he patesi, though he began to prepare for the building of the
temple, was not content even with Nina's assurance. He offered a prayer
to Ningirsu himself, saying that he wished to build the temple, but had
received no sign that this was the will of the god; and he prayed for a
sign. Then, as the patesi lay stretched upon the ground, the god again
appeared to him and gave him detailed instructions, adding that he would
grant the sign for which he asked. The sign was that he should feel his
side touched as by a flame,(1) and thereby he should know that he was
the man chosen by Ningirsu to carry out his commands. Here it is the
sign which confirms the apparent meaning of the god's words. And Gudea
was at last content and built the temple.(2)

(1) Cyl. A., col. xii, l. 10 f.; cf. Thureau-Dangin, op.
cit., p. 150 f., Germ. ed., p. 102 f. The word translated
"side" may also be rendered as "hand"; but "side" is the
more probable rendering of the two. The touching of Gudea's
side (or hand) presents an interesting resemblance to the
touching of Jacob's thigh by the divine wrestler at Peniel
in Gen. xxxii. 24 ff. (J or JE). Given a belief in the
constant presence of the unseen and its frequent
manifestation, such a story as that of Peniel might well
arise from an unexplained injury to the sciatic muscle,
while more than one ailment of the heart or liver might
perhaps suggest the touch of a beckoning god. There is of
course no connexion between the Sumerian and Hebrew stories
beyond their common background. It may be added that those
critics who would reverse the _roles_ of Jacob and the
wrestler miss the point of the Hebrew story.

(2) Even so, before starting on the work, he took the
further precautions of ascertaining that the omens were
favourable and of purifying his city from all malign
influence.

We may conclude, then, that in the new Sumerian Version of the Deluge we
have traced a logical connexion between the direct warning to Ziusudu in
the Fourth Column of the text and the reference to a dream in the broken
lines at the close of the Third Column. As in the Gilgamesh Epic and
in Berossus, here too the god's warning is conveyed in a dream; and
the accompanying reference to conjuring by the Name of Heaven and Earth
probably represents the means by which Ziusudu was enabled to verify its
apparent meaning. The assurance w