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164 The Water-Stone, the Apex-Stone, the .. . -Stone, the .. . ... the lord Nergal increased its strength. The door for protection he. . . To heaven its Eye he raised, Dug deep that which gives life. . . ... in the House he fed them food. With the pyramid's defenses thus enhanced, Ninurta resorted to another tactic. He called upon Utu/Shamash to cut off the pyra- mid's water supply by tampering with the "watery stream" that ran near its foundations. The text here is too mutilated to enable a pose. Huddled in their last stronghold, cut off from food and water, the besieged gods did their best to ward off their attackers. Until then, in spite of the ferocity of the battles, no major god had fallen a casualty to the fighting. But now one of the younger gods— Horus, we believe—trying to sneak out of the Great Pyramid disguised as a ram, was struck by Ninurta's Brilliant Weapon and lost the sight of his eyes. An Olden God then cried out to Ninhar- sag—reputed for her medical wonders—to save the young god's life: At that time the Killing Brightness came; The House! s platform \ withstood the lord. Trae wn ".. the weapon ... my offspring with death is accursed. ..." Other Sumerian texts call this young god "offspring who did not know his father," an epithet befitting Horus, who was born after his father's death. In Egyptian lore the Legend of the Ram reports the injuries to the eyes of Horus when a god "blew fire" at him. It was then, responding to the "outcry." that Ninharsag decided to intervene to stop the fighting. The ninth tablet of the Lugal-e text begins with the statement of Ninharsag, her address to the Enlilite commander, her own son Ninurta, "the son of Enlil. . . the Legitimate Heir whom the THE WARS OF GODS AND MEN reading of the details; but the tactic apparently achieved its pur- Unto Ninharsag there was an outcry: Me eee tee Ete