ne of
evolution and of impressing upon the people a theological system of
beliefs regarding the relationship of the gods to one another. A
collection of war-songs is given a semi-mythical form, and the original
purport of the collection is modified to serve as a talisman against
misfortunes. In the case of these legends it is necessary and, as we
have seen, also possible to distinguish between their original and
present form and to separate the story, as in the case of the Gilgamesh
epic, into its component parts.

The legend that we are about to consider proves that this process of the
adaptation of popular myths begins at a very early period. The text was
found on the cuneiform tablets discovered at El-Amarna in Egypt.[1091]
Since the El-Amarna tablets date from the fifteenth century B.C., we
have a proof of the compilation of the legend in question at this date.
The legend is again suggested by the storms which visited Babylonia, but
instead of a pure nature-myth, we have a tale which concerns the
relationship between the gods and mankind. In its present form, it is an
object lesson dealing with the same problem that we came across in the
Gilgamesh epic and that we will meet again in another form,--the problem
of immortality.

The beginning of the story, as in the case of the Zu myth, is missing,
but we are in a position to restore at least the general context. A
fisherman, Adapa, is engaged in plying his trade when a storm arises.
Adapa is designated as the son of Ea. The place where he is fishing is
spoken of as 'the sea.' The Persian Gulf is meant, and this body of
water (as the beginning of the great Okeanos) being sacred to Ea,[1092]
the description of Adapa as the son of Ea is a way of conveying the idea
that, like Parnapishtim, he stands under the protection of Ea. The
story, like most legends, assumes a period of close intercourse between
gods and men, a time when the relationship involved in being 'a son of a
god' had a literal force which was lost to a more advanced generation.
Adapa, accordingly, is portrayed as fishing for the 'house of his lord,'
_i.e._, for Ea. When the storm breaks loose the fisherman, though a
mortal, subdues the fierce element. The storm comes from the south, the
direction from which the most destructive winds came to Babylonia. The
south wind is pictured, as in the Zu myth, under the form of a bird. The
wind sweeps Adapa into the waters, but, since this element is controlled
by Ad