ere they assembled together in council. Anu, the father, was there,
and Bel the counsellor and warrior, Ninip the messenger, and Ennugi
the governor. Ea, the wise lord, sat also with them. In their hearts
the gods agreed together to send a great deluge.

"Thereafter Ea made known the purpose of the divine rulers in the hut
of reeds, saying:[224] 'O hut of reeds, hear; O wall, understand ... O
man of Shurippak, son of Umbara Tutu, tear down thy house and build a
ship; leave all thou dost possess and save thy life, and preserve in
the ship the living seed of every kind. The ship that thou wilt build
must be of goodly proportions in length and height. It must be floated
on the great deep.'

"I heard the command of Ea and understood, and I made answer, saying,
'O wise lord, as thou hast said so will I do, for thy counsel is most
excellent. But how shall I give reason for my doings to the young men
and the elders?'

"Ea opened his mouth and said unto me, his servant: 'What thou shalt
say unto them is this.... _It hath been revealed unto me that Bel doth
hate me, therefore I cannot remain any longer in his domain, this city
of Shurippak, so I must depart unto the domain of Ea and dwell with
him.... Unto you will Bel send abundance of rain, so that you may
obtain birds and fishes in plenty and have a rich harvest. But Shamash
hath appointed a time for Ramman to pour down destruction from the
heavens._'"[225]

Ea then gave instructions to Pir-napishtim how to build the ship in
which he should find refuge. So far as can be gathered from the
fragmentary text, it appears that this vessel was to have a deck house
six stories high, with nine apartments in each story. According to
another account, Ea drew a plan of the great ship upon the sand.

Pir-napishtim set to work and made a flat-bottomed vessel, which was
120 cubits wide and 120 cubits in height. He smeared it with bitumen
inside and pitch outside; and on the seventh day it was ready. Then he
carried out Ea's further instructions. Continuing his narrative to
Gilgamesh, he said:

"I gathered together all that I possessed, my silver and gold and
seeds of every kind, and my goods also. These I placed in the ship.
Then I caused to go aboard all my family and house servants, the
animals of the field and the beasts of the field and the
workers--every one of them I sent up.

"The god Shamash appointed the time, saying: 'I will cause the Night
Lord to send much rain and brin