prey escape them.  Ancient legends related how the shepherd Dumuzi, son of Ea and Damkina, having excited the love of Ishtar while he was pasturing his flocks under the mysterious tree of Eridu, which covers the earth with its shade, was chosen by the goddess from among all others to be the spouse of her youth, and how, being mortally wounded by a wild boar, he was cast into the kingdom of Allat.  One means remained by which he might be restored to the light of day:  his wounds must be washed in the waters of the wonderful spring, and Ishtar resolved to go in quest of this marvellous liquid.  The undertaking was fraught with danger, for no one might travel to the infernal regions without having previously gone through the extreme terrors of death, and even the gods themselves could not transgress this fatal law.  “To the land without return, to the land which thou knowest—­Ishtar, the daughter of Sin, turned her thoughts:  she, the daughter of Sin, turned her thoughts—­to the house of darkness, the abode of Irkalla—­to the house from which he who enters can never emerge—­to the path upon which he who goes shall never come back—­to the house into which he who enters bids farewell to the light—­the place where dust is nourishment and clay is food; the light is not seen, darkness is the dwelling, where the garments are the wings of birds—­where dust accumulates on door and bolt.”  Ishtar arrives at the porch, she knocks at it, she addresses the guardian in an imperious voice:  “’Guardian of the waters, open thy gate—­open thy gate that I may enter, even I.—­If thou openest not the door that I may enter, even I,—­I will burst open the door, I will break the bars, I will break the threshold, I will burst in the panels, I will excite the dead that they may eat the living,—­and the dead shall be more numerous than the living.’—­The guardian opened his mouth and spake, he announced to the mighty Ishtar:  ’Stop, O lady, and do not overturn the door until I go and apprise the Queen Allat of thy name.’  Allat hesitates, and then gives him permission to receive the goddess:  ’Go, guardian, open the gate to her—­but treat her according to the ancient laws.  Mortals enter naked into the world, and naked must they leave it:  and since Ishtar has decided to accept their lot, she too must be prepared to divest herself of her garments.’” The guardian went, he opened his mouth:  ’Enter, my lady, and may Kutha rejoice—­may the palace and the land without return exult in thy presence!  ’He causes her to pass through the first gate, divests her, removes the great crown from her head:—­’Why, guardian, dost thou remove the great crown from my head?’—­’Enter, my lady, such is the law of Allat.’  The second gate, he causes her to pass through it, he divests her—­removes the rings from her ears:—­’Why, guardian, dost thou remove the rings from my ears?’—­’Enter, my lady, such is the law of Allat.’” And from gate to gate he removes some ornament from the distressed lady—­now her necklace with its