Page 108 of 384
104 Soon Ninmah arrived and realized what had happened. Swearing by the "great jewels which Anu had fashioned for her," she announced that she will never forget the ordeal and what had happened. Go ahead, partake of the offering, she told the rank and file Anunnaki; "but let not Enlil come to the offering; for he, unreasoning, by the deluge my humans consigned to destruction." But not letting Enlil savor and taste the burnt offering was the least of the problems: When at length Enlil arrived and saw the ship, Enlil was wroth. He was filled with wroth against the Igigi gods. "Has some living soul escaped? No man was to survive the destruction!" His foremost son, Ninurta, suspected someone other than the Igigi gods in their orbiters, and said to Enlil: Who, other than Ea, can devise plans? It is Ea who knows every matter! Joining the gathering, Ea/Enki admitted what he had done. But, he made sure to point out, he did not violate his oath to secrecy: I did not disclose the secret of the gods, he said. All he did was to "let Atra-hasis see a dream," and _ this clever human "perceived the secret of the gods" by himself . Since that is how things had turned out, Enki told Enlil, would it not be wiser to repent? Was not the whole plan to destroy Mankind by the Deluge a big mistake? "Thou wisest of the gods, thou hero, how couldst thou, unreasoning," bring such a calamity about? Whether it was this sermon, or a realization that he ought to make the best of the situation, the text does not make clear. Whatever the motives, Enlil did have a change of heart. This is how Utnapishtim/Atra-hasis described what ensued: Thereupon Enlil went aboard the ship. Holding me by the hand, he took me aboard. He took my wife aboard and made her kneel DIVINE ENCOUNTERS