| 1 | Curuppag gave these instructions to his son. |
| 2 | Curuppag, the son of Ubara-Tutu, gave these instructions to his son Zi-ud-sura. |
| 3 | A third time, Curuppag gave instructions to his son. |
| 4 | Curuppag, the son of Ubara-Tutu gave instructions to his son Zi-ud-sura: |
| 5 | My son, let me give you instructions: you should pay attention! |
| 6 | Zi-ud-sura, let me speak a word to you: you should pay attention! |
| 7 | Do not neglect my instructions! |
| 8 | Do not transgress the words I speak! |
| 9 | You should not beat a farmer's son: he has constructed your embankments and ditches. |
| 10 | You should not buy a prostitute: she is a mouth that bites. |
| 11 | You should not buy a house-born slave: he is a herb that makes the stomach sick. |
| 12 | You should not buy a free man: he will always lean against the wall. |
| 13 | You should not buy a palace slave girl: she will always be the bottom of the barrel . You should rather bring down a foreign slave from the mountains, or you should bring somebody from a place where he is an alien; my son, then he will pour water for you where the sun rises and he will walk before you. |
| 14 | He does not belong to any family, so he does not want to go to his family; he does not belong to any city, so he does not want to go to his city. He cannot knock at the door of ......, he cannot enter ....... He will not ...... with you, he will not be presumptuous with you. |
| 15 | My son, you should not travel alone eastwards. Your acquaintance should not ....... |
| 16 | A name placed on another one ......; you should not pile up a mountain on another one. |
| 17 | Fate is a wet bank; it can make one slip. |
| 18 | The elder brother is indeed like a father; the elder sister is indeed like a mother. Listen therefore to your elder brother, and you should be obedient to your elder sister as if she were your mother. |
| 19 | You should not work using only your eyes; you will not multiply your possessions using only your mouth. |
| 20 | The negligent one ruins his family. |
| 21 | The need for food makes some people ascend the mountains; it also brings traitors and foreigners, since the need for food brings down other people from the mountains. |
| 22 | A small city provides its king with a calf; a huge city digs a house plot . |
| 23 | ...... is well equipped. |
| 24 | The poor man inflicts all kinds of illnesses on the rich man. |
| 25 | The married man is well equipped; the unmarried makes his bed in a haystack . |
| 26 | He who wishes to destroy a house will go ahead and destroy the house; he who wishes to raise up will go ahead and raise up. |
| 27 | By grasping the neck of a huge ox, you can cross the river. |
| 28 | By moving along at the side of the mighty men of your city, my son, you will certainly ascend . |
| 29 | When you bring a slave girl from the hills, she brings both good and evil with her. |
| 30 | The good is in the hands; the evil is in the heart. |
| 31 | The heart does not let go of the good; but the heart cannot let go of the evil either. |
| 32 | As if it were a watery place, the heart does not abandon the good. |
| 33 | Evil is a store-room ....... |
| 34 | May the boat with the evil sink in the river! May his waterskin split in the desert! |
| 35 | A loving heart maintains a family; a hateful heart destroys a family. |
| 36 | To have authority, to have possessions and to be steadfast are princely divine powers. |
| 37 | You should submit to the respected; you should be humble before the powerful. |
| 38 | My son, you will then survive against the wicked. |
| 39 | You should not choose a wife during a festival. |
| 40 | Her inside is illusory ; her outside is illusory . |
| 41 | The silver on her is borrowed; the lapis lazuli on her is borrowed; The dress on her is borrowed; the linen garment on her is borrowed. With ...... nothing is comparable. |
| 42 | You should not buy a ...... bull. |
| 43 | You should not buy a vicious bull; ...... a hole in the cattle-pen ....... |
| 44 | One appoints a reliable woman for a good household. |
| 45 | You should not buy a donkey at the time of harvest. A donkey which eats ...... will ...... with another donkey. |
| 46 | A vicious donkey hangs its neck; however, a vicious man, my son, ....... |
| 47 | A woman with her own property ruins the house. |
| 48 | A drunkard will drown the harvest. |
| 49 | A female burglar ...... ladder; she flies into the houses like a fly. |
| 50 | A she-donkey ...... on the street. |
| 51 | A sow suckles its child on the street. |
| 52 | A woman who pricked herself begins to cry and holds the spindle which pricked her in her hand. She enters every house; she peers into all streets. ...... she keeps saying "Get out!" She looks around from all parapets. She pants where there is a quarrel. |
| 53 | Marry ...... whose heart hates . My son, ...... |
| 54 | A heart which overflows with joy ....... |
| 55 | Nothing at all is to be valued, but life should be sweet. |
| 56 | You should not serve things; things should serve you. |
| 57 | My son, ....... |
| 58 | You should not ...... grain; its ...... are numerous. |
| 59 | You should not abuse a ewe; otherwise you will give birth to a daughter. |
| 60 | You should not throw a lump of earth into the money chest ; otherwise you will give birth to a son. |
| 61 | You should not abduct a wife; you should not make her cry . The place where the wife is abducted to ....... |
| 62 | Let us run in circles , saying: Oh, my foot, oh, my neck!". Let us with united forces make the mighty bow!" |
| 63 | You should not kill a ......, he is a child born by ....... |
| 64 | You should not kill ...... like ......; you should not bind him. |
| 65 | The wet-nurses in the women's quarters determine the fate of their lord. |
| 66 | You should not question the words of your mother and your personal god. |
| 67 | The father is like a god: his words are reliable. The instructions of the father should be complied with. |
| 68 | Without suburbs a city has no centre either. |
| 69 | My son, a field situated at the bottom of the embankments, be it wet or dry, is nevertheless a source of income. |
| 70 | It is inconceivable that something is lost forever. |
| 71 | ...... of Dilmun ...... |
| 72 | To get lost is bad for a dog; but terrible for a man; On the unfamiliar way at the edge of the mountains, the gods of the mountains are man-eaters. |
| 73 | They do not build houses there as men do; they do not build cities there as men do. |
| 74 | For the shepherd, he stopped searching, he stopped bringing back the sheep. |
| 75 | For the farmer , he stopped ploughing the field. |
| 76 | This gift of words is something which soothes the mind ......; when it enters the palace, it soothes the mind ....... |
| 77 | The gift of many words ...... stars. |
| 78 | These are the instructions given by Curuppag, the son of Ubara-Tutu. |
| 79 | Praise be to the lady who completed the great tablets, the maiden Nisaba, that Curuppag, the son of Ubara-Tutu gave his instructions! |
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Chapter - 3