f
import to the general welfare.

The tablet proceeds, after finishing one phase of the subject, with
omens to be derived from infants whose features resemble those of
certain animals. In this case again we will see that the mind of the
compiler is now directed towards the fate of the individual and again
toward the ruler or the country. In the 2d tablet of the series we read
that

If a woman gives birth to a child with a lion's head,[631] a
strong king will rule in the land.

If a woman gives birth to a child with a dog's head, the city in
his district[632] will be in distress, and evil will be in the
country.

...

If a woman gives birth to a child with a swine's head, offspring
and possession (?) will increase in that house.

...

If a woman gives birth to a child with a bird's head, that land
will be destroyed.

If a woman gives birth to a child with a serpent's head, for
thirty days (?) Nin-Gishzida[633] will bring a famine in the
land, and Gilgamesh[634] will rule as king in the land.

In the same tablet[635] such monstrosities are taken up as children born
with two heads, with a double pair of eyes, or with the eyes misplaced,
with two mouths or more than two lips. The two heads, strange enough,
generally portend good fortune, though not invariably. Thus an infant
with two heads is an omen of strength for the country; and again

If a woman gives birth to a child with two heads, two mouths,
but the regular number of eyes, hands, and feet[636], it is an
omen of vigorous life [for the country, but the son] will seize
the king his father and kill him.

But

If a woman gives birth to a child with two heads and two mouths,
and the two hands and two feet are between them[637], disease
will settle upon that city (where the monstrosity was born).

If the deformity consists in the misplacement of certain organs, the
omen is invariably bad.

If a woman gives birth to a child with two eyes on the left
side, it is a sign that the gods are angry against the land, and
the land will be destroyed.

And again,

If a woman gives birth to a child with three eyes on the left
side and one on the right, the gods will fill the land with
corpses.

The third tablet proceeds with other parts of the body. It begins with a
list of peculiarities observed in regard to the ears. The resemblance of
certain feature