he Indian god, rides on the back of Garuda, so
does Etana ride on the back of the Babylonian Eagle. In one
fragmentary legend which was preserved in the tablet-library of
Ashur-banipal, the Assyrian monarch, Etana obtained the assistance of
the Eagle to go in quest of the Plant of Birth. His wife was about to
become a mother, and was accordingly in need of magical aid. A similar
belief caused birth girdles of straw or serpent skins, and eagle
stones found in eagles' nests, to be used in ancient Britain and
elsewhere throughout Europe apparently from the earliest times.[191]

On this or another occasion Etana desired to ascend to highest heaven.
He asked the Eagle to assist him, and the bird assented, saying: "Be
glad, my friend. Let me bear thee to the highest heaven. Lay thy
breast on mine and thine arms on my wings, and let my body be as thy
body." Etana did as the great bird requested him, and together they
ascended towards the firmament. After a flight which extended over two
hours, the Eagle asked Etana to gaze downwards. He did so, and beheld
the ocean surrounding the earth, and the earth seemed like a
mountainous island. The Eagle resumed its flight, and when another two
hours had elapsed, it again asked Etana to look downwards. Then the
hero saw that the sea resembled a girdle which clasped the land. Two
hours later Etana found that he had been raised to a height from which
the sea appeared to be no larger than a pond. By this time he had
reached the heaven of Anu, Bel, and Ea, and found there rest and
shelter.

Here the text becomes fragmentary. Further on it is gathered from the
narrative that Etana is being carried still higher by the Eagle
towards the heaven of Ishtar, "Queen of Heaven", the supreme mother
goddess. Three times, at intervals of two hours, the Eagle asks Etana
to look downwards towards the shrinking earth. Then some disaster
happens, for further onwards the broken tablet narrates that the Eagle
is falling. Down and down eagle and man fall together until they
strike the earth, and the Eagle's body is shattered.

The Indian Garuda eagle[192] never met with such a fate, but on one
occasion Vishnu overpowered it with his right arm, which was heavier
than the whole universe, and caused many feathers to fall _off_. In
the story of Rama's wanderings, however, as told in the _Ramayana_ and
the _Mahabharata_, there are interesting references in this connection
to Garuda's two "sons". One was mortall