1 Sharur, Ninurta's sickle sword, swung upwards. It struck the Imdugud bird soundly and caused him to drop the tablet of destinies. The tablet fell from the talons of the great thunder bird and it fell into the deep. All of the great hopes for power that the mighty bird had were taken from him and replaced with a feeling of bitter failure.
2 As master of the deep Enki took hold of it. He had originally crafted the tablet at the order of Enlil and he had been the one who had placed it in his hands. Enki stood to gain nothing from keeping power from his brother Enlil.
3 Imdugud fell to the ground and power fell from him. Ninurta and his sword were there when he fell. The great bird of aggression mourned for his own loss of power. He had come so close to greatness only to lose it.
4 "When you struck me on the orders of your mother, your weapon stripped me of the hopes that I had for power. The tablet of destinies fell from my hand into the great deep of the Absu. I lost everything." Ninurta was taken aback by the words of the bird that he had defeated.
5 "You lost everything? What about me?" Ninmena asked. "When you were struck the tablet didn't fall into my hands. I will not be one of those who decree destinies. I wont live luxuriously in a palace in the Absu like Enki." Ninmena, the lady of the crown, was just as bitter even though she didn't truly know the power that had never been hers.
6 The bitterness abounded. Enki was an expert at determining destinies, and he knew the sorts of plans that this bitterness would cause. A plot was afoot, and Enki knew about it instantly.
7 The Imdugud bird and Ninurta went to the palace of Enki in the Absu. Enki knew that the great hero was coming and greeted him as befitted a hero. Enki may have known was was being plotted, but the great gods judged people on what they had done and not what they might do in the future.
8 "Well done Ninurta. You are truly a hero. None of your brother gods could have accomplished what you managed to do easily with your mighty weapon." Turning to the matter of the Imdugud bird that had stolen the great tablet of destinies, Enki decreed a terrible destiny. "As for the bird that your mighty weapon has struck from the sky, I decree that from now to the end of time you will always have your foot upon its neck. You will be able to defeat the Imdugud bird at any time."
9 Ninurta had was gracious in his acceptance of these lavish decrees, but he wanted more. He was not content with a hero's due. He wanted the tablet of destines and all of the power that it could grant him.
10 "The great gods should give you your strength and heroism its due as well,"Enki continued. He heaped praise on Ninurta just as he heaped decrees. "Enlil will grant you whatever you wish. You are so great a champion that Ninmena will never fashion your equal. Let your glory never be equaled, and let no god surpass your heroism."
11 Ninurta acted graciously, but he was not happy with what was being promised to him. Enki had crafted the tablet of destiny. Enlil had commissioned it to govern the lives of the gods and man. Ninurta wanted this power for himself.
12 Envy turned to greed, and greed turned to rebellion. Ninurta set his sights on the four quarters of the world. Even he, with his sword and an army of demons, would not be able to take it by force, but clever rebellion might do the trick.
13 He told nobody of his plans as he wanted nobody to interfere with them. Enki was able to see the plan shaping in the future from within his home in the Apsu. There he gathered to him a deluge that would cause a flood.
14 Ninurta returned to Enki's home, but was confronted by Enki's minister Isimud. Ninurta would not submit to Isimud and so he raised his hand against him. Unhindered the storm god continued into Enki's house in the Apsu.
15 Enki had crafted a turtle from clay that he had found in the deep. He placed him near the threshold of his home as a trap. When Ninurta entered the house the turtle bit him in the tendon.
16 "Explain this!" Enki demanded.
17 Ninurta being a powerful warrior was able to push back the turtle, but the turtle still had hold of his tendon. Enki commanded the turtle to dig a hole and pull the both of them in. Ninurta was unable to escape from the pit, and the turtle kept biting and clawing with its feet.
18 "You set out to kill me." Enki told the storm god. "You've shot too high this time. You were granted a high position among the gods, but what has this brought you? You were given great strength and heroism. You wrought great destruction in the mountain, but how are you going to get out of this pit?"
19 Ninmena learned of her son's plight promptly. She prostrated herself before Enki and begged him for her son's freedom. She begged him to spare her son from his prison in the pit and offered many potential servants to him.
Epilog
1 Ninurta did not lose his place among the gods. He was not held prisoner forever by Enki. We do not know what sort of bargain Ninmena and Enki struck, but Enki was always the protector of order. It would have been customary for some reasonable exchange.
2 Imdugud, the bird who stole destiny, was always seen over Enki's shoulders here after. His kind of bird can also be seen on his own over door ways as a protector of the home. A mother Imdugud and her nest appeared later in the Gilgamesh myths.
3 Enlil and Enki continued in their place at the head of the pantheon.
Return Home
