A witness reading. A Vigslist translation.
Tree and Reed — one Old Babylonian witness. Composition lines 121–134 and 156–166 of the Debate between Tree and Reed (ETCSL 5.3.4) — witness-level only.
A witness reading. The composition — the Debate between Tree and Reed — stands translated in English. This page renders this one Old Babylonian witness’s preserved lines only: composition lines 121–134 and 156–166, read from Jeremiah Peterson’s transliteration of this tablet, credited below. No first-translation claim is made for the composition.
claim: the Debate between Tree and Reed (ETCSL 5.3.4) stands in the program under its own dossier (etcsl-gap-wave), where the first complete English translation remains gated on the print doors named there (Jiménez 2017, pp. 16–25; Ebeling & Cunningham 2007). What is new here is narrower and real: this single Old Babylonian witness carries an open transliteration on its eBL record — Peterson's, drawer class, credited below — and its lines (the record's own note places them at composition lines 121–134 and 156–166) are Englished here for the first time. If the composition doors open, this witness folds into that work; it does not compete with it.**
Built 2026-10-22 from a fresh live eBL fetch (saved in ).
One tablet: BM.16893, British Museum — "Clay tablet; Old Babylonian. Sumerian disputation, Tree and Reed." Photograph on the record. CDLI number on the live record: P274224 (the digitized sweep's catalogue row carried P121839 — discrepancy printed, not smoothed). The record's note: "Tree and Reed 121-134, 156-166."
Two voices trade boasts, and both keep ending on the same words: ĝa₂-e-me-en — "I am the one." One speaker walks the farmer's world: the plough, the work-gang, the carpenter's tools, the named timbers — ebony, boxwood, the halub tree. The other answers from the water's edge: reed cane, the woven reed mat, reed shoots. It is the middle of the argument, where each contestant is still listing what the world makes out of him — the Tree's catalogue of woods against the Reed's catalogue of weeds — and neither has yet given ground. The verdict (Šulgi judges for the Tree, in the composition's frame) is not on this fragment.
Transliteration exactly as the record serves it. Counts: 25 line-units — 0 whole, 6 part, 19 fragments, 0 invented. This witness is ragged; the fragments are printed as fragments and nothing has been filled from the composition's other witnesses.
1. [...] x du₃-a e-ne ba-DU.DU-meš
"[...] built [...] they keep going." (Fragment.)
2. [x engar-zu iri{ki}-a e₂-b]i ĝal₂-la e-ne ba-ni₁₀-ni₁₀-e
"[Your farmer — in the field] its house is set; they keep going around it." (Fragment.)
3. [{ĝeš}apin-zu gu₄-d]e₃ ra nu-du₃?# us₂# tum₃-zu ĝa₂-e-me-en
"[Your plough, with the oxen] not [...] — I am the one who follows your track." (Part.)
4. engar erin₂-a saĝ-ta ku-kur guru₅-uš bur₂-zu ĝa₂-e-me-en
"Farmer! At the head of the work-gang [...] your cutting-down — I am the one who releases it." (Part — the verb phrase is damaged; the boast formula is secure.)
5. [{ĝeš}TUN₃?# naĝar-e K]A hul-bi e₃-a kin du₃-a-zu ĝa₂-e-me-en
"[The carpenter's ...] whose mouth came out foul — the work you built, I am the one." (Fragment.)
6. {ĝeš#}x x [...] a₂# tal₂-tal₂ igi tab-ba-zu ĝa₂-e-me-en
"[...] your broad strength, your doubled eye — I am the one." (Fragment.)
7. {ĝeš}ninda₂ KA# [... u]s₂?-sa IGI x x x ĝa₂#-e-me-en
"[...] following [...] — I am the one." (Fragment.)
8. {ĝeš}esi?# {ĝeš}taškarin?# [...] ra-ra saĝ x [... g]i₄?-a
"[Ebony], [boxwood] [...] smiting [...]" (Fragment — two named timbers stand.)
9. {ĝeš#}ha-lu-ub₂-ba [(x) šu]l?-gi-ra [...] x
"The halub tree [...] for Šulgi [...]" (Fragment — the judge's name surfaces in the timber list.)
10. [...] x x [{ĝeš?}]as₄?#-lum-ba SAL?# x [...]
Traces of a further wood name (asallûḫ?). (Fragment.)
11. [...] x-ĝu₁₀ he₂#-me#-en# e₂?#-[še₃ ha-...]
"[...] 'Let it be mine!' [...] to the house [...]" (Fragment.)
12. ĝeš [x (x)]-e x x im-d[u₃-a]
"The wood [...] built [...]" (Fragment.)
13. "Reed plants [...] reed shoots [...] made for the craftsman." (Fragment — the Reed's materials enter: KI.KAL plants and ḫenbur shoots.)
14. "[...] reed shoots [...]" (Fragment.)
3′. ĝeš#-me-en ĝa₂-e#-ra a-gin₇# m[u-...]
"I am the wood. As for me, how [...]?" (Part.)
4′. [{ĝ]eš}ha-lu-ub₂ {ĝeš}mes {ĝeš#}za-ra-aš-tum {ĝeš#}[...]
"Halub wood, mes wood, zaraštum wood [...]" (Part — the timber catalogue, three named woods in one line.)
5′. gi-uri₃-ĝu₁₀ na-an-bur₂-bur₂-re-d[e₃? ...]
"Do not keep tearing up my reed cane [...]" (Part.)
6′. gi-kid dim₂#-ma-zu ba-ra-am₃-dul#-[x]
"The reed mat you fashioned shall not cover (me) [...]" (Part.)
7′. ĝiš ša₃ gu-ul ku₃ {na₄}za-gin₃-na mi₂ um-ma-ni-[...]
"Wood for the heart, pure, lapis lazuli, when he [...] " (Fragment.)
8′. an?#-ta muru₉-gin₇ um-ku₁₀-k[u₁₀]
"From above, like a cloud, it grows dark [...]" (Fragment.)
9′. ša₃-[b]i-ta ki-tuš šul-gi-ra-gin₇# ni₂ gal# im-x
"From its heart, like Šulgi's dwelling, great fear [...]" (Fragment.)
10′. {ĝeš?#}gu₃ ša?#-u₁₈-ša KA# ĝar-ra
"The gu-instrument [...] placed." (Fragment; the record's own note discusses the instrument name.)
11′. "[...] in the field, the asallûḫ wood is my portion [...]" (Fragment.)
(Reverse lines 1′–2′ are traces and are not rendered.)
Doors on the face: the composition's print doors (Jiménez 2017; Ebeling & Cunningham 2007) govern any composition-level claim and are NOT discharged by this witness reading. Release holds behind the triple-check and Richard's read. Branding on any future publication: a Vigslist translation.
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