ga-ar-ka ?f^-mi-id Fig. 1 ?/?G VI 414, 9-20 and collation of 1. 42 Other Remarks As understood by Livingstone the text consists of a simple dialogue: first the speech by th particular customer, and then the washerman's reply. This is an improvement on Gadd's under according to which the closing lines are uttered by the customer. What seems to me unlikely Livingstone's reading of the text is his interpretation of the closing lines. He allows the washe apparent change of heart, resulting in the invitation of the troublesome customer to lunch: "B meal time not pass! Come in and unravel the great . . .s of the fuller!" (11. 36-37 in his trans I read the couplet as follows: na-ap-ta-nu-um la i-ba-a et-ru-ba-am-ma r ii? q?-e l?aslakim(?z\ag) ma-du-tim pu-su-ur My suspicion here is that, far from having a change of heart, the washerman is using the old worn trader's excuse, that it is time for lunch, to get rid of an awkward customer. The force o imperative etrubamma must be separative (GAG ? 92e), despite the ventive suffix, and thus far fro him in (so also CAD N/l, p. 323), the washerman incites the customer to go home, as people do, The time to eat must not pass! Go off home! And unravel the many threads of the washerman! Despite the new reading at the beginning of the second line27 the significance of the line as is still not absolutely clear. The phrase looks proverbial (as does naptanum l? ib?), perhaps co the advice that the person addressed should busy himself with his own affairs. If so it is used for the mention of a washerman. Finally the washerman enjoins the customer to be less "uptight", or, as noted above, he will give himself an apoplexy. 27 Gadd read la(?)-ke-e, Livingstone x-ke-e; both leave thethey appear now, are compatible with the end of ?. The phrase word untranslated. Since the tablet was copied it has sustained q? pas?rum, though new, rings true. further damage, but the traces, both as copied by Gadd and as This content downloaded from 86.1.83.146 on Sat, 30 Dec 2017 17:09:19 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms NINURTA-P?QID?TS DOG BITE, AND NOTES ON OTHER COMIC TALES 75 3. The Tale of the Poor Man of Nippur Since the initial publication of this story by O.R. Gurney, the Tale of the Poor Man of attracted much attention.28 It has been translated afresh by Jerrold S. Cooper and W. von there is no justification yet for a completely new edition. However, I had the opportunity manuscripts from Sultantepe at first hand in Ankara in September 1992, and can give the collation of 57T38, which are marked with asterisks in the list given below as Figure 2. collations are very minor; many merely confirm suggestions and emendations of the or forward by Gurney himself, and by Cooper, von Soden and other commentators,30 but to the readings for 11. 29, 38 and 54 are new. Collations already made by Gurney in transli not reiterated here in copy except for a single case where there is disagreement (1. 6). The seco from Sultantepe, 57T 39 + 116, is as copied. Two minor collations of the Kuyunjik m also given on Figure 2. STT 38 ? 3478 6 el-le-ta* ?j^|f" 1 dum|u* f||i 7 sar-tpat*1 fSp 7 | '/*' r/'-.v// ?|^= 13 udu*.nita* ^G^G 26 mha-za*-[an-na] jfp? 29 sul-man-ni* Tk?d*?-[re-e] 33 lib-bi*-s?* [ 38 \pe]-re*-e'-s?* 40 k?d-re-Te? fe|f 52 ]?*-G/p??* l?g?r.l? i-sas-si* %jr~ , 54 lu t\uh-hu\-ud (with Gurney's copy) 56 Jx-'iii*1 il-si-tma1 '^gpL 60 su-si-s? an[a* l?b-b\i* k? f *?" ^ 62 ku-uk-ku-bi-s[?* J|; 67 te-m[e*-d]an-ni ]?$ 11 lu-uk*-s?-ud ^fe 86 ta?a*? qup*-pi*-im-ma '$G^^f^^G 90 q[?-re]b d\ur*-an-ki] /?$%: 97 is-s[u*-r\a*-<te* it*-tap^-r[asl^ s?\-ma-me(s)l ^??EME^lM^T~ (i.e., ras for rasa: not enough space for it-tap-ra-s? ana s?-ma-me) 98 ti-ibKse*-e*-rP $$$* 100 [ina] n[i*-i\s-sat .$$$. 116 pe^erUi-Su* ^ 125 a-sar z[u-mu]r*-s? Wm 158 ri-b\?*Je*A-\l?\ ;;0$?: Fig. 2. Collations of manuscripts of the Poor Man of Nippur 284tThe Sultantepe Tablets V. The Tale of the Poor Man of "The Tale of the Poor Man of Nippur and its folktale Gurney, Nippur", AnSt 6 (1956), pp. 145-64; cuneiform texts:parallels", ibid., AnSt 22 (1972), pp. 149-58, and Heda Jason, p. 148: ? 3478, S7T38, and 39 + 116. Further source: "The M. Poor Man of Nippur: an ethnopoetic analysis", JCS 31 de J. Ellis, JCS 26 (1974), p. 89. (1979), pp. 189-215. 29 "Structure, humor, and satire in the Poor Man of Nippur", 30 Especially in AnSt 1 (1957), pp. 135-36. 7CS 27 (1975), pp. 163-74; and 71?47???/1, pp. 174-80, 31 See the list given in AnSt 8 (1958), p. 245, and repeated in respectively. Comparative studies have been made by 57TII, O. R. p. 23. Postscript: Since this article went to press new translations of all three of the texts discussed above been published in Benjamin R. Foster, Before the Muses (Bethesda, Md., 1993), pp. 89-90, 82 This content downloaded from 86.1.83.146 on Sat, 30 Dec 2017 17:09:19 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms