While I think you are on the right track by examining the beginnings of these myths you should consider the most likely source, the Sumerians, first.
For example:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debate_bet..._and_grain
In the bible yarn we get the opposite result. Cain...the dastardly, miserable farmer, kills his brother, the happy shepherd whose offering to the Lord has already been preferred by 'god' himself. In the original, the farmer is proclaimed the winner.
The reason for this is quite simple. The Israelites evolved from a nomadic, pastoral, existence. The championed the shepherd while the Sumerians were farmers. When the tale reached the proto-israelites they altered it to make themselves be the winners.
Seek out Sumerian mythology. Much has been lost but what remains is sufficient.
For example:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debate_bet..._and_grain
Quote:The Debate between sheep and grain or Myth of cattle and grain is a Sumerian creation myth, written on clay tablets in the mid to late 3rd millennium BCE.
Quote:The story opens with a location "the hill of heaven and earth" which is discussed by Chiera as "not a poetical name for the earth, but the dwelling place of the gods, situated at the point where the heavens rest upon the earth. It is there that mankind had their first habitat, and there the Babylonian Garden of Eden is to be placed."[3] The Sumerian word Edin, means "steppe" or "plain",[13] so modern scholarship has abandoned the use of the phrase "Babylonian Garden of Eden" as it has become clear the "Garden of Eden" was a later concept.[13] Jeremy Black suggests this area was restricted for gods, noting that field plans from the Third dynasty of Ur use the term hursag ("hill") to describe the hilly parts of fields that are hard to cultivate due to the presence of prehistoric tell mounds (ruined habitations).[14] Kramer discusses the story of the god An creating the cattle-goddess, Lahar, and the grain goddess, Ashnan, to feed and clothe the Annunaki, who in turn made man.[1] Lahar and Ashnan are created in the "duku" or "pure place" and the story further describes how the Annunaki create a sheepfold with plants and herbs for Lahar and a house, plough and yoke for Ashnan, describing the introduction of animal husbandry and agriculture.[15] The story continues with a quarrel between the two goddesses over their gifts which eventually resolves with Enki and Enlil intervening to declare Ashnan the victor.
In the bible yarn we get the opposite result. Cain...the dastardly, miserable farmer, kills his brother, the happy shepherd whose offering to the Lord has already been preferred by 'god' himself. In the original, the farmer is proclaimed the winner.
The reason for this is quite simple. The Israelites evolved from a nomadic, pastoral, existence. The championed the shepherd while the Sumerians were farmers. When the tale reached the proto-israelites they altered it to make themselves be the winners.
Seek out Sumerian mythology. Much has been lost but what remains is sufficient.
