mash's reply only one line is preserved intact, in which he tells
Etana:

Take the road, ascend the mountain.

It is presumably upon the mountain that the plant grows whose magical
power will insure the happy delivery of the expected offspring. Harper
calls attention to a remarkable parallel to this incident which is found
in the Armenian and Mandaean legends of the birth of Rustem, the son of
Sal. The latter's wife is unable to deliver her child because of its
size. Sal, who was reared by an eagle, has in his possession a pinion of
the eagle, by means of which he can, when in distress, invoke the
presence of the bird. The father throws the pinion into the fire, and
the eagle appears. The latter gives the mother a medicinal potion, and
the child is cut out of the womb. Etana, like Rustem, is accompanied by
an eagle, and it would appear that the eagle aids Etana in obtaining the
plant.[1018] The eagle, in many mythologies, is a symbol of the sun, and
it is plausible to conclude that the bird is sent to Etana at the
instigation of Shamash. Who the son is that Etana expects we are not
told, and naturally from a single episode like this--and one so
fragmentarily preserved--no safe conclusions may be drawn. But the epic
(if we may apply this term) must have recounted some achievements of
Etana, and as the 'strong' one, his deeds must have borne some
resemblance to those of Gilgamesh. The birth of the son, it is
furthermore fair to presume, took place towards the end of Etana's
career, when his own life was drawing to a close. If a fragment[1019] of
the tale were only better preserved, we would have an episode of Etana's
earlier career. But such is the condition of this fragment that, at the
most, it can be said that Etana is engaged in some conflict against a
city, in which Ishtar, Bel, the Anunnaki, the Igigi, and some minor
gods, as En-ninna, Sibittum, are involved. The Etana series, as we learn
from the colophon to this fragment, was known by a designation in which
a city[1020] occurs, and it may be that this is the city against which
Etana, aided by the gods, proceeds. Leaving this aside, it is fortunate
that we have at least another episode in Etana's career which enables us
to establish the connecting link between the hero as an historical
personage and as a god or demi-god. As Gilgamesh offers an insult to
Ishtar, so Etana encounters the ill-will of the great goddess, though
through no direct offense. The eagle tem