Position in chronology
A balbale to Nanna (Nanna B)
Written in modern English
Ningal speaks first, but roughly nineteen lines are missing before her words become readable, and even then most of what survives is fragments: something about her spouse's embrace, a young man among his cows, and her intention to go somewhere and be with the lord — the surface is too damaged to give more. Then Nanna addresses Ningal directly: he praises her, mentions butter from the holy cows and her pure hands and feet, though those lines also break off. He then promises to take her to the reed-beds, which he calls a playground, and to bring sharp knives, pointed reeds, and freshly cut young reeds. He will gather eggs from the ubi birds for her and tends to their nest, calling on the high priestess of Nanna to attend to the ubi birds as well.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSL(Ningal speaks:) "I ...... for the ....... approx. 19 lines missing The embrace of my spouse ....... The young man ....... Among his cows ....... My beloved who ....... I shall go ......! There with the lord ......." (Nanna addresses Ningal:) "My spouse, ......, Ningal who ......, ...... butter from the holy cows. Pure hands and ...... feet ....... My lovely ....... "......, the reed-beds, the playground ....... I shall ...... sharp knives to the ...... and pointed reeds. I shall ...... to the beautiful young reeds. Mistress, ...... the treasures (?) of the ubi birds. I will gather their eggs for you, and I shall ...... the nest. High priestess of Nanna, ...... the ubi birds.
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature — scholar edition (Oxford, Black/Cunningham/Robson/Zólyomi).
Scholarly note
Composition c.4.13.02 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.4.13.02: A balbale to Nanna (Nanna B). 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.4.13.02.
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