nd" like to the wind. Bel called
upon his messenger, whom he sent to Ea in the ocean depths, saying:
"My son Sin ... hath been grievously bedimmed". Ea lamented, and
dispatched his son Merodach to net the demons by magic, using "a
two-coloured cord from the hair of a virgin kid and from the wool of a
virgin lamb".[101]

As in India, where Shitala, the Bengali goddess of smallpox, for
instance, is worshipped when the dreaded disease she controls becomes
epidemic, so in Babylonia the people sought to secure immunity from
attack by worshipping spirits of disease. A tablet relates that Ura, a
plague demon, once resolved to destroy all life, but ultimately
consented to spare those who praised his name and exalted him in
recognition of his bravery and power. This could be accomplished by
reciting a formula. Indian serpent worshippers believe that their
devotions "destroy all danger proceeding from snakes".[102]

Like the Ancient Egyptians, the Babylonians also had their kindly
spirits who brought luck and the various enjoyments of life. A good
"labartu" might attend on a human being like a household fairy of
India or Europe: a friendly "shedu" could protect a household against
the attacks of fierce demons and human enemies. Even the spirits of
Fate who served Anu, god of the sky, and that "Norn" of the
Underworld, Eresh-ki-gal, queen of Hades, might sometimes be
propitious: if the deities were successfully invoked they could cause
the Fates to smite spirits of disease and bringers of ill luck. Damu,
a friendly fairy goddess, was well loved, because she inspired
pleasant dreams, relieved the sufferings of the afflicted, and
restored to good health those patients whom she selected to favour.

In the Egyptian _Book of the Dead_ the kindly spirits are overshadowed
by the evil ones, because the various magical spells which were put on
record were directed against those supernatural beings who were
enemies of mankind. Similarly in Babylonia the fragments of this class
of literature which survive deal mainly with wicked and vengeful
demons. It appears probable, however, that the highly emotional
Sumerians and Akkadians were on occasion quite as cheerful a people as
the inhabitants of ancient Egypt. Although they were surrounded by
bloodthirsty furies who desired to shorten their days, and their
nights were filled with vague lowering phantoms which inspired fear,
they no doubt shared, in their charm-protected houses, a comfortable