Gilgamesh : A New Rendering in English Verse (4 page)

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

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

Belit-Seri the Scribe who holds the tablet

on which the fate of everyone is written.

She turned her head and looked at us and said:

‘Who has led here this latest to arrive?'”

v

Gilgamesh said: “The dream is terrible.”

Enkidu said: “We went together through

the dangers of the Forest and we killed

the Bull of Heaven. Do not forget how we,

two people together, prevailed against the terror.”

Enkidu lay suffering on the bed of terror

another day and another day and another,

and the long nights between, and day after day

the suffering of Enkidu grew worse.

On the twelfth day he raised up in his bed

and spoke these words to Gilgamesh and said:

“Gilgamesh, who encouraged me in the battle,

saying, ‘Two people, companions, they can prevail,'

Gilgamesh is afraid and does not help me!”

After that Gilgamesh heard the death rattle.

TABLET VIII

i

With the first light of the early morning dawning,

in the presence of the old men of the city,

Gilgamesh, weeping, mourned for Enkidu:

“It is Enkidu, the companion, whom I weep for,

weeping for him as if I were a woman.

He was the festal garment of the feast.

On the dangerous errand, in the confusions of noises,