Position in chronology
A balbale to Inana and Dumuzid (Dumuzid-Inana A)
Written in modern English
Utu speaks softly to his sister, holy Inana, telling her that the flax growing in the garden beds is beautiful — as lush and full of life as barley standing in its furrows. He knows she has set her heart on a fine length of linen, so he promises to pull up the flax plants himself and bring them to her straight from the beds. (One manuscript reads 'young lady' where another reads 'my sister' at two points in the speech, but the meaning runs the same either way.)
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSLThe brother speaks gently to his sister, Utu speaks gently to his sister, he speaks tenderly to holy Inana: "Young lady, the flax in the garden beds is full of loveliness, Inana, the flax in the garden beds is full of loveliness, like the barley in the furrows, overflowing with loveliness and delight. Sister (1 ms. has instead: Young lady), you took a fancy to a grand length of linen; Inana, you took a fancy to a grand length of linen. I will dig up the plants for you and give them to you. Young lady (1 ms. has instead: My sister), I will bring you flax from the garden beds. Inana, I will bring you flax from the garden beds."
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature — scholar edition (Oxford, Black/Cunningham/Robson/Zólyomi).
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Scholarly note
Composition c.4.08.01 in the ETCSL catalogue. Sumerian literary text reconstructed from multiple cuneiform manuscripts, the great majority Old Babylonian (c. 1900–1600 BCE). Translation reproduced from the ETCSL edition.
Attribution
Image: .
Translation excerpted from ETCSL c.4.08.01: A balbale to Inana and Dumuzid (Dumuzid-Inana A). Black, J.A., Cunningham, G., Robson, E. & Zólyomi, G. (eds.), The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford. https://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=c.4.08.01.
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