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Chapter 6  
     
1.
 Far sighted Enki and wise Mami
  
2.
 Went into the room of fate.
  
3.
 The womb-goddesses were assembled.
  
4.
 He trod the clay in her presence;
  
5.
 She kept reciting an incantation,
  
6.
 For Enki, staying in her presence, made her recite it
  
7.
 When she had finished her incantation,
  
8.
 She pinched off fourteen pieces of clay,
  
9.
 And set seven pieces on the right,
  
10.
 Seven on the left.
  
11.
 Between them she put down a mud brick.
  
12.
 She made use of a reed, opened it to cut the umbilical cord,
  
13.
 Called up the wise and knowledgeable
  
14.
 Womb goddesses, seven and seven.
  
15.
 Seven created males,
  
16.
 Seven created females,
  
17.
 For the womb goddess is creator of fate.
  
18.
 He...them two by two,
  
19.
 ...them two by two in her presence.
  
20.
 Mami made these rules for people:
  
21.
 In the house of a woman who is giving birth
  
22.
 The mud brick shall be put down for seven days.
  
23.
 Belet-ili, wise Mami shall be honored.
  
24.
 The midwife shall rejoice in the house of the woman who gives birth
  
25.
 And when the woman gives birth to the baby,
  
26.
 The mother of the baby shall sever herself.
  
27.
 A man to a girl...
  
28.
 ...her bosom
  
29.
 A beard can be seen
  
30.
 On a young man's cheek.
  
31.
 In gardens and waysides
  
32.
 A wife and her husband choose each other.
  
33.
 The womb goddesses were assembled
  
34.
 And Nintu was present. They counted the months,
  
35.
 Called up the Tenth month as the term of fates.
  
36.
 When the Tenth month came,
  
37.
 She slipped in a staff and opened the womb.
  
38.
 Her face was glad and joyful.
  
39.
 She covered her head,
  
40.
 Performed the midwifery,
  
41.
 Put on her belt, said a blessing.
  
42.
 She made a drawing in flour and put down a mud brick:
  
43.
 I myself created it, my hands made it.
  
44.
 The midwife shall rejoice in the house of the qadistu-priestess.
  
45.
 Whenever a woman gives birth
  
46.
 And the baby's mother severs herself,
  
47.
 The mud brick shall be put down for nine days.
  
48.
 Nintu the womb goddess shall be honored.
  
49.
 She shall call their ...Mami
  
50.
 She shall ... the womb goddess,
  
51.
 Lay down the linen cloth.
  
52.
 When the bed is laid out in their house,
  
53.
 A wife and her husband shall choose each other.
  
54.
 Inanna shall rejoice in the wife-husband relationship
  
55.
 In the father-in-law's house.
  
56.
 Celebration shall last for nine days,
  
57.
 And they shall call Inanna Ishhara.
  
58.
 On the fifteenth day, the fixed time of fate
  
59.
 She shall call...
  

 
 
 

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