Gudea bowed his head in submission, and his first act was to consult the omens, and the omens were favourable.  He then proceeded to purify the city by special rites, so that the mother when angered did not chide her son, and the master did not strike his servant’s head, and the mistress, though provoked by her handmaid, did not smite her face.  And Gudea drove all the evil wizards and sorcerers from the city, and he purified and sanctified the city completely.  Then he kindled a great fire of cedar and other aromatic woods, to make a sweet savour for the gods, and prayers were offered day and night; and the patesi addressed a prayer to the Anun-naki, or Spirits of the Earth, who dwelt in Shirpurla, and assigned a place to them in the temple.  Then, having completed his purification of the city itself, he consecrated its immediate surroundings.  Thus he consecrated the district of Gu-edin, whence the revenues of Ningirsu were derived, and the lands of the goddess Nina with their populous villages.  And he consecrated the wild and savage bulls which no man could turn aside, and the cedars which were sacred to Ningirsu, and the cattle of the plains.  And he consecrated the armed men, and the famous warriors, and the warriors of the Sun-god.  And the emblems of the god Ningirsu, and of the two great goddesses, Nina and Ninni, he installed before them in their shrines.

Then Gudea sent far and wide to fetch materials for the construction of the temple.  And the Elamite came from Elani, and men of Susa came from Susa, and men brought wood from the mountains of Sinai and Melukh-kha.  And into the mountain of cedars, where no man before had penetrated, the patesi cut a road, and he brought cedars and beams of other precious woods in great quantities to the city.  And he also made a road into the mountain where stone was quarried, into places where no man before had penetrated.  And he carried great blocks of stone down from the mountain and loaded them into barges and brought them to the city.  And the barges brought bitumen and plaster, and they were loaded as though they were carrying grain, and all manner of great things were brought to the city.  Copper ore was brought from the mountain of copper in the land of Kimash, and gold was brought in powder from the mountains, and silver was brought from the mountains and porphyry from the land of Melukhkha, and marble from the mountain of marble.  And the patesi installed goldsmiths and silversmiths, who wrought in these precious metals, for the adornment of the temple; and he brought smiths who worked in copper and lead, who were priests of Nin-tu-kalama.  In his search for fitting materials for the building of the temple, Gudea journeyed from the lower country to the upper country, and from the upper country to the lower country he returned.