Page:The Chaldean Account of Genesis (1876).djvu/256

 15. In the house my friend which I will enter,

16. dwell the chiefs and unconquered ones,

17. dwell the bards and great men,

18. dwell the monsters of the deep of the great gods,

19. it is the dwelling of Etana, the dwelling of Ner,

20. the queen of the lower regions Ninkigal

21. the mistress of the fields the mother of the queen of the lower regions before her submits,

22. and there is not any one that stands against her in her presence.

23. I will approach her and she will see me

24. and she will bring me to her

Here the story is again lost, columns V. and VI. being absent. It is evident that in the third column some one is speaking to Ishtar trying to persuade her not to descend to Hades, while in the fourth column the goddess, who is suffering all the pangs of jealousy and hate, revels in the dark details of the description of the lower regions, and declares her determination to go there.

There can be no doubt that this part of the legend is closely connected with the beautiful story of the Descent of Ishtar into Hades on a tablet which I published in the "Daily Telegraph," in fact I think that tablet to have been an extract from this part of the Izdubar legends, and it so closely connects itself with the story here that I give it as part of the sequel to this tablet.

1. To Hades the land of