Page:The Chaldean Account of Genesis (1876).djvu/173

 4. he feared and did not throw down his spoil

5. fox in the forest

The last fragment is a small scrap, at the end of which the fox petitions Shamas to spare him.

The incidental allusions in these fragments show that the fox or jackal was even then considered cunning, and the animal in the story was evidently a watery specimen, as he brings tears to his assistance whenever anything is to be gained by it. He had offended Shamas by some means and the god sentenced him to death, a sentence which he escaped through powerful pleading on his own behalf.

The next fable, that of the horse and the ox, is a single tablet with only two columns of text. The date of the tablet is in the reign of Assurbanipal, and there is no statement that it is copied from an earlier text. There are altogether four portions of the text, but only one is perfect enough to be worth translating. This largest fragment, K 3456, contains about one third of the story.

(Several lines lost at commencement.)

1. the river

2. of food rest

3. height the Tigris situated