Ninhursag is kind of a loner, although most gods tend to be noisy and boisterous. At one point the heat was becoming unbearable, so Ninhursag decides to plant a garden, intending to make a place she could go to for solitude and shelter from the heat. She goes to a very barren plain called Edinu. She asks Utu to help her. She asks that, as he goes through the Underworld during the night, he should break open the ground and let fresh water come forth. He does this. She plants eight plants, nurturing and tending to them. Eventually there is a huge garden which is very cool and moist.
One day, An summons her to visit. She is worried that wild animals will come and destroy her garden. But Enki comes by with his prime minister Isimud. Ninhursag asks them to guard her garden in her absence, and they agree. She leaves. Later, Enki begins to get hungry. Isimud says that he should eat the fruit of the garden, but Enki declines. Isimud encourages him further. Eventually, Enki eats the entire garden -- down to the ground. Everything is gone. They leave.
When Ninhursag returns, she's furious. She utters eight curses (for the eight plants), each striking a different part of the body of the culprit. Enki begins to die. His magic can't cure him. The gods are unable to help him. He realizes that he must confess. The gods bring him to Ninhursag and she forgives him (gods don't hold grudges). She has to create eight minor goddesses to cure each of the curses. [Pun is a very popular literary device throughout history - each of the 8 goddesses has a name which is a pun: Ninti, is the Lady of Life (who gives life) while her name also means Lady of the Rib (the part of Enki which she cures). Christian parallels: Examine the name of the garden. Edinu -> Eden. The taboo of eating the fruit of the garden which results in punishment. Eve is referred to as the "mother of living things." Parallel of the rib.]
Archetype: The Curing of the Curse