A balbale to Inana and Dumuzid: translation

^1-8Lady, you who wander among sweet-voiced cows and gentle-voiced calves in the cattle-pen; young woman, no sooner will you arrive there, Inana, than the churn should sound! May the churn of your spouse sound, Inana, may the churn of Dumuzid sound! May the churn sound, may the churn of Dumuzid sound!

^9-16The rocking of the churn will sing for you, Inana, thus making you joyous. The holy churn will sound ...... for you, thus making you joyous, Ninegala. The good shepherd, the man of sweet songs, will loudly (?) sing songs for you; lady, with the sweetest songs, Inana, may he make your heart joyous!

^17-22Lady, when you enter the cattle-pen, Inana, the cattle-pen indeed will rejoice over you. Mistress, when you enter the sheepfold, Inana, the sheepfold indeed will rejoice over you. When you enter the feeding-pen, healthy ewes will spread out their wool for you.

^23-29May your spouse, Ama-ucumgal-ana, ...... on (?) your holy breast. May the holy sheepfold produce plentiful supplies of butter (?) for you. It will make butter plentiful (?), it will make milk plentiful (?), thus making you joyous, Inana. May the holy sheepfold make the butter extensive (?) for you, thus making you joyous, Ninegala.

^30-35For the king you have chosen with your heart, for Dumuzid, the son of Enlil, may the cattle-pen produce (?) butter and milk, may the sheepfold produce (?) abundance! May the days of the true shepherd be numerous! The true shepherd, Dumuzid ...... days of prosperity!

³⁶A balbale to Inana.

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Revision history

30.iv.1998-02.v.1998 : GZ : adapting translation
24.vii.1998 : JAB : proofreading
04.xii.1999 : GC : tagging
18.ii.2000 : ER : proofreading SGML
18.ii.2000 : ER : converting to HTML 4.0
7.ix.2001 : ER : header and footer reformatted; substantive content of file not changed