by Ferry, David
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.’
He said: ‘Why should I eat the rotten food,
having been taught to eat the wholesome food?
Why should I sin and be cursed and why should I live
where the cold wind blows through the reeds upon the outcast?’
Some say the goddess turned him into a frog
among the reeds, with haunted frog voice chanting,
beseeching what he no longer knows he longs for;
some say into a mole whose blind foot pushes
over and over again against the loam
in the dark of the tunnel, baffled and silent, forever.
And you would do with me as you did with them.”
ii
Ishtar was enraged and went to the gods in heaven,
to Anu her father and to her mother Antum.
“The king of Uruk has insulted me.
He has found out and told about my foulness.”
Anu her father said to the goddess then:
“Why do you rage? Was it not you who longed
for the semen of Gilgamesh? Was it not you
who desired his body? Why then do you rage?
He has found out and told about your foulness.”
The goddess said to the god her father thus:
“Give me the Bull of Heaven that I may punish
Gilgamesh the king, who has found out
and told about the foulness of the goddess.
Give me the Bull of Heaven with which to kill him.
Give me the Bull of Heaven or I will go
to the Underworld and break its doors and let
the hungry dead come out to eat the living.
How many are the dead compared to the living!”
Then Anu her father god said to the goddess:
“If I should give the Bull of Heaven to you,
then there would follow seven years of husks.
Have you prepared for this? Have there been garnered
grasses and grain to help sustain the people?”
Ishtar replied to the god her father thus:
“I have prepared for this, for I have garnered
grasses and grain to help sustain the people
during the time of seven years of husks.”
iii
So Anu gave the Bull of Heaven to her,
and it came down from heaven snorting and bellowing.
Euphrates shook. The city of Uruk shook
and the earth broke open under the great bull noise.
One hundred men of Uruk fell in the pit
and died in the pit the bellowing broke open.
The Bull of Heaven bellowed and Uruk shook,
Euphrates shook, and the earth broke open again.
One hundred men of Uruk fell in the hole
the great bull
noise broke open, and died in the hole.
For the third time the Bull of Heaven bellowed
and Uruk shook; and Enkidu fought the Bull
and took hold of the Bull by the horns and the great bull head
thrashed over him and the reeking bull slobber poured
over his face and Enkidu fought the Bull
and the foul tail of the Bull brushed over his face
and Enkidu wrestled and Enkidu cried out
to Gilgamesh: “The life of man is short,
let us contend with the Bull of Heaven, and win,”
and Gilgamesh fought, and fighting the Bull they cried:
“Two people, companions, they can prevail together,”
and Enkidu seized the Bull by the reeking tail
and Gilgamesh thrust his sword with the skill of a butcher
between the shoulders and horns, and they killed the Bull.
They tore out the great bull heart and offered the heart
to Shamash, bowing before the god, two brothers.
After the battle the two sat down and rested.
iv
Then Ishtar was enraged and the goddess climbed
the parapet of the city of Uruk
and spoke her curse: “Woe be to Gilgamesh
for insult to Ishtar, for Gilgamesh
found out and told the foulness of the goddess,
and killed the Bull of Heaven which Anu sent
in punishment from heaven to shake the city.”
Then Enkidu was enraged against the goddess.
He seized a haunch of the slaughtered Bull of Heaven
and tore it loose and flung it toward the wall
on which the goddess stood, and said to her:
“If I could reach you I would do to you
what you have seen me do to the Bull of Heaven.
I would festoon you with the guts of the Bull.”
Ishtar went to her temple and with her maidens,
the votaries, and the temple prostitutes,
did ritual mourning over the haunch of the Bull.
But Gilgamesh gathered the craftsmen of the city
to show them the wonderful Bull and how it was made:
the great horns of lapis lazuli,
the coating on the horns two fingers thick.
He cut off the horns and filled the horns with oil,
six measures of oil, and then he offered the oil
in homage to his father, Lugalbanda;
he carried the horns to his chamber in the palace
and hung them in the chamber as a trophy.
Then Gilgamesh and Enkidu together
went hand in hand, two brothers, to the Euphrates,
and washed their hands in the calm river waters.
The people of the city gathered to bless them
and watch them in their progress through the streets.
Gilgamesh spoke and said: “I am the strongest.
My fame will be secure to all my sons.
The city scorns the goddess and shouts in praise
of Gilgamesh because he has won the glory.”
That night there was dancing and singing in the palace
in celebration of the victory.
But afterwards, when all had fallen asleep,
Enkidu had a dream and he awakened
to tell the dream to Gilgamesh the king.
“Why is it that the gods are meeting in council?”
TABLET VII
i
“I dreamed that the gods were offended and held a council,
and Anu said: ‘They have killed the Bull of Heaven
and killed Huwawa. One of them must die,
the one of them who felled the tallest cedar.’
Then Enlil said that Enkidu must die
but Gilgamesh, the gifted, must not die.
And Shamash said: ‘The two of them went together,
companions on my errand into the Forest.
Why then should Enkidu, who went, companion,
into the Cedar Forest on my errand,
why should he die?’ Angry Enlil said:
‘You went with them as if you were companion,
day after day as they went upon their journey
to violate the Forest and kill the guardian.’”
ii
And so it was that Enkidu fell sick.
Gilgamesh looked at him and weeping said:
“Why am I left to live while my brother dies?
Why should he die and I be spared to live?”
Enkidu said: “Must I now go to sit
among the dead, in the company of the dead
without my brother?” Gilgamesh said: “Must I
now sit outside the door of the house of the dead
while Enkidu sits in the house of the dead among
the shadow companions?” Then Enkidu cursed the portal
made of the cedar tree they had felled in the Forest:
“You stupid wooden door that does not hear.
I searched for twenty leagues to find the cedar,
tallest of all, with which to make a great
monument for the city, suitable
to celebrate the story of the famous
victory in the Forest over the guardian.
If I had known that this would happen to me
I would have taken my ax and chopped to bits
the wood of the cedar I helped bring to the city.
Grant that some future king destroy the portal
or that a god obliterate from it
utterly the name of Enkidu.
May the name of the companion be forgotten.”
Gilgamesh listened to him and weeping said:
“The stormy heart of Enkidu the companion
rages with understanding of the fate
the high gods have established for mankind.
To rage against the gods of heaven is futile.
What Enlil has ordained cannot be changed.
This is the truth told in the frightening dream.
Gilgamesh the brother will pray to the gods,
beseeching the high gods to spare the companion;
Gilgamesh the king will build a statue
to celebrate the fame of Enkidu.”
iii
In the early hours of the next morning dawning,
Enkidu, sleepless, weeping, cried out to Shamash:
“As for the hunter who saw me in the grasslands,
may the creatures which he hunts, the gazelles and the others,
get away from him free. May the hunter starve
because he saw me at the watering place.
Fill in his hunting pits, unset his traps,
so that he can no longer be a hunter.”
With the first light of the early morning dawning,
Enkidu, sleepless, cried out against the harlot:
“As for the harlot who brought me to the city,
this is the curse of Enkidu against her:
May the garbage of the city be what you eat.
May you drink what flows along the alley gutters.
May you importune in the alley shadows.
May you have no home. May you sleep on the city doorsteps.
May there be signs of vomit on your clothes.
May all men curse and revile you and turn away.
Because of you the creatures fled from me,
who dwelt with them and ranged the hills with them.”
Then Shamash spoke and said to Enkidu:
“Why do you curse the temple prostitute?
Because of her you eat the food and drink
the palace affords. Because of her you wear
the garments suitable for a prince to wear;
you sit in the place of honor nearest the king;
the great ones of the earth bow down before you.
Gilgamesh is your friend and your companion.
The grief of Gilgamesh for you will be
&
nbsp; the cause of woe and wailing in the city.
Gilgamesh the king will build a statue
to celebrate the fame of Enkidu.
When you are gone, then Gilgamesh will wear
the skins of beasts and hairy-bodied wander
grieving in the wilderness for you.”
Enkidu heard what Shamash said to him,
and for a time his stormy heart was quiet.
He repented the curse and blessed the harlot, saying:
“This is the blessing of Enkidu on Shamhat:
May no man revile or curse or turn away.
May the old man comb his locks and beard to please you.
May the young unbuckle his belt in joy for you.
May your house be full of gifts, crystal and gold,
carnelian and lapis lazuli,
earrings and filigree ornaments, fine new clothes.
May the priests invite you with honor into the temple.”
iv
In the early hours of the next morning dawning,
Enkidu lay in his bed, fear in his belly.
He told a dream to Gilgamesh who was there.
“I had a dream. There was a noise in the sky
and a noise in the earth in answer. On a dark plain
I was alone. But there was one, a man,
with a lion head, and the paws of a lion too,
but the nails were talons, the talons of an eagle.
The face was dark. He took hold of me and seized me.
I fought with him, I hit at him, but he
kept moving about in the dark, too quick for me,
and then with a blow he capsized me like a raft.
I cried out in the dark to Gilgamesh,
‘Two people, companions,’ but the man overpowered me,
and raged like a wild bull over me in glory,
and Gilgamesh was afraid and did not help me.
Then I was changed into something like a bird,
with a bird’s arms, as spindly as a bird’s,
and feathered like a bird. He seized an arm
and led me to the dwelling of Irkalla,
the House of Darkness, the House of No Return.
No one comes back who ever enters there.
The garments that they wear are made of feathers.
The food they eat is clay, the drink is dirt.
Stillness and dust are on the door and door bolt.
There is no light of any sort at all.
Dead kings were there, and princes of old kingdoms,
dead high priests and acolytes were there,
dead chanters and anointers, bearers of ointments;
Etana was there and Sumuqan was there,
and on her throne Ereshkigal the Queen
of the Underworld, and kneeling before her was