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40 how he "made grain increase in the furrows" and _ be "heaped high in the granaries.". Emesh points out that he "made the ewe give birth to the lamb, the goat to give birth to the kid, cow and calf to multiply, fat and milk to in- crease," and also how he obtained eggs from nests made for the birds and caught fish from the sea. But Enlil rejects the pleas of Emesh, even reprimands him: "How could you compare yourself to your brother Enten!" he tells him, for it is Enten "who is in charge of the life- producing waters of all the lands." And water spells life, growth, abundance. Emesh accepts the decision, The exalted word of Enlil, whose meaning is profound; A verdict that is unalterable, no one dares transgress it! And so, "in the dispute between Emesh and Enten, Enten, the faithful farmer of the gods, having proved himself the winner, Emesh his knee bent before Enten, offered him a prayer," and gave him many presents. It is noteworthy that in the above-quoted lines Enlil calls Emesh a brother of Enten—the same relationship as that be- tween Cain and Abel. This and other similarities between the Sumerian and biblical tales indicate that the former were the inspiration for the latter. The preference of the farmer over the shepherd by Enlil can be traced to the fact that he was the one to introduce farming while Enki accounted for the domestication of livestock. Scholars tend to translate the Sumerian names as "winter" for Enten and "summer" for Emesh. Strictly speaking EN.TEN meant "Lord of Resting," the time after the harvests and thus the winter season, without a clear affinity to a specific deity. EMMESH ("House of Mesh"), on the other hand, is clearly associated with Enki, one of whose epithets was MESH ("Proliferation"); he was thus the god of shepherding. All in all, there can be little doubt that the Cain-Abel rivalry reflected a rivalry between the two divine brothers. It flared up from time to time, as when Enlil arrived on Earth to take over command from Enki (who was relegated to the DIVINE ENCOUNTERS