Get thee hence!
Place not thy head upon his head,
Place not thy (hand) upon his hand,
Place not thy foot upon his foot,
With thy hand touch him not,
Turn (not) thy back upon him,
Lift not thine eyes (against him),
Look not behind thee,
Gibber not against him,
Into the house enter thou not,
Through the fence break thou not,
Into the chamber enter thou not,
In the midst of the city encircle him not,
Near him make no circuit;
By the Word of Ea,[7]
May the man, the son of his god,
Become pure, become clean, become bright!
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This incantation is extremely important as here we see many of the ideas which have persisted through the ages. The Vampire, or restless spirit might be a man whose lay body dead in the desert, uncovered with earth, “a ghost unburied,” and it is readily remembered that among the ancient Greeks there was no more reverent duty than to bury the dead. Again, to-day, the Slavs consider that brigands and highwaymen whose lives are passed in deeds of violence and rapine after death will probably in another mode continue their predatory habits as Vampires; so the Assyrian Vampire might be “a robber-sprite.” It will be remarked that the threat which drives away the Ekimmu is that until he has departed no libation shall be poured over his grave, no baked meats offered there, and no saving rites performed.
It was even held that if a man but looked upon a corpse he established that mysterious psychic connexion which would render him liable to be attacked by the spirit of the deceased. Among the Ibo people in the district of Awka, Southern Algeria, one of the most important taboos which has to be preserved by the priest of the Earth is that he may not see a corpse, so terrible is held to be the spiritual contagion. Should he by an unlucky chance meet one upon the road he must at once veil his eyes with his wristlet.[9] This wrist-band or bracelet is a most important periapt or charm since it is
