To the Goddess named --- Mami (Who is linked with Aruru)
[. . . they kissed Her feet,
[saying: "The creatress of mankind] we call Thee;
[The Mistr]ess of all the gods be Thy name!"
[They went] to the House of Fate,
[Nin]igiku-Ea [and] the wise Mama.
[Fourteen mother]-wombs were assembled
To tread upon the clay before Her.
[ . . . ] Ea says, as he recites the incantation.
Sitting before Her, Ea causes Her to recite the
incantation.
[Mama reci]ted the incantation;
when She completed Her incantation,
[ . . . ] She drew upon Her clay.
[Fourteen pie]ces She pinched off;
seven pieces She placed on the right,
[Seven pie]ces She placed on the left;
between them She placed a brick.
[Ea] was kneeling on the matting;
he opened its navel;
[ . . . he c]alled the wise wives.
Of the [seven] and seven mother-wombs,
seven brought forth males,
[Seven] brought forth females.
The Mother-Womb, the creatress of destiny,
In pairs She completed them,
In pairs She completed before Her.
The forms of the people Mami forms.
In the house of the bearing woman in travail,
Seven days shall the brick lie.
. . . from the house of Mah, the wise Mami.
The vexed one shall rejoice in the house of the
one in travail.
As the Bearing One gives birth,
May the mother of the child bring forth by [her]self.
NOTES:
"[Nin]igiku-Ea [and] the wise Mama" Ea: the god of earth and water. Mama or Mami: the Mother Goddess.
"The Mother-Womb", this and "Bearing One" are references to the Mother
Goddess, Mama, or Mami.
Tr. Speiser in Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Text, pp. 99 f
as quoted by Eric Newman in The Great Mother.
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