Gilgamesh : A New Rendering in English Verse (3 page)

is fire. O Shamash, my son Gilgamesh

is going to the Forest on your errand,

to kill the demon hateful to the sun god.

When Shamash sees him setting out on the road,

or in the mountain passes, or entering

the Forest, may Shamash guard and keep him safe.

And may the stars, the watchmen of the night,

watch over Gilgamesh and the companion.”

Rimat-Ninsun, the mother of Gilgamesh,

in the company of the votaries of the temple,

spoke and said to Enkidu the companion,

placing a sacred pendant about his neck:

“Though not my son, here I adopt you son,

not to forsake my son in the future danger.”

Then from the Seven-Bolt Gate the two departed,

hearing the warnings and blessings of the city.

TABLETS IV AND V

i

The two of them traveled fifty leagues a day,

never resting except at night trying

to rest, stopping only once a day to eat;

in three days' walk a hundred and fifty leagues,

a three weeks' walk for an ordinary man.

The third day Enkidu found the hidden water

to quench their thirst and offer to the god.

They dug a well and drank their fill and offered

a libation to the god. Then Gilgamesh

climbed to a high place on the mountainside

and offered the god an offering of flour:

“May the mountain bring a fortunate dream from Shamash.”

They made camp there that night and Enkidu

prepared a sleeping place, prepared a shelter

against the wind that blew along the mountain.

The two of them sheltered themselves against the wind.

After a time the oblivion of sleep

poured in upon the king, the strongest of all.

He slept, but at midnight suddenly awoke,

and awakened the companion, Enkidu:

“Did you call out to me, just now, in the night?

Why did I waken? Was it you that touched me?

Was it a god went through the camp? A dream?

What makes my skin creep? I had a dream.

I dreamed we were going through a mountain gorge

and the huge mountain fell down on the two of us.

We were as little as flies compared to the mountain.”

Enkidu, born in the wilderness, replied:

“The dream you dreamed tonight is fortunate.

The mountain that you dreamed about is Huwawa.

Huwawa will fall down like a mountain and die.

His dead body will lie on the plain like a mountain.”

On the next day they traveled fifty leagues,

and fifty leagues a day for two days more.

Then Enkidu found the water. They dug a well

to quench their thirst and offer to the god,

and Gilgamesh offered his offering of flour:

“May Shamash grant a fortunate dream tonight.”

Enkidu, born in the wilderness, made a shelter.

The two of them sheltered themselves against the wind.

After a time the oblivion of sleep

poured in upon the king. He fell asleep,

but at midnight suddenly woke up, disturbed,

and said to the companion, Enkidu:

“Did you call out to me in the night? Was it you

that touched me? Was it a god went through the camp?

In the dream I had, a great bull head was thrashing

over my body in glory, and bellowing

over me, me helpless on the ground; the breath

of the bull snout breathed on me; the bellowing

bull noise shook the earth and broke it open;

the choking dust rose up and filled the dream.

Then one brought water to me in my dream.”

“The dream you dreamed tonight is fortunate.

The bull you dreamed of in your dream is not

the demon enemy guardian of the Forest.

The bull is Shamash. The wrestling is his blessing.

The one who brought you water is your father.”

On the next day they traveled fifty leagues,

in three days' time one hundred and fifty leagues,

a three weeks' walk for an ordinary man.

Then Enkidu found the place to dig a well

to quench their thirst and offer to the god,

and Gilgamesh made his offering of flour:

“May Shamash grant a fortunate dream tonight.”

Enkidu, born in the wilderness, made a shelter.

The two of them sheltered themselves against the wind

and a shower of rain that passed across the mountain.

After a time the oblivion of sleep

poured in upon the king. He slept, but at midnight

suddenly awoke, and said to the companion:

“Did you call out to me, just now, in the night?

Why did I waken? Was it you that touched me?

Was it a god went through the camp? A dream?

What makes me fearful? I had a dream.

The earth shook and the sky shook; and a white glare

filled up the sky, and then there was nothing at all

but silence and darkness, and after that the lightning

broke out and the thunder everywhere, and then

the rain was fire that was raining down,

and then the rain was ashes raining down.

Let us go back from the mountain, down to the plain.

Let us consider all these things together.”

But Enkidu once again told Gilgamesh

that the dream he had dreamed that night was fortunate.

So day after day they journeyed on to the Forest.

There were other dreams that disturbed the sleep of the king,

night after night as they journeyed to the Forest,

and Enkidu always said they were fortunate.

Gilgamesh, weeping, prayed to the god Shamash:

“Be mindful of the promise asked in Uruk.

Guard and protect those who go on your errand,

to kill the demon hateful to the god.

Protect us as we pass through fearfulness.”

There was a noise in the sky that spoke and said:

“Seven terrors are the garments of Huwawa.

The aura of Huwawa is the terrors.

Helpless is he who enters the Cedar Forest

when the demon wears the seven. Hurry, Huwawa

has not put on the seven. He wears but one.”

ii

They came to the Cedar Forest that grew upon

the sides of the Cedar Mountain, throne of Irnini,

forbidden dwelling place of immortal gods.

This was the place the guardian demon guarded

to frighten away the daring mortal who

would venture there. But who would venture there?

This was the place Huwawa was; Huwawa's

breath is death. Beautiful is the Forest;

green upon green the cedars; fragrant the air

with the fragrance of cedar trees; the box that grew

along the silent walks of the guardian demon,

shadowed and still, utterly still, was fragrant.

Then Gilgamesh was afraid, and Enkidu

was afraid, and they entered into the Forest, afraid,

the two of them together, and felled some cedars.

The guardian of the Cedar Forest roared.

Then followed confusions of voices and also of hearts.

“The life of man is short.” “Helpless is he

who enters the Forest.” “Protect us as we pass

through fearfulness.” “Where is the strength, the courage?”

Always the face of Huwawa was somewhere there.

There was the noise of swords, daggers, and axes,

confusions of noises in the Cedar Forest.

Then Gilgamesh saw the face of Huwawa the demon

and fled from the face, hiding himself away,

and Enkidu found him and said: “Two people, companions,

they can prevail together against the terror.”

There was the noise of swords, daggers, and axes,

confusions of noises in the Cedar Forest.

Always the face of Huwawa was somewhere there.

The guardian of the Forest roared, and then

the companions fought each other in the confusions

of hearts, confusions of noises, swords, and axes.

Then Enkidu saw the face of Huwawa the demon

and fled from the face, hiding himself away,

and Gilgamesh found him and said: “Two people, companions,

they can prevail together against the terror.”

Then Gilgamesh said: “The face of Huwawa keeps changing!”

Enkidu said: “You are the strongest of all.”

Gilgamesh, weeping, cried out to the god Shamash:

“Protect us as we pass through fearfulness.”

Then Shamash heard the prayer of Gilgamesh

and raised up thirteen storms against Huwawa;

the Wind of Simurru and the North Wind and the South

Wind and the West Wind and the East Wind and the Bone-

Cold Wind and the Great Storm Wind and the Great Snow Wind

and the Ice Wind and the Sand Wind and the Screaming

Wind and the Devil Wind and the Bad Wind;

he raised up thirteen storms to beat against

the face of the aura of the demon Huwawa,

beating their tempest feet upon the earth

and breaking the earth wide open, splitting the mountains,

lightning and thunder revolving everywhere.

Then Gilgamesh was able to get at him.

iii

Huwawa spoke and said to Gilgamesh:

“I will cut down the trees for you. Make me your servant.

Shamash has sent you upon this errand against me.

You are the child of the Lady Wildcow Ninsun.

You are the king in Uruk. I will be guardian

of the wood to build the gates of the city of Uruk.”

Enkidu spoke and said to Gilgamesh:

“Do not listen to the demon. He must be killed,

obliterated utterly. Listen to me.”

Huwawa said: “Do not listen to him who has

neither father nor mother, child of the wilderness.

When Enlil hears of this, the first of gods,

the god of the wilderness, Enkidu knows

that there will be a curse because of this.”

Enkidu said: “The demon must be killed

before Enlil and the other gods are told.

Huwawa must be killed and you must build

out of the wood of the tallest cedar a gate,

a gate for the city, a great monument telling

how Gilgamesh slew the guardian of the Forest.”

Then the two of them together seized the demon

and by the tongue pulled all his insides out,

and so he died. Then Gilgamesh built the gate

made from the cedar taller than all the rest

of the cedar trees that grew in the Cedar Forest.

They built a raft and they floated the gate to the city.

Enkidu steered the raft and Gilgamesh carried

the head of Huwawa, the guardian of the Forest.

TABLET VI

i

When Gilgamesh the king came back to the city

after the victory over the demon Huwawa,

he washed the filth of battle from his hair

and washed the filth of battle from his body,

put on new clothes, a clean robe and a cloak

tied with a sash, and cleaned and polished the weapons

that had been bloody with the hateful blood

of the demon Huwawa, guardian of the Forest,

and put a tiara on his shining hair,

so that he looked as beautiful as a bridegroom.

The goddess Ishtar saw him and fell in love

with the beauty of Gilgamesh and longed for his body.

“Be my lover, be my husband,” she spoke and said.

“Give me the seed of your body, give me your semen;

plant your seed in the body of Ishtar.

Abundance will follow, riches beyond the telling:

a chariot of lapis lazuli

and brass and ivory, with golden wheels,

and pulled, instead of mules, by storm beasts harnessed.

Enter our house: from floor and doorpost breathes

the odor of cedar; the floor kisses your feet.

Princes and kings bow down to offer their wealth,

the best of the yield of orchard, garden, and field.

Your doe goats give you triplets, your ewes also;

your chariot steeds and oxen beyond compare.”

Gilgamesh answered and said: “What could I offer

the queen of love in return, who lacks nothing at all?

Balm for the body? The food and drink of the gods?

I have nothing to give to her who lacks nothing at all.

You are the door through which the cold gets in.

You are the fire that goes out. You are the pitch

that sticks to the hands of the one who carries the bucket.

You are the house that falls down. You are the shoe

that pinches the foot of the wearer. The ill-made wall

that buckles when time has gone by. The leaky

waterskin soaking the waterskin carrier.

Who were your lovers and bridegrooms? Tammuz the slain,

whose festival wailing is heard, year after year,

under your sign. He was the first who suffered.

The lovely shepherd bird whom Ishtar loved,

whose wing you broke and now wing-broken cries,

lost in the darkness on the forest floor:

‘My wing is broken, broken is my wing.'

The lion whom you loved, strongest of beasts,

the mightiest of the forest, who fell into

the calamity of the pits, the bewildering

contrivances of the goddess, seven times seven.

You broke the great wild horse and snaffled him:

he drinks the water his hobbled hooves have muddied.

The goatherd who brought you cakes and daily for you

slaughtered a kid, you turned him into a wolf

chased away by the herdsmen, whose hairy flanks,

smelly and mangy, the guardian dogs snap at.

You loved Ishullanu, your father's gardener,

who brought you figs and dates to adorn your table.

You looked at him and showed yourself to him

and said: ‘Now, touch me where you dare not, touch me

here, touch me where you want to, touch me here.'