This curious composition, translated here for the first time, has a certain number of unusual features not found elsewhere in Mesopotamian literature. The poem is a monologue by a deity, in all probability Nanše (see commentary on line 153) who, as “mother of the fish,” has built a new house for them, and invites all of them to come and spend the night there, where they will find a comfortable place of rest and will be safe and secure from all the animals which usually prey on them. It is always difficult to place works of Mesopotamian literature in the categories devised by classical rhetoricians. The anthropomorphic descriptions place our composition close to the fable, but it cannot be considered as such, because the classical definition of a fable always includes some kind of action, and no action at all is involved in our text. In some other respects we may consider our poem as lyrical: it is based on the author's sentiments evoked by the multiple aspects of aquatic life, and on the emotional appeal of a “sweet home.” Other secondary themes interwoven with this are the “naming of the fish”—to be compared perhaps with Adam naming all living creatures in the Garden of Eden or, more probably, it is simply a display of erudition—and the attempt to explain how water birds prey on fish, in spite of the fact that both of them are under Nanše's protection.