The Three Ox-Drivers from Adab

 

Below we present a link to an ETCSL text entitled "the Three Ox-drivers from Adab". The findspot of the tablets used to reconstruct the story are unknown, and they date from the Old Babylonian period or later, thus, we include this information to be through and not because the story actually says much about an authentic Adab. Bendt Alster discusses the text in JCS 43, and describes the story as a "humerous tale teaching a social lesson. Social cooperation is what the three men lack. One of them could have fetched water while the other two looked after his possessions. Instead, they all went together, while, apparently, their possessions were left unattended. This resulted in the birth of a calf, of which they could have availed themselves. Instead, they started a quarrel, with they result that they all lost what they had."

For a complete translation, please refer to the following etcsl link:

http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.5.6.5