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The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature

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Proverbs: collection 8
Segment A
unknown no. of lines missing
8.a1
1. A pig digging in the house.
8.a2
2-5. A pig which was about to be slaughtered by the pig-butcher squealed. (The butcher said:) "Your
ancestors and forebears walked this road, and now you too are walking it, so why (?) are you
squealing?"
8.a3
6. Like a pig ...... your dagger .......
8.a4
7-8. (cf. 6.2.3: UET 6/2 275) He snatches things like a pig, as if for himself, but also for his owner.
8.a5
9. (cf. 6.2.3: UET 6/2 300 l. 1) Like a pig spattered with mud.
8.a6
10. (cf. 6.2.3: UET 6/2 300 l. 2) The pig picks up morsels of bread.
8.a7
11. 1 line fragmentary approx. 10 lines missing
Segment B
8.b1
1-2. ...... his burden ...... it has not depressed you, it will cheer you up!
8.b2
3-4. Having lost the sow, they sit around and strengthen the pigsty.
8.b3
5-6. Like a sow was she not treated to luxury? Was she not accustomed to demanding barley in the
middle of the night?
8.b4
7. (cf. 6.2.3: UET 6/2 240 l. 2) Wearing a long beard like a goat.
8.b5
8. (cf. 6.2.3: UET 6/2 240 l. 1) A goat is the gift of a large kid.
8.b6
9-10. A goat says to another goat: "I too butt my head."

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8.b7
11. (cf. 6.1.03.111) Although it has never been there, the goat knows the waste land.
8.b8
12-13. Some wolves were chasing a goat. It turned around and its feet clattered into each other.
8.b9
14. He gets dung in his mouth, like a hippopotamus (?).
8.b10
15. A stag wandering in the outlying areas.
8.b11
16. A gazelle not alert, a dog not on the watch. {(1 ms. adds:) A man raising his hand in anger does
not see clearly.}
8.b12
17. Like a gazelle he is drinking 15 days' worth of water.
8.b13
18. "Get that bear away from us!" -- so he wanders in the mountains.
8.b14
19-21. (cf. 6.2.3: UET 6/2 241) A bear in the sixth month turned onto its side and said: "Were An not to
give you, oh sleep, to a person, as he does to me -- they would die."
8.b15
22. (cf. 6.2.3: UET 6/2 294) Like a hyena, you will not eat it unless it stinks.
8.b16
23. The claws of a cat can walk even in sheep fat.
8.b17
24. As with a cat, it is its tongue that treats its skin.
8.b18
25. A cat can find a hole in the ground.
8.b19
26-27. A fox stamped on the crotch of an elephant: "It's enough, it's too much!"
8.b20
28-34. A fox demanded of Enlil the horns of a wild bull. While it was wearing the wild bull's horns, it
started to rain. But the horns rose high above him, so he could not enter his burrow. Until midnight the
wind kept blowing, and the clouds brought rain. Afterwards, when it had stopped raining on him, and
he had dried off, he said: "I shall return this feature to its rightful owner!"
8.b21
35-36. A fox was pursuing the testicles of a wild bull, as though about to die of hunger.
8.b22
37-38. A fox was scrabbling in a dyke: "Nobody has ever seen my bent-over behind."
8.b23
39-40. (cf. 6.2.3: UET 6/2 215) A fox was preparing a threshing floor. It did not ...... on the threshing
floor, but he did not become exhausted.
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8.b24
41-42. (cf. 6.2.3: UET 6/2 218) The fox thought about his mother's interference and said: "My ...... is
collapsing."
8.b25
43-44. (cf. 6.2.3: UET 6/2 213) The fox dropped her young. They came out as twins.
8.b26
45. (cf. 6.1.02.61A) The fox's tail is heavy: it carries a .......
8.b27
46. (cf. 6.1.02.61B) The fox's door-bolt is a .......
8.b28
47-52. (cf. 6.2.3: UET 6/2 219) A fox spoke to a goat: "Let me put my shoes in your house!" It replied:
“When the dog arrives, I will hang them up on a peg!” The fox: “If there's a dog staying like that in your
house, bring me my shoes. Don't expect me to stay the night!”
8.b29
53-57. (cf. 6.2.3: UET 6/2 220) A fox went into a den in a thorny bush, and (the dog said:) "Hey, come
out!" But it would not come out. “How am I supposed to get in from out here?” (exclaimed the dog).
“So long as you don't chase me away, I will stay sitting here!” said the fox.
8.b30
58-59. The fox ....... He is more full of lies than anyone.
8.b31
60. Like an aroused (?) fox, your cry echoes (?) over the fields.
8.b32
61-62. What will the dog do about what the fox is doing?
8.b33
63-64. (cf. 6.2.3: UET 6/2 217) The fox set his mind on some treachery: "I am throwing it out. I am
carrying it to the river."
8.b34
65-66. A fox walked around a throw-stick: "Who is going to give a party as good as that?"
8.b35
67-68. A fox had been caught by a partially-sighted (?) man: "Is this why you are crying?" The fox
replied: “Set me free!”
8.b36
69-70. Someone cooking (?) meat at the den (?) of a fox said: "One doesn't mention this in front of the
mongoose." unknown no. of lines missing
Segment C
8.c1
1-2. (= Veldhuis 2000 p. 392) The man who owns much barley may sleep (?). 1 line unclear
8.c2
3-4. (= Veldhuis 2000 p. 392) While the francolin calls out on the wall, the ...... bird, not measuring two
fingers, .......
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8.c3
5-7. (= Veldhuis 2000 p. 392) When the bizaza-gu-balaja-kar-girzana bird (a nickname for the
sparrow) twitters (?), ...... tongue .......
8.c4
8. (= Veldhuis 2000 p. 392) 1 line fragmentary approx. 10 lines missing
Segment D
8.d1
1-3. (= Alster 1997 8 Sec. C 1) 1 line fragmentary ...... speaking ......; ...... said .......
8.d2
4-8. (= Alster 1997 8 Sec. C 2) A raven had (?) a porous jar. A fox asked: "Where do you sprinkle the
water?" “I sprinkle in the Tigris and the Euphrates,” it replied, “Why do you ask?”
8.d3
9-10. (= Alster 1997 8 Sec. C 3) Like an azag-gun bird you wear a tiara over your eyes.
8.d4
11-12. (= Alster 1997 8 Sec. C 4) 2 lines fragmentary
8.d5
13. (= Alster 1997 8 Sec. C 5) 1 line fragmentary approx. 20 lines missing
Segment E
8.e1
1-3. (= Alster 1997 8 Sec. D 1) A date-palm ...... to its owner: "Our ...... are old (?) ....... Like a tree,
they are ...... to your relatives."
8.e2
4-8. (= Alster 1997 8 Sec. D 2) A tree ...... to its relative: "You and I are brothers. Why are you afraid?"
“Look, what am I to do? A stone stronger than me is being hurled at me,” it said.
8.e3
9. (= Alster 1997 8 Sec. D 3) Let the tree split its relative.
8.e4
10. (= Alster 1997 8 Sec. D 4) A chair always stands at the doorway as an audience gift.
8.e5
11-13. (= Alster 1997 8 Sec. D 5) The table rejoiced. It pressed oil into the river: "The table is set
before you!" Whether it ate it or not, .......
8.e6
14. (= Alster 1997 8 Sec. D 6) The cedar door ...... the garment .......
8.e7
15. (= Alster 1997 8 Sec. D 7) On our trough full of grapes the ears are hanging outside.
8.e8
16. (= Alster 1997 8 Sec. D 8) The thief hurls a throw-stick toward a bound sheep.
8.e9
17. (= Alster 1997 8 Sec. D 9) A throw-stick .......

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8.e10
18. (= Alster 1997 8 Sec. D 10) A ladder .......

Revision history
24.iv.2002: JT, editor: adapting translation
01.x.2002: JAB, editor: proofreading
16.xii.2002: GC, editor: SGML tagging

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