shown to be a localized and glorified legend in which the hero and his
tribe are displaced by the war god and his fellow deities whose
welfare depends on his prowess. Merodach kills the dragon, Tiamat, as
the heroes of Eur-Asian folk stories kill grisly hags, by casting his
weapon down her throat.

He severed her inward parts, he pierced her heart,
He overcame her and cut off her life;
He cast down her body and stood upon it ...
And with merciless club he smashed her skull.
He cut through the channels of her blood,
And he made the north wind to bear it away into secret places.

Afterwards

He divided the flesh of the _Ku-pu_ and devised a cunning plan.

Mr. L.W. King, from whose scholarly _Seven Tablets of Creation_ these
lines are quoted, notes that "Ku-pu" is a word of uncertain meaning.
Jensen suggests "trunk, body". Apparently Merodach obtained special
knowledge after dividing, and perhaps eating, the "Ku-pu". His
"cunning plan" is set forth in detail: he cut up the dragon's body:

He split her up like a flat fish into two halves.

He formed the heavens with one half and the earth with the other, and
then set the universe in order. His power and wisdom as the Demiurge
were derived from the fierce and powerful Great Mother, Tiamat.

In other dragon stories the heroes devise their plans after eating the