At length Gilgamesh heard him; lie put on his breastplate, ‘The Voice of Heroes', of thirty shekels' weight; he put it
on as though it had been a light garment that he carried, and it covered him altogether. He straddled the earth like a bull
that snuffs the ground and his teeth were clenched. ‘By the life of my mother Ninsun who gave me birth, and by the life of
my father, divine Lugulbanda, let me live to be the wonder of my mother, as when she nursed me on her lap.' A second
time he said to him, ‘By the life of Ninsun my mother who gave me birth, and by the life of my father, divine Lugulbanda,
until we have fought thus man, if man he is, this god, if god he is, the way that I took to the Country of the Living will not
turn back to the city.'

Then Enkidu, the faithful companion, pleaded, answering him, ‘O my lord, you do not know this monster and that
is the reason you are not afraid. I who know him, I am terrified. His teeth are dragon's fangs, his countenance is like a lion,
his charge i s the rushing of the flood, with his look he crushes alike the trees of the forest and reeds in the swamp. O my
Lord, you may go on if you choose into thus land, but I will go back to the city. I will tell the lady your mother all your
glorious' deeds till she shouts for joy: and then I will tell the death that followed till she weeps for bitterness.' But
Gilgamesh said, ‘Immolation and sacrifice are not yet for me, the boat of the dead shall not go down, nor the three-ply
cloth be cut for my shrouding. Not yet will my people be desolate, nor the pyre be lit in my house and my dwelling burnt
on the fire. Today, give me your aid and you shall have mine: what then can go amiss with us two? All living creatures
born of the flesh shall sit at last in the boat of the West, and when it sinks, when the boat of Magilum sinks, they are
gone; but we shall go forward and fix our eyes on this monster. If your heart is fearful throw away fear; if there is terror in
it throw away terror. Take your axe in your hand and attack. He who leaves the fight unfinished is not at peace.'

Humbaba came out from his strong house of cedar. Then Enkidu called out, ‘O Gilgamesh, remember now your
boasts in Uruk. Forward, attack, son of Uruk, there is nothing to fear.' When he heard these words his courage rallied; he
answered, ‘Make haste, close in, if the watchman is there do not let him escape to the woods where he will vanish. He
has put on the first of his seven splendours but not yet the other six, let us trap him before he is armed.' Like a raging wild
bull he snuffed the ground; the watchman of the woods turned full of threatenings, he cried out. Humbaba came from his
strong house of cedar. He nodded his head and shook it, menacing Gilgamesh; and on him he fastened his eye, the eye of
death. Then Gilgamesh called to Shamash and his tears were flowing, ‘O glorious Shamash, 1 have followed the road you
commanded but now if you send no succour how shall I escape? Glorious Shamash heard his prayer and he summoned
the great wind, the north wind, the whirlwind, the storm and the icy wind, the tempest and the scorching wind; they came
like dragons, like a scorching fire, like a serpent that freezes the heart, a destroying flood and the lightning's fork. The eight
winds rose up against Humbaba, they beat against his eyes; he was gripped, unable to go forward or back. Gilgamesh
shouted, ‘By the life of Ninsun my mother and divine Lugulbanda my father, in the Country of the Living, in this Land I
have discovered your dwelling; my weak arms and my small weapons I have brought to this Land against you, and now I
will enter your house'.

So he felled the first cedar and they cut the branches and laid them at the foot of the mountain. At the first stroke
Humbaba blazed out, but still they advanced. They felled seven cedars and cut and bound the branches and laid them at
the foot of the mountain, and seven times Humbaba loosed his glory on them. As the seventh blaze died out they
reached his lair. He slapped his thigh in scorn. He approached like a noble wild bull roped on the mountain, a warrior
whose elbows are bound together. The tears started to his eyes and he was pale, ‘Gilgamesh, let me speak. 1 have never
known a mother, no, nor a father who reared me. I was born of the mountain, he reared me, and Enlil made me the keeper
of this forest. Let me go free, Gilgamesh, and I will be your servant, you shall be my lord; all the trees of the forest that I
tended on the mountain shall be yours. 1 will cut them down and build you a palace.' He took him by the hand and led him

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The Epic Of Gilgamesh

to his house, so that the heart of Gilgamesh was moved with compassion. He swore by the heavenly life, by the earthly
life, by the underworld itself: ‘O Enkidu, should not the snared, bird return to its nest and the captive man return to his
mother's arms?' Enkidu answered, ‘The strongest of men will fall to fate if he has no judgement. Namtar, the evil fate that
knows no distinction between men, will devour him. If the snared bird returns to its nest, if the captive man returns to his
mother's arms, then you my friend will never return to the city where the mother is waiting who gave you birth. He will
bar the mountain road against you, and make the pathways impassable.'

Humbaba said, 'Enkidu, what you have spoken is evil: you, a hireling, dependent for your bread! In envy and for fear
of a rival you have spoken evil words.' Enkidu said, ‘Do not listen, Gilgamesh: this Humbaba must die. Kill Humbaba first
and his servants after.' But Gilgamesh said, 'If we touch him the blaze and the glory of light will be put out in confusion,
the glory and glamour will vanish, its rays will be quenched.' Enkidu said to Gilgamesh, ‘Not so, my friend. First entrap
the bird, and where shall the chicks mn then? Afterwards we can search out the glory and the glamour, when the chicks
run distracted through the grass.'

Gilgamesh listened to the word of his companion, he took the axe in his hand, he drew the sword from his belt, and
he struck Humbaba with a thrust of the sword to the neck, and Enkidu his comrade struck the second blow. At the third
blow Humbaba fell. Then there followed confusion for this was the guardian of the forest whom they had felled to the
ground. For as far as two leagues the cedars shivered when Enkidu felled the watcher of the forest, he at whose voice
Hermon and Lebanon used to tremble. Now the mountains were moved and all the hills, for the guardian of the forest was
killed. They attacked the cedars, the seven splendours of Humbaba were extinguished. So they pressed on into the forest
bearing the sword of eight talents. They uncovered the sacred dwellings of the Anunnaki and while Gilgamesh felled the
first of the trees of the forest Enkidu cleared their roots as far as the banks of Euphrates. They set Humbaba before the
gods, before Enlil; they kissed the ground and dropped the shroud and set the head before him. When he saw the head of
Humbaba, Enlil raged at them. ‘Why did you do this thing? From henceforth may the fire be on your faces, may it eat the
bread that you eat, may it drink where you drink.' Then Enlil took again the blaze and the seven splendours that had been
Humbaba's: he gave the first to the river, and he gave to the lion, to the stone of execration, to the mountain and to the
dreaded daughter of the Queen of Hell.

O Gilgamesh, king and conqueror of the dreadful blaze; wild bull who plunders the mountain, who crosses the sea,
glory to him, and from the brave the greater glory is Enki's!

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The Epic Of Gilgamesh

3

ISHTAR AND GILGAMESH, AND THE DEATH OF ENKIDU

GILGAMESH Washed out his long locks and cleaned his weapons; he flung back his hair from his shoulders; he
threw off his stained clothes and changed them for new. He put on his royal robes and made them fast. When Gilgamesh
had put on the crown, glorious Ishtar lifted her eyes, seeing the beauty of Gilgamesh. She said, ‘Come to me Gilgamesh,
and be my bridegroom; grant me seed of your body, let me be your bride and you shall be my husband. I will harness for
you a chariot of lapis lazuli and of gold, with wheels of gold and horns of copper; and you shall have mighty demons of
the storm for draft mules. When you enter our house in the fragrance of cedar-wood, threshold and throne will kiss your
feet. Kings, rulers, and princes will bow down before you; they shall bring you tribute from the mountains and the plain.
Your ewes shall drop twins and your goats triplets; your pack-ass shall outrun mules; your oxen shall have no rivals, and
your chariot horses shall be famous far-off for their swiftness.'

Gilgamesh opened his mouth and answered glorious Ishtar, ‘If I take you in marriage, what gifts can 1 give in return?
What ointments and clothing for your body? I would gladly give you bread and all sorts of food fit for a god. I would give
you wine to drink fit for a queen. I would pour out barley to stuff your granary; but as for making you my wife - that I will
not. How would it go with me? Your lovers have found you like a brazier which smoulders in the cold, a backdoor which
keeps out neither squall of wind nor storm, a castle which crushes the garrison, pitch that blackens the bearer, a water-skin
that chafes the carrier, a stone which falls from the parapet, a battering-ram turned back from the enemy, a sandal that trips
the wearer. Which of your lovers did you ever love for ever? What shepherd of yours has pleased you for all time? Listen
to me while I tell the tale of your lovers. There was Tammuz, the lover of your youth, for him you decreed wailing, year
after year. You loved the many coloured roller, but still you struck and broke his wing; now in the grove he sits and cries,
"kappi, kappi, my wing, my wing." You have loved the lion tremendous in strength: seven pits you dug for him, and
seven. You have loved the stallion magnificent in battle, and for him you decreed whip and spur and a thong, to gallop
seven leagues by force and to muddy the water before he drinks; and for his mother Silili lamentations. You have loved
the shepherd of the flock; he made meal-cake for you day after day, he killed kids for your sake. You struck and turned
him into a wolf, now his own herd-boys chase him away, his own hounds worry his flanks. And did you not love
Ishullanu, the gardener of your father's palm grove? He brought you baskets filled with dates without end; every day he
loaded your table. Then you turned your eyes on him and said, "Dearest Ishullanu, come here to me, let us enjoy your
manhood, come forward and take me, I am yours.' Ishullanu answered, "What are you asking from me? My mother has
baked and I have eaten; why should I come to such as you for food that is tainted and rotten? For when was a screen of
rushes sufficient protection from frosts?" But when you had beard his answer you struck him. He was changed to a blind
mole deep in the earth, one whose desire is always beyond his reach. And if you and I should be lovers, should not I be
served in the same fashion as all these others whom you loved once?’

When Ishtar heard this she fell into a bitter rage, she went up to high heaven. Her tears poured down in front of her
father Anu, and Antum her mother. She said, ‘My father, Gilgamesh has heaped insults on me, he has told over all my
abominable behaviour, my foul and hideous acts.' Anu opened his mouth and said, ‘Are you a father of gods? Did not you
quarrel with Gilgamesh the king, so now he has related your abominable behaviour, your foul and hideous acts.'

Ishtar opened her mouth and said again, ‘My father, give me the Bull of Heaven to destroy Gilgamesh. Fill
Gilgamesh, I say, with arrogance to his destruction; but if you refuse to give me the Bull of Heaven I will break in the
doors of hell and smash the bolts; there will be confusion of people, those above with those from the lower depths. I shall
bring up the dead to eat food like the living; and the hosts of dead will outnumber the living.' Anusa d to great Ishtar, ‘If I
do what you desire there will be seven years of drought throughout Uruk when corn will be seedless husks. Have you
saved grain enough for the people and grass for the cattle? Ishtar replied. ‘I have saved grain for the people, grass for the
cattle; for seven years o£ seedless husks' there is grain and there is grass enough.'

When Anu heard what Ishtar had said he gave her the Bull of Heaven to lead by the halter down to Uruk: When they
reached the gates of Uruk the Bull went to the river; with his first snort cracks opened in the earth and, a hundred young
men fell down to death. With his second snort cracks opened and two hundred fell down to death. With his third snort
cracks opened, Enkidu doubled over but instantly recovered, he dodged aside and leapt on the Bull and seized it by the
horns. The Bull of Heaven foamed in his face, it brushed him with the thick of its tail. Enkidu cried to Gilgamesh, 'my
friend, we boasted that we would .leave enduring names behind us. Now thrust in your sword between the nape and the
horns.' So Gilgamesh followed the Bull, he seized the thick of its tail, he thrust the sword between the nape and the horns
and slew the Bull. When they had killed the Bull of Heaven they cut out its heart and gave it to Shamash, and the brothers
rested.

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The Epic Of Gilgamesh

But Ishtar rose tip and mounted the great wall of Uruk; she sprang on to the tower and uttered a curse: ‘Woe to
Gilgamesh, for he has scorned me in killing the Bull of Heaven.' When Enkidu heard these words he tore out the Bull's
right thigh and tossed it in her face saying, ‘If 1 could lay my hands on you, it is this I should do to you, and lash the
entrails to your side.' Then Ishtar called together her people, the dancing and singing girls, the prostitutes of the temple,
the courtesans. Over the thigh of the Bull of Heaven she set up lamentation.

But Gilgamesh called the smiths and the armourers, all of them together. They admired the immensity of the horns.
They were plated with lapis lazuli two fingers thick. They were thirty pounds each in weight, and their capacity in oil was
six measures, which he gave to his guardian god, Lugulbanda. But he carried the horns into the palace and hung them on
the wall. Then they washed their hands in Euphrates, they embraced each other and went away. They drove through the
streets of Uruk where the heroes were gathered to see them, and Gilgamesh called to the singing girls, ‘Who is most
glorious of the heroes, who is most eminent among men?' ‘Gilgamesh is the most glorious of heroes, Gilgamesh is most
eminent among men.' And now there was feasting, and celebrations and joy in the palace, till the heroes lay down saying,
‘Now we will rest for the night.'

When the daylight came Enkidu got up and cried to Gilgamesh, ‘O my brother, such a dream 1 had last night. Anu,
Enlil, Ea and heavenly Shamash took counsel together, and Anu said to Enlil, "Because they have killed the Bull of
Heaven, and because they have killed Humbaba who guarded the Cedar Mountain one of the two must , die." Then
glorious Shamash answered the hero Enlil, "It was by your command they killed the Bull of Heaven, and killed Humbaba,
and must Enkidu die although innocent?" Enlil flung round in rage at glorious Shamash, "You dare to say this, you who
went about with them every day like one of themselves!"'

So Enkidu lay stretched out before Gilgamesh; his tears ran down in streams and he said to Gilgamesh, ' O my
brother, so dear as you are to me, brother, yet they will take me from you.' Again he said, T must sit down on the threshold
of the dead and never again will I see my dear brother with my eyes.'

While Enkidu lay alone in his sickness he cursed the gate as though it was living flesh, ‘You there, wood of the
gate, dull and insensible, witless, I searched for you over twenty leagues until I saw the towering cedar. There is no wood
like you in our land. Seventy -two cubits high and twenty-four wide, the pivot and the ferrule and the jambs are perfect. A
master craftsman from Nippur has made you; but O, if I had known the conclusion! If I had known that this was all the
good that would come of it, I would have raised the axe and split you into little pieces and set up here a gate of wattle
instead. Ah, if only some future king had brought you here, or some god- had fashioned you. Let him obliterate my name
and write his own, and the curse fall on him instead of on Enkidu.'

With the first brightening of dawn Enkidu raised his head and wept before the Sun God, in the brilliance of the
sunlight his tears streamed down. ‘Sun God, I beseech you, about that vile Trapper, that Trapper of nothing because of
whom I was to catch less than my comrade; let him catch least, make his game scarce, make him feeble, taking the smaller
of every share, let his quarry escape from his nets.'

When he had cursed the Trapper to his heart's content he turned on the harlot. He was roused to curse her also. ‘As
for you, woman, with a great curse I curse you! I will promise you a destiny to all eternity. My curse shall come on you
soon and sudden. You shall be without a roof for your commerce, for you shall not keep house with other girls in the
tavern, but do your business in places fouled by the vomit of the drunkard. Your hire will be potter's earth, your thievings
will be flung into the hovel, you will sit at the cross-roads in the dust of the potter's quarter, you will make your bed on the
dunghill at night, and by day take your stand in the wall's shadow. Brambles and thorns will tear your feet, the drunk and
the dry will strike your cheek and your mouth will ache. Let you be stripped of your purple dyes, for I too once in the
wilderness with my wife had all the treasure I wished.'

When Shamash heard the words of Enkidu he called to him from heaven: ‘Enkidu, why are you cursing the woman,
the mistress who taught you to eat bread fit for gods and drink wine of kings? She who put upon you a ‘magnificent
garment, did she not give you glorious Gilgamesh for your companion, and has not Gilgamesh, your own brother, made
you rest on a 'royal bed and recline on a couch at his left hand? He has made the princes of the earth kiss your feet, and
now all the people of Uruk lament and wail over you. When you are dead he will let his hair grow long for your sake, he
will wear a lion's pelt and wander through the desert.'

When Enkidu heard glorious Shamash his angry heart grew quiet, he called back the curse and said, ‘Woman, I
promise you another destiny. The mouth which cursed you shall bless you! Kings, princes and nobles shall adore you. On
your account a man though twelve miles off will clap his hand to his thigh and his hair will twitch. For you he will undo
his belt and open his treasure and you shall have your desire; lapis lazuli, gold and' carnelian from the heap in the treasury.
A ring for your hand and a robe shall be yours. The priest will lead you into the presence of the gods. On your account a
wife, a mother of seven, was forsaken.'

As Enkidu slept alone in his sickness, in bitterness of spirit he poured out his heart to his friend. 'It was I who cut
down the cedar, I who levelled the forest, I who slew Humbaba and now see what has become of me. Listen, my friend,
this is the dream I dreamed last night. The heavens roared, and earth rumbled back an answer; between them stood I

13

The Epic Of Gilgamesh

before an awful being, the sombre-faced man-bird; he had directed on me his purpose. His was a vampire face, his foot
was a lion's foot, his hand was an eagle's talon. He fell on me and his claws were in my hair, he held me fast and I
smothered; then he transformed me so that my arms became wings covered with feathers. He turned his stare towards me,
and he led me away to the palace of Irkalla, the Queen of Darkness, to the house from which none who enters ever returns,
down the road from which there is no coming back.

‘There is the house whose people sit in darkness; dust is their food and clay their meat. They are clothed like birds "
with wings for covering, they see no light, they sit in darkness. I entered the house of dust and I saw the kings of the earth,
their crowns put away for ever; rulers and princes, all those who once wore kingly crowns and ruled the world in the days
of old. They who had stood in the place of the gods like Ann and Enlil stood now like servants to fetch baked meats in the
house of dust, to carry cooked meat and cold water from the water-skin. In the house of dust which I entered were high
priests and acolytes, priests of the incantation and of ecstasy; there were servers of the temple, and there was Etana, that
king of Dish whom the eagle carried to heaven in the days of old. I saw also Samuqan, god of cattle, and there was
Ereshkigal the Queen of the Underworld; and Befit-Sheri squatted in front of her, she who is recorder of the gods and
keeps the book of death. She held a tablet from which she read. She raised her head, she saw me and spoke:" Who has
brought this one here?" Then I awoke like a man drained of blood who wanders alone in a waste of rashes; like one
whom the bailiff has seized and his heart pounds with terror.'

Gilgamesh had peeled off his clothes, he listened to his words and wept quick tears, Gilgamesh listened and his tears
flowed. He opened his mouth and spoke to Enkidu: ‘Who is there in strong-walled Uruk who has wisdom like this?
Strange things have been spoken, why does your heart speak strangely? The dream was marvellous but the terror was
great; we must treasure the dream whatever the terror; for the dream has shown that misery comes at last to the healthy
man, the end of life is sorrow.' And Gilgamesh lamented, ‘Now I will pray to the great gods, for my friend had an
ominous dream.'

This day on which Enkidu dreamed came to an end and be lay stricken with sickness. One whole day he lay on his
bed and his suffering increased. He said to Gilgamesh, the friend on whose account he had left the wilderness, 'Once I ran
for you, for the water of life, and I now have nothing:' A second day he lay on his bed and Gilgamesh watched over him
but the sickness increased. A third day he lay on his bed, he called out to Gilgamesh, rousing him up. Now he was weak
and his eyes were blind with weeping. Ten days he lay and his suffering increased, eleven and twelve days he lay on his
bed of pain. Then he called to Gilgamesh, 'My friend, the great goddess cursed me and I must die in shame. I shall not die
like a man fallen in battle; I feared to fall, but happy is the man who falls in the battle, for I must die in shame.' And
Gilgamesh wept over Enkidu. With the first light of dawn he raised his voice and said to the counsellors of Uruk:

‘Hear me, great ones of Uruk,

I weep for Enkidu, my friend.

Bitterly moaning like a woman mourning
I weep for my brother.

O Enkidu, my brother,

You were the axe at my side,

My hand's strength, the sword in my belt,

The shield before me,

A glorious robe, my fairest ornament;

An evil Fate has robbed me.

The wild ass and the gazelle
That were father and mother,

All long-tailed creatures that nourished you
Weep for you,

All the wild things of the plain and pastures;

The paths that you loved in the forest of cedars
Night and day murmur.

Let the great ones of strong-walled Uruk
Weep for you;

Let the finger of blessing
Be stretched out in mourning;

Enkidu, young brother. Hark,

There is an echo through all the country
Like a mother mourning.

Weep all the paths where we walked together;

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The Epic Of Gilgamesh

And the beasts we hunted, the bear and hyena,

Tiger and panther, leopard and lion,

The stag and the ibex, the bull and the doe.

The river along whose banks we used to walk,

Weeps for you,

Ula of Elam and dear Euphrates

Where once we drew water for the water-skins.

The mountain we climbed where we slew the Watchman,

Weeps for you.

The warriors of strong-walled Uruk
Where the Bull of Heaven was killed,

Weep for you.

All the people ofEridu
Weep for you Enkidu.

Those who brought grain for your eating
Mourn for you now;

Who rubbed oil on your back
Mourn for you now;

Who poured beer for your drinking
Mourn for you now.

The harlot who anointed you with fragrant ointment
Laments for you now;

The women of the palace, who brought you a wife,

A chosen ring of good advice,

Lament for you now.

And the young men your brothers
As though they were women
Go long-haired in mourning.

What is this sleep which holds you now?

You are lost in the dark and cannot hear me. '

He touched his heart but it did not beat, nor did he lift his eyes again. When Gilgamesh touched his heart it did not
beat. So Gilgamesh laid a veil, as one veils the bride, over his friend. He began to rage like a lion, like a lioness robbed of
her whelps. This way and that he paced round the bed, he tore out his hair and strewed it around. He dragged of his
splendid robes and flung them down as though they were abominations.

In the first light of dawn Gilgamesh cried out, ‘I made you rest on a royal bed, you reclined on a couch at my left
hand, the princes of the earth kissed your feet. 1 will cause all the people of Uruk to weep over you and raise the dirge of
the dead. The joyful people will stoop with sorrow; and when you have gone to the earth I will let my hair grow long for
your sake, 1 will wander through the wilderness in the skin of a lion.' The next day also, in the first light, Gilgamesh
lamented; seven days and seven nights he wept for Enkidu, until the worm fastened on him. Only then he gave him up to
the earth, for the Anunnaki, the judges, had seized him.

Then Gilgamesh issued a proclamation through the land, he summoned them all, the coppersmiths, the goldsmiths,
the stone-workers, and commanded them, ‘Make a statue of my friend.' The statue was fashioned with a great weight of
lapis lazuli for the breast and of gold for the body. A table of hard-wood was set out, and on it a bowl of carnelian filled
with honey, and a bowl of lapis lazuli filled with butter. These he exposed and offered to the Sun; and weeping he went
away.

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The Epic Of Gilgamesh

4

THE SEARCH FOR EVERLASTING LIFE

BITTERLY Gilgamesh wept for his friend Enkidu; he wandered over the wilderness as a hunter, he roamed over
the plains; in his bitterness he cried, ‘How can I rest, how can I be at peace? Despair is in my heart. What my brother is
now, that shall I be when I am dead. Because I am afraid of death I will go as best I can to find Utnapishtim whom they
call the Faraway, for he has entered the assembly of the gods.' So Gilgamesh travelled over the wilderness, he wandered
over the grasslands, a long journey, in search of Utnapishtim, whom the gods took after the deluge; and they set him to
live in the land of Dilmun, in the garden of the sun; and to him alone of men they gave everlasting life.

At night when he came to the mountain passes Gilgamesh prayed: ‘In these mountain passes long ago I saw lions, I
was afraid and I lifted my eyes to the moon; I prayed and my prayers went up to the gods, so now, O moon god Sin,
protect me.' When he had prayed he lay down to sleep, until he was woken from out of a dream. He saw the lions round
him glorying in life; then he took his axe in his hand, he drew his sword from his belt, and he fell upon them like an arrow
from the string, and struck and destroyed and scattered them.

So at length Gilgamesh came to Mashu, the great mountains about which he had heard many things, which guard the
rising and the setting sun. Its twin peaks are as high as the wall of heaven and its paps reach down to the underworld. At its
gate the Scorpions stand guard, half man and half dragon; their glory is terrifying, their stare strikes death into men, their
shimmering halo sweeps the mountains that guard the rising sun. When Gilgamesh saw them he shielded his eyes for the
length of a moment only; then he took courage and approached. When they saw him so undismayed the Man-Scorpion
called to his mate, ‘This one who comes to us now is flesh of the gods.' The mate of the Man-Scorpion answered, ‘Two
thirds is god but one third is man.'

Then he called to the man Gilgamesh, he called to the child of the gods: ‘ Why have you come so great a journey;
for what have you travelled so far, crossing the dangerous waters; tell me the reason for your coming?’ Gilgamesh
answered, ‘For Enkidu; 1 loved him dearly, together we endured all kinds of hardships; on his account I have come, for the
common lot of man has taken him. I have wept for him day and night, I would not give up his body for burial, I thought
my friend would come back because of my weeping. Since he went, my life is nothing; that is why I have travelled here in
search of Utnapishtim my father; for men say he has entered the assembly of the gods, and has found everlasting life: I
have a desire to question him, concerning the living and the dead.’ The Man-Scorpion opened his mouth and said,
speaking to Gilgamesh, ‘No man born of woman has done what you have asked, no mortal man has gone into the
mountain; the length of it is twelve leagues of darkness; in it there is no light, but the heart is oppressed with darkness.
From the rising of the sun to the setting of the sun there is no light. 1 Gilgamesh said, ‘Although I should go in sorrow and
in pain, with sighing and with weeping, still I must go. Open the gate 1 of the mountain:’ And the Man-Scorpion said, ‘Go,
Gilgamesh, I permit you to pass through the mountain of Mashu and through the high ranges; may your feet carry you
safely home. The gate of the mountain is open.’

When Gilgamesh heard this he did as the Man-Scorpion had said, he followed the sun’s road to his rising, through
the mountain. When he had gone one league the darkness became thick around him, for there was no light, he could see
nothing ahead and nothing behind him. After two leagues the darkness was thick and there was no light, he could see
nothing ahead and nothing behind him. After three leagues the darkness was thick, and there was no w light, he could see
nothing ahead and nothing behind him. After four leagues the darkness was thick and there was no light, he could see
nothing ahead and nothing behind him. At the end of five leagues the darkness was thick and there was no light, he could
see nothing ahead and nothing behind him. At the end of six leagues the darkness was thick and there was no light, he
could see nothing ahead and nothing behind him. When he had gone seven leagues the darkness was thick and there was
no light, he could see nothing ahead and nothing behind him. When he had gene eight leagues Gilgamesh gave a great cry,
for the darkness was thick and he could see nothing ahead and nothing behind him. After nine leagues he felt the north-
wind on his face, but the darkness was thick and there was no light, he could see nothing ahead and nothing behind him.
After ten leagues the end was near: After eleven leagues the dawn light appeared. At the end of twelve leagues the sun
streamed out.

There was the garden of the gods; all round him stood bushes bearing gems. Seeing it he went down at once, for
there was fruit of carnelian with the vine hanging from it, beautiful to look at; lapis lazuli leaves hung thick with fruit,
sweet to see. For thorns and thistles there were haematite and rare stones, agate, and pearls from out of the sea. While
Gilgamesh walked in the garden by the edge of the sea Shamash saw him, and he saw that he was dressed in the skins of
animals and ate their flesh. He was distressed, and he spoke and said, ‘No mortal man has gone this way before, nor will,
as long as the winds drive over the sea.’ And to Gilgamesh he said, ‘You will never find the life for which you are

16

The Epic Of Gilgamesh

searching.' Gilgamesh said to glorious Shamash, ‘Now that 1 have toiled and strayed so far over the wilderness, am I to
sleep, and let the earth cover my head for ever? Let my eyes see the sun until they are dazzled with looking. Although I am
no better than a dead man, still let me see the light of the sun.'