"And the god [Êa] the immutable lord,--repeated this command in a dream.--I listened to the decree of fate that he announced, and he said to me:--'Man of Shiruppak, son of Ubaratutu--thou, build a vessel and finish it [quickly].--[By a deluge] I will destroy substance and life.--Cause thou to go up into the vessel the substance of all that has life.--The vessel thou shall build--600 cubits shall be the measure of its length--and 60 cubits the amount of its breadth and of its height.--[Launch it] thus on the ocean and cover it with a roof.'--I understood, and I said to Êa, my lord:--'[The vessel] that thou commandest me to build thus--[when] I shall do it,--young and old [shall laugh at me.]'--[Êa opened his mouth and] spoke.--He said to me, his servant:--'[If they laugh at thee] thou shalt say to them: [shall be punished] he who has insulted me, [for the protection of the gods] is over me.-- ... like to caverns ... ---- ... I will exercise my judgment on that which is on high and that which is below ... ---- ... Close the vessel ... ---- ... At a given moment that I shall cause thee to know,--enter into it and draw the door of the ship towards thee.--Within it, thy grains, thy furniture, thy provisions,--thy riches, thy men-servants, and thy maid-servants, and thy young people--the cattle of the field and the wild beasts of the plain that I will assemble--and that I will send thee, shall be kept behind thy door.'--Khasisatra opened his mouth and spoke;--he said to Êa, his lord:--'No one has made [such a] ship.--On the prow I will fix....--I shall see ... and the vessel ...--the vessel thou commandest me to build [thus]--which in....[36]