by Ferry, David
of lapis lazuli ornately made.
She said: ‘Just as this pendant never shall
forgotten be by the goddess, so the goddess
never will forget calamitous days.
The gods may come to the ritual but forbidden
is the presence of Enlil, by whose command
the flood was peremptorily brought down
on the heads of all my children, engulfing them.’
When the god Enlil came to the sacrifice
he saw the boat, and the sight filled him with rage.
He spoke in anger to the gathered gods:
‘How is it that one man has saved himself?
No breath of life was meant to be kept safe
from its obliteration in the flood.’
Ninurta opened his mouth and said to the god:
‘Ea, the cleverest of the gods, deviser,
let Ea speak and give Enlil his answer.’
Then Ea opened his mouth and said to the god:
‘The punishment should always fit the crime.
Let him who has performed an evil act
be punished for that act. Let not the flood
be brought down on the heads of all for what
one man has done; and he who has transgressed,
show pity to him, lest he be cut off
from all his fellows. Better that a lion
should come into the village and prey upon it,
taking a few, than that the flood drown all.
Better a wolf should find its ravening way
into the fold, devouring some, much better
than that the flood turn all that breathes to clay.
Better that famine starve a few of them
than that a harvest of waters obliterate all.
Better that Erra the plague god, better that he
take hold of some, seize them and bear them away
to the Underworld, than that the flood drown all.
I did not tell the secret to the man.
He listened to the wind and guessed the secret.
Let the gods sitting in council now decide
how to reward the wise man for his wisdom.’
The god Enlil then went on board the boat.
He took me by the hand and made me kneel;
he took my wife by the hand and made her kneel.
The god then touched our foreheads, blessing us,
and said: ‘You were but human; now you are
admitted into the company of gods.
Your dwelling place shall be the Faraway,
the place which is the source of the outflowing
of all the rivers of the world there are.’
And so they led us to the Faraway,
the place we dwell in now, which is the source
of all the rivers flowing through the world.”
Then scornful Utnapishtim said to the king:
“Tell me, who would bring all the gods together
so that for you they might in council decide
what your deserving is, that you be granted
admittance into the company of gods?
Let there be now a test of Gilgamesh.
Let him but keep himself awake for a week,
six nights and seven days, to show his worth.”
So Gilgamesh sat down to begin the test.
v
Almost as soon as Gilgamesh the king
sat down to test himself, a mist of sleep,
as ocean mist comes over the shore from the waters,
came over his eyes, and so the strongest slept.
Then Utnapishtim spoke to his wife and said:
“See how this hero sleeps who asks for life.
As ocean mist blows over the land from the waters,
so the mist of sleep comes over the eyes of the king.”
The wife of Utnapishtim answered him:
“Touch and awaken him, so that he may
return in safety to his native city,
entering through the gate of his departure.”
But Utnapishtim said: “Man is deceitful.
Therefore he will deceive us. Every day,
as he lies sleeping, you must bake a wafer
and place the wafer near him, making a mark
upon the nearby wall for every day
this hero sleeps who seeks eternal life.”
She baked a wafer every day, of bread,
for every day that Gilgamesh lay sleeping.
The first wafer was dry as dust; the second
only less so than the first; the third
was soggy and rotten; the fourth wafer was white
in the crust; there were spots of mold on the fifth;
the sixth wafer looked almost as if it was fresh;
and the seventh—Gilgamesh started and waked up
as Utnapishtim touched him on the forehead.
Gilgamesh said: “I had almost fallen asleep
when you reached out and touched me and kept me awake.”
But Utnapishtim said to Gilgamesh:
“Look at the wafers and look at the marks on the wall:
a mark and a wafer for every day you have slept.
The first wafer is dry as dust; the second
is only less so than the first; the third
is soggy and rotten; the fourth wafer is white
in the crust; there are spots of mold on the fifth;
the sixth wafer looks almost as if it is fresh;
and the seventh—but it is then that you awoke.”
Then Gilgamesh said to him: “What shall I do?
Who takes us away has taken hold of me.
Death is in my chamber when I sleep;
and death is there wherever I set foot.”
vi
Utnapishtim said to the boatman then:
“Though your delight has been to cross the waters,
the harbor now is closed, the crossing forbidden.
The waters and the shore now shun the boatman.
The hairy-bodied man you brought across
the perilous waters, wearing the skin of a beast
that hides his beauty, let Urshànabi take him
to the washing place. There let him wash his body,
washing away the filth that hides his beauty.
Manifest be the beauty of Gilgamesh.
Take the skin of a beast he wore on the journey
and throw it away in the sea. Let Gilgamesh
bind up his shining hair with a new fillet.
Let him put on a spotless festal robe.
Let him return to his native city in honor
in the royal garments appropriate to himself.”
The boatman led the king to the washing place.
Gilgamesh washed his body, washing away
the filth that obscured his beauty; then Urshànabi
took the skin of a beast and threw it away.
Manifest was the beauty of Gilgamesh.
He bound up his shining hair with a new fillet;
he put on a festal robe, utterly spotless,
a royal garment appropriate to himself.
Then he and the boatman boarded the little boat
and the boat began to move away from the shore.
But the wife of Utnapishtim said to her husband:
“This man has undergone a terrible journey.
What will you give him for his return to his city?”
Gilgamesh, hearing, took up his punting pole
and brought the little boat back to the shore.
Utnapishtim spoke and said to him:
“Gilgamesh, you who have made the terrible journey,
what shall I give you for your return to your city?”
Then Utnapishtim said to Gilgamesh:
“A secret of the gods I will disclose.
There is a plant that grows under the waters,
thorny to seize, as a rose is thorny to seize.
How-the-Old-Man-On
ce-Again-Becomes-a-Young-Man
is the name of the plant that grows under the waters.
Descend into the waters and seize the plant.”
So Gilgamesh tied heavy stone weights to his feet
to bring him down through the waters of the abyss
to the place where he could find the magic plant.
He seized the thorny plant that cut his hands;
he cut the stone weights loose from his heavy feet;
and the waters cast him up upon the shore.
vii
Gilgamesh said to Urshànabi the boatman:
“Urshànabi, this plant is a wonderful plant.
New life may be obtained by means of it.
I will carry the thorny plant back to my city.
I will give some of the plant to the elders there,
to share among them, telling them it is called
How-the-Old-Man-Once-Again-Becomes-a-Young-Man.
And I will take my share of the magic plant,
once more to become the one who is youngest and strongest.”
viii
At twenty leagues they stopped only to eat;
at thirty leagues they stopped to rest for the night.
Gilgamesh found a spring, a pool of pure water.
He entered the water, to refresh himself.
In the reeds nearby a serpent of the place
became aware of the fragrance of the plant,
breathed its perfume, desired it, and approached,
and stole away with it among the reeds.
As it disappeared the serpent shed its skin.
When Gilgamesh found out what the serpent had done
he sat down weeping by the pool of water.
He took Urshànabi by the hand and said:
“What shall I do? The journey has gone for nothing.
For whom has my heart’s blood been spent? For whom?
For the serpent who has taken away the plant.
I descended into the waters to find the plant
and what I found was a sign telling me to
abandon the journey and what it was I sought for.”
ix
At twenty leagues they stopped only to eat.
At thirty leagues they stopped to rest for the night.
And so they traveled until they reached Uruk.
There Gilgamesh the king said to the boatman:
“Study the brickwork, study the fortification;
climb the great ancient staircase to the terrace;
study how it is made; from the terrace see
the planted and fallow fields, the ponds and orchards.
One league is the inner city, another league
is orchards; still another the fields beyond;
over there is the precinct of the temple.
Three leagues and the temple precinct of Ishtar
measure Uruk, the city of Gilgamesh.”
GILGAMESH, ENKIDU, AND THE NETHER WORLD
(TABLET XII)
i
“The Drum and Drumstick I had in the Carpenter’s house,
where the Carpenter’s daughter was, and the Carpenter’s wife—
wife and daughter were like my mother and sister—
the Drum and Drumstick that I had have fallen
down through a hole into the Nether World,
out of my sight, down through a hole in the floor.
Who will bring back my Drumstick from down there?
Who will bring back my Drum from the Nether World?”
Enkidu heard what Gilgamesh was saying,
and said, his servant, then, to Gilgamesh:
“I will bring up the Drumstick from below.
I will bring back the Drum from the Nether World.”
Gilgamesh heard the promise of Enkidu,
and with these words he thus admonished him:
“If you go down to the Nether World for me,
listen to what I tell you about your going.
Do not put on clean clothes when you go down there,
or they will know you come down there a stranger.
Do not anoint your body with fragrant oil.
The fragrance will cause them to gather about you like flies.
Carry no staff or bow along with you,
or, startled up, the spirits will flutter around you.
Do not wear shoes when you go to the House of the Dead.
Let not your step be heard on that booming floor.
Refrain from kissing the wife your heart has loved;
refrain from striking the wife your heart has hated;
refrain from kissing the son dear to your heart;
and do not strike the son your heart has shunned;
or you will be seized and held by the Cry of the Dead:
Naked the goddess mother lies in hell;
naked, Ninazu’s mother lies exposed,
the holy garment fallen from her shoulders,
bare are the breasts of the mother, Ereshkigal.
ii
Then Enkidu went down to the Nether World
not heeding the admonishments of the king.
He wore clean clothes when he went to the House of the Dead,
and so they knew he came down there a stranger.
He anointed his body with fragrant oil, and they
collected like flies, attracted by the fragrance.
He carried a staff and bow with him when he went.
Startled, the spirits fluttered all around him.
The sounds of the shoes he wore were heard in that place;
the echoing floor of the House of the Dead resounded.
He did not refrain from kissing the wife he loved;
he did not refrain from striking the hated wife;
he embraced and kissed the son who was dear to him;
and did not refrain from striking the hated son.
And so the Cry of the Dead seized him and held him:
Naked the goddess mother lies in hell;
naked, Ninazu’s mother lies exposed,
the holy garment fallen from her shoulders,
bare are the breasts of the mother, Ereshkigal.
The Cry of the Dead seized him and held him fast.
Namtar the demon did not seize and hold him.
Ashak the fever demon did not hold him.
Nergal’s pitiless viceroy did not seize him.
It was the Cry of the Dead that seized and held him.
He did not fall in battle. It was the Cry.
The Nether World itself it was that seized him;
Ereshkigal the Queen it was who held him.
iii
Gilgamesh grieved for the death of Enkidu.
Grieving he went to the house of the god Enlil.
“Enlil, Father, my Drum fell through the floor
of the Upper World into the Nether World.
I saw my Drumstick fall, out of my sight.
The Cry of the Nether World has seized my servant,
Enkidu, whom I sent to bring me back
the Drum and Drumstick that I had that fell
down through a hole into the Nether World.
Namtar the demon did not seize and hold him.
The fever demon Ashak did not seize him.
Nergal’s pitiless viceroy did not hold him.
It was the Cry of the Dead that seized and held him.
He did not fall in battle. It was the Cry.
The Nether World itself it was that seized him;
Ereshkigal the Queen it was who held him.
O Father Enlil, intercede for me.”
But Father Enlil would not intercede.
So Gilgamesh went grieving to the moon god.
“O Father Sin, my Drum fell through a hole
in the floor of the Upper World into the Nether.
My Drumstick fell through the hole, I saw it fall.
The Cry has seized my servant, Enkidu,
whom I sent to bring me back from the
world down there
the Drum and Drumstick that I had that fell
down through a hole in the floor of the Upper World.
The demon Namtar did not seize and hold him.
Ashak the fever demon did not hold him.
Nergal’s pitiless viceroy did not seize him.
It was the Cry of the Dead that seized and held him.
He did not fall in battle. It was the Cry.
The Nether World itself it was that seized him;
Ereshkigal the Queen it was who held him.
I pray that the god of the moon will intercede.”
The god of the moon was deaf to what he asked.
Then Gilgamesh went grieving to the edge
of Apsu the abyss, to the god Ea:
“O Father Ea, into the Nether World
my Drum has fallen through a hole; my Drumstick
fell through a hole, down into the world below.
The Cry of the Nether World has seized my servant,
Enkidu, whom I sent to bring me back
the Drum and Drumstick that I had that fell
down through the hole in the floor of the Upper World.
Namtar the demon did not seize and hold him.
Ashak the fever demon did not hold him.
Nergal’s pitiless viceroy did not seize him.
It was the Cry of the Dead that seized and held him.
He did not fall in battle. It was the Cry.
The Nether World itself it was that seized him;
Ereshkigal the Queen it was who held him.”
The god of the abyss heard what he said,
and interceded for the grieving king.
He said to Nergal, King of the Nether World:
“Open a hole in the roof of the Nether World
so Enkidu may rise up like a vapor
out of the Nether World into the Upper.”
Nergal obeyed the voice of Ea the god.
The hole in the floor of the Upper World was open.
The spirit of Enkidu, a puff of breath,
came forth from the Nether World into the Upper.
Then Gilgamesh and Enkidu, companions,
tried to embrace and kiss one another, companions.
Sighing toward one another they spoke these words:
“Now tell me how it is in the Nether World.”
“I will not tell you. If I told you how
it is in the Nether World, the arrangement of things,
you would sit down and weep because I told you.”
“Now tell me how it is although I may
sit down and weep because of what you tell me.”
So Enkidu told him the way it is down there.
“The vermin eat my body that once made
Gilgamesh the companion rejoice to touch;
as if it was old clothes, filthy, discarded,