The incantation is
directed against a variety of the demons:[345]

The _utukku_[346] of the field and the _utukku_ of the mountain,
The _utukku_ of the sea and the one that lurks in graves,
The evil _shedu_, the shining _alu_.
The evil wind, the terrible wind,
That sets one's hair on end.

Against these the spirits of heaven and earth are invoked. The text
proceeds:

The _utukku_ that seizes hold of a man,
The _ekimmu_ that seizes hold of a man,
The _ekimmu_ that works evil,
The _utukku_ that works evil.

And after invoking against these demons, likewise, the spirits of heaven
and earth, the text passes on to an enumeration of a long list of
physical ills: sickness of the entrails, of the heart, of the head, of
the stomach, of the kidneys, of the limbs and muscles, of the skin, and
of the senses, which are all ascribed to the influence of the demons.

Apart from the demons that are naught but the personification of certain
diseases, it does not appear that the demons were limited in their power
to one specific kind of action. In other words, sharp distinctions
between the demons do not appear to have been drawn. As appears from the
extracts above translated, the _utukku_, _shedu_, _alu_, and _ekimmu_
were grouped together, and hardly regarded as anything more than
descriptive epithets of a general class of demons. At the same time it
appears likely that at one time they were differentiated with a greater
degree of preciseness. So the _ekimmu_ appears to be the shadowy demon
that hovers around graves, a species of ghost or vampire that attacks
people in the dead of night and lays them prostrate. _Lilu_ and _lilitu_
are the spirits that flit by in the night. Of a specific character
likewise are the conceptions connected with a demon known as _ardat
lili_, 'maid of the night,' a strange female 'will-o'-the-wisp,' who
approaches men, arouses their passions, but does not permit a
satisfaction of them. Great importance being attached by the Babylonians
to dreams, the belief in a 'maid of the night' was probably due to the
unchecked play of the imagination during the hours of sleep. Bad dreams
came at the instigation of the demons, and such a demon as the _rabisu_
or the _labartu_ appears to have been especially associated with the
horrible sensations aroused by a 'nightmare.'[347] Again the _utukku_ is
represented at times as attacking the neck of man; the _gallu_ attacks
the hand, the _ekimmu_ the l